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After
General Tire's acquisition of Unique Records in 1957, the record label was re-branded as RKO/Unique. Then, General Tire used Mutual in an attempt to enhance RKO/Unique by creating a national audience for the product. Unfortunately, the concept behind the arrangement was that
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to carry the RKO/Unique product on Mutual. The result was a disaster. Within a few years (by 1957), both the radio network and the record company were suffering huge financial losses and
General Tire divested both of them: Mutual was sold to
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alongside WOR & Bamberger
Broadcasting; named as a result of The General Tire & Rubber Company's increased investment in WOR). Then, it acquired the RKO film studio from Howard Hughes in 1955. After selling the studio's backlot to
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film studio in 1955, resulting in a name change to RKO Teleradio
Pictures) in 1957 and placed its owner, Stanley Borden, in charge of its music entertainment division. From 1957 on, the label was billed as
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music was a passing fad, and that the pop music of the 1920s through the early 1950s would endure. With that in mind, RKO/Unique signed former recording acts like
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Years later, in 1965, RKO/Unique was acquired by Reach
Entertainment, who revived the label, splitting RKO Records & Unique Jazz into two distinct labels.
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pop music record label. After several small pop hits, such as "Man in the
Raincoat" by fourteen-year-old Priscilla Wright, the label was acquired by
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In an effort to create entertainment synergy, General Tire initially acquired majority control of Mutual in 1952 through its acquisition of the
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However, eventually, Reach
Entertainment ceased operations, with RKO Records & Unique Jazz shutting down.
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To cement this relationship, General Tire, through RKO Teleradio
Pictures, created the radio program
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in 1956, RKO's remaining assets were merged with
General Teleradio, forming RKO Teleradio Pictures.
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in hopes of recapturing their glorious pasts. To this mix, they added popular movie stars like
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stars (and RKO movie regulars) like the
Vagabonds, plus current popular TV stars such as
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26:are two record labels which began in 1955 as
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66:in 1950. Then, in 1952, it added WOR (
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280:Record labels disestablished in 1960
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210:"Leona Anderson - Music To Suffer"
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285:Record labels established in 1965
275:Record labels established in 1955
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127:, then the host of the top rated
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189:"RKO-Unique Album Discography"
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46:in 1952, then merged with the
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64:Don Lee Broadcasting Network
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212:. Blog.wfmu.org. 2007-08-26
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44:Mutual Broadcasting System
191:. Bsnpubs.com. 2013-02-06
290:Re-established companies
80:R. H. Macy & Company
270:American record labels
169:List of record labels
234:"RKO/Unique Records"
16:Former record label
238:www.fact-index.com
135:Music To Suffer By
85:Desilu Productions
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101:Harmonicats
97:Rudy Vallee
38:subsidiary
24:Unique Jazz
20:RKO Records
264:Categories
216:2013-07-22
195:2013-07-22
175:References
121:vaudeville
113:Edie Adams
53:RKO/Unique
119:, former
105:Ted Lewis
163:See also
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