The year 1940 in television involved some significant events.
Below is a list of television -related events during 1940.
January – The FCC has public hearings concerning television .
January 12 - The first network telecast, a play entitled "Meet The Wife," is televised by NBC over W2XBS (NBC ) and W2XB .[ 1]
February 25 – The first ice hockey game is televised in the United States, the New York Rangers vs Montreal Canadiens , from Madison Square Garden on W2XBS-TV.
February 28 – The first basketball game is televised, from Madison Square Garden : Fordham University vs the University of Pittsburgh .
March 10 – The Metropolitan Opera broadcast for the first time from NBC studios at Rockefeller Center an abridged performance of the first act of Pagliacci
March 15 – RCA reduces the price of television sets.
May 21 – Bell Telephone Laboratories transmits a 441-line video signal, with a bandwidth of 2.7 MHz, by coaxial cable from New York to Philadelphia and back.
June – W2XBS in New York (NBC ) covers the Republican National Convention from Philadelphia , Pennsylvania for 33 hours, during a five-day period. The signal is transmitted via coaxial cable .
August 1 – W2XBS goes out of commission from 1 August 1940 until the 27th of October 1940 while the transmitter is adjusted from 441-line picture to 525-line picture. [ 2] [ 3]
August 29 – Peter Carl Goldmark of CBS announces his invention of a color television system.
September 3 – CBS resumes its television transmissions with the first demonstration of high definition color TV, by W2XAB, transmitting from the Chrysler Building .
November 5 - First televised Presidential election coverage is carried by W2XBS (NBC ) and W2XWV (DuMont ).
Series
Debut
Ended
Network
Art for Your Sake
February 3, 1940
March 30, 1940
NBC
NBC News with Lowell Thomas February 21, 1940
July 30, 1940
NBC
The Esso Television Reporter
March 27, 1940
May 31, 1940
NBC
Boxing from Jamaica Arena
July 8, 1940
May 18, 1942
NBC
Programs ending during 1940
edit
Date
Series
Debut
May 31
The Esso Television Reporter
March 27, 1940
July 30
NBC News with Lowell Thomas
February 21, 1940
January 5 – Michael O'Donoghue , writer (died 1994)
January 14 – Trevor Nunn , British theatre director
January 19 – Mike Reid , English actor and comedian (died 2007)
January 22 – John Hurt , English actor (died 2017)
January 27 – James Cromwell , actor
January 29 – Katharine Ross , actress
January 31 – Stuart Margolin , actor, The Rockford Files
February 2 – David Jason , English actor, Only Fools and Horses
February 3 – Jim Hartz , television personality (died 2022)
February 6
February 8 – Ted Koppel , journalist
February 10 – Kathryn Mullen , puppeteer
February 12 – Ralph Bates , English actor (died 1991)
February 17 – John Lewis , politician (died 2020)
February 20 – Smokey Robinson , singer
February 22
February 23 – Peter Fonda , actor (died 2019)
February 24 – James Sloyan , actor
February 27 – Howard Hesseman , actor, WKRP in Cincinnati Head of the Class
February 29
March 7 – Daniel J. Travanti , actor, Hill Street Blues
March 10 – Chuck Norris , actor, Walker, Texas Ranger
March 15 – Phil Lesh , musician
March 26
March 28 – Tony Barber , host
April 2 – Penelope Keith , English actress, To The Manor Born
April 12
April 15 – Thea White , American voice actress (died 2021)
April 17 – Chuck Menville , American television animator and writer (died 1992)
April 25 – Al Pacino , actor
April 30 – Burt Young , actor (died 2023)
May 5 – Lance Henriksen , actor
May 6 – Rick Husky , producer
May 8
May 9 – James L. Brooks , producer
May 10 – Taurean Blacque , actor, Hill Street Blues
May 15
May 17 – Peter Gerety , actor
May 22
May 24 – Arvin Brown , American theatre and television director
June 1 – René Auberjonois , actor, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
June 2 – Maree Cheatham , actress (Search for Tomorrow General Hospital Days of Our Lives
June 6 – Richard Paul , actor (died 1998)
June 11 – Daniel J. Sullivan , film director
June 14 – Jack Bannon , actor, Lou Grant
June 20 – John Mahoney , English-born actor, Frasier
June 21 – Mariette Hartley , actress
June 22 – Esther Rantzen , English consumer affairs presenter, That's Life!
June 26 – Mel White , author
July 3 – Michael Cole , actor, The Mod Squad
July 6 – Jeannie Seely , singer
July 7 – Ringo Starr , English rock drummer, The Beatles
July 13 – Patrick Stewart , English actor, Star Trek: The Next Generation
July 17
July 18 – James Brolin , actor, Marcus Welby, M.D.
July 22 – Alex Trebek , game show host, Jeopardy!
July 23 – Don Imus , American radio/television host, Imus in the Morning
July 24 – Dan Hedaya , American actor
July 31 – Roy Walker , television host
August 3 – Martin Sheen , actor, The West Wing
August 19
August 22 – Judy Nugent , actress (died 2023)
August 23 – Richard Sanders , actor, WKRP in Cincinnati
August 26 – Don LaFontaine , voice actor (died 2008)
August 28
September 1 – Gary Bender , sportscaster
September 5 – Raquel Welch , actress (died 2023)
September 11 – Brian De Palma , screenwriter
September 12 – Linda Gray , actress, Dallas
September 21 – Bill Kurtis , news anchor
October 4 – Christopher Stone , actor (The Interns
October 9 – John Lennon , English singer-songwriter, The Beatles (killed 1980)
October 16 – Barry Corbin , American actor
October 19 – Michael Gambon , Irish-born British actor, The Singing Detective
October 28 – Susan Harris , writer
November 9 – Reynaldo Villalobos , director
November 13 – Daniel Pilon , Cuban-born actor, Dallas
November 15 – Sam Waterston , actor, Law & Order
November 20 – Tony Butala , singer
November 21 – Freddy Beras-Goico , TV host
November 22 – Terry Gilliam , actor
November 27 – Bruce Lee , actor (died 1973)
December 2 – Connie Booth , actress, Fawlty Towers
December 7 – Carole Simpson , broadcast journalist
December 11 – Donna Mills , actress, Knots Landing
December 12 – Dionne Warwick , singer
December 21
December 30 – James Burrows , director
^ "Early Networks and the East-Midwest Connection - TVObscurities" . Television Obscurities . November 12, 2009.^ Television Station to be shut-down; station to be remodelled. New York, NY: New York Times. Sunday, 21 July 1940. Page 10X, col. 8.
^ Television Station to Reopen. New York, NY: New York Times. Wednesday, 23 October 1940. Page L25, col 8.
^ Jay, Robert (March 17, 2009). "W2XBS Schedule, Week of January 28th, 1940" . Television Obscurities . ^ "Television's First News Man...Lowell Thomas" .^ "The Origins of Television News in America: The Visualizers of CBS in the 1940s" .^ Jay, Robert (2009-09-19). "W2XBS Schedule, Week of July 7th, 1940" . Television Obscurities . Retrieved 2019-07-22 .
