On December 23, 1928, a milestone in American broadcasting took place: the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) launched what became the first permanent coast-to-coast radio network. What made this possible? High-quality phone lines constructed by AT&T. Up until that point, linking stations across the country relied on temporary long-distance phone call connections — far from ideal. NBC's parent organization, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), already operated a network covering the east coast of the U.S., but their west coast stations had to recreate programs with a one-week delay.
Throughout the early 1920s, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) steadily built out its telephone infrastructure until it stretched across the entire nation. By 1922, the company had launched its own radio station in New York City, expanding its reach down the East Coast and into the Midwest. AT&T's programming actually drew bigger audiences than RCA's offerings. Yet right when it appeared the telephone giant was poised to dominate radio the same way it dominated telephony, AT&T made a surprising pivot — choosing to sell off its broadcasting assets and concentrate exclusively on the telephone business.
In 1926, RCA snapped up AT&T's broadcast network and spun off a new subsidiary — NBC — to manage operations. As AT&T continued building out its infrastructure, NBC's reach grew right along with it. Following the acquisition, NBC assembled a West Coast network that carried programming originating from its East Coast stations. Once the permanent coast-to-coast link was in place, every station in the network aired identical programming simultaneously.
The cultural impact of coast-to-coast radio can hardly be overstated. For the first time, Americans everywhere could tune into the same news, entertainment, and advertisements at the exact same moment. This shared experience fostered a powerful sense of national unity and collective identity that the country had never quite felt before.