The first NBC Radio City Studios began operating in the early 1930s. Tours of the studios began in 1933, suspended in 2014 and resumed on October 26, 2015. Because of the preponderance of radio studios, that section of the Rockefeller Center complex became known as Radio City (and gave its name to Radio City Music Hall).
Since 1994, the network's morning program is produced at a ground-level, windowed studio across 49th Street from 30 Rockefeller Plaza at 10 Rockefeller Plaza; it was previously broadcast from inside 30 Rock. Studio 1A is a multilevel studio; the upstairs portion contains a kitchen used for cooking segments. The studio was also used by WNBC's Live at Five, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann,[2] and NBC Nightly News for a short period during the decontamination of the broadcast's facilities and offices in October 2001 due to the 2001 anthrax attacks. After a minor renovation that started in mid-August 2021, Today debuted on September 7, 2021, with a new desk and flooring to Studio 1A.[3]Nightly News moved to the studio on September 13, 2021.[4]
Ground floor
2,430 sq ft (226 m2)
3A
MSNBC main studios
Debuted on October 22, 2007, and is the home to many MSNBC programs. A newsroom connects Studio 3A and Studio 3C. Former home of NBC Nightly News. A new set debuted on September 20, 2021, with Deadline: White House.[5]
Studio 3B was the former home of the Huntley-Brinkley Report,[6] the NBC daytime serial The Doctors,[7]Today, Dateline NBC, NBC Nightly News, and coverage of the 2008 presidential election. Since Nightly left the space in 2017, 3B would be used for pre-taped segments and interviews. At 4,060 sq ft (377 m2), 3B was the last 30 Rock studio that had kept its original dimensions since the building's 1933 opening. In August 2022, NBC confirmed plans to divide the space equally into two studios for its New York stations' news operations.[8] WNBC would move into 3B East on November 3, 2023; Telemundo station WNJU is slated to move its newscasts into 3B West in late 2024.[9]
Formerly the home of NBC Nightly News from November 8, 1999, to October 23, 2011; however the studio's size decreased significantly during the 2007 renovations which connected it with 3A. From April 21, 2012, until October 9, 2016, WNBC originated from this studio.[10]Nightly News began using the space again in July 2017 following additional renovations that led to it being referred to as "3A West". Nightly News moved in with Today in Studio 1A in September 2021.[4] 3C now acts as the main home for NBC News' streaming network, including its noon program NBC News Daily, which airs on affiliates in the country, and evening program Top Story with Tom Llamas.
3rd floor
1,310 sq ft (122 m2)
3K
vacant
3K was formed by combining former radio studio 3F and studio 3H. 3H was the first studio in the building to be converted for television production, being converted in 1935 and serving as NBC Television's lone studio[11] until the conversion of Studio 8G in 1948. The former home of NBC Nightly News, NBC Sports, Today, The Ed Show, The Howdy Doody Show, NBC News at Sunrise, The Gabby Hayes Show, Early Today, All in with Chris Hayes, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Dateline NBC, and from October 9, 2016, until November 2, 2023, WNBC's News 4 New York.[12][13][9]
A new newsroom and studio for MSNBC, built in early 2016, is located in the northeast corner of the building, with windows overlooking West 50th St and Rockefeller Plaza. The glassed-in studio in the corner is designated Studio 4E, but shows also originate from the various locations in the newsroom area, which connects to the 3rd and 5th floors via a stairway.
Consists of four small spaces. Former home of Early Today and MSNBC's secondary studio. This space was previously a portion of WNBC's Master Control. From January 6 until March 13, 2020, it was used for E!'s E! News and Pop of the Morning.[26][27]
A former radio studio converted for television use in 1948, it went on air on April 22 of that year.[28] Former home of Today, The Phil Donahue Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Caroline Rhea Show, The Amber Ruffin Show, The Jane Pauley Show, and Football Night in America, as well as the original Concentration and Jeopardy! which recorded their color episodes on alternating days/weeks from 1964 to 1975. NBC Nightly News used this studio during the 2007 renovations of NBC News headquarters, except on some Sunday evenings where, due to football programming, the news was broadcast from Studio 1A. This studio has also been used for 2008 and 2010 election night coverage.
Some other New York originated programs are/were produced elsewhere in the area, including:
Ambassador Theatre, 215 West 49th Street. The theater returned to Broadway use in 1956.[29]
Brooklyn Studios,[30][31] 1268 East 14th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn. Included two studios, used as the filming location of many 1950s color "Spectaculars" such as The Esther Williams Aqua Special, Peter Pan; it is also where The Perry Como Show (1955), Mitch Miller Show (1960s), The Sammy Davis Jr. Show (1960s), Hullabaloo (1965–1966), Kraft Music Hall, Tic Tac Dough (nighttime), The Cosby Show, and Another World were produced. It was the home of CBS's soap opera As the World Turns until the series ceased production in 2010. The studio was equipped for color production when it opened in 1954.[32] In 2000, the facility was sold to JC Studios, which closed in 2014. In June 2015, the building was sold and converted to office and self storage spaces.
Colonial Theater,[36][37] 1887 Broadway at West 62nd Street. It was the taping location of the original version of The Price Is Right hosted by Bill Cullen, 1953–1963, and Colgate Comedy Hour. The studio was the first equipped for color production and originated the first color telecast on November 3, 1953. Demolished in 1977.[38]
Florida Showcase, second street-front location for The Today Show, 1962-1965.
New Amsterdam Roof Garden Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, converted in 1930.[45] The rooftop theater is abandoned, but the main auditorium is used as a Broadway theater.[46]
Ziegfeld Theatre,[47][48][49] 1341 Sixth Avenue at West 54th Street. Shows included The Perry Como Show (from 1956), Concentration (primetime 1961)). It was demolished in 1966 for a 49-story office tower.
67th Street Studios, 101 West 67th Street. The Knickerbocker Beer Show aka The Steve Allen Show on WNBT-TV (1953-1954), the direct predecessor to Tonight Starring Steve Allen, originated from here. Also the site of The Home Show with Arlene Francis (1954-1957) and the primetime version of Concentration (1958). Built in 1949 as "9 Television Square" for WOR-TV, it was leased to NBC from 1953 to 1963. Between 1961 and 1968, it became the Videotape Center, owned by independent production company Videotape Productions of New York. The Reeves Lincoln Square Studios took over the space from 1968 to 1970. In 1970, it became ABC's Studios 18 and 19, the production facility for soap opera All My Children, and One Life to Live, until 1990. The building was demolished in 1995, and the site is now the 50-story Millennium Tower apartment building.
Uptown Studios (now Metropolis Studios), 105 East 106th Street at Park Avenue. The first episode of Howdy Doody in 1947 originated here.
^"NBC Acquires Times Square Radio Studio: Former Home of Ziegfeld 'Follies' Transformed Into Elaborate Broadcasting Theater". The Hartford Courant. February 23, 1930. p. E12. ProQuest557797201.
^Gershenson, Adam (January 31, 1999). "F.Y.I."The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
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