Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Illustrations ix
4. Acknowledgments xi
5. Part One. Broadcasting Begins, 1919–38
6. Introduction to Part One: Broadcasting Begins, 1919–38 3
7. 1. NBC and the Network Idea: Defining the “American System” 7
8. 2. “Always in Friendly Competition”: NBC and CBS in the First Decade of National Broadcasting 25
9. 3. Programming in the Public Interest: America’s Town Meeting of the Air 44
10. 4. Regulating Class Conflict on the Air: NBC’s Relationship with Business and Organized Labor 61
11. Part Two. Transitional Decades, 1938–60
12. Introduction to Part Two: Transitional Decades, 1938–60 81
13. 5. Breaking Chains: NBC and the FCC Network Inquiry, 1938–43 85
14. 6. Why Sarnoff Slept: NBC and the Holocaust 98
15. 7. Employment and Blue Pencils: NBC, Race, and Representation, 1926–55 117
16. 8. NBC, J. Walter Thompson, and the Struggle for Control of Television Programming, 1946–58 135
17. 9. Talent Raids and Package Deals: NBC Loses Its Leadership in the 1950s 153
18. Part Three. NBC and the Classic Network System, 1960–85
19. Introduction to Part Three: NBC and the Classic Network System, 1960–85 171
20. 10. NBC News Documentary: “Intelligent Interpretation” in a Cold War Context 175
21. 11. What Closes on Saturday Night: NBC and Satire 192
22. 12. The Little Program That Could: The Relationship between NBC and Star Trek 209
23. 13. Sex as a Weapon: Programming Sexuality in the 1970s 224
24. 14. Saturday Morning Children’s Programs on NBC, 1975–2006: A Case Study of Self-Regulation 240
25. Part Four. NBC in the Digital Age, 1985 to the Present
26. Introduction to Part Four: NBC in the Digital Age, 1985 to the Present 259
27. 15. Must-See TV: NBC’s Dominant Decades 261
28. 16. Creating the Twenty-first-Century Television Network: NBC in the Age of Media Conglomerates 275
29. 17. Life without Friends: NBC’s Programming Strategies in an Age of Media Clutter, Media Conglomeration, and TiVo 291
30. 18. Network Nation: Writing Broadcasting History as Cultural History 308
31. NBC Time Line 323
32. Bibliography 331
33. Notes on Contributors 343
34. Index 347