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1950 Jack Benny begins appearing on CBS Television in 1950 with specials that air infrequently. Beginning in 1952, "The Jack Benny Show" is televised once every four weeks. Beginning in 1953, he returns, following a summer hiatus, and the series airs on an alternate week basis. This lasts until 1960, when the series begins airing every week through September 1965. It wins an Emmy for Best Comedy Series (1958-59 season) and Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor (1960-61 season).
CBS has 14 out of Nielsen's top 20 nighttime radio listings for the year, and eight of the top 10 daytime shows.
February 16, 1950 "What's My Line" premieres (and runs through September 3, 1967). It wins three Emmy Awards for Best Audience Participation, Quiz or Panel Program in 1952, 1953 and 1958. It is the longest running game show in primetime.
June 26, 1950 "The Garry Moore Show" premieres and runs through December 27, 1951. His later show, with the same name, debuts September 30, 1958 and airs until January 8, 1967. It wins an Emmy as Outstanding Program Achievement in the field of Variety for the 1961-62 season.
July 23, 1950 The "Gene Autry Show" premieres. This popular western's last broadcast is August 7, 1956.
October 12, 1950 The televised "The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show" premieres and runs through September 22, 1958.
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1951 CBS Radio and Television are split into two separate divisions.
Sig Mickelson becomes the first President of News and Public Affairs. He becomes Chief Executive of a combined radio and television division in 1954 and then President of an autonomous division formally designated "CBS News."
June 25, 1951 CBS televises the one-hour premiere of color television (it was the CBS Field Sequential System, not Compatible Color). "Premiere," a program which aired from 4:35 to 5:34 PM, includes entertainment by leading personalities such as Arthur Godfrey, Faye Emerson, Sam Levenson, Robert Alda, Ed Sullivan, Isabel Bigley and Garry Moore, and statements by William S. Paley and Dr. Frank Stanton. It is presented by 16 sponsors at 4:35 PM and fed to Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
June 27, 1951 The first regularly-scheduled color television series on CBS is Ivan T. Sanderson's "The World is Yours!" It airs Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 5:00 PM.
June 28, 1951 "Amos 'n' Andy" television series premieres, running through June 11, 1953.
August 11, 1951 CBS broadcasts the first baseball game on color television. (Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Boston Braves from Ebbets Field).
September 4, 1951 The first live coast-to-coast sustaining television program is a speech by President Truman at the opening of the Japanese Peace Conference in San Francisco. It is carried by 87 stations in 47 cities. The San Francisco-Chicago portion is considered an experimental circuit by AT&T and facilities are set up on microwave without charge. In Chicago, they are patched into existing coaxial network facilities.
October 15, 1951 "I Love Lucy" debuts and runs through September 24, 1961. The last original half-hour episode of "I Love Lucy" aired in 1957. The series continued in primetime rebroadcasts until September 1961. There are also 13 hour-long Lucy-Desi programs featuring the "I Love Lucy" characters which aired from November 1957 to April 1960. "I Love Lucy" is the first series to film before a live audience and the first to use three cameras. The series wins two Emmys for Best Situation Comedy (1952, 1953). (See January 19, 1953) The hugely popular series is the Number One rated regularly scheduled prime-time program for the 1952-53, 1953-54, 1954-55 and the 1956-57 seasons.
October 20, 1951 The CBS "Eye" logo is introduced to the public. Stanton had asked William Golden, Creative Director, CBS Television Network, Advertising and Sales Promotion Department, to develop a new trademark for CBS television. It was originally to be used as a Network identification during station breaks.
November 18, 1951 "See It Now," CBS-TV's first news documentary series, debuts, showing viewers the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans simultaneously: a wonder made possible by the newly laid coaxial cable. The program becomes the first live coast-to-coast commercial television broadcast and runs through July 7, 1958. The program, hosted by Edward R. Murrow, produced by Fred Friendly and directed by Don Hewitt, is credited as inventing the television news documentary as we know it and wins three Emmy Awards (1952, Best Public Affairs Program; 1953, Best Program of News or Sports; 1953, Best Public Service Series.)
December 15, 1951 "Hear It Now," a radio newsmagazine hosted by Edward R. Murrow, premieres in primetime. On the air only three times before year's end, it wins a Peabody Award.
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1952 Radio listeners continue to tune in to popular CBS radio entertainment series such as "The FBI in Peace and War," "People Are Funny," "Hallmark Playhouse," "The Line-Up," "Jack Benny," "Amos 'n' Andy," "Gangbusters," "Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy," "Perry Mason," "Bing Crosby" and "The New York Philharmonic."
Television City, CBS's landmark production facility, opens in Los Angeles.
June 30, 1952 "The Guiding Light" premieres on television and becomes the longest running daytime drama. The series premiered on radio in January 1937. By combining the radio and television totals, it enters its 66th year January 2003. It becomes the longest running entertainment program in television history on June 30, 2002.
July 7, 1952 The term "anchor" is coined to describe Walter Cronkite's role at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The conventions also mark the first nationally televised convention coverage, and CBS News provides 139 hours of it.
September 1 "Art Linkletter's House Party," a daytime variety show, premieres and is broadcast through November 15, 1968. (Art Linkletter's CBS radio show, "House Party," premiered in 1944 and ran through October 1967.)
October 3, 1952 "Our Miss Brooks," starring Eve Arden, premieres on television and runs until September 21, 1956. It had originated on CBS radio in 1948 and was heard on both radio and television throughout the mid-1950s.
Fall 1952 New television series include "The Red Buttons Show" (premiering on October 14 and running on CBS through June 1954), "The Jackie Gleason Show" (debuting September 20 and having its last broadcast September 12, 1970) and "Life with Luigi" (premiering September 22 and airing until June 4, 1953).
November 4, 1952 CBS News covers election returns from 8:00 PM Tuesday night until 3:00 AM on Wednesday morning. Both conventions are "network" in 1952.
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1953 CBS broadcasting operations are mushrooming all over New York, and the CBS Production Center (now the CBS Broadcast Center) is put into full operation after renovations. The nightly Douglas Edwards news, with offices in Grand Central, occasionally broadcasts from another location, Liederkranz Hall.
January 19, 1953 It's a national event when Lucy Ricardo gives birth to Little Ricky on "I Love Lucy." Coincidentally, Lucille Ball gives birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. the same night.
February 1, 1953 "You Are There," narrated by Walter Cronkite, begins its dramatic re-creations of historical events. Its last broadcast is October 13, 1957.
"General Electric Theater," a filmed anthology series, premieres. Ronald Reagan becomes host at the start of the 1954 season through the end of the program, which runs until September 16, 1962.
June 15, 1953 The first sponsored television variety show is "Ford 50th Anniversary Program." It airs from 9:00 to 11:00 PM and the sponsor is the Ford Motor Company.
September 1953 "The Red Skelton Show" joins CBS through June 1970.
October 2, 1953 "Person to Person," Edward R. Murrow's relaxed, at-home television visits with famous people, debuts. In the next six years, he interviews approximately 500 newsmakers, including U.S. Senator-elect John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, Gypsy Rose Lee, Marilyn Monroe and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
October 4, 1953 "Omnibus," hosted by Alistair Cooke, makes its CBS debut. It wins three Emmy awards throughout its CBS run in its category.
October 8, 1953 The first compatible color television program on CBS is "Eye Opener."
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1954 CBS News is officially created when the News and Public Affairs departments of the CBS Radio and Television Divisions are combined, marking the first autonomous news organization in network television designed to serve both the radio and television networks of CBS.
March 9, 1954 Edward R. Murrow makes Senator Joseph McCarthy the subject of an entire episode of "See It Now." McCarthy's televised reply on "See It Now" airs on April 6 and is a severe personal attack on Murrow, suggesting that Murrow, too, is politically suspect. The two broadcasts are credited with beginning to turn public opinion against McCarthy.
August 26, 1954 The first network radio and television editorial is broadcast when CBS President Dr. Frank Stanton takes to the airwaves to plea for open hearings by the U.S. Senate committee with respect to the censure resolution against Senator Joseph McCarthy. Several days later, on September 2, Judge Harold R. Medina of the U.S. Court of Appeals presents the case against allowing radio and television coverage of the hearings.
Fall 1954 New series include "Father Knows Best" (which premieres on October 3, runs through March 1955, and returns to CBS September 1958 through September 1962), "Lassie" (which premieres September 12, runs through September 12, 1971 and wins two Emmys for Best Children's Program, one each for the 1954 and 1955 seasons) and "December Bride" (which premieres October 4 and runs through April 20, 1961).
November 7, 1954 "Face the Nation," a news interview program moderated by Ted Koop, debuts on the CBS Television and Radio Networks. Senator Joseph McCarthy is the first guest. The interview takes place two days prior to the Senate's 10 days of debate ending in a vote to condemn McCarthy. Other long-term moderators of "Face the Nation" and their start dates are: Stuart Novins (8/21/55), Howard K. Smith (11/14/60), Paul Niven (11/17/63), Martin Agronsky (7/11/65), George Herman (2/2/69), Lesley Stahl (9/18/83) and Bob Schieffer (5/26/91).
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June 7, 1955 "The $64,000 Question," hosted by Hal March, is the first big television quiz show. It runs through November 1958 and is the number-one rated scheduled primetime program of the 1955-56 season. It wins an Emmy for Best Audience Participation Series (Quiz, Panel, etc.) in 1955.
September 10 "Gunsmoke," the first adult western, premieres on CBS and runs through September 1, 1975. It stars James Arness, becomes the longest running series with continuing characters and wins an Emmy in 1957 for Best Dramatic Series with Continuing Characters. It is the number one regularly scheduled primetime program for the 1957-58, 1958-59, 1959-60 and 1960-61 seasons, and is a top 10 show for 13 years. It ends up spurring westerns on all the networks. (It began as a CBS Radio show starring William Conrad in the spring of 1952.)
October 1, 1955 "The Honeymooners" debuts and runs with the original cast through September 1956.
October 2, 1955 "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," hosted by Alfred Hitchcock, premieres, runs through September 1960 and returns to CBS from September 1962 through September 1964. Robert Altman, Sydney Pollack and William Friedkin are among the episodes' directors. Guest stars include Bette Davis, Robert Redford, Steve McQueen and Robert Duvall.
October 3, 1955 "Captain Kangaroo," played by Bob Keeshan, premieres and runs until 1984, making it the longest-running network children's series.
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1958 CBS Television restructures into two major operating divisions: the CBS Television Network (with 243 affiliates) and the CBS Television Stations (with five CBS-owned stations).
September 6, 1958 "Wanted: Dead or Alive" debuts with star Steve McQueen and runs through March 29, 1961.
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September 9, 1959 "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" premieres and runs through September 18, 1963.
New series include "The Twilight Zone" (a science fiction anthology series that premieres October 2 and runs, with host and writer Rod Serling, through September 1965), "Rawhide" (starring Clint Eastwood, which premieres January 9 and runs through January 1966), and "Dennis the Menace" (which debuts October 4 and runs through September 22, 1963).
October 27, 1959 "CBS Reports," the CBS News' acclaimed documentary series, debuts.
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