# 1962 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1962.

## Events

| Date | Event |
| January 1 | The 1962 Rose Bowl game on NBC is the first coast-to-coast live color television broadcast of a college football game in the United States. |
| January 1 | NBC introduces the Laramie Peacock before the midnight showing of the day's episode of Laramie |
| March 24 | On Fight of the Week, ABC televises the Benny Paret vs. Emile Griffith III boxing match from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The fight ends when Paret falls unconscious at the hands of Griffith, which would lead to his death ten days later. |
| April 16 | Walter Cronkite succeeds Douglas Edwards as anchorman of the CBS Evening News; he would remain so for the next 19 years. |
| September 25 | The Spanish International Network begins operation as the first Spanish-language television network in the United States |
| November 15 | NBC-primary/CBS-secondary affiliate WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky becomes the first UHF television station to broadcast in color. |

### Also in 1962

* The All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962 requires UHF (channels 14-83) tuners to be on all consumer television sets in addition to the VHF tuner.
* Zenith Electronics markets its first color television set, 21-inch round screen set.

## Television programs
### Debuts

| Date | Debut | Network |
| January 1 | The Magic Door | WBBM-TV |
| January 2 | Your First Impression | NBC |
| January 27 | Room for One More | ABC |
| February | Biography | Syndication |
| February 20 | The Beachcomber | Syndication |
| March 8 | Oh! Those Bells | CBS |
| September 3 | The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series | Syndication |
| September 3 | Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har | Syndication |
| September 3 | Touché Turtle and Dum Dum | Syndication |
| September 3 | Wally Gator | Syndication |
| September 11 | The Lloyd Bridges Show | CBS |
| September 14 | Family Classics | WGN-TV |
| September 15 | Sam Benedict | NBC |
| September 17 | It's a Man's World | NBC |
| September 17 | Saints and Sinners | NBC |
| September 20 | Wide Country | NBC |
| September 21 | Don't Call Me Charlie! | NBC |
| September 21 | Fair Exchange | CBS |
| September 23 | Ensign O'Toole | NBC |
| September 23 | The Jetsons | ABC |
| September 23 | McKeever and the Colonel | NBC |
| September 24 | The New Loretta Young Show | CBS |
| September 25 | Empire | NBC |
| September 26 | The Beverly Hillbillies | CBS |
| September 27 | The Nurses | CBS |
| September 28 | I'm Dickens, He's Fenster | ABC |
| September 29 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | ABC |
| September 29 | The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show | ABC |
| September 30 | GE True | CBS |
| October 1 | Discovery | ABC |
| October 1 | The Lucy Show | CBS |
| October 1 | Stoney Burke | ABC |
| October 1 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | NBC |
| October 2 | Combat! | ABC |
| October 3 | The Eleventh Hour | NBC |
| October 3 | Going My Way | ABC |
| October 3 | Our Man Higgins | ABC |
| October 5 | The Gallant Men | ABC |
| October 11 | McHale's Navy | ABC |
| December 31 | Match Game | NBC |

### Ending this year

| Date | Show | Network | Debut |
| January 1 | The Dick Tracy Show | First-run syndication | January 1, 1961 |
| January 6 | The Yogi Bear Show | First-run syndication | January 30, 1961 |
| March 1 | The New Bob Cummings Show | CBS | October 5, 1961 |
| March 25 | Bus Stop | ABC | October 1, 1961 |
| March 30 | The Hathaways | ABC | October 6, 1961 |
| March 30 | Tonight Starring Jack Paar | NBC | July 29, 1957 |
| April 1 | Adventures in Paradise | ABC | October 5, 1959 |
| April 4 | Straightaway | ABC | October 6, 1961 |
| April 5 | Mrs. G. Goes to College | CBS | October 4, 1961 |
| April 8 | Follow the Sun | ABC | September 17, 1961 |
| April 12 | Margie | ABC | October 12, 1961 |
| April 18 | Top Cat | ABC | September 27, 1961 |
| April 22 | Maverick | ABC | September 22, 1957 |
| April 30 | 87th Precinct | NBC | September 25, 1961 |
| April 30 | Bronco | ABC | September 23, 1958 |
| May 10 | Outlaws | NBC | September 29, 1960 |
| May 15 | Cain's Hundred | NBC | September 19, 1961 |
| May 18 | The Detectives | NBC | October 16, 1959 (on ABC) |
| May 23 | Window on Main Street | CBS | October 2, 1961 |
| May 31 | Oh! Those Bells | CBS | March 8, 1962 |
| June 2 | Tales of Wells Fargo | NBC | March 18, 1957 |
| June 5 | Ichabod and Me | CBS | September 26, 1961 |
| June 5 | The New Breed | ABC | October 3, 1961 |
| June 8 | Target: The Corruptors! | ABC | September 29, 1961 |
| June 9 | Calvin and the Colonel | ABC | October 3, 1961 |
| June 13 | The Bob Newhart Show | NBC | October 11, 1961 |
| June 24 | Lawman | ABC | October 5, 1958 |
| June 26 | The Everglades | Syndication | October 9, 1961 |
| July 28 | Room for One More | ABC | January 27, 1962 |
| September 1 | Checkmate | CBS | September 17, 1960 |
| September 6 | Frontier Circus | CBS | October 5, 1961 |
| September 12 | The Alvin Show | CBS | October 4, 1961 |
| September 17 | Hennesey | CBS | September 28, 1959 |
| September 18 | The Comedy Spot | CBS | June 28, 1960 |
| September 25 | Bachelor Father | ABC | September 15, 1957 (on CBS) |
| September 28 | The Brighter Day | CBS | January 4, 1954 |
| November 13 | The Beachcomber | Syndication | February 20, 1962 |
| December 22 | The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show | ABC | September 29, 1962 |
| Unknown | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | NBC | 1955 |
| Unknown | The Quick Draw McGraw Show | First-run syndication | September 28, 1959 |

## Network launches

| Network | Type | Launch date | Notes |
| Spanish International Network | Broadcast over-the-air | September 29 | The first foreign-language television network to broadcast in the United States |
| Connecticut Public Television | Public broadcasting network | October 1 | Beginning with the sign-on of WEDH in Hartford, Connecticut, the network would eventually expand to four stations over the next 12 years. |
| Mizlou Television Network | Ad-hoc syndication service | Unknown date | Mizlou programming was syndicated to several commercial television outlets, as well as CATV systems. |

## Television stations
### Station launches

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| January 2 | Salina, Kansas | KSLN-TV | 34 | ABC | |
| February 8 | San Angelo, Texas | KACB-TV | 3 | NBC | |
| March 15 | Portland, Oregon | KATU | 2 | Independent | |
| March 26 | Albany, New York | WMHT | 17 | NET | |
| May 17 | Boston, Massachusetts | WXHR-TV | 56 | Independent | Experimental station |
| June 3 | Bowling Green, Kentucky | WLTV | 13 | Independent | |
| July 4 | Honolulu, Hawaii | KTRG | 13 | Independent | |
| June 15 | Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan | WWUP-TV | 10 | CBS | Satellite of WWTV/Traverse City |
| September 7 | Miami, Florida | WLRN | 17 | NET | |
| September 9 | Syracuse, New York | WNYS-TV | 9 | ABC | |
| September 10 | Nashville, Tennessee | WDCN-TV | 2 | NET | Reallocated to VHF channel 8 in 1973; now a PBS member station. |
| September 10 | San Antonio, Texas | KLRN | 9 | NET | |
| September 11 | San Bernardino/Los Angeles, California | KVCR-TV | 24 | NET | |
| September 15 | Biloxi, Mississippi | WLOX-TV | 13 | ABC | |
| September 15 | Rochester, New York | WOKR | 13 | ABC | |
| September 19 | Lafayette, Louisiana | KATC | 3 | ABC | |
| September 24 | Pullman, Washington | KWSC-TV | 10 | NET | |
| September 25 | Los Angeles, California | KMEX-TV | 34 | Spanish International Network | |
| September 30 | Reno, Nevada | KCRL-TV | 4 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | |
| October 1 | Hartford, Connecticut | WEDH | 24 | NET | Flagship of Connecticut Public Television |
| October 1 | Nuevo Laredo, Tamaluipas, Mexico (Laredo, Texas, United States) | XEFE-TV | 12 | Spanish International Network | |
| October 7 | Ann Arbor, Michigan | WJMY | 20 | Independent | |
| October 16 | Lubbock, Texas | KTXT-TV | 5 | NET | |
| October 23 | Charleston, South Carolina | WCIV | 4 | NBC | |
| November 1 | Grand Rapids, Michigan | WZZM-TV | 13 | ABC | |
| November 1 | Yakima, Washington | KYVE | 47 | NET | Now a satellite of KCTS-TV/Seattle |
| November 3 | Marion, Indiana | WTAF-TV | 31 | Independent | Defunct as of March 14, 1969 |
| November 19 | Ogden, Utah | KOET | 9 | Educational Independent | |
| November 24 | Binghamton, New York | WBJA-TV | 34 | ABC | |
| December 18 | Montgomery, Alabama | WAIQ | 26 | NET | Part of the Alabama Public Television network |
| Unknown date | Los Angeles, California | KIIX | 22 | Independent | |

### Network affiliation changes

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| August 1 | Durham, North Carolina | WTVD | 11 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (primary) NBC (secondary) | |
| August 1 | Raleigh, North Carolina | WRAL-TV | 5 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | ABC (exclusive) | |

### Station closures

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Sign-on date | Notes |
| February 16 | Midland, Texas | KDCD-TV | 18 | December 9, 1961 | Returned to the air on January 15, 1968 |
| February 28 | Youngstown, Ohio | WXTV | 45 | Independent | November 15, 1960 | |
| August 1 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | WPCA-TV | 17 | Independent | July 10, 1960 | Returned to the air January 31, 1963 |
| August 26 | Odgen, Utah | KVOG-TV | 9 | Independent | December 1, 1960 | |
| November 17 | Boston, Massachusetts | WTAO-TV | 56 | Independent | May 17, 1962 | Experimental station |