NBC LED THE WAY IN TV LONG LIST OF FIRSTS: FIRST WORLD SERIES, FIRST COLOR LINEUP, FIRST HIGH-DEFINITION.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

IN 1916, DAVID SARNOFF suggested that the medium of radio could be expanded far beyond its hobbyist niche, selling possibly millions of the receiver sets made by his employer, American Marconi.

The key, he said, was to use radio signals to transmit both information and entertainment.

His bosses dismissed the proposal, but when Sarnoff pitched it again four years later, they were more open to it. By then General Electric had purchased American Marconi to form the Radio Corporation of America, RCA. There were 1,400 stations on the air across the country, dishing out ragtag programming and opening their studios to any marginal talents who strolled in.

Sarnoff knit a handful of those stations together and launched America's first radio network, the National Broadcasting Co., on Nov. 15, 1926, with a music program anchored at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and beamed to 21 cities.

Seventy-five years later, NBC is reflecting on its colorful history - a stable of stars, for example, that has included Howdy Doody, Bob Hope, Angie Dickinson, Michael Landon, Flip Wilson, Billy Crystal and Jennifer Aniston - and bracing for a future of specialized program packaging and delivery in which the term ``broadcasting'' may be an anachronism.

In honor of the anniversary, NBC is drawing attention to many programs that have borne the peacock brand, such as ``The Tonight Show,'' ``The Cosby Show,'' ``L.A. Law'' and a multitude of Bob Hope specials.

But NBC's real mark on history appears to have been made in its research and development labs, its control rooms and its satellite stations. Among the network's significant achievements:

-- The first affiliate granted a commercial TV license (WNBT New York, 1941).

-- First telecast of a World Series (1947).

-- First regular coast-to-coast TV network service (1951).

-- First compatible color broadcasts receivable on black-and-white or color sets (1953).

-- First TV western in color (``Bonanza,'' 1959).

-- First regular program to use communications satellite transmission (``Today,'' 1965).

-- First entire prime-time schedule in color (1965).

-- First network TV stereocast (``The Tonight Show,'' 1984).

-- First regularly scheduled program in high-definition television (``The Tonight Show,'' 1999).

``Every time you look at the foundations of American broadcasting, NBC is there, every time,'' said Bob Gustafson, director of the Entertainment Industry Institute at California State University, Northridge.

There were just 5,000 radios in American homes in 1920, but 2.5 million by the middle of the decade. Comedian Milton Berle further fulfilled Sarnoff's expectation that good entertainment programming would sell receivers when his popularity with ``Texaco Star Theater'' in 1948 sent television sales through the roof, to the benefit of NBC, CBS, ABC and the short-lived DuMont network.

Gustafson pointed out that NBC also established important core elements of the broadcasting business model.

``The network-affiliate relationship was created by David Sarnoff,'' he said. ``Networks were created to give value to the stations, that being regularly scheduled, high-quality programming. That was a totally radical concept, and that's the way it's still done.''

Sarnoff created the network compensation plan, which remained in practice until the last couple of years. In essence, the networks paid affiliates to carry network programming, assuring the network advertisers broad national audiences.

``You're going to get the highest-quality programming and be paid to take it,'' Gustafson said. ``That was Sarnoff's thing. You're paid to do nothing. It was cheaper for a station to be a network affiliate than to be independent.''

Skyrocketing program costs, especially for NFL games and the Olympics, prompted the networks to reduce those fees or stop paying them altogether in the last two years. (NBC also took the leadership in that move, according to reports by station owners.)

In the '50s, NBC president Sylvester ``Pat'' Weaver, a former advertising executive, was the first to wrest control of a TV network's prime-time schedule from sponsors. ``Before then, the advertisers owned the programs. Texaco produced the show, and NBC was the distributor,'' Gustafson said. ``The networks had to schedule it according to the advertiser demand.''

When Weaver took over scheduling, he paired compatible shows and used hit programs to boost newer ones - the now-common concept of lead-in and lead-out positioning.

Weaver also launched network morning information programming with ``Today'' in 1952 and persuaded millions of Americans to alter their bedtime routines in 1954 when he picked up Steve Allen's popular New York talk show and dubbed it ``The Tonight Show.''

In prime time, NBC gave singer Nat ``King'' Cole a variety show in 1956 that showcased other African-American musical talents.

``Bill Cosby was the first black actor to have a leading role in a series, with 'I Spy,''' said David Bushman, curator of the Museum of Television and Radio. Three years later, in 1968, NBC gave Diahann Carroll the first African-American woman's role perceived as prestigious - that of a nurse and single mother in the comedy ``Julia.''

In the '80s when Grant Tinker and Brandon Tartikoff were running NBC, Bushman said, the network ``made the shift from the sort of 'Nick at Night' years to more relevant programming.''

NBC brought the ensemble drama to the fore with ``Hill Street Blues'' in 1981, and rekindled the practically dormant family sitcom with ``The Cosby Show'' in 1984, which since has led to a rash of series centered on stand-up comics.

However, with notable exceptions like ``Bonanza,'' ``Laugh-In'' and ``Sanford and Son,'' NBC conceded the ratings game to CBS and sometimes ABC from the mid-'50s through the '70s. And it can't erase clunkers like ``My Mother the Car'' and ``B.J. and the Bear'' from history books.

``Man, did CBS ever kill them on programming,'' Gustafson said. ``But in terms of technical innovations and firsts, it's nearly all NBC.''

THE NBC 75TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

What: Three-hour live telecast from Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, featuring Bill Cosby, Michael J. Fox, Kelsey Grammer, Jerry Seinfeld, Ted Danson, Don Johnson, Hugh Downs, Barbara Eden, Don Adams, Peter Falk ...

Where: NBC.

When: 8 tonight.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 6 -- cover -- color) 75 YEARS OF NBC

Photo Illustration

(7) David Sarnoff, left, founder of NBC, with the man who invented radio, Guglielmo Marconi.