Editing 1996 in American television (section)

=== February ===
{| class="wikitable"
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! Date || Event
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!8–9
|Peter Argyropolous and Deborah Cohen win a combined total of $146,529 cash prizes from two episodes (including the $10,000 wedge played with the Double Play token and two [[Ford Mustang]]s), making the couple the biggest winner in the history of ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]''; They remain the biggest winners for a team, and will hold the record until Michelle Lowenstein wins $1,026,080 on October 14, 2008.
|-
!17
|[[Fred Rogers]] makes a [[List_of_Dr._Quinn,_Medicine_Woman_episodes#Season_4_(1995–96)|guest appearance]] on the [[CBS]] [[Western (genre)|Western]] drama ''[[Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman]]''. This is notably, the only time that Rogers portrayed a fictional character on television.
|-
!28
|[[Paxson Communications]] completes their $40 million purchase of ABC affiliate [[WAKC-TV]] in [[Akron, Ohio]], from [[ValueVision]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1996 |title=Briefs: ValueVision International Inc. |page=D3 |work=Star Tribune |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66028314/briefs-valuevision-international-inc/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121205135/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66028314/briefs-valuevision-international-inc/ |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Hours after the sale closed, Paxon president Dean Goodman arrives at WAKC-TV's studios and tells the staff, "news ceases at this moment", firing the entire news department and all station management.<ref name="WAKC News Ceases">{{Cite news |last1=Heldenfels |first1=R.D. |last2=Hoffman |first2=Steve |last3=Quinn |first3=Jim |last4=Hoiles |first4=Robert |date=February 29, 1996 |title=WAKC Kills News: New owner pulls plug, fires at least 15, decision on resuming show is months away, ABC affiliation under review |page=A1 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=NewsBank&req_dat=1082885C71926A79&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0EB6BE34D921BEDF |url-access=subscription |access-date=February 3, 2022 |via=NewsBank}}</ref> This makes Akron (a part of the larger [[Cleveland]]–Akron–[[Canton, Ohio|Canton]] [[Media market|television market]]) the largest city in the United States without a commercial television newscast.<ref name="ABJ TV News Editorial">{{Cite news |date=March 30, 2001 |title=Our opinion: And now, the news (Editorial) |page=A14 |newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal |location=Akron, Ohio |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66228983/our-opinion-and-now-the-news/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121205153/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66228983/our-opinion-and-now-the-news/ |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
|-
!29
|ABC affiliate [[KBAK-TV]] and CBS affiliate [[KERO-TV]] swap affiliations in [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]].
|}