How a radio giant built a Hollywood studio to sell its sound technology
In 1928, RCA executive David Sarnoff engineered the merger of a theater chain and a low-budget studio to create RKO. His goal was simple: build a captive market for his company's new sound-on-film system. The result was a legendary studio that defined the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The formation of RKO was a calculated corporate maneuver rather than a purely creative endeavor. David Sarnoff, seeking to dominate the transition from silent to sound film, needed a studio to showcase RCA's Photophone technology. By merging the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater circuit with Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America, Sarnoff secured both the production capacity and the exhibition venues necessary to challenge industry giants like Paramount and MGM. The new entity, Radio-Keith-Orpheum, officially began production in 1929, quickly becoming a cornerstone of the studio system.
Despite its corporate origins, RKO became a hub for artistic innovation. Because the studio lacked the massive financial reserves of its competitors, it relied on a talented roster of below-the-line personnel, including designers and special-effects technicians. This environment fostered a unique aesthetic, often described as a designer's studio, which excelled in screwball comedies and the fantasy-driven adventures of films like King Kong. Producer David O. Selznick, who served as production chief starting in 1931, further refined this by championing a unit production system that granted directors greater creative independence and significantly reduced costs.
The studio's history is marked by both monumental successes and financial instability. It produced iconic films such as Citizen Kane and the musicals of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, yet it struggled through the Great Depression, entering receivership in 1933. Ownership shifted frequently, passing from RCA to investor Floyd Odlum and later to Howard Hughes in 1948. By the mid-1950s, the studio pioneered the sale of film library TV rights before ceasing production in 1957. Today, the RKO brand continues under Concord Originals, preserving the legacy of a company that fundamentally shaped the evolution of modern cinema.
Source: RKO Pictures
