thumb | right | Arnold Ebert of KOAC interviewing a cow in 1950

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The year 1950 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.

Events

  • 15 March – The Copenhagen Frequency Plan is implemented by broadcasters throughout Europe.
  • 15 April – King Leopold III of Belgium offers to surrender his powers temporarily to his 19-year-old son, Prince Baudouin, in an effort to resolve the "Royal question" crisis that follows his plans to return from exile. His radio address to his subjects, in both French and Flemish, marks the first time since 1940 that he has been heard on Belgian radio.
  • 1 May – Springbok Radio, South Africa's first commercial radio station, takes to the airwaves. It will broadcast for 35 years, until 31 December 1985.
  • 5 June – In the Federal Republic of Germany, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Radio Bremen, Süddeutscher Rundfunk, and Südwestfunk jointly establish the ARD consortium of public broadcasting authorities.
  • 4 July – Radio Free Europe begins its first broadcasts, transmitting 30 minutes of American programming to Czechoslovakia from a 7,500 watt short wave transmitter located at Lampertheim in West Germany. On 14 July, Romania becomes the second Communist nation to be sent broadcasts from the station.
  • 9 July – First propaganda broadcast by an American POW captured by North Korea: a U.S. Army Officer of the 24th Infantry Division makes a 900 word broadcast on Seoul radio.
  • 22 July – Leopold III of Belgium returns from exile and addresses the nation by radio but is rapidly forced to announce his abdication.
  • 28 July – Red Scare in Japan: NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, bars more than 100 of its employees suspected of being Japanese Communist Party members or sympathizers from entering its facilities, on instructions of Major Edgar L. Tidwell, the radio officer of the United States Eighth Army.

Debuts

Programs

  • 1 January – Hopalong Cassidy debuts on Mutual.
  • 6 January – The Halls of Ivy debuts on NBC.
  • 22 January – The Adventures of Christopher London debuts on NBC.
  • 30 January – Mark Trail debuts on Mutual. it will still be running 75 years later.
  • 2 July – Hashknife Hartley debuts on Mutual.
  • 5 November
  • The Big Show introduced by Tallulah Bankhead debuts on NBC.

References