1949 in television

Events

• January 3: Colgate Theatre premieres on NBC.
• January 11: A two-hour special on all American networks celebrates the linking of the eastern and midwestern networks via coaxial cable.
• January 21: Your Show Time becomes the first filmed dramatic series on American network television.
• January 31: The first Emmy Awards are presented and broadcast on television from Los Angeles.
• May: The first telethon, benefitting the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund, is hosted by Milton Berle and lasts for 24 hours.
• August 25: RCA announces the development of a compatible color TV system.
• December 17: The Sutton Coldfield television transmitter is opened in the English Midlands, making it the first part of the UK outside London to receive BBC Television.
• December 29: KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency television station to operate a daily schedule.
• First television broadcasts begin in Cuba.
• For the first time, the Sears & Roebuck catalog includes televisions.

  Debuts

Programs

• January 16: ABC Television Players, a dramatic anthology, debuts on ABC.
• January 17: The Goldbergs, a situation comedy, debuts on CBS.
• May 5: Series Stop the Music debuts on American Broadcasting Company for a five-year run over seven years.
• June 27: Captain Video and His Video Rangers, apparently the first science fiction series televised, debuts.
• July 15: This Is Show Business, panel discussion program, premieres on CBS.
• September 28: Photocrime, detective program, premieres on ABC.
• September 29: Come Dancing, a ballroom dancing competition, is first broadcast by the BBC.
• Martin Kane, Private Eye premieres on NBC, becoming the first detective series televised.
• The Voice of Firestone premieres.
• Bozo the Clown premieres.
• The Lone Ranger premieres on ABC.

  Stations

• January 1: KPRC-TV Signs on the air. They are the Second TV station in Texas, and the First in Houston. That same day, KTTV Signs on in Los Angeles.
• March 21: WTVJ signs on the air becoming the first television station in the state of Florida.
• May 29: WVTM-TV Signs on the air as the first TV station in Alabama
• May 30: WRTV ) Signs on the air as the first TV station in Indiana
• July 1 WBRC Begins operations from Birmingham AL, just 1 month after WVTM started operations.

  Television shows

Programs ending during 1949

Changes of network affiliation

Births