Before NBC opened its famous at the northeast corner of Sunset Blvd and Vine St in Hollywood, its home was in this building at 5515 Melrose Ave, near Gower St and Paramount Studios. It opened on Wednesday December 25, 1935, which I found to be an odd date. It guess NBC Radio personnel worked on Christmas day that year. At any rate, the very quickly found that the premises were way too small, and so almost immediately began drawing up plans for much larger premises on the stretch of land that used to house the Famous Players-Lasky Studios.
The building is still there. This image is from February 2021:
Now the entry point for the Paramount studio tour.
Yes, NBC’s ‘Melrose Studios’ was soon too small for NBC – especially considering that they also wanted to prepare for and begin television broadcasting.
National Broadcasting Company (a subsidiary of RCA – Radio Corporation of America) had two national broadcasting networks at that time: NBC Red (the more commercially popular programs) and NBC Blue (the basic network).
Until 1939 NBC’s public service broadcasting was entirely radio broadcasting only (and to even later on the West Coast). NBC had no West Coast television broadcasting in the 1935 to 1938 period of their ‘Melrose Studios’ (although experimental broadcasting was being researched in New York City from 1936).
The new magnificent ‘Hollywood Radio City’ studios (at Sunset Blvd and Vine Street) opened in November 1938.
National Broadcasting Company (a subsidiary of RCA – Radio Corporation of America) had two national broadcasting networks at that time: NBC Red (the more commercially popular programs) and NBC Blue (the basic network). Until 1939 NBC’s public service broadcasting was entirely radio broadcasting only (and to even later on the West Coast). NBC had no West Coast television broadcasting in the 1935 to 1938 period of their ‘Melrose Studios’ (although experimental broadcasting was being researched in New York City from 1936). The new magnificent ‘Hollywood Radio City’ studios (at Sunset Blvd and Vine Street) opened in November 1938.