RCA Victor - Biography

Biography - RCA Victor

USA

The saga of RCA Victor dates back to January 1929, when the Victor Talking Machine Company was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America from the banking houses J. & W. Seligman & Co. and Speyer & Co. (both of which had purchased controlling interest from Victor founder Eldridge R. Johnson in 1926). From then until the mid-1930's, the corporate name was listed on the label as the RCA Victor Company, Inc., then until about 1943 as RCA Manufacturing Co., Inc. before adopting the moniker RCA Victor Division of Radio Corporation of America, Inc. The label name itself continued to be known on the center label as Victor until about February of 1946, after which the name was formally changed to RCA Victor.

In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33⅓ RPM records for sale to consumers, but due to the lingering effects of the Depression the new format was an utter failure, and it wasn't until further development and introduction by rival Columbia Records in 1948 that the long playing record finally took off. RCA Victor itself, in late March 1949, introduced the 45 RPM record, which eventually phased the 78 RPM record out of existence within a decade.

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See Also

The rings on RCA Victor labels can be used to distinguish between the different Victor pressing plants. Check out https://www.45worlds.com/topic/102519 for more info.

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