1955 in American television explained

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

Events

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.
	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]

Networks and services

Launches

Television programs

Debuts

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
January 17	TV Reader's Digest	ABC
January 19	The Millionaire	CBS
January 22	Ozark Jubilee
February 3	Star Tonight	ABC
February 27	Key to the Ages	DuMont
April	Paul Dixon Show
April 9	Science Fiction Theater
May 3	Have a Heart	Dumont
May 9	Sam and Friends
June 3	It's Alec Templeton Time	Dumont
June 25	The Soldiers	NBC
June 28	Talent Varieties	ABC
July 2	The Lawrence Welk Show
July 20	Frankie Laine Time
September 6	The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp	ABC
September 10	Gunsmoke	CBS
	It's Always Jan
September 12	Medical Horizons	ABC
September 13	Kings Row	ABC
September 14	Hollywood Preview	DuMont
September 14	MGM Parade	ABC
September 20	Cheyenne	ABC
	Joe and Mabel	CBS
September 26	Jungle Jim	Syndication
September 27	Casablanca	ABC
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
	Mickey Mouse Club	ABC
October 7	Crossroads	ABC
October 20	Wanted	CBS
	Matinee Theatre	NBC

Ending this year

Date	Program	Network	First aired	Status	Notes/References
January 1	China Smith	First-run Syndication	June 1, 1952	Ended
January 3	The Ilona Massey Show	DuMont	November 1, 1954	Ended
January 9	Opera Cameos	DuMont	November 8, 1953	Ended
January 27	So You Want to Lead a Band	ABC	August 5, 1954	Ended
February 11	The Stranger	DuMont	June 25, 1954	Ended
February 17	One Minute Please	DuMont	July 6, 1954	Ended
February 26	Space Patrol	ABC	March 9, 1950	Ended
March	Wrestling from Marigold	DuMont	September 17, 1949	Ended
March 6	The Johns Hopkins Science Review	DuMont	March 9, 1948 (on CBS)	Ended
March 11	The Jack Carson Show	NBC	October 22, 1954	Ended
	Stories of the Century	Syndication	1954	Canceled
March 23	I Married Joan	NBC	October 15, 1952	Canceled
April 1	Captain Video and His Video Rangers	DuMont	June 27, 1949	Ended
	DuMont Evening News	DuMont	September 1954	Ended
April 2	The Vampira Show	ABC	April 30, 1954	Ended
April 6	Concert Tonight	DuMont	December 30, 1953	Ended
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 13	The Stu Erwin Show	ABC	October 21, 1950
April 22	Where's Raymond?	ABC	October 1953	Canceled
May 3	Twenty Questions	DuMont	November 2, 1949
May 4	The Best of Broadway	CBS	September 15, 1954
May 22	Key to the Ages	DuMont	February 27, 1955
May 31	Danger	CBS	September 26, 1950	Ended
June 12	Mister Peepers	NBC	July 3, 1952	Ended
June 14	The Elgin Hour		June 14, 1955
June 14	Have a Heart	DuMont	May 3, 1955
June 16	Willy	CBS	September 1954	Canceled
June 18	Foreign Intrigue	Syndication	October 18, 1951	Ended
June 23	The Public Defender	First-run syndication	1954	Ended
June 25	The Imogene Coca Show		1954	Canceled
	Tom Corbett, Space Cadet	DuMont	October 2, 1950 (on CBS)	Ended
June 26	The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse	ABC	1953	Canceled
June 30	The Jane Froman Show	CBS	October 18, 1952	Ended
July	All About Baby	DuMont	1953	Ended
July 1	Concerning Miss Marlowe	NBC	July 5, 1954	Ended
	Hawkins Falls	NBC	June 17, 1950	Ended
	Treasury Men in Action	NBC	September 11, 1950 (on ABC)	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		June 16, 1952 (on CBS)	Canceled
August 26	It's Alec Templeton Time	DuMont	June 3, 1955	Ended
September 1	Life with Elizabeth	Syndication	October 7, 1953	Canceled
September 3	The Soldiers	NBC	June 25, 1955	Ended
September 10	The Donald O'Connor Show		October 9, 1954	Ended
September 17	Musical Chairs	NBC	July 9, 1955	Canceled
September 24	The Man Behind the Badge	CBS	October 11, 1953	Ended
September 29	The Halls of Ivy	CBS	October 19, 1954	Ended
September	Frankie Laine Time	CBS	July 20, 1955	Canceled	Returned for a short run in Summer 1956
October 2	The Philco Television Playhouse	NBC	October 3, 1948	Ended
October 7	The Name's the Same	ABC	December 5, 1951	Ended
October 17	Sherlock Holmes	ABC	October 18, 1954	Ended
November 1	Talent Varieties	ABC	June 28, 1955	Ended
November 22	The Adventures of Kit Carson		August 11, 1951	Ended
December 25	The Colgate Comedy Hour	NBC	September 10, 1950	Ended
Unknown	The Jo Stafford Show	CBS	1954	Canceled
	That's My Boy
	Time for Beany		February 28, 1949	Ended
	The Red Buttons Show	CBS	October 14, 1952	Ended
	NFL on DuMont	DuMont	1951	Ended
	Waterfront	Syndication	August 21, 1954	Ended

Television stations

Station launches

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1			12	ABC
January 5			9	DuMont
January 7	Mt. Cheaha/Birmingham, Alabama		7
January 8	Chapel Hill, North Carolina		4
January 23			2	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
February 3		KTVF	11	CBS
February 12			4
February 13			13	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
February 14			8	NBC
February 28		KTVK	3	ABC
March 1	Fairbanks, Alaska		2	NBC
March 6			7	CBS
March 8	Portland, Oregon		12	ABC (primary) DuMont (secondary)
March 14			3	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
March 15	Lexington, Kentucky		18	NBC (primary) ABC/DuMont/CBS (secondary)
March 20			10	CBS
March 25			17	DuMont
March 27			12	CBS
April 1	Tampa, Florida		13	CBS
April 3			10
April 14			2	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
April 24			6	CBS
		KMAU-TV	9
April 28	Birmingham, Alabama	WBIQ	10	NET/Alabama Educational Television
April 31			9	NBC (as a satellite of KPRC-TV/Houston, Texas)
May 2			2
May 15			9
May 30		KLIX-TV	11	CBS (primary) ABC/NBC (secondary)
June 1			23	CBS (primary) NBC/ABC (secondary)
June 3			10	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
June 8			7	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
June 10			41
July 15			16	NBC
July 31			6	NBC
			8	CBS
August 7		KSTF	10	ABC (primary) NBC (secondary)
August 12			2	NET
August 29		WFLB-TV	18	ABC (primary) NBC/CBS (secondary)
September 1			3	Independent
September 3			3	NBC
	Shreveport, Louisiana		3
September 5			5
September 6			11
September 11			11	Independent
September 12			11	Independent
September 15			6	NBC
September 24		KDLO-TV	3	NBC
September 28		WITN-TV	7	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
October 2		WOWK-TV	13	ABC
October 3			56
			7	CBS
October 8			11
October 12	Mayaguez/Aguadilla, Puerto Rico		5	Independent
November 19			12	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
November 21			3	CBS (primary) NBC (secondary)
November 27			11	CBS
December 3	El Dorado, Arkansas		10	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
December 4		KMVI-TV	4	ABC	Satellite of KULA-TV (now KITV) in Honolulu
December 7			3	CBS (primary) ABC/NBC (secondary)
December 11			10	ABC (primary) NBC (secondary)
Unknown date			11	Independent
			3	DuMont
			12	NET

Network affiliation changes

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

Station closures

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	First air date	Notes/Ref.
February 2		KMBY-TV	8	ABC/CBS/NBC/DuMont	August 17, 1953	Shared time with KSBW-TV
February 4			19	Independent	November 22, 1953
February 12			49	ABC (primary) DuMont (secondary)	September 17, 1953
February 26	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	WCAN-TV	25	CBS	September 6, 1953
February 28		WJPB-TV	35	ABC (primary) NBC/DuMont (secondary)	March 17, 1954
March 15		WAYS-TV	36	ABC (primary) NBC/DuMont (secondary)
April 1		WRTV	58	Independent	December 14, 1953	Not to be confused with today's WRTV in Indianapolis, Indiana
April 3	St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota		11	ABC/DuMont	September 1, 1953	Shared time with KARE (now WTCN-TV)
April 15		KGTV	17	Independent	November 14, 1953
April 30		KTVU	36	NBC	December 15, 1953	Not to be confused with the present-day KTVU in the San Francisco Bay Area.
May 31			36	Independent	October 13, 1954
June 30			33	NBC	April 9, 1953
July 1		WACH-TV	33	Independent	October 8, 1953
July 15	Providence, Rhode Island	WNET	16	ABC (primary) DuMont (Secondary)	March 23, 1954
August 1			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		WPFA-TV	15	DuMont	October 16, 1953

Births

See main article: article.

Deaths

See main article: article.

See also

• • • • 1955 in television 1955 in film 1955 in the United States List of American films of 1955

External links

• List of 1955 American television series at IMDb

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20150702034347/http://www.witn.com/station/misc/27442154.html WITN history
2. Book: McNeil. Alex. Total Television. 1996. Penguin Books USA, Inc.. New York, New York. 0-14-02-4916-8. 497. 4th.