NBC has the technology to broadcast sports games. If Chen Qiang wants to bring the All-Star Game to TV, he must ask NBC for help.

Founded in 1926, NBC is the oldest and most powerful commercial broadcasting company in the United States. From the 1930s to the 1950s, it was the golden age of radio broadcasting, and NBC also represented the highest peak of broadcasting.

At this time, the radio broadcast will play music, news, interviews, sports competitions and other programs. Several major American broadcasters all have hundreds of radio stations.

As for TV sets, although they have begun to appear in many American families, they are far less popular than radio.

When it comes to television broadcasting, we have to mention a man named David Shanov, who is a pioneer in commercial radio and television in the United States and is known as the father of the American broadcasting and communications industry.

David Shanov is a Jew of Belarusian. He immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of 9. Like many immigrant families, David Shanov's family is more difficult, so when he was a child, he often did part-time jobs such as newspaper boys to supplement his family's income. When David Shanov was about to graduate from elementary school, his father died of illness. David Shanov had to drop out of school and work as a handyman in a telegraph company. Because he was too young, he could only do some cleaning offices, helping departments pass documents, or buying coffee for his boss. However, because David Shanov was diligent and hardworking, two years later, the telegraph company absorbed him as a formal employee and became a newspaper deliveryman.

After David Shanov became a newspaper deliveryman, he worked harder. At the same time, he used his spare time to learn telegraph knowledge and mastered the skills of sending and receiving newspapers. So the company changed him to a newspaper deliveryman. Compared with the newspaper deliveryman, the newspaper deliveryman is a technical job, and he is also a white-collar worker. He can sit in the office without the wind or the rain. At that time, David Shanov's workplace was in the most prosperous place in the world, the top floor of the Manhattan Department Store.

On April 14, 1912, David Shanov ushered in a moment of changing his destiny. On the Atlantic Ocean that night, Jack shouted "you?jump?,i?jump" to Ruth, and then jumped into the cold and bone-blooded sea water together.

The soon-to-sinking Titanic sent a death signal. When this signal arrived in New York, David Shanov happened to be on duty. He passed the news to the world. Because he was the first sender to receive the news of the death of the Titanic, David Shanov became a news figure at that time and was promoted to the senior management of the company.

In 1919, David Shanov participated in the founding of the American Radio Company and served as the general manager of the company. The company achieved a monopoly on radio patents at that time. Then David Shanov worked with boxing promoters to broadcast boxing competitions through his own radio station, which caused a sensation in the United States, and David Shanov also accumulated his first pot of gold.

Americans like boxing very much. The main reason is that boxing can be gambling. A boxing promoter can build a top gym like Madison Square Garden, which shows how big the American boxing betting market was at that time. However, many people did not have the time or energy to watch the game on site after buying a lottery. Just like when we buy a lottery ticket, we may not have the time to stare at the TV to watch the lottery results during the lottery. Most people check the results after the lottery to see if they have won.

David Shanov broadcasts boxing matches on the radio, so that those who don’t have time to watch the game can pay attention to the game process and results at all times. Sports betting is still exciting to see the real-time game process. I believe that many people who have bought football lottery can understand this.

By the opportunity to broadcast various boxing competitions, David Shanov began to sell his own radio. In the early 1920s, radio was not a cheap product. Even for Americans' income, buying a radio was a big item to their family. But for those who participated in boxing betting, the money for buying a radio was a necessary expense.

In just a few years, David Shanov sold a radio worth $80 million, which means that in the first half of the 1920s, David Shanov became a millionaire.

In 1926, David Shanov founded the National Broadcasting Corporation, the famous NBC, who personally served as president and chairman. It was also at this time that David Shanov's business sensitivity made him realize the potential of television broadcasting.

Although there were already TVs in that era, the TV signals of that era were transmitted by mechanical scanning. The picture was very blurry and the noise was very high, so it was not suitable for television broadcasting. Therefore, David Shanov sponsored scientists to develop photoelectric microscope imaging tubes and imaging tube receivers, and used the image separator invented by another scientist to create a clearer TV.

In 1928, David Shanov began to experiment with television broadcasting and was the first to launch a television broadcasting business in NBC. However, until the end of World War II, NBC's television broadcasting was actually helping David Shanov sell televisions.

When David Shanov acquired a phonograph company to produce radios. Later, after the imaging tube was invented, the company also began to produce TVs. However, only TVs but no TV programs were allowed, and TVs from David Shanov could not be sold. Therefore, David Shanov used his identity as chairman of ABC to let ABC broadcast TV programs so that the TVs he produced could be sold in time.

Similar situations have also happened in China. In the 1930s and 1940s, American businessmen brought radios to China, but found that China did not have radio stations, so the radio naturally could not be received. As a result, American businessmen could not sell a single radio. In order to sell radios, American businessmen began to set up their own radio stations. At that time, many radio stations were set up by American businessmen who sold radios in port cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin.

The New York World Expo in 1939 was a very successful promotion for televisions. Since then, televisions have begun to enter ordinary American families. However, the outbreak of World War II still affected the development of the television industry. It is 100% loss to do television broadcasting, and wireless TV is originally free, and TV advertising is almost non-existent. Broadcasting companies do television broadcasting, which is equivalent to losing money and gaining publicity.

For example, the cost of broadcasting TV programs by ABC also mainly comes from the sponsorship of David Shanov's TV production company. In other words, in this era, manufacturers who sell TVs pay TV broadcasters to keep the TV broadcasters in normal operations, so as to ensure that there are programs on the TV to watch, and then sell TVs.

So whether customers buy TV sets to watch TV shows or to watch TV shows? No one can say it clearly. This is a bit like the question of whether chickens are eggs or eggs are chickens, and it makes sense. But I have to say that David Shanov is worthy of being a Jew and is really smart in doing business. He is the one who broadcasts TV and he is the one who sells TV sets.

This is equivalent to selling the chicken to someone who wants to eat eggs and telling the other party that you will be able to eat eggs every day after you buy this chicken; at the same time, selling the eggs to someone who wants to eat chicken, and telling the other party that if you hatch the eggs, you will have chickens to eat.

Now, for the sake of the All-Star Game TV broadcast, Chen Qiang is looking for the smart businessman David Shanov.

At this time, David Shanov was also a busy man, at least much more busy than Chen Qiang. He wanted to run the National Radio Station of the United States, run his own factory, and serve the US military.

As a godfather figure in the communications industry, after the United States joined the war, David Shanov had been hired as a communications consultant by Eisenhower and received the rank of a brigade general of the US military. Therefore, later generations often call him "General Shanov".

Communication is very important for war. During World War II, radio communication was obviously the most important and irreplaceable communication method at that time. David Shanov provided an expanded radio system for the US military. At the same time, David Shanov also built a high-power radio transmitter in Europe. The radio waves of this transmitter can reach almost every corner of a certain kind and send the orders of the Allied Command to any Allied force on the European continent.

Therefore, David Shanov is not only a successful businessman, but also has a very close relationship with the US side. He can be said to be a big shot in both the political and business circles.

Chen Qiang came to ABC at the agreed time, but waited for more than twenty minutes before meeting David Shanov.

"Mr. Chen, I'm very sorry. There were some urgent matters temporarily, which delayed some time." David Shanov took the lead in expressing his apology after seeing Chen Qiang.

Chen Qiang didn't care about David Shanov's late arrival, after all, this time he had something to ask for, and he still counted on others to help in the All-Star Game TV broadcast.

After the two of them took the seats, Chen Qiang explained his purpose.

David Shanov nodded after hearing this, and then said, "I have seen the promotion of the All-Star Game in the newspaper. As far as I know, my radio station has cooperated with you and will broadcast the content of the All-Star Game throughout the entire process. I have been broadcasting sports games on the radio for more than ten years. The live broadcast of sports games on the radio has always had a good effect. I wonder why Mr. Chen plans to use TV to broadcast it?"

"I am very optimistic about TVs. I think within 20 years, TVs will surpass radios and become the most popular entertainment equipment in Americans' homes. Television broadcasting sports competitions is also a trend of future development." Chen Qiang replied.

David Shanov was slightly surprised. He didn't expect Chen Qiang to say such a thing.

The 1940s were the golden age of radios. At this time, someone said that TVs went beyond radios, which sounded like a fantasy to ordinary people.

This is like around 2005, when online games were booming, some people said that mobile games would surpass online games and would definitely be pissed by many online game players. After all, mobile phones in that era could only play small games like Tetris. In the eyes of people in that era, there would definitely be hundreds of millions of people holding a Nokia to play Tetris. They would definitely not have imagined that with the emergence of smartphones, the number of mobile players in more than ten years later, the number of mobile games really exceeded that of online games.

The same is true for people in the 1940s. Their understanding of TV is still stuck in the unclear pictures, unstable signals, small screens, and the same boring programs. The most important thing is that the price of TVs is not affordable. Compared with the radio, the radio is cheap, the signal is clear, the program content is rich, and there are many channels you can search for, and even the sound quality is much better than that of TVs. In front of the radio, the TVs are completely uncompetitive.

David Shanov's company sells radios and TVs. He is also a tycoon in the radio industry and is the most professional in the industry, but even he dare not say that TV opportunities surpass radios. Chen Qiang looked full of confidence on this issue, which made David Shanov feel a little overwhelmed.

"I really didn't expect Mr. Chen to be so confident about the TV. If all Americans had the same idea as you, my TV wouldn't have to worry about selling it." David Shanov paused and continued: "Actually, three years ago, we had a sports game broadcast."

"I know, it's the final of the football nfl." Chen Qiang said.

"Yes, but the effect of that TV broadcast was not very good. We used a lot of human and material resources, and there were more than a dozen cameras alone. However, judging from the feedback from the audience, it was a failed TV broadcast. According to our survey of the audience, they felt that TV broadcasting rugby games was very different from going to watch games on site, which is why they didn't like TV broadcasting." David Shanov continued.

"What you mean is that watching football games on TV is much worse?" Chen Qiang asked.

David Shanov nodded: "It is no exaggeration to say that watching football games on TV has no experience of watching games."

"The football stadium is too big, and it is more difficult to broadcast the TV, but the basketball stadium is much smaller and the TV broadcast is much less difficult to broadcast the TV." Chen Qiang explained.

"Mr. Chen, I agree with you. But we have experienced a failure and we don't want to repeat that bad experience, so I'm very sorry that our NBC has no interest in the televised sports competitions." David Shanov refused.

David Shanov would speak out, but Chen Qiang was not surprised. After all, broadcasting sports competitions requires a lot of cost. Setting up multiple cameras, professional cameramen, professional directors, and signal transmission all cost money. For broadcasters, they do not want to pay so much. Compared with the cost of playing some programs that have been recorded long ago, such as old movies, news broadcasts, etc., the cost is much lower than broadcasting sports competitions.

Moreover, the main purpose of the American broadcasters in this era is to help David Shanov sell TVs. People don’t care about the ratings. As long as they can sell the TVs, they can save money. From the perspective of saving money, broadcasters are definitely unwilling to increase their costs to broadcast sports competitions.

"Sure enough, there is no free lunch in the world, so you still have to spend money to do things." Chen Qiang sighed helplessly, and then said: "Mr. Shanov, I am very interested in the advertising business of NBC. If NBC is willing to broadcast my All-Star Game, I will give your company a $100,000 advertising fee."

When David Shanov heard about the advertising fee, he immediately became interested.

David Shanov's assets are tens of millions, and 100,000 US dollars is just a drizzle for him. But he is also the chairman of NBC. NBC needs performance, and David Shanov also needs to explain to shareholders. The advertising fee of 100,000 US dollars is also a good revenue for NBC, and of course he will not let it go easily.

David Shanov thought about it in his mind, thinking that the deal was still cost-effective.

David Shanov immediately said: "Mr. Chen, thank you very much for your generosity. Our NBC is very happy to cooperate with Mr. Chen. Let's do this. I will arrange for someone to contact you immediately and discuss the matters of TV broadcasting and advertising in detail."

—————
Chapter completed!