1952 in television

The year 1952 in television involved some significant events.
Below is a list of television-related events during 1952.

Events

January 14 – Today is first aired on NBC in the United States with Dave Garroway as host.
January 16 – Sooty, Harry Corbett's little yellow glove puppet teddy bear, first appears on the BBC Television Service's Talent Night in the United Kingdom.
February 1 – The first TV detector van is commissioned in the U.K. as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 British households that watch television illegally without a licence.
March 14 – The BBC Television Service in Scotland is launched.
May 22 – The first televised atomic bomb detonation, billed as "Operation Tumbler–Snapper", is broadcast on KTLA in Los Angeles, and fed to the three major U.S. networks via a microwave link.
July 7 – Turkey's first television station, ITU TV, is opened.
July 20 – Arrow to the Heart, the first collaboration between director Rudolph Cartier and scriptwriter Nigel Kneale, is broadcast by BBC Television in the United Kingdom.
August 1 – First television broadcast in the Dominican Republic by La Voz Dominicana, a station based on the radio station of the same name.
September 6 – Television debuts in Canada with the initiation of CBFT in Montreal, Quebec.
September 8 – CBLT in Toronto, Ontario begins broadcasting as Canada's second television station.
September 20 – The first commercial Ultra High Frequency television station in the world, KPTV, begins broadcasting in Portland, Oregon on channel 27.
October 7 – WFIL-TV Philadelphia's afternoon series Bandstand, which will become American Bandstand, changes emphasis to teens dancing to popular records
November 4 – 1952 United States presidential election: The first political advertisements have appeared on U.S. television. Democrats bought a 30-minute time segment for their candidate, Adlai Stevenson but he has received unfavorable mail for interfering with a broadcast of I Love Lucy. Dwight Eisenhower bought 20 second commercial segments and wins the election.
November 16 – CBS Television City in Hollywood, California opens, the network's first studio on the U.S. west coast.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission reserves channels for non-commercial public broadcasting.
There are approximately 146,000 television sets in Canada and most antennas are pointed towards WBEN-TV in Buffalo, New York.

Programs/programmes

Debuts

January 6 - Claudia on NBC
January 14 – The Today Show on NBC
March 1 – Death Valley Days in syndication
June 19 – I've Got a Secret on CBS
June 30 – the soap opera The Guiding Light on CBS, which began on radio in 1937, becoming the longest-running regularly scheduled drama in television history
July 10 - The prime time version of A Date with Judy debuts on ABC.
September – the religious drama This Is the Life on DuMont, and ran until the late 1980s
September 19 – Adventures of Superman in syndication
October 26 – Victory at Sea on NBC, one of the first historic documentary series
October 3
*Our Miss Brooks on CBS
*Mr. and Mrs. North on CBX.
November 1 – Hockey Night in Canada on CBC
November 6 – Biff Baker, U.S.A. on CBS
November 8 – My Hero on NBC
December 1 – The Abbott and Costello Show in syndication
December 15 – Flower Pot Men on BBC Television
American Bandstand, originally called Bandstand, as a local program in Philadelphia
Life Is Worth Living with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen on DuMont, then on ABC
My Little Margie, starring Gale Storm
See It Now, hosted by Edward R. Murrow
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet on ABC
The Ernie Kovacs Show, where Kovacs explores the boundaries of television technology with his use of special effects
Meet the Masters, a program about classical music, on NBC and WGN-TV
This Is Your Life in the U.S.
Life with Elizabeth, a sitcom featuring Betty White

Television debuts

Mabel Albertson – Chevron Theatre
Margaret Bert – Fireside Theatre
Claire Bloom – Sunday Night Theatre
Joe E. Brown – The Buick Circus Hour
G. Pat Collins – Mr. and Mrs. North
Buster Crabbe – The Philco Television Playhouse
Richard Crenna – I Love Lucy
Irene Dunne – Schlitz Playhouse
William Hickey – The Philco Television Playhouse
Allen Jenkins – Racket Squad
Carolyn Jones – Chevron Theatre
Peter Lorre – Lux Video Theatre
Steve McQueen – Family Affair
Sal Mineo – Hallmark Hall of Fame
Marilyn Monroe – The Jack Benny Program
Rita Moreno – Fireside Theatre
Audie Murphy – Lux Video Theatre
Pat O'Brien – Betty Crocker Star Matinee
Maureen O'Sullivan – Hollywood Opening Night
Geraldine Page – Lux Video Theatre
Donald Pleasence – Sunday Night Theatre
Sidney Poitier – CBS Television Workshop
Bert Remsen – Suspense
Mickey Rooney – Celanese Theatre
Chris Sarandon – Guiding Light
Peter Sellers – Don't Spare the Horses
Sylvia Sidney – Cameo Theatre
Ann Sothern – Schlitz Playhouse
Joe Turkel – Boston Blackie
Lee Van Cleef – Sky King
Dennis Weaver – Dragnet
Billie Whitelaw – The Secret Garden
Stuart Whitman – The Roy Rogers Show
Joanne Woodward – ''Tales of Tomorrow''