| Notes | Much of the historical interest of the RCA, besides its association with the Electronic Music Center, comes from a number of amusing (and possibly apocryphal) stories told regarding the synthesizer. One common story is that Ussachevsky and Otto Luening effectively conned RCA into building the machine, claiming that a synthesizer built to their specifications would "replace the symphony orchestra," prompting RCA executives to gamble the cost of the synthesizer in the hopes of being able to eliminate their (unionized) radio orchestra. The RCA is sometimes (falsely) attributed as the direct cause of the New York City Blackout of 1977, having been powered on moments before the lights went out |
