1955_in_American_television

1955 in American television

Television related events in the USA during 1955

This is a list of American television-related events in 1955.

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[1] [1]
WITN history

[tt-2] [2]
McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 497. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.

[1]

[2]

Date	Event	Ref
March 5	Elvis Presley makes his first television performance on Louisiana Hayride, a program shown locally on KSLA in Shreveport, Louisiana.
March 15	Andy Griffith stars in his television debut in the play No Time for Sergeants, broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company in The United States Steel Hour series.
April 1	The DuMont Television Network drastically decreases its programming; just eight series to keep the network operating, in anticipation of its eventual shutdown sixteen months later.
May 9	Harpo Marx makes a memorable appearance on I Love Lucy.
May 9	Jim Henson's puppet show Sam and Friends first airs on NBC O&O station WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
June 7	The quiz show craze begins with the premiere of The 64,000 Dollar Question. The series spawns many imitations, including Twenty-One the next year.
September 28	World Series baseball is broadcast in color for the first time in the U.S., with WITN-TV in Washington, North Carolina signing on the air with the first game of the 1955 World Series as their first telecast.	^[1]

Date	Debut	Network
January 2	The Bob Cummings Show (also known as Love That Bob)	NBC^[2]
January 3	Hollywood Today	NBC
January 5	Norby	NBC
January 22	Ozark Jubilee	ABC
February 27	Key to the Ages	Dumont
April	Paul Dixon Show	WLWT
April 9	Science Fiction Theater	Syndication
May 3	Have a Heart	Dumont
May 9	Sam and Friends	WRC-TV
June 3	It's Alec Templeton Time	Dumont
June 25	The Soldiers	NBC
June 28	Talent Varieties	ABC
July 2	The Lawrence Welk Show	ABC
July 20	Frankie Laine Time	CBS
September 10	Gunsmoke	CBS
September 10	It's Always Jan	CBS
September 12	Medical Horizons	ABC
September 14	Hollywood Preview	Dumont
September 20	Cheyenne	ABC
September 20	Joe and Mabel	CBS
September 26	Jungle Jim	Syndication
September 28	Brave Eagle	CBS
September 29	Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
October 1	The Honeymooners
October 2	Alfred Hitchcock Presents
October 3	Captain Kangaroo
October 3	Mickey Mouse Club	ABC
October 20	Wanted	CBS
October 31	Matinee Theatre	NBC

Date	Program	Network	First aired	Status	Notes/References
March 11	The Jack Carson Show	NBC	October 22, 1954	Ended
March 11	Stories of the Century	Syndication	1954	Canceled
April 6	Norby	NBC	January 5, 1955	Canceled
April 7	The Ernie Kovacs Show	DuMont	December 30, 1952 (on NBC)
April 8	Dear Phoebe	NBC	September 1954	Canceled
April 22	Where's Raymond?	ABC	October 1953	Canceled
June 16	Willy	CBS	September 1954	Canceled
June 23	The Public Defender	First-run syndication	1954	Ended
June 25	The Imogene Coca Show		1954	Canceled
June 26	The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse	ABC	1953	Canceled
July 1	Hawkins Falls	NBC	June 17, 1950	Ended
July 15	Flash Gordon	DuMont/Syndication	October 15, 1954	Canceled
July 26	Who Said That?	NBC	December 9, 1948	Ended
August 24	My Little Margie	NBC	June 16, 1952 (on CBS)	Canceled
September 1	Life with Elizabeth	Syndication	October 7, 1953	Canceled
September 3	The Soldiers	NBC	June 25, 1955	Ended
September 17	Musical Chairs	NBC	July 9, 1955	Canceled
September	Frankie Laine Time	CBS	July 20	Canceled	Returned for a short run in Summer 1956
November 1	Talent Varieties	ABC	June 28, 1955	Ended
Unknown	The Jo Stafford Show	CBS	1954	Canceled
	That's My Boy	CBS	1954	Canceled
	Time for Beany	Paramount Television Network	February 28, 1949	Ended

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1	West Palm Beach, Florida	WEAT-TV	12	ABC
January 5	Minneapolis, Minnesota	KEYD-TV	9	DuMont
January 7	Mt. Cheaha/Birmingham, Alabama	WCIQ	7	NET Alabama Educational Television
January 8	Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Raleigh/Durham)	WUNC-TV	4	NET/UNC-TV
January 23	Las Vegas, Nevada	KLRJ-TV	2	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
February 3	Fairbanks, Alaska	KTVF	11	CBS
February 12	Dothan, Alabama	WTVY	4	CBS
February 13	Jefferson City/Columbia, Missouri	KRCG	13	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
February 14	St. Petersburg/Tampa, Florida	WXFL	8	NBC
February 28	Phoenix, Arizona	KTVK	3	ABC
March 1	Fairbanks, Alaska	KFAR-TV	2	NBC
March 6	Jackson, Tennessee	WBBJ-TV	7	CBS
March 8	Portland, Oregon	KLOR	12	ABC (primary) DuMont (secondary)
March 14	Duluth, Minnesota	KDAL-TV	3	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
March 15	Lexington, Kentucky	WLEX-TV	18	NBC (primary) ABC/DuMont/CBS (secondary)
March 20	Sacramento, California	KBET-TV	10	CBS
March 25	Lewiston, Maine	WLAM-TV	17	DuMont
March 27	Providence, Rhode Island	WPRO-TV	12	CBS
April 1	Tampa, Florida	WTVT	13	CBS
April 3	Waco, Texas	KWTV-TV	10	Independent
April 14	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	WBRZ-TV	2	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
April 24	Beaumont, Texas	KFDM-TV	6	CBS
April 24	Wailuku, Hawaii	KMAU-TV	9
April 28	Birmingham, Alabama (Tuscaloosa)	WBIQ	10	NET/Alabama Educational Television
April 31	Lufkin, Texas	KTRE	9	NBC (as a satellite of KPRC-TV/Houston, Texas)
May 2	Boston, Massachusetts	WGBH-TV	2	NET
May 15	Hilo, Hawaii	KPUA-TV	9
May 30	Twin Falls, Idaho	KLIX-TV	11	CBS (primary) ABC/NBC (secondary)
June 1	Rapid City, South Dakota	KOTA-TV	23	CBS (primary) NBC/ABC (secondary)
June 3	Lafayette, Louisiana	KLFY	10	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
June 8	Hattiesburg, Mississippi	WDAM-TV	7	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
June 10	San Antonio, Texas	KCOR-TV	41	Spanish independent
July 15	South Bend, Indiana	WNDU	16	NBC
July 31	Beckley/Bluefield, West Virginia	WHIS-TV	6	NBC
July 31	Des Moines, Iowa	KRNT-TV	8	CBS
August 7	Scottsbluff, Nebraska	KSTF	10	ABC (primary) NBC (secondary)
August 12	Miami, Florida	WTHS-TV	2	NET
August 29	Fayetteville/Raleigh, North Carolina	WFLB-TV	18	ABC (primary) NBC/CBS (secondary)
September 1	Wichita, Kansas	KARD-TV	3	Independent
September 3	Sacramento, California	KCRA	3	NBC
September 3	Shreveport, Louisiana (Texarkana, TX-AR)	KTBS-TV	3	NBC
September 5	Mobile, Alabama	WKRG-TV	5	CBS
September 6	Chicago, Illinois	WTTW	11	NET
September 11	Dallas, Texas	KFJZ-TV	11	Independent
September 12	San Jose/San Francisco, California	KNTV	11	Independent
September 15	Thomasville, Georgia/Tallahassee, Florida	WCTV	6	NBC
September 24	Florence/Aberdeen, South Dakota	KDLO-TV	3	NBC	Satellite of KELO-TV of Sioux Falls
September 28	Washington/Greenville, North Carolina	WITN-TV	7	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
October 2	Huntington, West Virginia	WOWK-TV	13	ABC
October 3	Detroit, Michigan	WTVS	56	NET
October 3	Roanoke, Virginia	WDBJ-TV	7	CBS
October 8	Yuma, Arizona	KIVA	11
October 12	Mayaguez/Aguadilla, Puerto Rico	WORA-TV	5	Independent
November 19	Bismarck, North Dakota	KBMB-TV	12	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
November 21	Kirksville, Missouri/Ottumwa, Iowa	KTVO	3	CBS (primary) NBC (secondary)
November 27	Little Rock, Arkansas	KTHV	11	CBS
December 3	El Dorado, Arkansas (Monroe, Louisiana)	KRBB-TV	10	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
December 4	Wailuku, Hawaii	KMVI-TV	4	ABC	Satellite of KULA-TV (now KITV) in Honolulu
December 7	Lewiston, Idaho	KLEW-TV	3	CBS (primary) ABC/NBC (secondary)
December 11	Fargo, North Dakota	KNOX-TV	10	ABC (primary) NBC (secondary)
Unknown date	San Jose/San Francisco, California	KNTV	11	Independent
	Sterling, Colorado	KDZA-TV	3	DuMont
	Urbana, Illinois	WILL-TV	12	NET

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation
February 27	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	WXIX-TV	19	ABC (primary) DuMont (secondary)	CBS
March	Wilmington, Delaware	WVUE	12	NBC	Independent
September	Waco, Texas	KWTX-TV	10	Independent	ABC
Unknown date	Little Rock, Arkansas	KATV	7	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)	ABC (exclusive)
Unknown date	Minneapolis, Minnesota	KEYD-TV	5	DuMont	Independent
Unknown date	Mobile, Alabama	WEAR-TV	3	CBS	ABC
Unknown date	Shreveport, Louisiana	KSLA	12	CBS (primary) ABC and DuMont (secondary)	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)

1955_in_American_television

1955 in American television

Events

Networks and services

Launches

Television programs

Debuts

Changing network affiliation

Ending this year

Television stations

Station launches

Network affiliation changes

Station closures

Births

Deaths

See also

References

External links

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Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	First air date	Notes/Ref.
February 2	Monterey, California	KMBY-TV	8	ABC/CBS/NBC/DuMont	August 17, 1953	Shared time with KSBW-TV
February 4	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KMPT	19	Independent	November 22, 1953
February 12	Charleston, West Virginia	WKNA-TV	49	ABC (primary) DuMont (secondary)	September 17, 1953
February 26	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	WCAN-TV	25	CBS	September 6, 1953
February 28	Fairmont, West Virginia	WJPB-TV	35	ABC (primary) NBC/DuMont (secondary)	March 17, 1954
March 15	Charlotte, North Carolina	WAYS-TV	36	ABC (primary) NBC/DuMont (secondary)
April 1	Asbury Park, New Jersey	WRTV	58	Independent	December 14, 1953	Not to be confused with today's WRTV in Indianapolis, Indiana
April 3	St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota	WMIN-TV	11	ABC/DuMont	September 1, 1953	Shared time with KARE (now WTCN-TV)
April 15	Des Moines, Iowa	KGTV	17	Independent	November 14, 1953
April 30	Stockton, California	KTVU	36	NBC	December 15, 1953	Not to be confused with the present-day KTVU in the San Francisco Bay Area.
May 31	Atlanta, Georgia	WQXI-TV	36	Independent	October 13, 1954
June 30	Reading, Pennsylvania	WEEU-TV	33	NBC	April 9, 1953
July 1	Newport News/Norfolk, Virginia	WACH-TV	33	Independent	October 8, 1953
July 15	Providence, Rhode Island	WNET	16	ABC (primary) DuMont (Secondary)	March 23, 1954
August 1	Jackson, Mississippi	WSLI	12	ABC	March 27, 1954	This station's operations merged with those of CBS affiliate WJTV to allow that station to move from UHF channel 25 to VHF channel 12.
December 15	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KTVQ	25	ABC	November 1, 1953
December 18	Pensacola, Florida	WPFA-TV	15	DuMont	October 16, 1953