This is a list of American television-related events in 1959.
| Date | Event | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| April 6 | The original KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV) in Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first station in the United States to use the Eyewitness News brand for their newscasts. | [1] |
| November 29 | As part of the Sunday Showcase on NBC, the Grammy Awards were broadcast for the first time ever. | [2] |
| Date | Program | Network | First aired | Notes/References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 13 | Confession | ABC | 1957 | |
| April 24 | Your Hit Parade | CBS | July 10, 1950 | Returned in 1974 |
| April 9 | Behind Closed Doors | NBC | October 2, 1958 | |
| May 25 | Buckskin | NBC | July 3, 1958 | |
| June | Alex in Wonderland | March 10, 1959 | ||
| June 22 | The Restless Gun | NBC | September 23, 1957 | |
| June 25 | Mickey Mouse Club | ABC | October 3, 1955 | Returned in first-run syndication in 1977 |
| State Trooper | Syndication | September 25, 1956 | ||
| August | This Is Alice | October 1959 | ||
| August 20 | How to Marry a Millionaire | October 7, 1957 | ||
| August 23 | Dragnet | NBC | December 16, 1951 | Returned in 1967 (in color) |
| September 28 | Polka Go-Round | ABC | June 23, 1958 | |
| September 10 | Man Without a Gun | NTA Film Network | November 6, 1957 | |
| Title | Premiere date | Network |
|---|---|---|
| The Hate That Hate Produced | July 13–17 | |
| The Jazz Singer | October 13 | NBC |
| The Turn of the Screw | October 20 | |
| The Moon and Sixpence | October 30 | |
| Murder and the Android | November 8 | |
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 12 | 11 | ||||
| February 2 | 25 | ||||
| February 23 | Sacramento, California | KVIE | 6 | NET | |
| March 8 | Tucson, Arizona | KUAT | 6 | NET | |
| March 15 | 10 | NBC | |||
| WNED-TV | 17 | NET | |||
| April | 10 | CBS | |||
| April 23 | Champaign/Decatur, Illinois | 33 | Now on channel 15 | ||
| April 26 | Goodland, Kansas | KLOE-TV | 10 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | Now a fulltime CBS affiliate as a semi-satellite of KWCH-DT of Hutchinson, Kansas |
| April 27 | KDPS-TV | 11 | NET | ||
| April 28 | 11 | Now an affiliate of The CW | |||
| May 16 | Cheboygan, Michigan | WTOM-TV | 4 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | Satellite of WPBN/Traverse City, Michigan |
| July 3 | 6 | Independent | |||
| July 6 | 11 | NET via New Hampshire Public Television | |||
| August 1 | 31 | ABC | |||
| October 11 | 11 | ABC | |||
| October 14 | 14 | NET | |||
| October 15 | 23 | ABC (primary) CBS/NBC (secondary) | |||
| October 20 | 6 | CBS | |||
| November 1 | 40 | Independent | |||
| November 8 | Bakersfield, California | 17 | ABC | ||
| Unknown date | 8 | NBC | |||
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1 | 6 | Independent (primary) NTA Film Network (secondary) | CBS (primary) NTA Film Network (secondary) | |||
| 18 | CBS | Independent | ||||
| April 26 | KGW | 8 | ABC | NBC | ||
| KPTV | 12 | NBC | ABC | |||
| August 1 | Huntsville, Alabama | WMSL-TV | 48 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | NBC (exclusive) | WMSL lost ABC affiliate upon the sign on of WAAY-TV, but would swap affiliations with WAAY-TV in 1968. Channel 48 as WYUR-TV (now WAFF-TV) would return to NBC on a fulltime basis in 1977. |
| August 22 | Green Bay, Wisconsin | WFRV-TV | 5 | ABC | NBC | Switch was reversed in 1983 |
| WLUK-TV | 11 | NBC | ABC | |||
| October 11 | Valley City/Fargo, North Dakota | KXJB-TV | 4 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | |
| October 15 | Yakima, Washington | KIMA-TV | 29 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | |
| November 8 | Bakersfield, California | KBAK-TV | 29 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | Secondary ABC affiliation went to NBC affiliate KLYD-TV when it signed on. |
| December | Greenwood, Mississippi | WABG-TV | 6 | CBS | ABC | |
| Unknown date | Bangor, Maine | WABI-TV | 5 | NBC (primary) ABC/CBS/NTA Film Network (secondary) | CBS (primary) ABC/NTA Film Network (secondary) | |
| WLBZ-TV | 2 | CBS (exclusive) | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | |||
| Hampton/Norfolk, Virginia | WVEC-TV | 13 | NBC | ABC | ||
| Portsmouth/Norfolk, Virginia | WAVY-TV | 10 | ABC | NBC | ||
| 8 | NBC (primary) CBS/ABC (secondary) | CBS (primary) NBC/ABC (secondary) | ||||
| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | First air date | Notes/Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 26 | Portland, Oregon | 8 | ABC | NBC | ||
| 12 | NBC | ABC | ||||
| May 27 | KULR | 9 | Independent | October 20, 1958 | ||
| August 25 | 19 | Independent | September 20, 1958 | |||
| October 30 | WTOV-TV | 27 | ABC | October 22, 1953 | ||
| Unknown date | Lock Haven/Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania | WBPZ-TV | 32 | ABC (primary) NBC (secondary) | March 1958 | |
See main article: article.
See main article: article.