In 1927, Warner Bros.' release of THE JAZZ SINGER prompted a migration across the industry to sound film. At one point, the Radio Corporation of America was shopping around for studios willing to accept a new system for what came to be defined as the "talking picture": the RCA Photophone. Actually, it was developed by General Electric, who had invested in RCA but was forced to spin it off as a
I feel ya there.
There's a lot of good background television on TLC. Like Hoarders.