David Sarnoff was born in Russia on February 27, 1891 and came to New York in 1900. A pioneer of communication at the early age of 9 he began selling newspapers, and by age 10 he owned his own stand. David Sarnoff started out his radio career by working for Marconi. He was a wireless operator by age 17. He got his big break when the Titanic sank in April of 1912. Right after that disaster he found himself using the wireless technology to communicate with people who had been rescued. Sarnoff then went to the next level; by 1927 Sarnoff was elected to Radio Corporation of America's board. By January 3rd 1930 he was elected president of RCA.
At this prominent position he announced he wanted to make radio a household utility. He came up with the idea of the “radio music box” which would be a box that people would have in their home. Many people were skeptical about his idea, but as we all know his vision came true. In 1926 RCA purchased WEAF/New York and created the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) which was the first radio network in America. By 1930, Sarnoff had become president of RCA and NBC had split into two networks, the Red and the Blue. The Blue Network later became ABC Radio. David Sarnoff died on December 12, 1971.
