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NBC Television Network Map…July 1, 1948

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

NBC Television Network Map…July 1, 1948

In early 1946, NBC’s television network consisted of only NYC and Philadelphia. By early 1947, Schenectady joined in making it a three city linkup. This 1948 map shows that Boston, Baltimore, Washington and Richmond have been added making seven cities linked in the network. Twelve more will be added during 1949. There were more NBC television affiliate stations than are shown here, but their programs arrived in the mail as kinescope films. Only in the linked cities could the same episodes of the same shows be seen at a regularly scheduled time. Shows that aired on a Monday on the network may have aired on Friday at unlinked affiliates. By 1952, pretty much all of the affiliates for all networks nation wide were linked in, but even up into the early 1960s, some stations were affiliated with more than one network and would pick and choose the shows they aired locally, and would take those shows as they were fed down the AT&T network lines.

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9 responses to “NBC Television Network Map…July 1, 1948”

  1. What popularized Kyle as girl name in the early 1950s? – Nancy's Baby Names

    […] NBC Television Network Map (July 1, 1948) – Eyes of a Generation […]

  2. Ed Bukont

    I notice Baltimore was an early link in the network, before Washington DC. Was this just because of the geographical succession or was it because of specific AT&T facilities at Baltimore? I know well into the 80s Baltimore was a more strategic part of AT&T than DC which was (is?) served out of NoVA .

  3. Leon Zetekoff

    Andy makes sense but been out of touch. There are ip networks that can do similar VPLS comes to mind.

  4. Curtis R Anderson

    In Buffalo, New York Telephone received their No. 4 crossbar toll tandem switch during May 1956, allowing a greater volume of long distance calls. About that same time, those microwave horn reflector antennas went up, carrying thousands of telephone calls and a handful of television shows over “the network”. By that time, I presume everything was in place for at least low band color. Funny how the networks, telephone and Internet are all over the same fiber optic links these days. The picture supplied is of the old Type H tower atop the telephone exchange building on Franklin St in downtown Buffalo, less than two years before Verizon took the tower and horn reflector antennas down. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gleepy/4664952960/in/set-72157624083460240

  5. Jeff Moulton

    Looking at the upstate NY map is a little confusing. I know what was then WHAM in Rochester was NBC. WHEN was on the air but as far as I know, was CBS. WSYR didn’t come on the air til a couple years later. WKTV in Utica signed on in December 1949.

  6. Leon Zetekoff

    Correct nbc skypath was their kU delivery and c band was used I think as backup. I don’t know if it’s still bring used now or if fibre is being used

  7. John Treadgold

    Thanks fot interesting info

  8. Kerry Manderbach

    I’ll try to find when my local station KSD (now KSDK) was linked. It went on the air on Feb 8, 1947 as an NBC affiliate and according to Wikipedia, “the station is currently the longest-tenured affiliate of any major broadcast television network.”

  9. John Holt

    The AT&T network used coax cable until the microwave relays were built in the early ’50s. Detroit used to lose the networks on a regulars basis as the cable kept being broken in Toledo. western Union established the first microwave relay system from Washington to Pittsburg, Philadelphia and New York. The Washington WU tower is a landmark in Tenleytown, DC and is under the channel 9 tower next to what had been Broadcast House. http://blog.historian4hire.net/2010/12/03/wutco-tenley/

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