[78-L] Another horrendously distorted representation of recording history.

[David Lennick]

This'll make you foam at the mouth....

The company in the U.S. invested in broadcasting by taking over United 
Independent Broadcasters and renamed the U.S. operation the Columbia Phonograph 
Broadcasting Co. During the depression in the 1930s, the company again had 
financial woes, and in particular, the performance of the U.S. record operation 
was poor (sales were 6% of 1927 levels).

The broadcast network had potential but was equally unprofitable, so bad sales 
and the likelihood that it was in violation of antitrust laws due to this 50% 
interest in the Victor Talking Machine Company in the U.S. caused the company 
to divest its U.S. interest in Columbia.

Columbia U.K. was merged with HMV (the U.K. operation of the Victor Talking 
Machine Company) in 1931 and the company was renamed the Electrical and Music 
Industry (EMI). The U.S. radio network continued as the Columbia Broadcasting 
System and became profitable during the next decade.


The U.S. Columbia Records was sold to Grigsby- Grunow, a manufacturer of 
refrigerators and radios. This company went bankrupt in 1934, and Columbia was 
sold to the Brunswick label.

The American Record Company had been formed in 1929 through the merger of three 
small labels, Oriole and Perfect, Romeo, and Banner. ARC acquired the Brunswick 
label (started in 1916) in 1931 and changed the name of the entire company to 
Brunswick Record Corporation of which it was at the time of the Columbia 
acquisition.

CBS bought Brunswick in 1938. CBS deactivated the Brunswick label and 
reactivated the Columbia label, later selling Brunswick to Decca in 1942.

(The Columbia Phonograph Company owned the radio network for about five 
minutes, selling it off before it ever went on the air, leaving the Columbia 
name behind as a souvenir. Of course according to the above, CBS owned 50% of 
Victor which was why it had to sell Columbia. Aaaaaagh........)
dl