Sarkes Tarzian
Encyclopedia
Sarkes Tarzian was an Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n-born US engineer, inventor, and broadcaster. In 1907, he and his family immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, in the United States. He attended the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 and received an undergraduate degree in 1924 and a graduate degree in 1927. Tarzian worked for the Atwater Kent company and then for RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

 in Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....

.

He founded the manufacturing company Sarkes Tarzian Enterprises in 1944, and was involved in early experiments in VHF audio broadcasting in 1946. Tarzian was a member of the Rotary Club. In 1949 he started television station WTTV
WTTV
WTTV is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Bloomington, Indiana, serving the Indianapolis television market. WTTV is owned by the Tribune Company, and is one-half of a duopoly with WXIN , the market's Fox affiliate. The two stations share a studio at 6910 Network Place on the northwest...

 in Bloomington. He sold that station in 1978.

The Sarkes Tarzian company was an important manufacturer of radio and television equipment, television tuners, and components. Its FM radio receivers helped to popularize the broadcast medium. The manufacturing operations were spun off in the 1970s and today the company still exists as a broadcaster, owning several television and radio stations. Gray Television
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is a communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with administrative offices in Albany, Georgia.Established in 1946 by James H...

has owned a partial stake in Sarkes Tarzian, Inc., since the early 2000s.

He was survived by his wife Doctor Mary Mangigian Tarzian (1905-June 1998). They had two children.

The Sarkes and Mary Tarzian Nature Preserve in Bloomington, Indiana commemorates their names.

Further reading

Delbert Charles Miller, The history of Sarkes Tarzian, Inc: The story of Sarkes Tarzian and Mary Tarzian and the industrial company they built, 1993

External links

Sarkes Tarzian, Inc. at the The Indiana Radio Archive
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