-1882: Benjamin Franklin Keith opens vaudeville theater outside NYC. Growing apace was Martin Beck's western Orpheum circuit, which by 1914 was also swallowed into the Keith-Albee-Orpheum chain, managed by Edward F. Albee, who oversaw the conversion to films by 1920
-1921: British film importer/ exporter Robertson-Cole builds studios at Gower and Melrose on 13 aces bought from the Hollywood Cemetery
-1922: reorganized as an importer, Robertson-Cole became FBO (Film Box Office)
-1925: Joseph P. Kennnedy travels to England and buys FBO for $1M
-1927: RCA takes shares of Kennedy's FBO, Kennedy buys 200,000 shares of K-A-O and replaces Albee with himself as chairman. After consolidating KOA and RCA, he sells his interests to RCA.
-1928: Pathe Exchange Inc merges with Kieth- Albee- Orpheum, Cecil B. DeMille's DeMille Pictures Corporation and Producer's Distribution Corporation (PDC and CBD earlier formed a common holding company called Cinema Corporation of America); Kieth- Albee- Orpheum had bought 1/2 of PDC, and then RCA bought in.
-1929: Joseph Kennedy (who runs FBO, KAO and Pathe) sells FBO and KAO to RCA, forming RKO. A talking film, "Syncopation" soon released. FF Proctor theatre chain absorbed around thesame time
-1930: RKO begins distributing Disney product
-1931: RKO and Pathe Exchange (distribution group controlled by Kennedy) merge
-January 1933: RKO and Paramount go into recievership on same day.
-1933: Floyd Odlum's Atlas Corporation sells Paramont it's holdings, and acquires RKO.
-1940: RKO emerges from recievership
-10 May 1948: Atlas sells it's shares of RKO to Hughes for $8M. Production shrivels as the payroll drops from 2500 to 600.
-April 1949: RKO Theaters established as a separate company
-1953: RKO Theaters become part of List Industries
-July 1955: Hughes sells RKO (26 stages in Hollywood and Encino, 89 acre El Cino ranch, equipment, real estate, 147 films) to General Tire & Rubber for $25M. Hughes kept RKO Radio Pictures Corporation (later merging it with the Atlas Corporation), 124 theaters (53 owned outright, later spun off to share holders, getting HRH $10M). RKO also bought Hughes' personally owned flicks: Outlaw, Mad Wednesday and Vendetta, and later Montana Belle. RKO Teleradio, Inc is the successor company
-December 1956: 750 RKO flix to C&C for $15.2M (then to stations for $600K)
-January 1957: film production ends
-1957: distribution halted
-November 1957: Desilu pays $6M for studios
-October 1958: only a small international sales operation and two made-for-tv movies (Earth To The Moon & Enchanted Island Both made in Mexico or Cuba)
-1959: RKO Teleradio becomes RKO General
-1959: coal mining Glen Alden Industries buys List
-1966 - 1967: Stanley-Warner theater chain becomes RKO-Stanley-Warner, later RKO-Century-Warner of LA, with subsidiary RKO Warner Video.
-1967: coal mining Glen Alden Industries buys Stanley-Warner chain
-1968: Perfect Film & Chemical buys Culver City studio, selling off the backlot
-1969: studios sold to OSF Industries
-1970: site becomes Culver City Studios
-1971: Glen Alden sells exhibition division to Cinerama for $21.5M
-1977: Culver City Studios become rental facility Laird International Studios
-1980s: RKO General becomes RKO Pictures Inc
-1981: WNAC 7 license, first challenged in 69, not renewed
-1984: RKO General owned RKO Pictures. RKO General gave films to RKO Entertainment, a subsidiary of GenCorp. GenCorp becomes parent company
-Gannett and Grant TInker buy site from bankrupt Laird, forming GTG Entertainment's Culver Studios
-1987: Entertainment Acquisition Corp buys RKO movies off GenCorp. GenCorp sells of RKO General and General Tire
-1991: Husband and wife Ted Hartley & Dina Merrill buy 51% of RKO Pictures Corporation off of former Treasury Secretary William Simon and his partner Ray Charles. They bought name, logo and copyright to material, most tv and cinematic rights having been sold off
-1991: Pavilion Communications merges with RKO Pictures Corp into RKO Pictures. RKO Pictures LLC: RKO Entertainment (corporate); RKO Pictures Television; RKO Radio Pictures (indy/ low budget); RKO Producer's Circle (big budget co-prod.s)
-1991: Culver Studios sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment
+RKO Pictures & Judgement records formed RKO/Judgement Records (LA & Philadelphia)
+RKO has a library of 800 scripts, and a catalog of 1,100 pre-made films
+Las Vegas’ Ogantz Products acquired RKO records masters, Unique (jazz label) and Boardwalk records