Noran Edward Kersta was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on 17 July 1911. He joined Bell Telephone Laboratories and attended the special engineering academic school conducted by Bell. Kersta was then admitted to Georgia School of Technology for chemical engineering. While there, he was on the honor roll for two years, active in football and lacrosse, and active in the Phi Eta Sigma honorary fraternity. Kersta spent a year at New York University for electrical engineering as well as studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in advanced mathematics, economics, and psychology. Kersta was a pioneer in television research and development when he joined NBC in 1932. He was appointed manager of the NBC Television Department in 1941. During World War II, Kersta served overseas as a radar and operations officer in the Marine Corps. He returned to NBC in 1945 to re-energize the television activities and was responsible for building that organization. In 1948, he was appointed the executive assistant to the administrative vice-president in charge of television. After three years, Kersta signed on with the Weintraub Advertising Agency, setting up their radio and television department while simultaneously organizing his own consulting company in Florida. With colleagues William Fairbanks and Arthur Hungerford (who helped initiate Penn State's public television station, WPSX), he set up the Television Research Institute in 1935. The Institute released monthly reports to radio and advertising executives on the developments occurring in television. Other companies that Kersta worked for include Seaboard Railroad in 1932, the New England Power Company in 1935, and the Television Corporation of America in 1935.
From the description of Noran Kersta Collection of NBC Television Network commercial cooperative files, 1934-1950. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 611586329
