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Tour Guide
Welcome
to NBC's Chicago Studios in the Merchandise Mart as they appeared at the time
of the facility's opening in the fall of 1930!
| Curator's
note: Though the 1930 NBC-Chicago studio complex is the primary focus
of this page, a number of later improvements and additions are documented here
as well. The Merchandise Mart studios were a work in progress. The changes continued
until NBC moved from the Mart in the fall of 1989. |
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Right:
The
NBC pages stand at attention in studio B. In the old days, they would have served
as your guides through the areas you are about to visit. But since they are no
longer on staff---and since NBC is, in fact, no longer in the radio business---you'll
have to proceed on your own. But I've provided a few tools that will serve as
their surrogate.
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By
way of a preview, you might want to take quick looks at the following (and, in
the process, traverse sixty years of broadcasting history):
Now move on to the following:
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Right:
The
facility's original floor plan (created by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson,
Probst and White).
The legend at the bottom of the plan will help guide you. Shown on the floor plan
are all the original studios with the exception of the original Studio F which
was located on the twentieth floor. Not shown are three studios built in 1935
(the "new" Studio F, Studio G and Studio H) in an area of the 19th floor
not shown on this plan; and three additional studios (Studio T, Studio U and Studio
V) built in the southeast corner of the 19th floor several years later. (The ever-increasing
popularity of the radio 'soap opera'---invented in Chicago---created the need
for the additional studio space.)
Areas that you can presently visit are rendered in gray. If your browser
supports client-side image maps, you can click within any of the gray areas to
activate the links to them.
But you may find it more convenient to navigate with the thumbnail graphics
that appear below the floor plan. They activate links to areas not shown on the
floor plan. They also offer links to different views of the same area.
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You may presently visit the following locations by clicking on the thumb nails:
You may also:
Comments
or suggestions? click
here to send them to Rich Samuels
Created
by Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)
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