The year 1952 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1952.
Events
- January 14 â Today is first aired on NBC in the United States with Dave Garroway as host.
- January 16 â Sooty, Harry Corbett's little yellow glove puppet teddy bear, first appears on the BBC Television Service's Talent Night in the United Kingdom.
- February 1 â The first TV detector van is commissioned in the U.K. as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 British households that watch television illegally without a licence.
- March 14 â The BBC Television Service in Scotland is launched.
- May 22 â The first televised atomic bomb detonation, billed as "Operation TumblerâÂÂSnapper", is broadcast on KTLA in Los Angeles, and fed to the three major U.S. networks via a microwave link.
- July 7 â Turkey's first television station, ITU TV, is opened.
- July 20 â Arrow to the Heart, the first collaboration between director Rudolph Cartier and scriptwriter Nigel Kneale, is broadcast by BBC Television in the United Kingdom.
- August 1 â First television broadcast in the Dominican Republic by La Voz Dominicana, a station based on the radio station of the same name.
- September 6 â Television debuts in Canada with the initiation of CBFT in Montreal, Quebec.
- September 8 â CBLT in Toronto, Ontario begins broadcasting as Canada's second television station.
- September 20 â The first commercial Ultra High Frequency (UHF) television station in the world, KPTV (later a Fox company affiliate), begins broadcasting in Portland, Oregon on channel 27.
- October 7 â WFIL-TV Philadelphia's afternoon series Bandstand, which will become American Bandstand, changes emphasis to teens dancing to popular records
- November 4 â 1952 United States presidential election: The first political advertisements have appeared on U.S. television. Democrats bought a 30-minute time segment for their candidate, Adlai Stevenson but he has received unfavorable mail for interfering with a broadcast of I Love Lucy. Dwight Eisenhower bought 20 second commercial segments and wins the election.
- November 16 â CBS Television City in Hollywood, California opens, the network's first studio on the U.S. west coast.
- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission reserves channels for non-commercial public broadcasting.
- There are approximately 146,000 television sets in Canada and most antennas are pointed towards WBEN-TV (later WIVB) in Buffalo, New York.
Programs/programmes
Debuts
- January 6 - Claudia on NBC (moved to CBS on March 31, 1952)
- January 14 â The Today Show on NBC (1952âÂÂpresent)
- March 1 â Death Valley Days in syndication (1952âÂÂ1975)
- June 19 â I've Got a Secret on CBS (1952âÂÂ1967)
- June 30 â the soap opera The Guiding Light (1952âÂÂ2009) on CBS, which began on radio in 1937, becoming the longest-running regularly scheduled drama in television history
- July 10 - The prime time version of A Date with Judy debuts on ABC.
- September â the religious drama This Is the Life on DuMont, and ran until the late 1980s
- September 19 â Adventures of Superman in syndication (1952âÂÂ1958)
- October 26 â Victory at Sea (1952âÂÂ1953) on NBC, one of the first historic documentary series
- November 1 â Hockey Night in Canada on CBC (1952âÂÂpresent)
- November 6 â Biff Baker, U.S.A. on CBS (1952âÂÂ1953)
- November 8 â My Hero on NBC (1952âÂÂ1953)
- December 1 â The Abbott and Costello Show in syndication (1952âÂÂ1954)
- December 15 â Flower Pot Men on BBC Television (1952)
- American Bandstand, originally called Bandstand, as a local program in Philadelphia (1952âÂÂ1989)
- Life Is Worth Living with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen on DuMont (1952âÂÂ1955), then on ABC (1955âÂÂ1957)
- My Little Margie (1952âÂÂ1955), starring Gale Storm
- See It Now, hosted by Edward R. Murrow
- The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet on ABC (1952âÂÂ1966)
- The Ernie Kovacs Show, where Kovacs explores the boundaries of television technology with his use of special effects (1952âÂÂ1953)
- Meet the Masters, a program about classical music, on NBC and WGN-TV
- This Is Your Life in the U.S. (1952âÂÂ1961)
- Life with Elizabeth, a sitcom featuring Betty White (1952âÂÂ1955)
Ending during 1952
Births
Television debuts
References