Overview of the events of 1940 in television
The year 1940 in television involved some significant events.
Below is a list of television-related events during 1940.
Events
- January – The FCC has public hearings concerning television.
- 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, along with excerpts from four other operas.
- 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 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.
Debuts
Television shows
Series
|
Debut
|
Ended
|
NBC News with Lowell Thomas
|
February 21, 1940
|
July 30, 1940
|
The Esso Television Reporter
|
March 27, 1940
|
May 31, 1940
|
Amateur Boxing at Jamaica Arena
|
July 8, 1940
|
May 1942
|
Programs ending during 1940
Date
|
Series
|
Debut
|
May 31
|
The Esso Television Reporter
|
March 27, 1940
|
July 30
|
NBC News with Lowell Thomas
|
February 21, 1940
|
Births
- January 19 – Mike Reid, English actor and comedian (died 2007)
- January 22 – John Hurt, English actor (died 2017)
- January 27 – James Cromwell, actor
- January 31 - Stuart Margolin, actor, The Rockford Files
- February 2 – David Jason, English actor
- February 6 - Tom Brokaw, journalist
- February 12 – Ralph Bates, English actor (died 1991)
- February 22 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
- February 27 – Howard Hesseman, actor, WKRP in Cincinnati, Head of the Class
- March 7 – Daniel J. Travanti, actor, Hill Street Blues
- March 10 – Chuck Norris, actor, Walker, Texas Ranger
- March 26 - James Caan, actor, Las Vegas
- April 17 – Chuck Menville, American television animator and writer (died 1992)
- April 25 - Al Pacino, actor
- May 5 – Lance Henriksen, actor
- May 10 - Taurean Blacque, actor, Hill Street Blues
- June 1 – René Auberjonois, actor, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- June 14 - Jack Bannon, actor, Lou Grant
- June 20 – John Mahoney, English-born actor, Frasier (died 2018)
- June 21 – Mariette Hartley, actress
- July 3 - Michael Cole, actor, The Mod Squad
- July 7 - Ringo Starr, English singer-songwriter, The Beatles
- July 13 – Patrick Stewart, English actor, Star Trek: The Next Generation
- July 18 – James Brolin, actor, Marcus Welby, M.D.
- July 22 – Alex Trebek, game show host, Jeopardy!
- August 3 – Martin Sheen, actor, The West Wing
- August 19 – Jill St. John, actress
- August 23 - Richard Sanders, actor, WKRP in Cincinnati
- August 28 - Ken Jenkins, actor, Scrubs
- September 5 – Raquel Welch, actress
- September 12 – Linda Gray, actress, Dallas
- October 9 - John Lennon, English musician, The Beatles (died 1980)
- October 19 – Michael Gambon, Irish-born British actor
- November 13 - Daniel Pilon, Cuban-born actor, Dallas
- November 15 - Sam Waterston, actor, Law & Order
- December 11 – Donna Mills, actress, Knots Landing
- December 21 – Arvi Lind, Finnish newsreader