The year 1949 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1949.
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 (UHF) 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 (1949). January 17: The Goldbergs, a situation comedy, debuts on CBS (1949–55). 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 (1949–54; 1956). September 28: Photocrime, detective program, premieres on ABC (1949). September 29: Come Dancing, a ballroom dancing competition, is first broadcast by the BBC (1949–95). Martin Kane, Private Eye premieres on NBC, becoming the first detective series televised (1949–54). The Voice of Firestone premieres (1949–63). Bozo the Clown premieres (1949–present). The Lone Ranger premieres on ABC (1949–57).
Stations
January 1: KPRC-TV (Originally known as KLEE-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 (Originally WAFM, and later WABT and WAPI) Signs on the air as the first TV station in Alabama May 30: WRTV (originally WFBM-TV) Signs on the air as the first TV station in Indiana June 6: KFOR-TV (originally WKY-TV) Signs on the air as the first TV station in Oklahoma July 1 WBRC Begins operations from Birmingham AL, just 1 month after WVTM started operations. August 29: WOWT (originally WOW-TV) Signs on the air for the first time, becoming the first television station in Nebraska, and one of the first in the Midwest.