ABC Records

ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company (then known as ABC-Paramount). Am-Par also established the Impulse! jazz label in 1961 and subsequently acquired a number of other labels before the entire division was sold to MCA Records in 1979. ABC-Paramount (full name "American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters") -- the direct antecedent of the present-day American Broadcasting Company -- evolved from federal antitrust actions taken against the movie studios and broadcasting companies in the 1940s and early 1950s. As a result of a 1943 FCC action against anti-competitive practices, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was forced to sell off its broadcast subsidiary the Blue Network, the sister network of NBC, and Blue was purchased by the American Broadcasting System, Inc. In 1953 American Broadcasting merged with United Paramount Theaters, the divested former exhibition/cinema division of Paramount Pictures. The newly merged corporation was chaired by former Paramount Theaters executive Leonard Goldenson and was originally headquartered at 1501 Broadway in New York City, above the Paramount Theater in Times Square. In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent producers and purchased regionally-released records for national distribution. The corporate name of Am-Par Record Corporation was changed to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. in 1962, and then to ABC Records, Inc. in 1967. In 1965, ABC-Paramount Records changed the imprint's name to ABC Records. They distributed Dunhill Records until this label was purchased to form ABC-Dunhill Records. They also distributed Sire Records and UK-based Anchor Records. Because the company was suffering financial problems, ABC Records was sold in 1979 to MCA Records, which discontinued the ABC label. The better selling albums in the ABC Records catalog were reissued on the MCA label.