1973 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1973.

List of years in American television:
1972–73 United States network television schedule
1973–74 United States network television schedule
List of American television programs currently in production

Events
Date Event Ref.
March 11 Charlottesville, Virginia finally receives a television station when NBC affiliate WVIR-TV signs-on.
March 23 Concentration, the longest-running game show at the time, airs for the 3,796th and final time on NBC, ending its run after 14 years and seven months. The show was the longest-running daytime game show to date until 1987, when the record was eclipsed by The Price is Right, which began its run in 1972.
April 3 WIIL-TV (now WAWV-TV) signs on the air, giving the Terre Haute market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
April 16 A TV documentary about the career of Paul McCartney, entitled James Paul McCartney, airs on ABC in the U.S.
May 10 ABC concludes its initial run at broadcasting the National Basketball Association, marking the last NBA broadcast on ABC until the network regained the rights prior to the 2002–03 season. CBS would take over the over-the-air rights as the NBA's broadcast television partner the next season. ABC's final NBA broadcast sees the New York Knicks defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals 102-93, which clinched the Knicks’ NBA Championship.
May 17 Daytime television on ABC is interrupted by news coverage of the hearings pertaining to the Watergate scandal. Following ABC's coverage on this day, CBS televises the next day's hearings, followed the day after that by NBC. The three networks continue cycling coverage in this way until August 7.
July 2 CBS debuts the 1970s version of Match Game, which will become the #1-rated daytime television program for 1973, 1974, and 1975, and the #1 game show for its first four years on the air.
September 15 The fourth season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show premieres on CBS with Betty White making her first appearance on the show as Sue Ann Nivens.
September 20 Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in a televised tennis match held at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Billed as The Battle of the Sexes, the global television audience, including viewers watching on ABC in the United States, is estimated at 90 million viewers in 36 countries.
October 4 WMBB in Panama City, Florida signs-on the air, returning NBC to the market after WJHG-TV dropped that affiliation to become a full-time ABC affiliate the previous year.
October 8 WHFV signs-on the air from Fredericksburg, Virginia as an NBC affiliate.
November 20 The animated Thanksgiving special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving premieres on CBS. It ends up winning an Emmy Award the following year.
December 12 On CBS, Kojak’s trademark lollipop makes its debut in the episode “Dark Sunday”.
December 19 After reading a news item that said the federal government had fallen behind in getting bids to supply toilet tissue, Johnny Carson inadvertently triggers an unprecedented three-week panic when he announces, on NBC's The Tonight Show, that there is an acute shortage of toilet paper in the United States. The panic was settled in January 1974.
December 28 CBS affiliate KZTV in Corpus Christi, Texas signs-on satellite station KVTV, bringing CBS programming into the Laredo market.

Television programs

Programs

Debuting this year
Date Title Network
January 6 Schoolhouse Rock! ABC
January 28 Barnaby Jones CBS
March 20 Police Story NBC
March 26 The Young and the Restless CBS
March 26 The $10,000 Pyramid CBS
July 17 The Wizard of Odds NBC
July 17 The New Treasure Hunt Syndicated
September 8 Star Trek: The Animated Series NBC
September 8 Super Friends ABC
September 10 Lotsa Luck NBC
September 14 Adam's Rib ABC
September 21 Needles and Pins NBC
October 15 The Tomorrow Show NBC
October 24 Kojak CBS
Greatest Sports Legends Syndicated

Ending this year
Date Show Debut
January 16 Bonanza 1959
March 23 Love is a Many Splendored Thing 1967
Where the Heart Is 1969
March 30 Ghost Story 1972
Mission: Impossible 1966
May 20 Laugh-In 1968
August 24 The Mod Squad
September 9 The Doris Day Show
Bridget Loves Bernie 1972
Runaround
October 27 The New Scooby-Doo Movies
December 28 Needles and Pins 1973

Networks and services

Network launches
Network Type Launch date Notes Source
Trinity Broadcasting Network Cable/satellite and over-the-air Unknown date Founded by Paul Crouch, the station began after he purchased KLXA-TV to start a religious television network by converting the former independent station into the network's flagship, which eventually became KTBN-TV.

Television stations

Sign-ons
Date City of License/Market Station Channel Affiliation Notes/Ref.
February 22 Greensboro, North Carolina WUNL-TV 26 PBS via UNC-TV
March 11 Charlottesville, Virginia WVIR-TV 29 NBC
April 3 Terre Haute, Indiana WIIL-TV 38 ABC
May 30 Youngstown, Ohio WNEO 45 PBS
June 2 Montclair, New Jersey WNJN 50 PBS Part of the New Jersey Network
New Brunswick/Trenton, New Jersey WNJB 58
June 29 Las Cruces, New Mexico KRWG-TV 22 PBS
July 26 Zanesville, Ohio WOUC-TV 44 PBS Satellite of WOUB-TV in Columbus, Ohio
September 16 Eagle Butte, South Dakota KPSD-TV 13 PBS Part of South Dakota Public Broadcasting
October Portsmouth, Ohio
(Huntington, West Virginia/Ashland, Kentucky)		 WPBO-TV 42 PBS
October 4 Panama City, Florida WDTB-TV 13 NBC
October 8 Fredericksburg, Virginia WHFV 69 NBC
November 5 Los Angeles, California KLCS 58 PBS
November 18 New York City WSNL-TV 67 Independent
December 28 Laredo, Texas KVTV 13 CBS

Network affiliation changes
Date City of license/Market Station Channel Old affiliation New affiliation Notes/Ref.
October 4 Panama City, Florida WJDM-TV 7 NBC (primary)
ABC (secondary)		 ABC (exclusive) Rejoined NBC in 1982
Unknown date Fayetteville, Arkansas KNAC-TV 5 NBC (exclusive) NBC (primary)
ABC (secondary)
Fontana, California/Los Angeles, California KLXA-TV 40 Bilingual independent TBN (O&O) Licensed reassigned to Santa Ana in 1983, became KTBN-TV in 1977

Station closures
Date City of license/Market Station Channel Affiliation Sign-on date Notes
December 7 Fayetteville, Arkansas KGTM-TV NBC February 8, 1969
Unknown date LaSalle, Illinois WEEQ 35 NBC November 7, 1957 Satellite of WEEK-TV/Peoria, Illinois

Births
Main article: 1973 in television § Births

Deaths
Main article: 1973 in television § Deaths

See also

References
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