[78-L] NBC (was: YOU)

[Michael Biel]

On Thu, 2010-10-14 at 11:23 -0700, Sammy Jones wrote:
>> I didn't mean to imply that I'd seen a script where the longer name
>> was crossed out. I've never seen a facsimilie, only the reprints
>> that appeared the the Invasion from Mars book published shortly
>> after the broadcast and a book (whose names escapes me) by Howard Koch.
>> 
>> Both of these versions say "Columbia Broadcasting System."

So does the script in the sourcebooks mediaFusion book.  This one also
says "the best next thing" which was Welles verbal error.  Do the other
books say "the next best thing" which is what should have been said? 
(By the way, for the second year I will be broadcasting from the Grovers
Mill landing site om the night of Oct 30.  This year the broadcast will
be on RadioOnceMore.com and might be from 6 PM to midnight.)  We'll be
playing the master tape I have that includes the 30 seconds of slight
surface noise during the middle station break.  We might also be
analyzing the modifications some fiend made to the recording last year
to try to trick people into believing there were two performances
recorded.  And we hope to have the WKBW version from 1968.  

>> Orson's use of "THE" has always stuck out in my mind. I wonder if
>> that's how CBS insiders may have referred to the network in conversation.

>> In modern usage, NBC, CBS, and ABC never have a definite article
>> preceeding them, but the BBC almost always does!

dl-- Were there any rules at "the CBC" about this??

From: Michael Shoshani <mshoshani at sbcglobal.net>
> I'm guessing that in this instance "The CBS" was shorthand for
> "The Columbia Broadcasting System", and that it would have been
> read "in full" rather than by letters.

> Internal NBC memos from the 1930s do often refer to "The N.B.C.",
> making me wonder whether it was actually intended to be read as
> "The National Broadcasting Company" in those instances. 

> According to Tom Lewis in "Empire Of The Air", When David Sarnoff was
> testifying in Howard Armstrong's major FM suit, he repeatedly referred
> to "The NBC" and "The RCA". I don't know whether he said it in full
> during the trial and the trial notes were truncated, or whether he
> actually said "The En-Bee-See" and "The Ar-See-Ay". 

He also wanted to be called General.  For a long time when I was a kid I
thought it was his actual first name and that David was his middle name.
 Actually Murderer was his middle name.  He DID kill Armstrong.