On This Day

By Princessa

"S.S. Titanic ran into iceberg, sinking fast." David Sarnoff, aged 21, a telegraph operator managing a powerful Marconi radio telegraph station on top of Wannamaker's department store in New York, transmitted this first news of the famous Titanic accident. He stayed at his post for seventy-two hours, receiving and transmitting information on the disaster. He relayed the names of the rescued from the Carpathia telegraph operator to newsmen and frantic family members. Sarnoff went on to become a pioneer in radio and television broadcasting. He founded NBC in 1926, created an experimental television station for NBC in 1928, and became president and chairman of RCA.