An NBC page is a young person in his or her early twenties working as a uniformed tour guide and studio audience usher at NBC Radio City Studios in New York City or NBC Universal studios in Burbank, California. In addition, pages work in various departments of the network during a one-year period as a training ground for careers in television broadcasting and entertainment. NBC began the page program in 1933 at its Rockefeller Center headquarters, later expanding it to their west coast studios in Burbank. In the 1950s, NBC also offered page positions at their owned-and-operated stations, such as WRC in Washington, D.C. where Today Show personality Willard Scott was an NBC page.
Selection is said to be highly competitive, with only 50 pages chosen each year from several thousand applicants. Past pages describe the interview process as grueling, as the network seeks the best corporate image to present to the public. In addition to requiring candidates to be college graduates, NBC says it prefers those with "related broadcast experience such as a college campus radio station, demonstrated leadership, strong work ethic, and outgoing personality".
Although the pay is low, pages get to work on such programs as the Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. Most pages go on to careers with NBC or other broadcast media and a lucky few have become celebrities in their own right. Notable former NBC pages include:
- Comedian Steve Allen
- Weather forecaster Tex Antoine
- Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner
- Today Show host Dave Garroway
- Actress Kate Jackson
- Captain Kangaroo Bob Keeshan
- ABC-TV newsman Ted Koppel
- Actor and singer Gordon MacRae
- TV personality Regis Philbin
- Game show host Gene Rayburn
- Today personality Willard Scott
- TV personality Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
The NBC sitcom, 30 Rock, produced by former Saturday Night Live head writer Tina Fey, portrays a zealous, smiling, do-good NBC page named Kenneth Parcell as the fictional character "Kenneth the Page".
