1964 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1964.

Events

Date	Event	Ref.
February 9-23	The Beatles’ appearances on CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show set new records in terms of television ratings.
April 30	Television sets manufactured in the United States as of this date are required to receive UHF channels.
June 4	Sylvania unveils a revolutionary color TV picture tube in which europium-bearing phosphor allows a much brighter display.
June 6	The Rolling Stones make their American television debut on ABC, during the variety show The Hollywood Palace.
September 7	As part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential campaign, the ”Daisy”advertisement is broadcast on network television.
October 10	Through the facilities of geostationary communication satellite Syncom 3, NBC’s first stint as the official Olympic broadcaster begins with the network’s coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Tokyo, Japan.
October 18	Jackie Mason seemingly gives the finger on The Ed Sullivan Show in his only appearance on that program as he was banned from the show afterwards.
October 25	Ed Sullivan insists that he would never have The Rolling Stones on his show following their appearance on that program. Despite that, the Stones would make a further five appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.
October 27	Ronald Reagan delivers a televised speech endorsing Barry Goldwater in the upcoming election.
December 6	The stop-motion animated Christmas special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, premieres on NBC. It goes on to become a holiday tradition with annual reruns, especially after moving to CBS eight years later.

Television programs

Debuts

Date	Debut	Network	Notes
January 4	The Hollywood Palace	ABC
March 30	Jeopardy!	NBC
May 4	Another World
September 14	Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea	ABC
September 15	Peyton Place
September 16	Shindig!
	The Peter Potamus Show	Syndication
September 17	Bewitched	ABC
September 18	Jonny Quest
	The Addams Family
September 19	Flipper	NBC
	Kentucky Jones
September 22	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
September 23	The Cara Williams Show	CBS
September 24	Daniel Boone	NBC
	The Munsters	CBS
September 25	Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.	CBS
September 25	Nightmare Theatre	KIRO
September 26	Gilligan's Island	CBS
October 3	Underdog	NBC
October 5	90 Bristol Court
	Harris Against the World
	Karen
	Tom, Dick, and Mary
November 9	The Les Crane Show	ABC
	The Porky Pig Show

Ending this year

Date	Show	Network	Debut	Notes
March 29	The Judy Garland Show	CBS	September 29, 1963
April 25	The New Phil Silvers Show		September 28, 1963
April 27	The Danny Thomas Show	CBS	September 29, 1953
June 19	Mack & Myer for Hire	Syndication	1963
	The Twilight Zone	CBS	October 2, 1959

Television films, specials and miniseries

Title	Network	Date(s) of airing	Notes/Ref.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	NBC	December 6	Reruns of the special becomes holiday tradition in subsequent years; moved to CBS in 1972.

Television stations

Sign-ons

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 1	Walker, Minnesota	KNMT	12	CBS	Satellite of WCCO-TV/Minneapolis
January 19	Charleston, South Carolina	WITV	7	NET	Part of the South Carolina ETV network
	Fargo, North Dakota	KFME	13	NET	Later became the flagship of the Prairie Public Television network.
February 1	Montgomery, Alabama	WNCF	32	ABC
February 6	Chicago, Illinois	WCIU-TV	23	Independent
February 10	Bowling Green, Ohio	WBGU-TV	27	NET
February 17	Presque Isle, Maine	WMEM-TV	10	NET	Part of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network
March 16	Santa Maria/Santa Barbara, California	KCOY-TV	12	NBC (primary) CBS (secondary)
May 4	Corpus Christi, Texas	KIII	3	ABC
June	Dallas, Texas	KAEI-TV	29	Independent (stock quotes)
August 10	Columbus, Georgia	WJSP-TV	28	NET/GPB
August 22	Dayton, Ohio	WONE-TV	22	Independent
September 1	Duluth, Minnesota	WDSE	8	NET
September 10	Richmond, Virginia	WCVE-TV	23	NET
September 28	Los Angeles, California	KCET	28	NET
October 1	San Juan, Puerto Rico	WTSJ-TV	32	NBC
October 5	Pago Pago, American Samoa	KVZK-2	2	NET
		KVZK-4	4	CBS (primary) ABC (secondary)
		KVZK-5	5	NBC
		KVZK-8	8	unknown
		KVZK-10	10
		KVZK-12	12
	Redding, California	KIXE-TV	9	NET
October 12	Boston, Massachusetts	WIHS-TV	38	Independent
	Flint, Michigan	WUCX-TV	19	NET
	San Mateo, California	KCSM-TV	60	NET
October 19	San Jose/San Francisco, California	KQEH	54	NET
October 28	Garden City, Kansas	KUPK-TV	13	ABC	Full-power satellite of KAKE/Wichita
October 30	Wilmington, North Carolina	WWAY	3	ABC
November 18	Mobile, Alabama	WEIQ	42	NET	Part of the Alabama Public Television network
November 22	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	WITF-TV	33	NET
December 3	Albion/Lincoln, Nebraska	KHQL-TV	8	ABC	Satellite of KHGI-TV/Kearney
December 6	La Grande, Oregon	KTVR	13	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)	Signed on as a satellite of KTVB/Boise, Idaho
Unknown date	South Bend, Indiana	W39AA	39	NET

Network affiliation changes

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation	Notes/Ref.
March 1	Portland, Oregon	KATU	2	Independent	ABC
		KPTV	12	ABC	Independent
March 16	San Luis Obispo, California	KVEC-TV	6	NBC (primary) ABC (secondary)	NBC (exclusive)
	Santa Barbara, California	KEYT-TV	3	NBC (primary) CBS (secondary)	ABC (primary) CBS (secondary)

Station closures

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Sign-on date	Notes
March 2	Durango, Colorado	KJFL-TV	6	Independent	November 4, 1963
July 1	Monroe, Louisiana	KTSE	13	NET	March 9, 1957

Births

Main article: 1964 in television § Births

Deaths

Main article: 1964 in television § Deaths

See also

• 1964 in television
• 1964 in film
• 1964 in the United States
• List of American films of 1964

External links

• List of 1964 American television series at IMDb