1974 in American television

Events
Date Event Ref.
January 31 CBS broadcasts The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, a multi-Emmy-winning adaptation of Ernest J. Gaines’ novel of the same name. It followed the 110-year life of a former slave from the American Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. the title role was portrayed by Cicely Tyson.
February 1 KIVI-TV signs-on the air, giving the Boise market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
February 8 After 20 years and 5,195 episodes, The Secret Storm ends its run on CBS’s daytime schedule. Ten days later, the show is replaced by Tattletales, a Bert Convy-hosted game show that is devoted to celebrity gossip.
March 11 The children’s special Free to Be… You and Me, produced by comedic actress Marlo Thomas, airs on ABC.
March 13 The Execution of Private Slovik airs on NBC. It was a made-for-TV film that told the story of Pvt. Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion after the American Civil War.
March 18 CBS's cancellation of Here's Lucy marks the end of the television reign of Lucille Ball, which lasted 23 consecutive years beginning with the 1951 premiere of I Love Lucy.
April 5 The Dean Martin Show ends its run on NBC after 264 hour-long episodes. NBC would continue to air periodic editions of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast over the next 10 years.
April 26 KPVI signs-on the air, giving the Idaho Falls market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
August 8 U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his pending resignation live on television, effective at 12 Noon EDT the next day, at which time Vice President Gerald Ford is sworn in as President.
WEVU (now WZVN-TV) signs-on the air, giving the Fort Myers market its first full-time ABC affiliate.
September 10 Born Innocent, a controversial film starring Linda Blair, airs on NBC. The film, which involved a fourteen-year-old being sent to what the television preview deemed a women's prison (when in reality it was a reform school), drew heavy criticism due to an all-female rape scene, the first ever seen on American television. The scene was deleted in subsequent re-airings after a group of girls assaulted an eight-year-old with a pop bottle, influenced by the scene in the film.
October 6 Monty Python's Flying Circus, the British sketch comedy series that aired its final episode this year, is first shown on American television when PBS member station KERA-TV in Dallas, Texas airs it at 10 p.m. Central Daylight Time.[1][2]
November 28 For the fourth time this year, ABC aligns with a new station as WOPC-TV in Altoona, Pennsylvania brings full-time ABC service to the Altoona-State College market. WOPC-TV struggles for viewers and goes dark in 1982; ABC would return to Altoona (and channel 23) in 1988 when Fox affiliate WWPC-TV (then a satellite of WWCP-TV in Johnstown) breaks from its simulcast with WWCP-TV.

Other notable events

Television stations

Sign-ons
Date City of License/Market Station Channel Affiliation Notes/Ref.
February South Bend/Elkhart, Indiana WNIT 34 PBS
February 1 Nampa/Boise, Idaho KITC 6 ABC
March 31 Orlando, Florida WOFL 35 Independent
April 26 Pocatello, Idaho KPVI 6 ABC
May 5 Los Angeles, California KVST-TV 68 Non-commercial independent
July 25 South Bend, Indiana WMSH-TV 46 Independent
August 8 Naples/Fort Myers, Florida WEVU 26 ABC
August 11 Booneville, Mississippi WMAE-TV 12 PBS Part of MSETV
September 9 Grand Forks, North Dakota KGFE 2 PBS Part of Prairie Public Television
September 29 New York City WBTB-TV 68 Independent
October 5 Hagerstown, Maryland WWPB 31 PBS Part of Maryland Public Television
Sacramento, California KMUV-TV 31 Independent
November 28 Johnstown, Pennsylvania WOPC 38 ABC Now WATM-TV on channel 23
December 1 New Haven, Connecticut WEDY 65 PBS Part of the Connecticut Public Television network
December 15 Waterloo/Cedar Rapids, Iowa KRIN 32 PBS Part of Iowa Public Television

Network affiliation changes
Date City of license/Market Station Channel Old affiliation New affiliation Notes/Ref.
August 5 Bakersfield, California KJTV !7 ABC CBS
October 6 Monroe, Louisiana KNOE-TV 8 CBS (primary)
NBC (secondary)		 CBS (exclusive)
West Monroe/Monroe, Louisiana KLAA 14 Independent NBC Was temporarily off the air from 1971–74
Unknown date Augusta, Georgia WJBF-TV 6 ABC (primary)
NBC (secondary)		 ABC (exclusive)
WRDW-TV 12 CBS (primary)
NBC (secondary)		 CBS (exclusive)

Station closures
Date City of license/Market Station Channel Affiliation Sign-on date Notes
April 30 Roanoke, Virginia WRFT-TV 27 ABC March 4, 1966
Unknown date Chicago, Illinois WXXW 20 PBS Would return to the air in February 1983 as WYCC
Pago Pago, American Samoa KVZK-8 8 unknown October 5, 1964
KVZK-10 10
KVZK-12 12

Television shows

Debuts

Ending this year

Births
Main article: 1974 in television § Births

Deaths
Main article: 1974 in television § Deaths
gollark: Isn't chirality basically just "you can't superimpose it on a mirror image of itself"?
gollark: Oh, never mind, someone said that, really need to scroll down more.
gollark: Technically that is the/an observer effect, not the uncertainty principle.
gollark: Yes, the interweb™ appears to agree with that etymology.
gollark: Yes, the mandatory scene where they analogise it using a piece of paper or something.

See also

References
  1. Young, Bill. “Monty Python: 1969-2014”. Tellyspotting: Your Brit TV Pub. KERA. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  2. McCall, Douglas (2014). Monty Python: a chronology, 1969-2012 (Second ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 36. ISBN 0-7864-7811X
  3. The NBC Saturday Morning Preview Revue (1974).
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