1946–47 United States network television schedule

The 1946–47 United States network television schedule was nominally from September 1946 to March 1947, but scheduling ideas were still being worked out and did not follow modern standards.

This was the first "network television season" in the United States, and only NBC and DuMont operated networks. CBS only operated one television station, WCBS, and had yet to send out its programs to areas other than New York City. Additionally, several other companies—including Mutual, Paramount, and ABC—had plans to enter the medium over the next few years. Although experimental broadcasting had begun in the 1930s and television stations had been commercially licensed beginning in 1941, it was not until 1946 that coaxial cable connections allowed stations to share the same program schedules. Even then, only a few cities on the East Coast were connected.

Notable series on the schedule included the first network TV soap opera, Faraway Hill; the poorly-received but ambitious variety series, Hour Glass; the first network-televised game show, Cash and Carry (prior game shows had been single-station only); and the anthology series Kraft Television Theatre, which ran until 1958.

Few broadcasts made during this season exist in any archive, but segments of Campus Hoopla dating from 1947 exist in the Hubert Chain Collection of the earliest kinescopes still in existence, as preserved in the Library of Congress (Moving Image Collection). Audio recordings of live TV broadcasts of this show are also on file at the Library of Congress from the 1946–47 period, as recorded from WNBT-TV in New York (NBC's original flagship station in New York City, today's WNBC-TV).

New series and those that made their network debuts during the season are highlighted in bold. Series ending are highlighted in italics.

Legend

Light blue indicates local programming.
Light green indicates sporting events.
Light purple indicates movies.

Sunday

Network		7:00 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.
NBC	Fall	Local programming	(8:00 p.m.) Face to Face (8:15 p.m.) Geographically Speaking	Broadway Previews/NBC Television Theatre		Local programming
	Winter		(8:00 p.m.) Face to Face (8:15 p.m.) Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties	Broadway Previews/NBC Television Theatre
	Summer			Television Screen Magazine	The Borden Show

* Beginning in December 1946 on WNBT-TV, and then on January 5, 1947, on the NBC Network, Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties, hosted by Jinx Falkenburg and Tex McCrary, aired Sundays from 8:15 to 8:30pm ET.

Monday

Network	7:00 p.m.	7:50 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.	10:30 p.m.
DMN	Local programming				Boxing from Jamaica Arena
NBC	Local programming	The Esso Newsreel	(8:00 p.m.) Voice of Firestone Televues (8:10 p.m.) Short Film Subjects	Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena (open-ended)

Tuesday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
DMN	Fall	Local programming		Play the Game	Selected Film Shorts	Serving Through Science	Local programming
	Spring	Local programming		Play the Game	Selected Film Shorts	Serving Through Science	Cash and Carry	Local programming
	Summer	Small Fry Club	Highway to the Stars	Western movie		Local programming

Wednesday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.
DMN		Local programming		Magic Carpet (travelogue)	Local programming	Faraway Hill	Boxing from Jamaica Arena
NBC	Fall	Local programming
NBC	Spring	Local programming	Kraft Television Theatre (From May 7)		(8:30 p.m.) In the Kelvinator Kitchen (From May 21)/(8:45 p.m.) Local programming	Local programming

Thursday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.
DMN	Fall	Local programming		Vera Massey Show	Film Shorts	Cash and Carry	Local programming
	Winter			Melody Bar Ranch		Cash and Carry	Local programming
	Spring					Local programming
	Summer	Local programming	King Cole's Birthday Party			Local programming
NBC		Local programming	(7:30 p.m.) In Town Today (7:50 p.m.) The Esso Newsreel	Hour Glass		Famous Fights (Boxing film highlights)	Local programming

Note: On DuMont, King Cole's Birthday Party was also known simply as Birthday Party. It debuted on Dumont's New York City station, WABD on May 15, 1947. By early 1948 it was carried on the entire network, but the date it switched from a New York-only to a complete network broadcast is unclear.

Friday

Network		7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.
DMN		Local programming		Western movie		Wrestling from Jamaica Arena
NBC	Fall	Local programming	Television Quarterback (To December 20)	(8:00 p.m.) You Are an Artist (8:15 p.m.) Let's Rhumba	(8:30 p.m.) I Love to Eat (8:45 p.m.) The World in Your Home	Boxing from Madison Square Garden (open-ended)
	Winter		Campus Hoopla (From December 27)	(8:00 p.m.) You Are an Artist (8:15 p.m.) Local programming
	Spring		Campus Hoopla (From December 27)	(8:00 p.m.) You Are an Artist (8:15 p.m.) The World in Your Home	I Love to Eat
	Late spring	Local programming		Campus Hoopla	(8:30 p.m.) You Are an Artist (8:45 p.m.) The World in Your Home

By network

Some of the series below are not shown on the schedule as the day and time these aired are not currently known.

Du Mont

Returning series

Boxing from Jamaica Arena
Cash and Carry
Magic Carpet
Melody Bar Ranch
Vera Massey Show
Western movie

New series/network debuts

NBC

Returning Series

New series/Network debuts

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

References

Bergmann, Ted; Skutch, Ira (2002). The DuMont Television Network: What Happened? Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4270-X.
Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp.
Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earl (1979). The complete directory to prime-time network TV shows 1946–present. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-28248-5.