1972_in_American_television

1972 in American television

Television related events during 1972

This is a list of American television-related events in 1972.

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[1] [1]
"The First Star Trek Convention, or How I Got my Geek Cred" Wired. January 3, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2021.

[2] [2]
"Philadelphia". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1972-08-30.

[3] [3]
Today in TV History: The Very First ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’. Decider. December 31, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2021.

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Date	Event	Ref.
January 21	The first convention of Star Trek fans is held at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in New York City.	^[1]
March 18	After losing a 15-year court battle over the legality of its business relationship with The Herald-Traveler, CBS' Boston, Massachusetts affiliate WHDH-TV Channel 5 signs off the air after the movie Fixed Bayonets! finished at 1 am. At 3 a.m. on March 19, WCVB takes over the Channel 5 frequency, simultaneously switching affiliations to the ABC network following CBS' loss of interest in the channel during the long legal wrangle. The CBS affiliation returned to WNAC-TV until its 1982 shutdown.
May	The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson relocates from New York City to the NBC Studios in Burbank, California. It would return to New York in 2014 when The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is launched.
August 26	Effective with this issue, TV Guide discontinues the practice of using a "C" to indicate color programs, and instead starts using a "BW" for monochrome, saving a lot of printer's ink in the process. At the time about half of the TV households in the U.S. had color sets.
September 4	The Price Is Right premieres on CBS. As of 2021, it is the longest-running game show on American television.
October 1	The famous Move Closer to Your World theme made its debut on WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.	^[2]
December 31	The first installment of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve airs on NBC, beginning a yearly tradition of Dick Clark-hosted New Year's specials.	^[3]

Date	Debut	Network
January 13	Me and the Chimp	CBS
January 14	Sanford and Son	NBC
January 15	Emergency!	NBC
June 21	The Super	ABC
September 4	Gambit	CBS
	The Joker's Wild
	The New Price is Right
September 9	Runaround	NBC
	The New Scooby-Doo Movies	CBS
	Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids	CBS
September 11	The Rookies	ABC
September 12	Maude	CBS
September 12	Temperatures Rising	ABC
September 13	The Julie Andrews Hour	ABC
September 14	The Waltons	CBS
September 15	Ghost Story	NBC
September 16	Bridget Loves Bernie	CBS
	The Bob Newhart Show	CBS
	The Streets of San Francisco	ABC
September 17	MASH*	CBS
October 3	4 Country Reporter	KDFW
October 14	Kung Fu	ABC
November 4	Great Performances	PBS

Date	Show	Debut
March 1	The Courtship of Eddie's Father (US)	1969
March 10	O'Hara, U.S. Treasury (US)	1971
March 12	The Jimmy Stewart Show (US)	1971
March 25	Bewitched (US)	1964
March 31	Bright Promise (US)	1969
April 27	Me and the Chimp (US)	1972
August 23	The Super (US)	1972
August 24	My Three Sons (US)	1960
September 2	The Road Runner Show	1966

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes	Source
Family Broadcasting Corporation	Cable	Unknown
Home Box Office	Cable	November 8	First ever premium movie channel created by Time Life; oldest pay television service in the United States

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1	Aberdeen, South Dakota	KDSD-TV	16	PBS via SDPB
January 4	Chattanooga, Tennessee	WRIP-TV	61	Independent
January 14	Bude, Mississippi	WMAU-TV	17	PBS	Part of Mississippi ETV
January 14	Meridian, Mississippi	WMAW-TV	14	PBS	Part of Mississippi ETV
February 14	Fort Lauderdale-Miami, Florida	WSCV	51	Independent	Previously on-air as WSMS-TV (1969-1970)
March 8	Dayton, Ohio	WPTD	16	PBS
March 19	Boston, Massachusetts	WCVB-TV	5	ABC
May 7	Greenville/Washington, North Carolina	WUNK-TV	25	PBS via UNC-TV
May 19	Oxford, Mississippi (Memphis, Tennessee)	WMAV-TV	18	NET	Part of Mississippi ETV
August 16	Los Angeles, California	KBSA	46	Independent
August 29	Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands	WTJX-TV	12	PBS
September 12	Green Bay, Wisconsin	WPNE-TV	38	PBS	Part of Wisconsin Public Television
September 14	Bethel, Alaska	KYUK-TV		PBS	Part of AlaskaOne
September 15	Greenwood, Mississippi	WMAO-TV	23	PBS	Part of Mississippi ETV
October 16	Corpus Christi, Texas	KEDT	16	PBS
October 20	Farmington, New Mexico	KOBF	12	NBC	Satellite of KOB-TV/Albuquerque, New Mexico
October 23	Camden, New Jersey (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)	WNJS	23	PBS	Part of the New Jersey Network
October 29	Greenville, South Carolina	WGGS	16	Religious independent
November 20	Huntington Beach, California/Los Angeles, California	KOCE-TV	50	PBS
December 17	Grand Rapids, Michigan	WGVC	11	PBS
December 28	Marquette, Michigan	WNMU-TV		PBS
Unknown date	Bethel, Alaska	KYUK-TV	4	PBS	Eventual AlaskaOne station
Unknown date	Hanford/Fresno, California	KFTV	21	SIN

1972_in_American_television

1972 in American television

Events

Programs

Debuts

Ending this year

TV movies and miniseries

Births

Deaths

Networks and services

Network launches

Television stations

Sign-ons

Network affiliation changes

Station closures

See also

References

External links

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Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation	Notes/Ref.
March 19	Boston, Massachusetts	WNAC-TV	7	ABC	CBS	Now defunct
March 23	Meridian, Mississippi	WHTV	24	Silent	NBC	Became a satellite of WTVA/Tupelo, Mississippi until becoming a CBS affiliate in 1980.
March 23	Meridian, Mississippi	WTOK-TV	11	CBS (primary) NBC (secondary)	CBS (exclusive)	Now an ABC affiliate

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Sign-on date
March 18	Boston, Massachusetts	WHDH-TV	5	CBS	November 26, 1957
December 31	Lubbock, Texas	KMXN-TV	34	Spanish independent	October 24, 1967
Unknown date	Baltimore, Maryland	WMET-TV	24	Independent	March 1, 1967