NBC Leaving Burbank

After 56 years, NBC Universal announced today that it was moving the venerable NBC Studios from Burbank to a new site across the street from Universal Studios at the intersection of the 101 Freeway and Lankershim Blvd. in Hollywood.

Burbank’s place in the national consciousness was largely secured by NBC through disparaging Johnny Carson monologues and announcer Gary Owens’ satirical “beautiful downtown Burbank” intro to Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. When Conan O’Brien takes over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009, it will air from Studio One on the Universal lot, a soundstage initially built for The Jack Benny Program.

NBC expects its new facilities to be completed by 2011. The network’s first West Coast headquarters was also in Hollywood at the corner of Sunset and Vine.