98-461: NBC Orchestra may refer to: NBC Symphony Orchestra , which existed from 1937 until 1954 The Tonight Show Band , who used the name from 1962 to 1992 Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band , who used the name briefly from 1987 to 1988 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
196-540: A "remarkable turnaround" with the success of artists including Britney Spears , the Dave Matthews Band , Natalie Imbruglia , the Verve Pipe , Robyn , SWV , Christina Aguilera , NSYNC , and Foo Fighters . A distribution deal with Loud Records yielded hit records from urban artists including Big Punisher , Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep . In 2002, BMG fully acquired J Records , which it had founded in 2000 as
294-607: A 1945 recording of Ferde Grofé 's Grand Canyon Suite became the NBC Symphony's first LP release (LM-1004). A mainstay of RCA Victor's Red Seal catalog through the 1950s, most of the Toscanini/NBC Symphony recordings were reissued on the lower-priced RCA Victrola label to celebrate Toscanini's centenary in 1967. In the 1980s, RCA began digitally remastering recordings of the orchestra for release on compact disc . A complete reissue of all Toscanini's RCA Victor recordings
392-559: A British punk rock label, and Jive Records , whose roster included Schooly D , Kool Moe Dee , and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince . By the end of the fiscal year 1988, RCA Records had gross revenue of $ 236 million in the United States, the most profitable year in the label's history. The album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range , sold more than three million copies, and
490-455: A different supporting cast. They also issued two studio cast versions of Show Boat , one with Robert Merrill, Patrice Munsel , and Rise Stevens in 1956, and the other with Howard Keel , Anne Jeffreys , and Gogi Grant in 1958. Contrary to the way the show is written, both of these Show Boat albums featured all-white casts, reflecting the era of racial segregation. In 2006, Sony BMG merged its Broadway music labels, including RCA Victor, to
588-618: A joint venture called RCA/Ariola International. In December 1985, the RCA Corporation was purchased by General Electric (GE), with the acquisition completed in June, 1986. GE sold its 50% interest in RCA Records to its partner Bertelsmann and the company was renamed BMG Music for Bertelsmann Music Group. BMG revived the RCA "lightning bolt" logo that was retired in 1968 to differentiate RCA Records from
686-829: A joint venture with Clive Davis . Davis was then named chairman of RCA Records and J Records under the auspices of a new entity, the RCA Music Group , which included RCA Records, J, and Arista Records . In 2004, Sony and BMG merged their music divisions to create Sony BMG , and in 2007, the RCA Music Group was rebranded as the BMG Label Group . In 2006, Sony BMG merged its former Broadway music and classical labels, including Red Seal and Gold Seal, to Sony Masterworks . Legacy Recordings , Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division, reissued classic albums from RCA. In April 2008, former Zomba Label Group president and CEO Barry Weiss
784-783: A number of recordings with the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra , which was usually drawn from either Philadelphia or New York musicians, as well as members of the Symphony of the Air, and the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera . By the late 1950s, RCA Victor had fewer high prestige orchestras under contract than Columbia had: RCA Victor recorded the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , the Boston Symphony Orchestra , and
882-515: A period during which RCA Records had notable success in the pop genre, with Christina Aguilera, Kesha , Pink , Kelly Clarkson and Pitbull scoring multiple #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. In May 2011, former Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris was appointed chairman of Sony Music Entertainment . Focused on A&R, Morris named Peter Edge , president of A&R at RCA and J Records, chairman and CEO of RCA Music Group. Tom Corson
980-857: A practice of simultaneously recording orchestras with both stereophonic and monaural equipment. Other early stereo recordings were made of Toscanini's final NBC concerts (never officially issued) and Guido Cantelli respectively, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra; the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner . Initially, RCA used RT-21 quarter-inch tape recorders (which ran at 30 inches per second), wired to mono mixers, with Neumann U-47 cardioid and M-49/50 omnidirectional microphones. Then they switched to an Ampex 300–3 one-half inch machine, running at 15 inches per second (which
1078-431: A shallower and more closely spaced implementation of the large "standard groove" found on contemporary 78 rpm records, rather than the "microgroove" used for post-World War II 33 1 ⁄ 3 rpm " LP " (long play) records. The format was a commercial failure, partly because the new Victrolas with two-speed turntables designed to play these records were exorbitantly priced, the least expensive model retailing for $ 395.00 in
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#17328476477511176-485: A similarly controversial reputation, derided by some record collectors as "Dynawarp". RCA gradually phased out Dynaflex records and by the end of the 1970s had returned to manufacturing thicker vinyl records. In April 1970, RCA Records announced the first quadraphonic 4-channel 8-track tape cartridges ("Quad-8", later called just Q8). RCA began releasing quadraphonic vinyl recordings in the United States in February 1973, in
1274-475: A three-year contract following a dispute between Toscanini and NBC. During this time Toscanini continued to lead the orchestra in a series of public benefit concerts for war relief. He returned as Stokowski's co-conductor for the 1942–43 and 1943–44 seasons, resuming full control thereafter. Upon Toscanini's retirement in the spring of 1954, NBC officially disbanded the orchestra, much to Toscanini's distress, though it continued for several years independent of NBC, as
1372-491: Is derived from the initials of its now defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and became a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment after the 2004 merger of BMG and Sony; it was acquired by the latter in 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music. RCA Records
1470-644: Is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine Company . In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company , then the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs (including the famous " Victrola ") and phonograph records . The company then became the RCA Victor Division of RCA. In absorbing Victor, RCA acquired the New World rights to
1568-510: The Boston Pops Orchestra disc featuring Tchaikovsky 's Marche Slave and Ketèlbey 's In a Persian Market . RCA Victor issued boxed sets of four to six 45s, each set providing about the same amount of music as one LP (an extreme example of these 45 rpm boxed sets was the complete 1951 recording of the opera Carmen , featuring Risë Stevens and Jan Peerce , conducted by Fritz Reiner , which consisted of sixteen 45 rpm discs). In
1666-612: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra . However, many former NBC Symphony members, in an attempt to stay together and preserve the orchestra, regrouped as a new ensemble called the "Symphony of the Air". They made their first recording on September 21, 1954, and gave their first public concert at the United Nations 9th Anniversary Celebration on October 24. On November 14, they appeared on the acclaimed Omnibus TV program in which Leonard Bernstein , making his first television appearance, discussed Beethoven 's Fifth Symphony , and Bernstein led
1764-787: The National Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded in London's Kingsway Hall . In order to publish music in Japan, RCA collaborated with the Victor Company of Japan's publishing wing Victor Musical Industries Inc. in 1975 to found Japanese record label RVC. In October 1976, the RCA Corporation announced the revival of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. RCA Records reinstated Nipper to most (Victor, Victrola , Red Seal and Special Products) record labels (in addition to returning to
1862-685: The Nipper / His Master's Voice trademark for use in Japan. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban . Virtually all union musicians in the US and Canada were forbidden from making recordings during the period. One of the few exceptions was the eventual release of recorded radio broadcast performances from the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini . However, RCA Victor lost
1960-660: The Philadelphia Orchestra during this period; the orchestra's contract with RCA Victor expired during the strike and when Columbia Records settled with the union before RCA Victor, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphians signed a new contract with Columbia and began recording in 1944. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra would not return to RCA until 1968. In the spring of 1946, "RCA Victor" replaced "Victor" on its record labels. In 1949, RCA Victor introduced
2058-687: The RCA Thesaurus label at its RCA Recorded Program Services studio in New York City. These recordings were not offered for sale to the general public and were intended solely for use in broadcasts carried over leading radio networks. By 1936, RCA's extensive musical library of recordings was eventually consolidated with NBC's own transcription division. During the 1950s, it included popular music by noted musicians, such as Sammy Kaye , Freddie Martin , Lawrence Welk and John Serry Sr. Besides manufacturing its own records, RCA's Custom Record Division
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#17328476477512156-1678: The Symphony of the Air . Toscanini's final broadcast concert with the orchestra took place at Carnegie Hall on April 4, 1954, and he conducted the orchestra for the last time during RCA Victor recording sessions held June 3 and 5, 1954. Some notable musicians who were members of the orchestra include violinists Samuel Antek , Leonid Bolotine, Henry Clifton, Felix Galimir , Josef Gingold , Daniel Guilet (concertmaster 1952–54), Harry Lookofsky , Mischa Mischakoff (concertmaster 1937–1952), Albert Pratz , David Sarser , Oscar Shumsky , Benjamin Steinberg , Herman Spielberg, Boris Koutzen and Andor Toth ; violists Carlton Cooley , Milton Katims , William Primrose , and Tibor Serly ; cellists Frank Miller , Leonard Rose , Harvey Shapiro , Alan Shulman , George Koutzen and David Soyer ; double bassists Homer Mensch and Oscar G. Zimmerman ; flutists Carmine Coppola , D. Antoinette Handy , Arthur Lora and Paul Renzi; clarinetists Augustin Duques, Al Gallodoro , David Weber and Alexander Williams; trombonist Norberto (Robert) Paolucci; saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer ; oboists Robert Bloom, Paolo Renzi and Chauncey Vernon Kelley, Jr.; bassoonists Elias Carmen, Benjamin Kohon, William Polisi, Leonard Sharrow and Arthur Weisberg ; French horn players Arthur Berv, Harry Berv, Jack Berv and Albert Stagliano; Harry Glantz, Bernard Baker, and Raymond Crisara trumpets and tuba player William Bell , among others. Not all of
2254-591: The soundtrack album from the film Dirty Dancing , which cost RCA $ 200,000 to produce, sold 15.6 million copies in less than two years. Its follow-up, More Dirty Dancing , composed of song tracks which had been left off of the first album, was produced for $ 80,000 and went on to sell more than 5.6 million. RCA's most successful artists during the 1980s included the Eurythmics , Love and Rockets , Joshua Perahia , Rick Astley , Hall & Oates , Dolly Parton , Juice Newton , and Bucks Fizz . In August 1990, Buziak
2352-637: The 26 documentary programs (recorded in Rockefeller Center's Center Theatre ). The series is currently available on DVD. The first RCA Victor LP of excerpts was recorded by Bennett and the NBC SO musicians in July 1953. Bennett would later lead stereo recordings of volume 2 in 1957, a re-make of volume 1 in 1959, and a concluding volume 3 in 1961, conducting the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra (members of
2450-459: The 45 became the preferred speed for pop music singles, overtaking U.S. sales of the same material on 78s by 1954, but Columbia's LP prevailed as the favored format for classical music and convenient one-disc "album" collections of eight or more pop songs. RCA Victor finally bowed to the inevitable and announced its intention to issue LPs in January, 1950. Among the first RCA Victor LPs released in 1950
2548-467: The 47-xxxx series), rhythm and blues on orange or cerise (50-xxxx series), and international on light blue (51-xxxx series). This array of colors complicated the production process, and the practice was soon discontinued, all records becoming black. Yellow and red Red Seal records held on until about 1952. The first 45 rpm record manufactured was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0147 pressed December 7, 1948 at
2646-412: The 7-inch 45 rpm micro-grooved vinylite record, marketed simply as the "45". The new format, which had been under development for over a decade, was originally intended to replace 78 rpm discs. By the time RCA Victor unveiled it, the 45 was now competing with the 10-inch and 12-inch 33 1 ⁄ 3 rpm microgroove vinyl " LP " (Long Play) discs introduced by arch-rival Columbia Records in
2744-589: The Boston Pops, whereas Columbia had the Cleveland Orchestra , the Philadelphia Orchestra , and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under contracts. On October 6, 1953, RCA Victor held experimental stereophonic sessions in New York City's Manhattan Center with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of New York City musicians in performances of George Enescu 's Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and
2842-523: The CD-4 format developed by its former subsidiary, the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), and made commercially practical by Quadracast Systems Inc. (QSI). RCA's trade name became "Quadradisc". The CD-4 format required a special cartridge that had a ±1 db frequency response out to 50 kHz, a CD-4 demodulator which decoded the difference between the front and rear channels from a 30 kHz subcarrier, four separate amplifier channels, and four separate speakers for
2940-453: The NBC Symphony Orchestra for commercial release early in 1938; Mozart 's Symphony No. 40 , Haydn's Symphony No. 88 , Rossini 's William Tell Overture and the second and third movements from Beethoven 's String Quartet, Op. 135 , were among the first works to be recorded. The orchestra recorded initially in Studio 8-H, but RCA Victor producer Charles O'Connell soon decided to hold most of
3038-601: The NBC Symphony Orchestra". On April 6, 1954, just two days after Toscanini's final concert with the orchestra, Guido Cantelli made a recording in Carnegie Hall of César Franck 's Symphony in D minor . Though the performance was recorded in stereo, RCA Victor initially issued the recording in mono. The label finally issued the stereo version in 1978. After the NBC Symphony Orchestra disbanded, some members went on to play with other orchestras, such as Frank Miller (principal cello ) and Leonard Sharrow (principal bassoon ) with
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3136-743: The NBC Symphony Orchestra, in the 1963 telecast of Gian Carlo Menotti 's written-for-television opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors , with an all-new cast. The orchestra disbanded in 1963. RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment , a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation . RCA Records is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA 's former long-time rival Columbia Records ; also Arista Records , and Epic Records . The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop , classical , rock , hip hop , afrobeat , electronic , R&B , blues , jazz , and country . The label's name
3234-401: The NBC Symphony performers were under full-time contracts to NBC. In the early 1950s, for example, only about 55 of these musicians were salaried; the rest were hired under per-service contracts (in line with Local 802 American Federation of Musicians wage scales) to bring the orchestra's performing and recording strength up to the 85 to 100 seen in period photographs and video footage. Even for
3332-676: The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark for which EMI held the rights to in the U.K. and Europe. RCA set up its own British manufacturing and distribution in 1969. RCA Victor issued several spoken word albums in the 1950s and 60s, notably the soundtracks of the films Richard III , A Man for All Seasons and The Taming of the Shrew , as well as complete versions of the National Theatre of Great Britain stage productions of Othello (starring Laurence Olivier ) and Much Ado About Nothing (starring Maggie Smith , who also played Desdemona in
3430-595: The Olivier Othello ). None of these albums have appeared on compact disc, but the films of Richard III , A Man For All Seasons , The Taming of the Shrew and the filmed version of Olivier's Othello have all been issued on DVD. In 1960, RCA Victor announced the Compact 33 double extended play and singles; these were 7 inch records, which played at 33 1/3 rpm. In January 1961, the Compact 33 discs were released simultaneously with their 45 rpm counterparts. The long-term goal
3528-503: The RCA Nashville division and in March, 1995 was replaced by Bob Jamieson, the president of RCA's Canadian division. Jamieson overhauled RCA, streamlining middle management and retooling the label's marketing department. The A&R department was again restructured and the roster of artists further reduced. By the close of the decade, RCA Records had undergone what Billboard described as
3626-589: The Reggae Album of the Year Grammy. In June 2020, the label partnered with the Human Rights Campaign to present the 2020 Pride Benefit Concert, a livestream supporting LGBTQ equality in June. RCA artists including Isaac Dunbar, Cam, and Citizen Queen performed. SZA released the single " Good Days " on December 25. In January 2021, Mark Pitts was appointed president of RCA Records and John Fleckenstein
3724-856: The Sherman Drive plant in Indianapolis. The use of vinyl, which was much more expensive than the gritty shellac compound normally used for 78s, was actually cheaper because of the smaller diameter and greatly reduced bulk of the new records, which required very little raw material. The smaller, lightweight discs were also more economical to store and ship. RCA Victor marketed the 45 as a direct replacement for 10-inch and 12-inch 78 rpm records, which typically played for about three and four minutes per side respectively. The company also released some " extended play " (EP) 45s with playing times up to 7 minutes per side, primarily for vocal collections and light classical selections, as typified by an Arthur Fiedler and
3822-561: The Symphony of the Air during its first season. With an Asian tour under the auspices of the State Department and an attendance of 60,000 at concerts in the Catskills that summer, the first season was a huge success. In 1957, Symphony of the Air concerts or recordings used 80% or more veteran NBC Symphony musicians. Some 70 of the 75 players having steady "binder contracts" were former NBC players; when more were needed for an engagement, it
3920-470: The Symphony of the Air). RCA has reissued all of these recordings on CD. In 1954, shortly after the orchestra's final concerts with Toscanini, Stokowski made stereo recordings for RCA Victor of excerpts from Prokofiev 's ballet Romeo and Juliet and Gian Carlo Menotti 's ballet Sebastian . The recordings were originally issued (monophonically) as "Leopold Stokowski and his orchestra", but reissued as "members of
4018-637: The UK and its territories on the HMV label until 1957. RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV recordings on the RCA Victor and special HMV labels in North America. Due to hostilities between Japan and the United States during World War II , ties between RCA Victor and its Japanese subsidiary Victor Company of Japan (Nippon Victor) were severed. JVC's record company is known today as Victor Entertainment and still retains
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4116-457: The Vik label was discontinued the following year. From the label's beginnings in 1902, and intensifying through the 1940s and 1950s, RCA Victor was in direct competition with Columbia Records . A number of recordings were made with the NBC Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Arturo Toscanini ; sometimes RCA Victor utilized recordings of broadcast concerts (Toscanini had been recording for the label since
4214-437: The broadcast concerts to Carnegie Hall , where many of the orchestra's recording sessions and special concerts had already taken place. For the new ensemble, many NBC staff musicians were auditioned by Rodzinski and Chotzinoff, along with about 700 members of other orchestras or chamber-music groups; 31 NBC players were retained in the new orchestra. The American Federation of Musicians union minimum for such staff work at NBC
4312-624: The broadcasts were commercially sponsored, primarily by General Motors . Under GM's sponsorship the NBC Symphony broadcasts went out under the title of General Motors Symphony of the Air, not to be confused with the later orchestra of the same name. Other sponsors included the House of Squibb , the Reynolds Metals Company , and the Socony Vacuum Oil Company ( Mobil ). RCA Victor began making studio recordings of Toscanini conducting
4410-518: The case of operas, symphonies and other complete recordings of classical music, there was an interruption every four minutes as one record side ended and another side began. These disruptive "side breaks", a nuisance long familiar to listeners of album sets of classical and operatic 78 rpm records, were minimized by an extremely fast automatic record-changing mechanism that was a core feature of RCA Victor's 45 players. Thanks in large degree to RCA Victor's massive five million dollar advertising campaign,
4508-490: The center and edge of a record are thicker than the playing area, reducing scuff marks during handling and when stacked on a turntable with an automatic record changer. Most competitors quickly adopted the raised label and edges. In 1955, RCA Victor purchased the recording contract of Elvis Presley from Sun Records for the then-exorbitant sum of $ 40,000. His first single for RCA Victor was " Heartbreak Hotel ", recorded in January 1956. Ten million Presley singles were sold by
4606-417: The days of acoustic recordings , and RCA Victor had been recording the NBC Symphony since its creation in 1937). After Toscanini retired in the spring of 1954, the NBC Symphony was reorganized later that year as the Symphony of the Air . The orchestra, while no longer connected to NBC, continued to record for RCA Victor, as well as other labels, usually conducted by Leopold Stokowski . RCA Victor also released
4704-602: The depths of the Great Depression . By 1933, the format was abandoned and two-speed turntables were no longer offered, but some Program Transcriptions lingered in the Victor record catalog until the end of the 1930s. During the early days of the Depression, RCA Victor made a number of attempts to create a successful low-priced label to compete with " dime store labels" such as Perfect , Oriole , Banner , and Melotone . The first
4802-552: The direction of Monteux. Toscanini conducted ten concerts that first season, making his NBC debut on December 25, 1937. In addition to weekly broadcasts on the NBC Red and Blue networks, the NBC Symphony Orchestra made many recordings for RCA Victor . Televised concerts began in March 1948 and continued until March 1952. During the summer of 1950, NBC converted Studio 8-H into a television studio (the broadcast home of NBC's late-night comedy program Saturday Night Live since 1975) and moved
4900-512: The early summer of 1948. In heavy promotion, RCA Victor sold compact, inexpensive add-on and stand-alone units that played the 45 rpm format exclusively. At first, RCA Victor's 45s were issued on colored vinyl according to the musical genre: contemporary pop music on black vinyl (47-xxxx series), prestigious Broadway musicals and operettas on "midnight blue" vinyl (52-xxxx series), classical music on red vinyl (49-xxxx series), country and polka on green (48-xxxx series), children's fare on yellow (also in
4998-579: The famous Nipper /" His Master's Voice " trademark . In 1931, RCA Victor's British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI . This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33 1 ⁄ 3 rpm records sold to the public, calling them "Program Transcription" records. These used
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#17328476477515096-582: The first half of the decade, RCA released platinum and multi-platinum records by artists including A$ AP Rocky , Cage the Elephant , Chris Brown , Kelly Clarkson , Miley Cyrus , D'Angelo , Dave Matthews Band , Foo Fighters , G-Eazy , Jennifer Hudson , R. Kelly , Kesha , Khalid , Alicia Keys , Kings of Leon , Miguel , Pentatonix , P!nk , Pitbull , Shakira , Sia , Britney Spears , Bryson Tiller , Justin Timberlake , T-Pain , and Tinashe . Since 2012,
5194-408: The first rank for Toscanini and NBC. Artur Rodziński , an orchestra builder and musical task master in his own right, was engaged to mold and train the new orchestra in anticipation of the arrival of Toscanini. It offered the highest salaries of any orchestra at the time and a 52-week contract. Prominent musicians from major orchestras around the country were recruited and the conductor Pierre Monteux
5292-466: The first stereo 8-track tape music Cartridges ( Stereo 8 ) which were first used in the 1966 line of Ford automobiles and were popular throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. (The initial release comprised 175 titles from RCA Victor and RCA Camden's catalog of artists.) In late 1968, the Radio Corporation of America, wishing to modernize its image, introduced what was then a futuristic-looking new logo (the letters 'RCA' in block, modernized form), replacing
5390-485: The format never became popular, and both RCA and CBS/Columbia abandoned quadraphonic recording in 1976; some of the RCA sessions were later remastered for Dolby encoding (same as Peter Scheiber 's original matrix system) and released on compact disc This included Charles Gerhardt 's acclaimed series of RCA Red Seal albums devoted to classic film scores by Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Alfred Newman , Dimitri Tiomkin , Max Steiner , Franz Waxman , and others, performed by
5488-506: The label bought back $ 25 million in unsold albums and lost $ 35 million during the fiscal year 1987. As a partial corrective, a decentralized style of management which allowed RCA Records to function as a free-standing entrepreneurial business was implemented for 1988. Buziak drastically cut the RCA roster from around 40 artists to 11, and began to rebuild it with a focus on developing new artists, including artists acquired through marketing and distribution agreements with Beggars Banquet Records ,
5586-542: The label during 1956; Presley went on to become RCA Victor's biggest selling artist. Effective in 1957, EMI/HMV ended its 55-year association with RCA Victor, after EMI's acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955. Capitol then became the main distributor for EMI recordings in the Americas; Decca Records became the manufacturer and distributor for RCA Victor in the United Kingdom, using the RCA lightning bolt logo, instead of
5684-658: The label had signed Thai rapper Lisa , a member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink , for her venture into American solo endeavors. RCA Victor has produced several notable Broadway cast albums, among them the original Broadway recordings of Brigadoon , Paint Your Wagon , the Mary Martin Peter Pan , Damn Yankees , Hello, Dolly! , Oliver! , and Fiddler on the Roof . RCA has also recorded and released recordings of revival stagings of musicals. These include
5782-412: The label has released music by artists including: Kevin Abstract , A$ AP Ferg , Becky G , Bleachers , Brockhampton , Bryson Tiller , Cam , G-Eazy , Childish Gambino , Martin Garrix , H.E.R. , Normani , Kaytranada , Khalid , Kygo , Tate McRae , Mark Ronson , Sasha Sloan , Jazmine Sullivan , SZA , ZAYN . In 2015, RCA Records reinstated its 1968 space-age 'RCA' styled logo after utilizing
5880-403: The left and right front and left and right rear. Both the CD-4 Quadradisc and Quad-8 tape cartridge systems were true discrete 4–4–4 quadraphonic systems. Columbia Records introduced a quadraphonic matrix system, SQ, which required a decoder, 4-channel amplifier and the four speakers. The SQ system was referred to as a 4–2–4 matrix system. The Warner Music Group labels also adopted Quadradisc, but
5978-607: The lightning bolt logo since 1987. The lightning bolt logo is still used by RCA's Nashville division. John Fleckenstein and Joe Riccitelli were appointed as co-presidents of RCA Records in January 2018. Later that year, RCA named Keith Naftaly president of A&R, and Tunji Balogun executive VP of A&R. In addition to releasing successful albums by Bryson Tiller, Alicia Keys, Fousheé' and Pentatonix in 2020, RCA had #1 records with Doja Cat 's "Say So" feat. Nicki Minaj ; Miley Cyrus' " Plastic Hearts " and Chris Brown & Young Thug's " Go Crazy ". Brockhampton's single "Sugar"
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#17328476477516076-452: The musical productions staged at Lincoln Center , such as the 1966 revivals of Show Boat and Annie Get Your Gun , the 1987 revival of Anything Goes and the 1998 Broadway revivals of Cabaret and The Sound of Music . Call Me Madam was recorded by RCA Victor with all of its original cast except for its star Ethel Merman , who, due to contractual obligations, could not be released from her American Decca Records contract. She
6174-433: The network, called the Symphony of the Air , followed. It was made up of former members of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and performed from 1954 to 1963, particularly under Leopold Stokowski . Tom Lewis, in the Organization of American Historians Magazine of History , described NBC's plan for cultural programming and the origin of the NBC Symphony: Sarnoff devoted considerable effort and resources to create an orchestra of
6272-422: The new Masterworks Broadway Records . All of these recordings are now on Masterworks Broadway Records , which has remastered and reissued many of these albums. Victor's early recording studios were established in Philadelphia in 1901 and then at its headquarters in Camden, New Jersey and also in New York. In 1917, Victor acquired the abandoned Trinity Church located at 114 North 5th Street in Camden and used it as
6370-553: The orchestra presented a virtuoso live presentation of Sergei Rachmaninoff 's Second Piano Concerto . For nearly a decade, the Symphony of the Air performed many concerts led by Stokowski , the orchestra's music director from 1955. The orchestra recorded widely (on RCA Victor, Columbia, Vanguard and United Artists) under leading conductors, including Stokowski, Bernstein , Monteux , Fritz Reiner , Bruno Walter , Kirill Kondrashin , Sir Thomas Beecham , Alfred Wallenstein and Josef Krips . Only once more did they use their old name,
6468-404: The orchestra recorded in 8-H sporadically as late as June 1950, after which the studio was converted for television broadcasting. From the autumn of 1950 until June 1954, all NBC Symphony radio broadcasts and RCA Victor recording sessions took place in Carnegie Hall. RCA Victor released the orchestra's recordings on its flagship Red Seal label on the then-standard 78-rpm record format. In 1950,
6566-486: The original lightning bolt logo, and the virtual retirement of both the Victor and Nipper/His Master's Voice trademarks. The Radio Corporation of America officially changed its name to the RCA Corporation; the RCA Victor Division was now known as RCA Records. The 'Victor' trademark was restricted to the labels and album covers of RCA's regular popular record releases. RCA Victor record labels were changed to bright orange or yellow (becoming tan briefly late in 1975–76), replacing
6664-468: The other RCA divisions, which GE either liquidated, sold, or closed. BMG also revived the "RCA Victor" label for Red Seal, Broadway and soundtrack releases and other musical genres outside of rock, pop and country music. In 1986, Bob Buziak, formerly an artist manager, was appointed president of the label. During the mid-1980s, RCA Records operated at a deficit, due in part to "overpriced deals" with pop stars including Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross . In 1986,
6762-432: The prefix "LSP". RCA utilized these catalog prefixes until 1973, when they were changed to "ARL1" and "APL1" for stereo classical and stereo non-classical single LPs, respectively. During the 1950s, RCA Victor had three subsidiary or specialty labels: Groove , Vik and "X". The edition of Billboard magazine dated April 11, 1953, announced a new RCA Victor subsidiary label, its first to use independent distribution and
6860-487: The public’s perception of the Orchestra as a full-time organization exclusively at Toscanini’s beck and call, but Fortune disclosed in 1938 that these instrumentalists played other radio—and, later, television—broadcasts: “the Toscanini concerts have been allocated only fifteen of the thirty hours a week each man works, including rehearsals.” The orchestra's first broadcast was on November 13, 1937, and it continued until disbanded in April 1954. A new ensemble, independent of
6958-458: The salaried members, NBC Symphony duties constituted barely half of their work obligations for NBC; these musicians played in orchestras for other NBC radio and television programs, with many of the wind players also serving with the Cities Service "Band of America" conducted by Paul Lavalle. In the first several seasons the NBC Symphony broadcasts were "sustaining" programs, meaning that they were paid for and presented by NBC itself. In later years
7056-483: The seven complete operas he conducted at NBC between 1944 and 1954; however, several other labels have released discs taken from off-the-air recordings of NBC broadcast concerts. Toscanini's final two broadcast programs, in the spring of 1954, were experimentally recorded in stereo, but he did not approve their release; many years passed before they were finally issued unofficially by labels other than RCA Victor. Recorded in rather primitive and "minimalist" two-channel sound,
7154-626: The stereo antiphonal effect is striking (if crude); but the complete performance from March 21, 1954, of the Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 ("Pathetique") is not entirely stereo as the master 2-track tape of the entire 'Allegro molto vivace' third movement had apparently been lost; an artificial stereo synthesis is substituted. The missing portion of the stereo recording of the third movement was later found. The complete series of ten NBC Symphony telecasts has been issued on VHS and LaserDisc by RCA in 1990 and on DVD by Testament in 2006. While
7252-463: The studio recording sessions in Carnegie Hall. However, many live broadcast performances originating in Studio 8H were also released on records, and subsequently on CD. The dry acoustics of Studio 8-H, designed for broadcasting, were found to be less than ideal for recording. Acoustical modifications began in 1939 were thought to have greatly improved the sound of Studio 8H; although most NBC Symphony recording sessions were shifted to Carnegie Hall in 1940,
7350-494: The title NBC Orchestra . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NBC_Orchestra&oldid=985090014 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra
7448-592: The traditional black label color for popular releases) in countries where RCA held the rights to the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. Nipper was once again widely used in RCA newspaper and magazine advertisements and sales literature, as well as store displays and promotional items such as T-shirts caps, posters, coin banks, keychains, watches, coffee mugs and stuffed toys. The trademark was also restored to RCA stationery, shipping cartons and company vehicles. In 1983, Arista Records owner Bertelsmann sold 50% of Arista to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA Records formed
7546-424: The traditional black label color in use since 1901. The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark was seen only on the album covers of RCA Red Seal Records . RCA Records introduced a thin, pliable, lightweight vinyl LP record known as Dynaflex in late 1969. This very thin, flexible record claimed to overcome warping and other problems encountered with conventional thicker LP records and like Dynagroove, it soon developed
7644-419: The videos derive from kinescopes , the sound tracks were carefully synchronized from the highest fidelity transcriptions and tapes that exist. One of the NBC Symphony Orchestra's most ambitious projects was the recording of the 13-hour musical score for NBC Television's 1952–53 series Victory at Sea . Robert Russell Bennett conducted the orchestra in his arrangements of Richard Rodgers ' musical themes for
7742-620: The waltz from Tchaikovsky 's opera Eugene Onegin . There were additional stereo tests in December, again in the Manhattan Center, this time with Pierre Monteux conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In February 1954, RCA Victor made its first commercial stereophonic recordings, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Münch , in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. This began
7840-492: Was Gaîté Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach , performed by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra , which had been recorded in Boston 's Symphony Hall on June 20, 1947; the record was given the catalogue number LM-1001. Non-classical LP record albums were issued with the prefix "LPM". When RCA Victor began issuing classical LPs in stereophonic sound in 1958, the prefix "LSC" was used. Non-classical stereo LPs were issued with
7938-452: Was $ 105 weekly, but many instrumentalists were paid considerably more. Fortune magazine disclosed that the NBC's extra cost for all the above-scale musicians, plus Toscanini’s salary—as compared with a typical staff conductor’s—amounted to about $ 250K more than an orchestra of union-scale players under typical staff conductors. Leopold Stokowski served as principal conductor from 1941 to 1944 on
8036-553: Was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff , the president of the Radio Corporation of America , the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini . The NBC Symphony Orchestra performed weekly radio broadcast concerts with Toscanini and other conductors and several of its players served in the house orchestra for the NBC Radio Network . NBC encouraged
8134-696: Was appointed chairman of the BMG Label Group, and Davis was named chief creative officer of Sony BMG worldwide. In October, Sony acquired BMG's 50% ownership and the BMG Label Group was merged with the Jive Label Group to establish the RCA/Jive Label Group . It included RCA, Jive, J, Arista, Polo Grounds, LaFace Records , Volcano Entertainment , Hitz Committee , Battery Records , and the Verity Gospel Music Group . The decade marked
8232-467: Was certified platinum, and singles by Flo Milli and Latto (formerly known as "Mulatto") were certified gold. Both Doja Cat and Kaytranada received multiple Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, H.E.R. received her 13th Grammy nomination, and the Strokes album The New Abnormal won for Best Rock Album. Koffee signed with RCA just after she became the first woman and the youngest person to win
8330-512: Was distributed by RCA, which had released the Broadway cast album. RCA Victor also released the original American cast album of Hair . Similarly, RCA Victor also made several studio cast recording albums, including a Lerner and Loewe series with Jan Peerce , Jane Powell , and Robert Merrill , as well as a 1963 album of excerpts from George Gershwin 's Porgy and Bess , with its 1952 revival leads, Leontyne Price and William Warfield , but
8428-536: Was hired as well to work with the orchestra in its formative months. A new large broadcast studio was built for the orchestra at NBC's Radio City Studios in Rockefeller Center , New York, Studio 8-H. In addition to creating prestige for the network, there has been speculation that one of the reasons NBC created the orchestra was to deflect a congressional inquiry into broadcasting standards. The orchestra's first broadcast concert aired on November 13, 1937, under
8526-600: Was later increased to 30 inches per second). These recordings were initially issued in 1955 on special stereophonic reel-to-reel tapes and then, beginning in 1958, on vinyl LPs with the "Living Stereo" logo. RCA has continued to reissue many of these "Living Stereo" recordings on CD. Another 1953 project for RCA was converting the acoustically superior building Webster Hall into its main East Coast recording studio. RCA Victor operated this studio venue from 1953 to 1968. In September 1954, RCA Victor introduced "Gruve-Gard" where
8624-737: Was named chief operating officer. Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales hit #1 on the Billboard R&;B albums chart. Tate McRae's " You Broke Me First " (stylized as "you broke me first") was quadruple platinum in Ireland, double platinum in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand, and platinum in the US, UK, Australia, Finland, France, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. She was #1 on the Billboard emerging artist chart. In April 2024, Variety announced that
8722-555: Was named president and COO. On the seventh of October of that year, the Jive, Arista and J imprints were altogether permanently merged into RCA. As a result, the RCA Music Group was then disbanded and RCA was reinstated as a standalone label under the Sony Music umbrella. Following the shutdown of the three labels, a majority of various artists from the rosters of Jive, Arista and/or J were shifted to release future material under RCA. During
8820-416: Was nameless when it was first revealed. For the lack of any better designation, Billboard chose to refer to the new, unnamed label in the story as Label "X"; the new label began to hire staffers and decide on a direction, and the name stuck until 1955. RCA Victor officially announced the formation of label "X" on April 20, 1953. Groove was an R&B specialty label founded in 1954 and folded into Vik in 1957;
8918-517: Was redesigned, and it became known as the 'buff' label). Another discount label, Sunrise, was produced (although it is not known for whom it was produced, as Sunrise records are exceptionally rare today). The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and the Bluebird label is still in existence today, nine decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued. During this time, RCA Victor also produced electrical transcriptions of music under
9016-481: Was released on CD and cassette between 1990 and 1992 and again in 2012. Later advances in digital technology has led RCA (now owned by Sony Music ) to claim further enhancement of the sound of the magnetic tapes for later reissues, changing original equalization balances and adding acoustical enhancement, but critics are divided in their judgment. RCA Victor has only reissued recordings that were personally approved by Toscanini, including some broadcast performances such as
9114-456: Was replaced by Joe Galante , who had been the president of RCA Records Nashville division. The roster was cut once again and the A&;R department was restructured. Along with the launch of BNA Records and the expansion of the urban music division, these initiatives would prove to be positive, but RCA was unsuccessful under Galante, ranking 10th in market share in 1995. Galante returned to head
9212-405: Was replaced on the RCA Victor album by Dinah Shore . RCA Victor was also responsible for the film soundtrack albums of Damn Yankees , South Pacific , Bye Bye Birdie , Half a Sixpence , and The Sound of Music . The album made from the 1965 hit Julie Andrews film was (and is) one of the best selling soundtracks of all time. The film soundtrack of Oliver! , made by Colgems Records ,
9310-515: Was reported "the SOA tries whenever possible to obtain ex-NBC musicians on a free-lance basis." In 1960, the CBS Television network also featured the Symphony of the Air in its televised prime-time special Spring Festival of Music under the direction of the conductor Alfredo Antonini . In collaboration with the concert pianist John Browning , producer Robert Herridge and director Roger Englander ,
9408-456: Was the leading record manufacturer for independent labels . RCA's Midwestern plant in Indianapolis , at 501 North LaSalle Street (the site is now part of a Demolition and Blight Reduction Project). The Custom Division notably pressed many record compilations for The Reader's Digest Association . RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1938, but EMI continued to distribute RCA Victor recordings in
9506-410: Was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931, sold exclusively by Montgomery Ward . Bluebird Records was created in 1932 as a sub-label of Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a dark blue label, alongside the 8-inch Electradisk label (sold by F.W. Woolworth ). Neither label was a success. In 1933, RCA Victor reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label (Bluebird's label
9604-539: Was to phase out the 45 rpm disc, but sales of the new records were poor and by early 1962 the campaign had failed. In 1963, RCA Victor introduced Dynagroove which added computer technology to the disc cutting process, ostensibly to improve sound reproduction. Whether or not the complex process was actually an improvement is still debated among audiophiles. RCA quietly phased out the Dynagroove process by 1970. In September 1965, RCA and Lear Jet Corp. teamed up to release
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