1968_in_American_television

1968 in American television

Television related events in the USA during 1968

This is a list of American television-related events in 1968.

Events

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[1] [1]
"The 'Heidi' game in Birmingham". Birmingham Rewound. October 25, 2008. Retrieved August 2, 2022.

[2] [2]
Matt Schudel (July 5, 2012). "NBC Chief faced "Heidi Bowl" wrath (obituary for Julian Goodman)". The Washington Post.

[3] [3]
Lowry, Cynthia (November 18, 1968). "'Heidi' Blocks Out Football Game; TV Viewers Deluge NBC Switchboard". Lancaster New Era. p. 8.

[4] [4]
"Looking back on 50 years of history at Eyewitness News". November 16, 2018.

[5] [5]
The Apollo 8 Flight Journal - Video Index - NASA

[Woolery2-6] [6]
Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 212–213. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.

[NPR-7] [7]
Bianculli, David (February 19, 2018). "It's A Beautiful 50th Birthday For 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'". NPR. Retrieved February 19, 2018.

[BrooksMarsh2009-8] [8]
Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present. Random House. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1.

[1985_Encyc-9] [9]
Schemering, Christopher (September 1985). The Soap Opera Encyclopedia. pp. 158–166. ISBN 0-345-32459-5.

[1997_Encyc-10] [10]
Waggett, Gerard J. (November 1997). "One Life to Live". The Soap Opera Encyclopedia. Harper Paperbacks. pp. 163–188. ISBN 0-06-101157-6.

[Woolery-11] [11]
Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved March 14, 2020.

[12] [12]
Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 378. ISBN 978-1476665993.

[Perlmutter-13] [13]
Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 426–427. ISBN 978-1538103739.

[14] [14]
The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. p. 898. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.

[imdb1-15] [15]
"Adam-12 episode/season list (season 7 of 7)". IMDb. Retrieved February 5, 2012.^{[unreliable source?]}

[16] [16]
Mayberry RFD, TV Guide

[17] [17]
Day's TV work - Doris Day.com

[StJames-18] [18]
"The Mod Squad". St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture.

[ctva-19] [19]
Journey to the Unknown episode guide.

[20] [20]
"The Andy Griffith Show - American television program". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 21, 2022.

[nash-21] [21]
Nash, Francis M. (1995). Towers Over Kentucky: A History of Radio and TV in the Bluegrass State. ISBN 9781879688933.

[22] [22]
Television Factbook 1979, pages 970-b

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Date	Event	Ref.
January 20	The TVS Television Network broadcasts the first-ever syndicated primetime college basketball game at the Houston Astrodome. Billed as "The Game of the Century", the Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71–69.
February 6	ABC's coverage of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France became the first Olympics, Summer or Winter, to be telecast in color on any American network.
April 2	NBC broadcasts a television special in which British singer Petula Clark appears with Harry Belafonte as her guest. An innocent, affectionate gesture between the two during a song (Clark touches Belafonte on the arm) has prompted concern from the show's sponsor (Chrysler Corporation) due to the difference in their races.
April 4	Singer James Brown appears on national television in an attempt to calm feelings of anger following the assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
September 9	Two CBS soap operas, Search for Tomorrow and The Guiding Light, expand to 30 minutes per episode.
October 12–27	ABC broadcasts coverage of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, D.F., Mexico. This was the first Summer Olympics to be telecast in color in the United States.
October 14	First live television broadcast from a spacecraft in orbit, during the Apollo 7 mission. There are six broadcasts during the eleven-day mission.
November 17	Protest ensues when NBC breaks away from the final minutes of an American Football League game to air a TV movie adaptation of Heidi, much to the outrage of the network's AFL viewers. After the break away, the Oakland Raiders scored two touchdowns to defeat the New York Jets, 43–32, in the final minute of play.	^[1]^[2]^[3]
November 17	WABC-TV debuted the Eyewitness News format on behalf of news director Al Primo.	^[4]
November 22	An interracial kiss was aired in the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren". The kiss was shared by William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols.
December 24	The reading a passage from the Book of Genesis from Apollo 8 is telecast worldwide, with a report that there is a Santa Claus. This marked the fourth television broadcast from the spacecraft during the space mission.	^[5]

Date	Debut	Network
January 6^[6]	Happening '68	ABC
January 8	The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau	ABC
January 22	Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In	NBC
February 19^[7]	Mister Rogers' Neighborhood	NET
June 12	Black Journal	NET
June 16^[8]	Animal World	NBC
July 1	Premiere	CBS
July 15^[9]^[10]	One Life to Live	ABC
September 7	Arabian Knights	NBC
September 7	The Banana Splits	NBC
September 7	Danger Island	NBC
September 12	Soul!	WNDT
September 14^[11]	The Adventures of Gulliver	ABC
September 14	The Archie Show	CBS
September 14	Fantastic Voyage	ABC
September 14^[12]	Go Go Gophers	CBS
September 14	Wacky Races	CBS
September 15^[13]	The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	NBC
September 17	Julia	NBC
September 18^[14]	The Outsider	NBC
September 20	Hawaii Five-O	CBS
September 20	The Name of the Game	NBC
September 21^[15]	Adam-12	NBC
September 21	The Ghost & Mrs. Muir	NBC
September 23^[16]	Mayberry R.F.D.	CBS
September 23	The Outcasts	ABC
September 24	60 Minutes	CBS
September 24^[17]	The Doris Day Show	CBS
September 24^[18]	The Mod Squad	ABC
September 24	That's Life	ABC
September 25	The Good Guys	CBS
September 25	Here Come the Brides	ABC
September 26	Blondie	CBS
September 26^[19]	Journey to the Unknown	ABC
September 26	The Ugliest Girl in Town	ABC

Date	Show	Network	Debut
January 15	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	NBC	1964
January 20	Birdman and the Galaxy Trio	NBC	1967
February 10	Maya	NBC	September 26, 1967
March 2	ABC Scope	ABC	November 11, 1964
March 6	Lost in Space	CBS	1965
March 11	The Lucy Show	CBS	1962
March 14	Batman	ABC	1966
March 25	The Monkees	NBC	1966
	The Bell Telephone Hour	NBC	1959
	The Fulton Sheen Program	Syndication	1961
March 27	Run for Your Life	NBC	1965
April 1	The Andy Griffith Show^[20]	CBS	1960
April 15	I Spy	NBC	1965
Unknown	The Gumby Show	Syndication	1957
Unknown	The Road Runner Show (returned in 1971)	CBS	1966

Title	Network	Date(s) of airing	Notes/Ref,
He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown	CBS	February 14
Elvis	NBC	December 3	Elvis Presley's first television appearance in seven years; highest rated television special of 1968.

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1	Macon, Georgia	WMUM-TV	29	NET	Part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting television network
January 2	San Francisco, California	KBHK-TV	44	Independent
January 4	Joplin, Missouri	KUHI-TV	16	CBS
January 6	Dayton, Ohio	WSWO-TV	26	Independent
January 19	Cleveland, Ohio	WKBF-TV	61	Independent
February	Galveston, Texas	KVVV-TV	16	Independent
February 4	Brookings, South Dakota	KESD-TV	8	NET	Part of South Dakota Public Broadcasting
February 5	Dallas, Texas	KDTV	39	Independent
February 13	Lexington/Jackson, Tennessee	WLJT-TV	11	NET
February 15	Vincennes, Indiana	WVUT	22	NET
February 26	St. Johnsbury, Vermont	WVTB	18	NET	Satellite of WETK/Burlington; part of the Vermont ETV network
March 15	Las Vegas, Nevada	KLVX	10	NET
March 18	Rutland, Vermont	WVER	9	NET	Satellite of WETK/Burlington; part of the Vermont ETV network
March 18	Windsor, Vermont	WVTA	24	NET
April 1	San Francisco, California	KEMO-TV	20	Bilingial independent
April 11	Hanover, New Hampshire	WHED-TV	15	PBS	Part of New Hampshire Public Television
May 12	Binghamton, New York	WSKG-TV	46	NET
May 21	Keene, New Hampshire	WEKW-TV	49	NET	Satellite of WENH-TV/Durham, NH as part of New Hampshire Public Television
June 2	Lexington, Kentucky	WBLG-TV	62 (now on 36)	ABC
June 10	Kalispell, Montana	KCFW	9	CBS
June 10	Meridian, Mississippi	WHTV	24	CBS
August 1	Fon du Lac, Wisconsin	KFIZ-TV	34	Independent
August 1	Newport, Kentucky (Cincinnati, Ohio)	WXIX-TV	19	Independent
August 4	Paterson, New Jersey/New York City, New York	WXTV	41	Independent
August 19	Burlington, Vermont ((Plattsburgh, New York)	WEZF-TV	22	ABC
August 19	Olney, Illinois	WUSI-TV	16	NET	Satellite of WSIU-TV/Carbondale, Illinois
September 9	Louisville, Alabama	WGIA	43	NET	Part of the Alabama Educational Television network.
September 15	Lorain/Cleveland, Ohio	WUAB	43	Independent
	Detroit, Michigan	WXON-TV	62 (now 28)	Independent
	Palm Springs, California	KMIR-TV	36	NBC
	Poplar Bluff, Missouri	KPOB-TV	15	ABC	Satellite of WSIL-TV of Harrisburg, Illinois
September 22	Springfield, Missouri	KMTC	27	ABC
September 23	Ashland, Kentucky	WKAS^[21]	25	NET	Part of Kentucky Educational Television^[21]
	Bowling Green, Kentucky	WKGB-TV^[21]	53
	Elizabethtown, Kentucky	WKZT-TV^[21]	23
	Hopkinsville, Kentucky	W64BR	64		Translator of WKMA/Madisonville, Kentucky; part of Kentucky Educational Television
	Lexington, Kentucky	WKLE^[21]	46		Flagship of Kentucky Educational Television
	Madisonville, Kentucky	WKMA-TV^[21]	35		Part of Kentucky Educational Television
	Morehead, Kentucky	WKMR^[21]	38
	Owenton, Kentucky	WKON^[21]	52
	Somerset, Kentucky	WKSO-TV^[21]	29
September 30	Macon, Georgia	WCWB-TV	41	NBC
October 5	Palm Springs, California	KPLM-TV	42	ABC
October 9	Murray, Kentucky	WKMU^[21]	21	NET	Part of Kentucky Educational Television
October 26	Sacramento, California	KTXL	40	Independent
November 4	Durham/Raleigh, North Carolina	WRDU-TV	28	NBC
November 4	Tampa, Florida	WTOG	44	Independent
November 11	Lubbock, Texas	KSEL-TV	28	Independent
November 18	Hastings, Nebraska	KHNE-TV	29	NET	Part of Nebraska ETV
December 4	Little Rock, Arkansas	KETS	2	NET	Flagship of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
December 6	Fort Lauderdale/Miami, Florida	WSMS-TV	51	Independent
December 9	Merriman, Nebraska	KRNE-TV	12	NET	Part of Nebraska ETV
December 11	El Centro, California (Yuma, Arizona, USA/Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico)	KECC-TV	9	ABC
December 14	Ventura/Los Angeles, California	KKOG-TV	16	Independent
December 16^[22]	Hazard, Kentucky	WKHA^[21]	35	NET	Part of Kentucky Educational Television
December 18	Fort Myers, Florida	WBBH-TV	20	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)
December 24	Augusta, Georgia	WAGT	26	NBC
December 28	San Francisco, California	KUDO	38	Independent
Unknown date	Corpus Christi, Texas	KVDO-TV	22	Independent
Unknown date	Hollywood/Miami, Florida	WYHS	69	Independent	Satellite of WCIX-TV (now WFOR-TV) Miami

1968_in_American_television

1968 in American television

Events

Other events and statistics in 1968

Television programs

Debuts

Ending this year

Television specials

Networks and services

Network launches

Network conversions and rebrandings

Television stations

Sign-ons

Network affiliation changes

Station closures

Births

Deaths

References

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Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1	Joplin, Missouri	KODE-TV	12	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)	ABC (exclusive)	KUHI would take the CBS affiliation in Joplin, Missouri, three days later.
June 2	Lexington, Kentucky	WLEX-TV	18	NBC (primary) CBS/ABC (secondary)	NBC (exclusive)
June 2	Lexington, Kentucky	WKYT-TV	27	ABC (primary) CBS (secondary)	CBS (exclusive)
September 30	Macon, Georgia	WMAZ-TV	13	CBS (primary) ABC and NBC (secondary)	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)