1975_in_American_television

1975 in American television

Television related events in the USA during 1975

This is a list of American television-related events in 1975.

Events

More information Date, Event ...

Date	Event	Ref.
January 3	A day for NBC game shows that could be described as anything but uneventful. In the morning, Dennis James' version of Name That Tune and the Bob Stewart/Bill Cullen series Winning Streak end their run. In the afternoon, the biggest prize in American daytime television game shows at the time is won on Jackpot, in which two contestants split a cash prize of $38,750. Finally, the original Jeopardy! also ends its run after 2,753 episodes. It would return in nationwide syndication in 1984.
January 6	Another eventful day for NBC's daytime schedule. The morning sees the premiere episode of Wheel of Fortune, with Chuck Woolery as host and Susan Stafford as the assistant, while in the afternoon Blank Check, the Art James/Jack Barry game show debuts. Finally, Another World becomes the first American soap opera to become an hour-long program.
January 11	On CBS's All in the Family, the Bunkers say goodbye to their neighbors as The Jeffersons "move on up" to their own separate sitcom.
March 4	CBS airs the very first annual People's Choice Awards.
March 28	Gunsmoke airs its last televised episode on CBS. Ultimately, the plotline was cut short, so it was ended on a cliffhanger.
April 21	Following on from Another World less than three months ago, NBC's Days of Our Lives begins airing hour-long episodes.
April 25	ABC broadcasts the special program, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare.
April 25	Independent station WKBF-TV in Cleveland, Ohio merges its operations with rival independent WUAB and ceases operations.	^[1]
April 28	NBC's The Tomorrow Show finds Tom Snyder interviewing John Lennon.
May 29	NBC affiliate WHFV in Fredericksburg, Virginia, citing financial troubles, ceases operations.	^[2]^[3]
June 5	Fred Silverman becomes the head of ABC Entertainment. Silverman's programming choices will prove fruitful for ABC, resulting in its late-decade ratings dominance (and initiating an era of what was disparagingly called "T&A" or "Jiggle television").
September 8	The CBS game show The Price is Right is expanded to the length of one hour, with six games and two Showcase Showdowns as a week-long experiment. The format, which marked the debut of "The Big Wheel", is made permanent two months later.	^[4]^[5]
September 22	Television comes to Alpena, Michigan when CBS affiliate WBKB-TV signs-on.
September 29	The first television station in the U.S. to be owned and operated by African Americans signs on in Detroit, Michigan as WGPR-TV channel 62, which is present-day CBS O&O WWJ-TV.
September 30	HBO broadcasts the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier title fight from the Philippines. Known as the "Thrilla in Manila", the live feed was sent via satellite to the U.S.
October 11	NBC's Saturday Night (now known as Saturday Night Live) premieres. Comedian George Carlin is the first host.
October 21	NBC broadcasts the now legendary 12-inning long sixth game of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds, in which the Red Sox tied the series on a Carlton Fisk home run more notable for Fisk's reaction.	^[6]^[7]
November 23	NBC is forced to join Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in progress at the conclusion of an NFL football game between the Washington Redskins and the Oakland Raiders, which ended in overtime. This was done to avoid a repeat of the "Heidi Game" incident of 1968, in which the network interrupted coverage of an AFL game between the Raiders and the New York Jets to show the movie Heidi, a decision that infuriated football fans and haunted network executives.
November 23	Sneak Previews (under the name Opening Soon at a Theater Near You), the first American film review show, premieres and launches of critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. They will remain a team, and a staple among film critics, through various programs for the next twenty-four years.
December 1	CBS makes its first soap opera expansion when the top-rated As The World Turns airs its first hour-long episode.

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 1975_in_American_television, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[ww-8] The debut of this program is a TV movie, which serves as the pilot for the actual series, which premiered in early 1976.

[Jep75-9] Jeopardy! returned in national syndication in 1984.

[joker-10] Returned in 1977.

[nysi-11] Returned in 1989

[password-12] Returned in 1979 as Password Plus.

[split2nd-13] Returned in 1986.

[jackpot-14] Returned in 1985.

[1] [1]
The Plain Dealer, "...but employees go out with touch of class", April 20, 1975.

[trouble-2] [2]
Moore, Nancy (May 28, 1975). "Troubled WHFV-TV may go off the air". The Free Lance-Star. p. 1.

[3] [3]
Jones, Edward (May 30, 1975). "TV station 'goes dark', future still uncertain". The Free Lance-Star. p. 14.

[4] [4]
Schwartz, David; Ryan, Steve; Wostbrock, Fred (1999). The Encyclopedia of TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Facts on File. pp. 178–179. ISBN 0-8160-3846-5.

[5] [5]
The Price Is Right (Anniversary Week). September 12, 1975. Retrieved July 31, 2019.

[6] [6]
Verducci, Tom (October 21, 2015). "Game Changer: How Carlton Fisks' home run altered baseball and TV". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 8, 2019.

[7] [7]
MLB's 20 Greatest Games (2012)

[15] [8]
The Plain Dealer, "...but employees go out with touch of class", April 20, 1975.

[16] [9]
Moore, Nancy (May 28, 1975). "Troubled WHFV-TV may go off the air". Fredericksburg, VA: The Free Lance-Star, p. 1.

[17] [10]
Winnipeg Free Press, Aug. 30, 1975, p. 12

[18] [11]
Dulmage, Bill (January 2007). "Television Station History: CKND". Canadian Communications Foundation. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2019.

[19] [12]
Radio-Info: "Retro: Winnipeg • Sunday, August 31, 1975", July 17, 2010. (Source: Winnipeg Free Press (August 30, 1975 Edition))^{[dead link]}. Archived from the original^{[permanent dead link]} October 6, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2019.

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Date	Show	Network
January 6	Blank Check	NBC
January 6	Wheel of Fortune	NBC
January 17	Baretta	ABC
January 18	The Jeffersons	CBS
January 23	Barney Miller	ABC
April 21	Blankety Blanks	ABC
June 16	Spin-Off	CBS
June 16	Musical Chairs	CBS
June 30	Showoffs	ABC
July 7	The Magnificent Marble Machine	NBC
	Rhyme and Reason	ABC
	Ryan's Hope	ABC
September 4	Space: 1999	Syndication
September 6	The Great Grape Ape Show	ABC
September 6	The New Tom and Jerry Show	ABC
September 8	Give-n-Take	CBS
	Match Game PM	Syndication
	Phyllis	CBS
September 9	Welcome Back, Kotter	ABC
September 14	Three for the Road	CBS
September 29	Three for the Money	NBC
October 11	NBC's Saturday Night	NBC
November 3	Good Morning America	ABC
November 7	Wonder Woman ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	NBC
November 30	McCoy	NBC
December 16	One Day at a Time	CBS

Date	Show	Debut date	Notes
January 3	Jeopardy! (returned in 1984)	1964	^{[lower-alpha 2]}
January 16	Ironside	1967
March 7	The Odd Couple	1970
March 31	Gunsmoke	1955
April 13	Mannix	1967
April 18	How to Survive a Marriage	1974
April 26	Kung Fu	1972
May 20	Adam-12	1968
June 13	The Joker's Wild	1972	^{[lower-alpha 3]}
June 13	Now You See It	1974	^{[lower-alpha 4]}
June 27	Password	1961	^{[lower-alpha 5]}
June 27	Split Second	1972	^{[lower-alpha 6]}
August 1	Death Valley Days	1952
September 5	What's My Line?	1950
September 26	Jackpot	1974	^{[lower-alpha 7]}

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 4	Sioux City, Iowa	KSIN-TV	27	PBS/IPTV
January 20	Springfield, Missouri	KOZK	21	PBS
February	South Bend, Indiana	WNIT	34	PBS
March 15	Biddeford/Portland, Maine	WMEG-TV	26	PBS via Maine Public Broadcasting Net.
May 7	Anchorage, Alaska	KAKM	7	PBS
June 10	Menomonie, Wisconsin	WHWC-TV	27	PBS via WPT
August 13	San Francisco, California	KDTV	14	Spanish Int'l Network
September 6	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	WLPB-TV	27	PBS/LPB
September 7	Council Bluffs, Iowa	KBIN-TV	32	PBS/IPTV
	Red Oak, Iowa	KHIN	36	PBS/IPTV
	Sumter, South Carolina	WRJA-TV	27	PBS/SCETV	Satellite of WRLK-TV/Columbia, SC
September 21	Akron/Canton, Ohio	WEAO	45	PBS	Satellite of WNEO of Youngstown, Ohio
September 22	Alpena, Michigan	WBKB-TV	11	CBS
September 29	Detroit, Michigan	WGPR-TV	62	Independent	First television station in the U.S. to be owned and operated by African Americans.
November 21	Alpena, Michigan	WCML-TV	6	PBS	Satellite of WCMU-TV/Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Unknown	Albuquerque, New Mexico	KMXN-TV	23	SIN
Unknown	Miami, Florida	WFCB-TV	45	Independent

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	First air date	Notes/Ref.
February 11	Roanoke, Virginia	WRLU	27	ABC	September 7, 1974	Had been on air March 1966–April 1974 as WRFT-TV
April 25	Cleveland, Ohio	WKBF-TV	61	Independent	January 19, 1968	Station's operations were folded into WUAB/Lorain, Ohio^[8]
May 29	Fredericksburg, Virginia	WHFV	69	NBC	October 8, 1973	^[9]
September 1	Pembina, North Dakota	KCND-TV	12	Independent (primary) ABC (secondary)	November 7, 1960	^[10]^[11]^[12]
September 2	South Bend, Indiana	WMSH-TV	46	July 26, 1974 \| Returned to air as WHME-TV on September 10, 1977
December	Elko, Nevada	KEKO	10		April 18, 1973	Satellite of KTVN/Reno
December 23	Los Angeles	KVST-TV	68	Non-commercial independent	May 5, 1974

1975_in_American_television

1975 in American television

Events

Other notable events

Programs

Debuting this year

Ending this year

Notes

Changing networks

Television specials

Networks and services

Network launches

Television stations

Sign-ons

Network affiliation changes

Station closures

Births

Deaths

See also

References

External links

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