David Sarnoff Essay, Research Paper

David Sarnoff

1891 Born in Russia

1900 Moved to the United States

1906 Introduced to Marconi

1930 Became 3rd president of RCA

1939 Introduced TV at Worlds Fair

1965 Becomes Chairman of RCA

1971 Dies of Shingles

David Sarnoff was born on February 27, 1891. In 1900, his father had made enough money to bring the rest of his family over to the United States. They finally arrived in Manhattan on July 2,1900. It was during this time at the Commercial Cable Company that he first saw the telegraph key. He became very interested in it and with one of his first paychecks he purchased his own key. From this time on he was never far from a telegraph key. After being fired from the Commercial Cable Company, he applied for a job with the American Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company as a junior telegraph operator. Working for Marconi was the next best thing to happen to David Sarnoff. He would work for Marconi next sixty years. He started out as an office boy sweeping floors and running errands. He read everything that he was supposed to file and soon learned everything there was to know about the company. Sarnoff saw a way of moving into a new field of “broadcasting”, sending a signal from one point to many receivers. In 1914, Sarnoff experimented in sending music and voice to the Wanamaker Dept. Store in Philadelpia. He accomplished this by putting a transmitter on the roof of the Wanamaker building. On October 17,1919, the Radio Corporation of America, with the patents of General Electric and Marconi, In the late 1920’s, radio had become a household item. Sarnoff had seen many changes at RCA. On January 3,1930, David Sarnoff became the third president of RCA, He was 39. Sarnoff’s next idea in where to go with radio was supplying sight with sound. He wanted to get into the field of television. At the 1939 World’s Fair Sarnoff introduced television. On January 1, 1965, Sarnoff became the chairman of the board. In 1968, he came down with shingles. It eventually spread to his nervous system. It slowly ate away his ability to see, speak, or hear. He eventually died on December 12,1971.