# 1959 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1959.

## Events

| Date | Event |
| April 6 | The original KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV) in Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first station in the United States to use the Eyewitness News brand for their newscasts. |
| June 16 | Adventures of Superman star George Reeves dies by a gunshot at the age of 45. While the official finding would be suicide, but some would later believe that he was actually murdered or the victim of an accidental shooting. |
| November 29 | As part of the Sunday Showcase on NBC, the Grammy Awards were broadcast for the first time ever. |

## Television programs
### Debuts

| Date | Debut | Network |
| January 9 | Rawhide | CBS |
| January 10 | Black Saddle | NBC |
| January 12 | The Bell Telephone Hour | NBC |
| January 20 | Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond | ABC |
| March 9 | Clutch Cargo | Broadcast syndication |
| March 10 | Alex in Wonderland | NTA Film Network |
| April 5 | Pete Kelly's Blues | NBC |
| April 16 | The Lawless Years | NBC |
| May 2 | Markham | CBS |
| September 8 | Bucky and Pepito | Broadcast syndication |
| September 8 | Tales of the Vikings | Broadcast syndication |
| September 8 | Tightrope! | CBS |
| September 10 | Johnny Staccato | NBC |
| September 12 | The Deputy | NBC |
| September 12 | The Man and the Challenge | NBC |
| September 13 | Riverboat | NBC |
| September 15 | Bonanza | NBC |
| September 15 | Laramie | NBC |
| September 19 | Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy | Broadcast syndication |
| September 19 | Snooper and Blabber | Broadcast syndication |
| September 20 | NBC Sunday Showcase | NBC |
| September 21 | The DuPont Show with June Allyson | CBS |
| September 21 | Love and Marriage | NBC |
| September 26 | Lock-Up | Broadcast syndication |
| September 28 | Hennesey | CBS |
| September 28 | The Quick Draw McGraw Show | Broadcast syndication |
| September 29 | The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis | CBS |
| September 30 | Charley Weaver's Hobby Lobby | ABC |
| September 30 | Men Into Space | CBS |
| September 30 | Wichita Town | NBC |
| October 1 | The Betty Hutton Show | CBS |
| October 1 | Johnny Ringo | CBS |
| October 1 | Law of the Plainsman | NBC |
| October 2 | Hotel de Paree | CBS |
| October 2 | The Twilight Zone | CBS |
| October 3 | Five Fingers | NBC |
| October 4 | The Alaskans | ABC |
| October 4 | Dennis the Menace | CBS |
| October 4 | The Rebel | ABC |
| October 5 | Adventures in Paradise | ABC |
| October 5 | Bourbon Street Beat | ABC |
| October 6 | Philip Marlowe | ABC |
| October 6 | Startime | NBC |
| October 7 | Hawaiian Eye | ABC |
| October 11 | Matty's Funday Funnies | ABC |
| October 12 | The Play of the Week | NTA Film Network |
| October 15 | The Untouchables | ABC |
| October 16 | The Detectives | ABC |
| October 22 | Take a Good Look | ABC |
| October 24 | Mr. Lucky | CBS |
| October 24 | Shotgun Slade | Broadcast syndication |
| November 19 | The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends | ABC |
| Unknown date | This Man Dawson | Syndication |

### Ending this year

| Date | Program | Network | First aired | Notes/References |
| January 13 | Confession | ABC | 1957 | |
| January 14 | Pursuit | CBS | October 22, 1958 | |
| March 8 | Sky King | Syndication | September 16, 1951 | |
| March 13 | Northwest Passage | NBC | September 14, 1958 | |
| March 25 | Flight | Syndication | November 4, 1958 | |
| March 27 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | CBS | October 5, 1951 | |
| April 4 | Cimarron City | NBC | September 27, 1958 | |
| April 9 | Behind Closed Doors | NBC | October 2, 1958 | |
| April 14 | The George Burns Show | NBC | October 21, 1958 | |
| April 27 | Your Hit Parade | CBS | July 10, 1950 | Returned in 1974 |
| May | The Milton Berle Show | ABC | June 8, 1948 (on NBC) | |
| May 7 | December Bride | CBS | October 4, 1954 | |
| May 25 | Buckskin | NBC | July 3, 1958 | |
| May 26 | The Californians | NBC | September 24, 1957 | |
| June | Alex in Wonderland | NTA Film Network | March 10, 1959 | |
| June 3 | Frontier Doctor | Syndication | September 26, 1958 | |
| June 4 | Yancy Derringer | ABC | October 2, 1958 | |
| June 19 | Haggis Baggis | NBC | June 30, 1958 |
| June 22 | The Restless Gun | NBC | September 23, 1957 | |
| June 25 | Mickey Mouse Club | ABC | October 3, 1955 | Returned in first-run syndication in 1977 |
| June 25 | State Trooper | Syndication | September 25, 1956 | |
| June 30 | 26 Men | Syndication | November 1, 1957 | |
| July 2 | Zorro | ABC | October 10, 1957 | |
| July 5 | Pete Kelly's Blues | NBC | April 5, 1959 | |
| July 13 | Cannonball | Syndication | October 6, 1958 | |
| July 24 | Bonomo, The Magic Clown | WNTA | September 11, 1949 (on NBC) | |
| August | This Is Alice | NTA Film Network | October 1959 | |
| August 20 | How to Marry a Millionaire | NTA Film Network | October 7, 1957 | |
| August 23 | Dragnet | NBC | December 16, 1951 | Returned in 1967 (in color) |
| August 28 | The Thin Man | NBC | September 20, 1957 | |
| September 10 | Man Without a Gun | NTA Film Network | November 6, 1957 | |
| September 23 | Trackdown | CBS | October 4, 1957 | |
| September 24 | The Rough Riders | ABC | October 2, 1958 | |
| September 28 | Polka Go-Round | ABC | June 23, 1958 | |
| October 9 | Pantomime Quiz | ABC | November 13, 1947 (on KTLA) | |
| November 28 | Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer | Syndication | January 7, 1958 | |
| Unknown date | Confession | Syndication | October 7, 1953 (on DuMont) | |
| Unknown date | Mackenzie's Raiders | Syndication | October 1, 1958 | |
| Unknown date | Tom Terrific | CBS | June 10, 1957 | |

### Made-for-TV movies and miniseries

| Title | Premiere date | Network |
| The Hate That Hate Produced | July 13–17 | WNTA-TV |
| The Jazz Singer | October 13 | NBC |
| The Turn of the Screw | October 20 | NBC |
| The Moon and Sixpence | October 30 | NBC |
| Murder and the Android | November 8 | NBC |

## Television stations
### Station launches

| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/References |
| January 12 | Tulsa, Oklahoma | KOED-TV | 11 | NET | |
| February 2 | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | KOKH-TV | 25 | Non-commercial independent | now a Fox affiliate |
| February 23 | Sacramento, California | KVIE | 6 | NET | |
| March 8 | Tucson, Arizona | KUAT | 6 | NET | |
| March 15 | Lansing, Michigan | WILX-TV | 10 | NBC | |
| March 30 | Buffalo, New York | WNED-TV | 17 | NET | |
| April | Colby/Goodland, Kansas | KLOE-TV | 10 | CBS | |
| April 23 | Champaign/Decatur, Illinois | WCHU-TV | 33 | NBC | Now on channel 15 |
| April 26 | Goodland, Kansas | KLOE-TV | 10 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | Now a fulltime CBS affiliate as a semi-satellite of KWCH-DT of Hutchinson, Kansas |
| April 27 | Des Moines, Iowa | KDPS-TV | 11 | NET | Part of Iowa Public Television |
| April 28 | St. Louis, Missouri | KPLR-TV | 11 | Independent | Now an affiliate of The CW |
| May 16 | Cheboygan, Michigan | WTOM-TV | 4 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | Satellite of WPBN/Traverse City, Michigan |
| July 3 | Pocatello, Idaho | KTLE | 6 | Independent | |
| July 6 | Durham/Manchester, New Hampshire | WENH-TV | 11 | NET via New Hampshire Public Television | |
| August 1 | Huntsville, Alabama | WAFG-TV | 31 | ABC | |
| October 11 | Fargo, North Dakota | KXGO-TV | 11 | ABC | |
| October 14 | Cincinnati, Ohio | WMUB-TV | 14 | NET | |
| October 15 | Yakima, Washington | KNDO | 23 | ABC (primary) CBS/NBC (secondary) | |
| October 20 | Greenwood, Mississippi | WABG-TV | 6 | CBS | |
| November 1 | Sacramento, California | KVUE | 40 | Independent | |
| November 8 | Bakersfield, California | KLYD-TV | 17 | ABC | |
| Unknown date | Colby/Goodland, Kansas | KOMC | 8 | NBC | |

### Network affiliation changes

| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | References |
| April 1 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | WITI | 6 | Independent (primary) NTA Film Network (secondary) | CBS (primary) NTA Film Network (secondary) | |
| April 1 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | WXIX-TV | 18 | CBS | Independent | |
| April 26 | Portland, Oregon | KGW | 8 | ABC | NBC | |
| April 26 | Portland, Oregon | KPTV | 12 | NBC | ABC | |
| August 1 | Huntsville, Alabama | WMSL-TV | 48 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | NBC (exclusive) | WMSL lost ABC affiliate upon the sign on of WAAY-TV, but would swap affiliations with WAAY-TV in 1968. Channel 48 as WYUR-TV (now WAFF-TV) would return to NBC on a fulltime basis in 1977. |
| August 22 | Green Bay, Wisconsin | WFRV-TV | 5 | ABC | NBC | Switch was reversed in 1983 |
| August 22 | Green Bay, Wisconsin | WLUK-TV | 11 | NBC | ABC | Switch was reversed in 1983 |
| October 11 | Valley City/Fargo, North Dakota | KXJB-TV | 4 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | |
| October 15 | Yakima, Washington | KIMA-TV | 29 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | |
| November 8 | Bakersfield, California | KBAK-TV | 29 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | Secondary ABC affiliation went to NBC affiliate KLYD-TV when it signed on. |
| December | Greenwood, Mississippi | WABG-TV | 6 | CBS | ABC | |
| Unknown date | Bangor, Maine | WABI-TV | 5 | NBC (primary) ABC/CBS/NTA Film Network (secondary) | CBS (primary) ABC/NTA Film Network (secondary) | |
| Unknown date | Bangor, Maine | WLBZ-TV | 2 | CBS (exclusive) | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | |
| Unknown date | Hampton/Norfolk, Virginia | WVEC-TV | 13 | NBC | ABC | |
| Unknown date | Portsmouth/Norfolk, Virginia | WAVY-TV | 10 | ABC | NBC | |
| Unknown date | Presque Isle, Maine | WAGM-TV | 8 | NBC (primary) CBS/ABC (secondary) | CBS (primary) NBC/ABC (secondary) | |

### Station closures

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | First air date |
| April 26 | Portland, Oregon | KGW | 8 | ABC | NBC |
| April 26 | Portland, Oregon | KPTV | 12 | NBC | ABC |
| May 27 | Kalispell, Montana | KULR | 9 | Independent | October 20, 1958 |
| August 25 | Nacogdoches, Texas | KTES | 19 | Independent | September 20, 1958 |
| October 30 | Norfolk, Virginia | WTOV-TV | 27 | ABC | October 22, 1953 |
| Unknown date | Lock Haven/Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania | WBPZ-TV | 32 | ABC (primary) NBC (secondary) | March 1958 |