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In 1943, four years after inaugurating television service, NBC got its first official logo, a microphone surrounded by lightning bolts, a modification of an existing logo used by the NBC radio network. Lightning bolts were also part of corporate parent RCA's logo.
In 1954, on New Year's Day, to coincide with the start of broadcasting in color, a stylized xylophone and mallet was introduced, accompanied by the three-tone "bing-bong-bing" chimes, first heard on NBC radio in 1927. The tones are the notes "G," "E," and "C." A MIDI of this tune can be heard here.
In 1956 an abstraction of an eleven-feathered peacock to indicate richness in color was adopted, due to the increase in color programming. NBC's first color broadcasts showed only a still frame of the colorful peacock. On September 7, 1957 on Your Hit Parade the peacock was animated, and thereafter appeared at the beginning of every NBC color broadcast until a revamped animation appeared in the 1960s. On April 16, 1962, on the Laramie series, a second version of the Peacock was introduced in which the bird fanned its bright plumage against a kaleidoscopic color background. The Peacock logo was retired on December 31, 1975.
Beginning in 1959, an animated logo joined the Peacock, appearing at the end of broadcasts. Beginning with N, each letter would grow from the other, forming a stacked typographic logo ending with C, forming the base. This would be known as the Snake.
On New Year's Day, 1976, the time had come to update NBC's visual identity, and a stylized N was introduced, consisting of two trapezoids. The design was bold, bright and contemporary. NBC was briefly sued by the Nebraska ETV Network, as it was using a similar logo. The animated version of the 1976 logo was also the first 3D CGI identity by a television network (which is now common in the video industry), with an updated version of the NBC chimes.
The Peacock, still with eleven feathers, returned in the fall of 1979, married with the N, to create a design called "the Proud N". The Peacock was simplified in keeping with the letter's pared-down design. Although all eleven feathers were intact, the teardrop tips were gone, the feet were gone and the Peacock's body became a simple triangular shape.
On May 8, 1986, NBC broadcasted its 60th Anniversary Special. At the very end, every NBC star (past and present) stood on stage to introduce a new logo for America. The arranged marriage of "N" and Peacock ended, and "The Bird" returned to its place as NBC's symbol. The peacock was now flipped to the right to suggest it was forward looking, not back. With its six feathers representing the network's six divisions (News, Sports, Entertainment, Stations, Network and Operations), this Peacock remains one of the world's most recognized logos.
In the 2nd Iraq war, NBC News and main anchor Tom Brokaw covered the war like no other television company, in part owing to the willingness of GE to fund it. NBC News correspondent David Bloom pushed through the GE and US Department of Defense bureaucracies permission to construct a mobile news vehicle that could transmit live video broadcasts from the battlefield. The "Bloommobile" brought satellite images and videos (clear, detailed) into homes of America and Europe, live and one-on-one. Bloom did not live to accept the accolades after the armed conflict; he died of natural causes unrelated to combat during the final phase of the fighting.
NBC News also benefits from the GE corporate structure by having the ability to take reports from its cable counterpart MSNBC.
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