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NBC's emergency chime

P

purpledevil

Guest
Is there a recording of NBC's emergency chime available? I've been looking for it for awhile, and am unable to find it. For the younger readers, the emergency chime was used in the event of a national emergency and was used to alert NBC affiliates of such. The standard NBC chime is 3 notes, while the emergency chime was 4. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Interesting. I had been led to believe that the fourth chime was merely a repeat of the third.

The recording you posted is nothing like the 3-note NBC chime at all.
 
May I ask what event was being covered when this was broadcast? Just noting the announcer referring to "unconfirmed reports from overseas". I want to say something from World War II, but........? Thanks for any information.
 
Now, does anyone know if there were any other times the networks were on all night doing coverage of some sort during the WW2 era? They were on D-Day for sure.
 
It is rumored that the 4th chime was first used during the Pearl Harbor attack. The chimes were used to alert the newsmen who were at home, to return to the station!
 
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The 4th chime was used as early as the Hindenburg crash (presumably to alert NY staff to get in so they could play Herb Morrison's recording). There are claims of it being used on Dec. 7th but to my knowledge no authentication or documentation.

Because of prohibition against the use of recordings, voluntary and official censorship, time differences, and the need to book shortwave channels in advance, it is unlikely there were any all night spot news broadcasts prior to D-Day. Perhaps the closest to that description was H.V. Kaltenborn's marathon during the Munich crisis in 1938 (I think!).
And there is an NBC program on the 4th chime in existence -- The Fourth Chime, NBC Radio, November 24, 1944 (29:17) at http://www.reelradio.com/mpf/4thchime.html but they charge $12.50 annual fee to access it. I'm interested, but not that committed.
 
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I'm not 100% sure, but I heard that the last time the fourth chime was used on the air was in 1986 on both NBC radio and TV, when it was announced that NBC parent RCA was being sold to General Electric.

I don't know if it's true, but I have also heard an "urban legend" that the fourth chime was sounded on a closed-circuit basis to NBC television affiliates on the morning of September 11th, 2001 to urge them to switch to the East Coast feed of "The Today Show", a couple of minutes after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, as the East Coast feed of that show was coming out of a commercial.

Actually, one recent occasion when NBC could have used a fourth chime on it's TV network was at the beginning of the Special Report this past April 15th covering the bombing at the Boston Marathon. Today, NBC television Special Reports begin with the three chimes, perhaps an opening with four chimes could be prepared and used for only "transcendent" stories like this one or the capture of Bin Laden. For less-important interruptions (read: a Presidential press conference or the announcement of the birth of Prince George), the usual "Special Report" opening with three chimes would be used.
 
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