Editing 1979 in American television (section)

==Events==
{| class="wikitable"
! Date || Event
|-
|January 3
|The [[USA Network]] is founded.
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|January 10
|The [[Music for UNICEF Concert]] is televised from New York City on [[NBC]].
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|February 11
|In the U.S., 43 million viewers watch ''[[Elvis (1979 film)|Elvis]]'', an [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] movie starring [[Kurt Russell]] as [[Elvis Presley]], despite being the first Elvis biopic film ever made.
|-
|February 18
|The [[1979 Daytona 500|Daytona 500]] is [[List of Daytona 500 broadcasters|broadcast]] live from [[Glossary of motorsport terms#F|start to finish]], in its entirety for the very first time by [[CBS]]. It was won by [[Richard Petty]].
|-
|February 20
|[[Melody Thomas Scott|Melody Thomas]] makes her first appearance as [[Nikki Newman|Nikki Reed]] on ''[[The Young and the Restless]]''.
|-
|March 5
|[[KSTP-TV]] in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]] ends its 31-year relationship as the [[Minneapolis-St. Paul|Twin Cities]]' [[NBC]] affiliate and joins [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in what is called the network's biggest coup yet. NBC, meanwhile, aligns with [[Metromedia]]-owned independent station [[KARE (TV)|WTCN-TV]], while former ABC affiliate [[KMSP-TV]], having failed to procure an NBC affiliation, becomes independent itself.<ref>"ABC-TV bags largest game yet in affiliation hunt: KSTP-TV." ''Broadcasting'', September 4, 1978, pp. 19–20. [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/78-OCR/BC-1978-09-04-Page-0019.pdf]{{dead link|date=June 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} [http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/78-OCR/BC-1978-09-04-Page-0020.pdf]{{dead link|date=June 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/78-OCR/BC-1978-10-02-Page-0030.pdf "In Brief." ''Broadcasting'', October 2, 1978, pg. 30]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|-
|March 6
|On [[NBC]], ''[[Another World (TV series)|Another World]]'' becomes the only [[soap opera]] to air regularly scheduled 90-minute telecasts (it would go back to 60-minute episodes in 1980). Meanwhile, on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], ''Family Feud'' increases its goal to 300 points.
|-
|March 19
|[[C-SPAN]], an American television channel focusing on government and public affairs, is launched.
|-
|April 1
|[[Nickelodeon]] is [[History_of_Nickelodeon#1979–1984:_National_launch_as_Nickelodeon|founded]].
|-
|April 8
|On [[CBS]], the final episode of ''[[All in the Family]]'' is seen by 40.2 million American viewers (it will relaunch the following season as ''[[Archie Bunker's Place]]'').
|-
|April 20
|The 1,439th and final CBS episode of ''[[Match Game]] 79'' airs – however, the show didn't air on April 5, causing the Friday episode from that week to air on April 9. The last 9 aired episodes were culled together from 3 separate taping sessions, leaving 6 unaired until [[Game Show Network]] aired them for the first time. ''[[Match Game]]'' continues for 3 more years in syndicated daytime (sans the omnipresent 2-year designation in the title).
|-
|April 22
|''[[Friendly Fire (1979 film)|Friendly Fire]]'', an [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] movie starring [[Carol Burnett]] as a mother who wants to know how her son died in Vietnam, airs.
|-
|April 23
|''[[The Price Is Right (American game show)|The Price Is Right]]'', on [[CBS]], moves to 11:00 A.M. EST, the time slot that it holds to this day.
|-
|May 16
|[[Kate Jackson]] makes her [[Charlie's Angels (season 3)|final appearance]] as [[Sabrina Duncan]] on ''[[Charlie's Angels]]''.
|-
|May 17
|The [[Barney Miller (season 5)|Season 5]] finale of ''[[Barney Miller]]'' features the cast stepping out of character to pay tribute to the late [[Jack Soo]], who played detective Nick Yemana. Soo, who died of cancer on January 11, 1979, made his final appearance in the series in the season's ninth [[List of Barney Miller episodes#Season 5 (1978–79)|episode]], "The Vandal".
|-
|May 26
|[[Dan Aykroyd]] and [[John Belushi]]'s make their [[Saturday Night Live season 4|final appearances]] on [[NBC]]'s ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' as [[List of Saturday Night Live cast members|cast members]].
|-
|June 1
|In [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]], [[NBC]] affiliate [[WRTV]] swaps affiliations with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate [[WTHR]], citing a stronger affiliation (at the time, NBC is in last place among the three major networks).<ref name="WTHR-ABC_to_NBC">{{cite news|title=Television Schedule|date=May 30, 1979|work=Marion [[Chronicle-Tribune]]|location=Marion, IN}}</ref>
|-
|July 10
|KSD-TV, [[List of NBC television affiliates (by U.S. state)|NBC affiliate]] in [[St. Louis]], changes its call sign to [[KSDK|KSDK-TV]].
|-
|September 7
|[[ESPN]], an all-sports channel, launches and becomes the first [[cable TV]] channel to be launched as a 24-hour channel.
|-
|September 9
|[[KNXV-TV]] goes on the air for the first time as [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]]'s first [[UHF television broadcasting|UHF station]], airing with [[ON TV (TV network)|ONTV]]. It was soon stripped off ONTV in 1983, eventually going first with Fox in 1986, then to [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] via an [[List of ABC television affiliates (by U.S. state)|affiliation]] agreement with [[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps Howard]] in 1995.
|-
|September 12
|On the two-hour season four premiere of ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], [[Shelley Hack]] is introduced as new angel Tiffany Welles, replacing Sabrina Duncan played by [[Kate Jackson]].
|-
|September 19
|On the two-hour ''[[Eight Is Enough]]'' season premiere on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], both David and Susan Bradford married their respective loves in a double ceremony.
|-
|September 22
|The character [[Scrappy-Doo]] makes his [[Scooby-Doo_and_Scrappy-Doo_(1979_TV_series)#Episodes|first appearance]] in the [[Scooby-Doo]] franchise. Scrappy-Doo would become a mainstay in the franchise going into the following decade. 
|-
|October 6
|[[KTAB-TV]] in [[Abilene, Texas]] begins broadcasting as a [[CBS]] affiliate, taking that affiliation from [[KTXS-TV]]. KTXS-TV then elevates its secondary [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliation to full-time status, making Abilene one of the last markets in the country to receive full service from the three major networks.
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|November 4
|''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' is broadcast on television for the first time on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]].
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|November 25
|[[Pat Summerall]] calls his first [[NFL on CBS|NFL telecast]] ([[1979 Minnesota Vikings season|Minnesota Vikings]]–[[1979 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season|Tampa Bay Buccaneers]]) with [[John Madden]].
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|December 1
|[[The Movie Channel]], an American premium cable channel, begins broadcasting movies 24/7. The first movie to air was Roman Holiday.
|}