Status Complete Floor count 6 Phone +1 818-840-3000 | Completed 1952 Floors 6 Parent organization Worthe Real Estate Group | |
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Type Television Studios Complex Location Burbank, CaliforniaUnited States Address 3000 W Alameda Ave, Burbank, CA 91523, USA Developer Radio Corporation of America Founded Los Angeles, California, United States Awards Academy Scientific and Engineering Award Similar Downtown Burbank, Burbank Town Center, Los Angeles Marriott B, Hotel Amarano Burbank, Starlight Bowl | ||
Knbc final weekday newscast at the burbank studios 1 31 14
The Burbank Studios (formerly known as NBC Studios) is a television production facility located in Burbank, California. The studio is home to Days of Our Lives, The Robert Irvine Show, and Henry Danger.
Contents
History
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-AM, which later became KNBC-AM, and is now KNBR).
The architect for the distinctive Streamline Moderne building at Sunset and Vine was John C. Austin.
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 RCA decided to build a television studio, nicknamed NBC Color City, that would be exclusively equipped for color broadcasting. For many of the same reasons why CBS eventually built Television City in the early 1950s, 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. 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 The Tonight Show beginning in 1972. In that year, Johnny Carson moved the show to California from New York where it remained until 2009 when Jay Leno handed hosting duties to Conan O'Brien. During the late 1960s, the Carson Tonight Show would move for periods to Burbank, using studio 1. After the permanent move to Burbank, Bob Hope's show taped in studio 1, with The Tonight Show taking a hiatus while Hope produced his specials.
The short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien taped a few miles away at Universal Studios in Studio One. Upon Leno's return as host of the The Tonight Show in 2010, it resumed taping in the Burbank facility, until his final departure in 2014.
NBC's move to Universal City
In October 2007, the network announced that it planned to move most of its operations from Burbank to a new complex across the street from Universal Studios in Universal City. 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. KNBC 4 and NBC News, along with KVEA Telemundo 52, began broadcasting from Universal Studios on February 2, 2014.
In preparation for the move, The Ellen DeGeneres Show moved to the nearby Warner Bros. Studios in 2008, and when Conan O'Brien assumed hosting duties, The Tonight Show moved to an all-digital studio on the Universal lot in 2009. The Jay Leno Show continued to broadcast from the NBC Burbank studios as Leno's Tonight Show had, though from Studio 11. From March 1, 2010 to February 6, 2014, the The Tonight Show taped at Studio 11.
The Tonight Show moved back to New York City in 2014 when Jimmy Fallon replaced the departing Leno, marking the end of a 42-year era in which the show had taped from Southern California.
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.
On March 13, 2014, Lawrence O'Donnell announced that his MSNBC broadcast that night would be the last nationally televised show to be broadcast live from NBC's Burbank lot, as they were moving to Universal Studios.
Program history
Today, the studio houses Days of Our Lives, The Robert Irvine Show, and Henry Danger. Programs produced here over the years include: