The Burbank Studios

Radio City West was located at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles until it was replaced by a bank in the mid-1960s.

The West Coast Radio City opened in 1938 and served as headquarters to the NBC Radio Networks' West Coast operations. It served as a replacement for NBC's radio broadcast center in San Francisco, which had been in service since the network's formation in 1927. Since NBC never owned a radio station in Los Angeles, the network's West Coast programming originated from its San Francisco station (KPO, which later became KNBC, and is now KNBR).

The architect for the distinctive Streamline Moderne building at Sunset and Vine was John C. Austin.[2]

In January 1949, NBC launched its newest television station for Los Angeles, KNBH (Channel 4; now KNBC) from Radio City; the radio studios were later equipped for live television broadcasting in the transition phase from radio broadcasting. However, as television production was increasing for NBC, the network and its then-parent the Radio Corporation of America, decided to build a television studio, nicknamed NBC Color City, that would be exclusively equipped for color television broadcasting. For many of the same reasons why CBS eventually built Television City in the early 1950s to replace its Columbia Square, the television facilities at Radio City gradually became too small for NBC to produce its television broadcasts.

RCA's decision to expand television studio facilities required moving to the real estate market in the San Fernando Valley-Burbank area, with land purchased from Jack Warner.[3] The newly christened NBC Color City Studios opened in March 1955, as the first television studio designed specially for the origination of color television broadcasting, although their rivals, ABC and CBS would gradually add color broadcasting to their studio facilities in the later years.

KNBC moved to a new building in 1962. In 1964, the West Coast Radio City building was demolished, as NBC moved more of their West Coast television operations to the Burbank facility. The site is now occupied by a bank.

This studio hosted production of many of the best-remembered game and variety shows from the 1950s through the 1990s, including Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in beginning in 1968 and The Tonight Show in 1972. Both shows would frequently reference their home in "Beautiful Downtown Burbank." During the late 1960s, Carson's Tonight Show would move for periods to Burbank, using studio 1. After the permanent move to Burbank in 1972, Bob Hope's show taped in studio 1, with The Tonight Show taking a hiatus while Hope produced his specials.

The Tonight Show would stay in Burbank through Johnny Carson's retirement, Jay Leno's ascendency to host until his first retirement in 2009, when it moved to an all-digital studio on the Universal lot in 2009 for the short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The show moved back to the Burbank Studios when Leno returned as host of The Tonight Show on March 1, 2010. The show used studio 11 until Leno stepped down as host on February 6, 2014. After that, The Tonight Show moved back to New York City's Rockefeller Center when Jimmy Fallon replaced Leno as host, marking the end of the 42-year era in which the show had taped from Southern California.[4]

Administrative building in 2015

In October 2007, NBC announced their plans to move most of its operations from Burbank to a new complex across the street from Universal Studios in Universal City.[5] It would retain offices at the Burbank site until May 2013, though the studio complex was sold to Catalina/Worthe Real Estate Group in 2008 with NBCUniversal leasing space until 2013. The former Technicolor building on the Universal lot serves as the new home to NBC's West Coast Operations.[6] KNBC 4 and NBC News, along with KVEA Telemundo 52, began broadcasting from Universal Studios on February 2, 2014. In addition, production of The Ellen DeGeneres Show moved to the nearby Warner Bros. Studios in 2008.

The Burbank facility was one of the few television-specific studio facilities in Hollywood that offered tours to the general public until they ceased July 6, 2012.[7]

On March 13, 2014, Lawrence O'Donnell announced that his MSNBC broadcast that night would be the last nationally televised network show to be broadcast live from NBC's Burbank studio, with the move of the NBC News Los Angeles bureau to Universal City.

On October 2, 2017, Studio 1 became the official home of Blizzard Arena Los Angeles and the Overwatch League, marking Burbank Studios' very first esports broadcast. The inaugural season began on January 10, 2018, in which over 437,000 viewers tuned in live on opening night via Twitch and MLG.tv streaming platforms.[8] The final match was played on September 15, 2019 before the league moved to a home-and-away format.

Today, the studio houses Days of Our Lives and the IHeartRadio Theater. Programs produced here over the years include:

In 2019, Warner Bros. announced that it is buying the studio which should be completed by 2023 in time for the studio's 100th anniversary.[10][11]

• 30 Rockefeller Plaza
• NBC Tower
• NBC Radio City Studios

• Official website