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1948 in television

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{{Year nav topic5|1948|television|radio|film|music}}

The year 1948 in television involved some significant events.

Below is a list of television-related events during 1948.

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Events

  • (undated) - The Ziv Company creates Ziv Television Programs as a subsidiary specializing in the production of original television programs for syndication.{{cite book|last1=Newcomb|first1=Horace|title=Encyclopedia of Television|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135194796|pages=2626–2627|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JUzIAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Ziv+Company%22+radio&pg=PA2627|access-date=10 January 2017|language=en|chapter=Ziv Television Programs, Inc.}}
  • February 9 - WLWT, Cincinnati, Ohio, begins commercial broadcasting, changing its call letters from experimental station W8XCT.{{cite news|title=Cincinnati's T-Day Observed Feb. 15|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-02-23-BC.pdf|access-date=8 November 2014|agency=Broadcasting|date=February 23, 1948}}
  • March 4 - First American television ratings are released by C. E. Hooper.(8 March 1948). [www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-03-08-BC.pdf TV 'Amateur Hour' Gets 46.8 Rating], Broadcasting, p. 42Von Schilling, Jim. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_4osBgAAQBAJ The Magic Window: American Television, 1939-53], p. 100 (2013)
  • March 20 – Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. in a program featuring the works of Richard Wagner.
  • April 3 – Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is played on television in its entirety for the first time in a concert featuring Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.
  • May 3 – The first network nightly newscast, CBS Television News, debuts on CBS with Douglas Edwards as journalist.
  • June 21 - The first network telecasts of political conventions from Philadelphia.
  • July 29 – The BBC Television Service begins its coverage of the 1948 Olympic Games in London by broadcasting the opening ceremony. From now until the closing ceremony on August 14 the BBC will broadcast an average three and a half hours a day of live coverage from the games, using a special coaxial cable linking the main venue at Wembley Stadium to the television service's base at Alexandra Palace. This is the most ambitious sustained outside broadcast yet attempted by the BBC and is completed without serious problems.
  • August 10 - ABC establishes its first television station in New York.
  • August 25 – First-ever congressional hearing is televised: "Confrontation Day" between Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
  • November 4 - Moscow TV facility adopted a new 625 line PAL television standard.
  • November 25 - The earliest known national telecast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is broadcast by CBS.
  • November 29
  • Roller Derby is broadcast from NY on the CBS television network.
  • The television puppet show series Kukla, Fran and Ollie is transferred to the NBC Midwest Network.
  • December 18 — WDSU TV channel 6, NBC affiliate, becomes the first station in the Deep South in New Orleans, Louisiana
  • CBS begins network programming.
  • Television manufacturing begins in Canada.
  • Telecasts of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, begin until 1954.
  • The number of homes in the U.S. that own a television set reaches one million.

Debuts

  • January 5 – Television Newsreel (UK) is first shown on the BBC Television Service (1948–1954).
  • April 15 - For Your Pleasure debuts on NBC.{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476605159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ty21CgAAQBAJ&dq=%22For+Your+Pleasure%22+TV&pg=PA5 |page=5 |access-date=November 13, 2019 |language=en}}
  • April 18 - The ABC television network begins operation.{{cite news|title=ABC TV Network|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-04-19-BC.pdf|access-date=26 November 2014|agency=Broadcasting|date=April 19, 1948}}
  • April 22 - WTVR-TV, Richmond, Virginia, begins broadcasting on Channel 6.{{cite news|title=WTVR (TV) to Start April 22, Channel 6|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-04-19-BC.pdf|access-date=26 November 2014|agency=Broadcasting|date=April 19, 1948}} WTVR is the first TV station south of Washington, D.C., giving it the nickname "The South's first Television Station."
  • April 27 - KSTP-TV, Saint Paul, Minnesota, signs on the air as an NBC affiliate, the first TV station in Minnesota.
  • June 8 – Milton Berle becomes the first United States television star with the debut of Texaco Star Theater (later The Milton Berle Show) broadcast by NBC (1948–1953).
  • June 9 - WBZ-TV, Boston, Massachusetts, begins broadcasting on Channel 4.{{cite news|title=WBZ-TV Formally Opened at Boston|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-06-14-BC.pdf|access-date=18 December 2014|agency=Broadcasting|date=June 14, 1948}} WBZ is New England's first television station.
  • June 20 – Toast of the Town, a variety series hosted by Ed Sullivan, premieres on CBS, with guests Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (later renamed, The Ed Sullivan Show) (1948–1971).
  • July 1 – Mark Goodson's first game series Winner Take All premieres on CBS (1948–1952).
  • August 10 – Candid Microphone (renamed Candid Camera in 1949) debuts on ABC (1948 – present).
  • September 8 - Girl About Town debuts on NBC.
  • September 29 - WSB-TV, Atlanta, Georgia, begins broadcasting on Channel 8.{{cite news|title=WSB-TV in Atlanta Opening on Sept. 29 |url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-09-27-BC.pdf |access-date=10 January 2015 |agency=Broadcasting |date=September 27, 1948 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6VW4rzF97?url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-09-27-BC.pdf |archive-date=January 12, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}
  • October 12 - Vanity Fair debuts (1948-1951).{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=Alex|title=Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |date=1996|publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc.|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-14-02-4916-8|page= 883|edition=4th}}
  • November 15 - The Adventures of Oky Doky premieres (1948–1949).{{cite book|last1=Hyatt|first1=Wesley|title=Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops|date=2003|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786414208|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Sy1CgAAQBAJ&q=%22Al+Pearce+Show%22&pg=PA39|access-date=14 August 2017|language=en}}
  • November 24 - The Arrow Show premieres (1948-1949).
  • November - Super Circus premieres (1948-49 locally on WENR, 1949-1956 nationwide){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3nCJAlg5qUC&q=paddy+the+pelican&pg=PA100|title=Hi There, Boys and Girls! America's Local Children's TV Programs|last=Hollis|first=Tim|date=2001-10-29|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781578063963|language=en}}
  • Amanda (1948–1949).
  • The Bigelow Show premieres (1948–1949).
  • Champagne and Orchids (1948–1949).
  • Child's World debuts (1948–1949).
  • Actors Studio (1948–1950).
  • Cartoon Teletales (1948–1950).
  • The Alan Dale Show premieres (1948–1951).
  • Club Seven (1948–1951).

Television programs

class="wikitable"
Series

! Debut

! Ended

!Network

The Original Amateur Hour

|January 18, 1948

|September 27, 1970

|CBS

Court of Current Issues

|February 9, 1948

|June 26, 1951

|Dumont

Stop Me If You've Heard This One

|March 4, 1948

|April 22, 1949

|NBC

Author Meets the Critics

|April 1948

|October 10, 1954

|NBC

Hollywood Screen Test

|April 15, 1948

|1953

|ABC

Texaco Star Theater

|June 8, 1948

|1953

|NBC

The Ed Sullivan Show

|June 20, 1948

|June 6, 1971

|CBS

Candid Camera

|August 10, 1948

|2014

|ABC

CBS Evening News

|August 15, 1948

|{{center|—}}

|CBS

Foodini the Great

|August 23, 1948

|June 23, 1951

|CBS

Actors Studio

|September 1948

|June 1950

|ABC

Champagne and Orchids

|September 6, 1948

|January 10, 1949

|Dumont

Ford Theatre

|October 17, 1948

|July 10, 1957

|NBC

The Growing Paynes

|October 20, 1948

|August 3, 1949

|Dumont

The Adventures of Oky Doky

|November 4, 1948

|May 26, 1949

|Dumont

The Morey Amsterdam Show

|December 17, 1948

|October 12, 1950

|CBS

The Alan Dale Show

|1948

|1951

|Dumont

Amanda

|1948

|1949

|Dumont

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts

|1948

|January 1, 1958

|CBS

The Bigelow Show

|1948

|1949

|

Break the Bank

|1948

|1957

|ABC

Cartoon Teletales

|1948

|1950

|ABC

Celebrity Time

|1948

|September 1952

|CBS

Child's World

|1948

|1949

|

Club Seven

|1948

|1951

|ABC

The Philco Television Playhouse

|1948

|1955

|NBC

Winner Take All

|1948

|1952

|CBS

Programs ending during 1948

class="wikitable"

! Date

ShowDebut
June 30

|In the Kelvinator Kitchen

|rowspan="2"|1947

rowspan="2"|Unknown

|Eye Witness

The World in Your Home

|1944

Births

Television debuts

References

External links

{{Commons category}}

{{Years in TV by country|1948}}

{{Years in television}}