Space Patrol (1950 TV series)
Space Patrol is a science fiction adventure series that was originally aimed at juvenile audiences of the early 1950s via television, radio, and comic books. However, it soon developed a sizable adult audience such that by 1954, the program consistently ranked in the top 10 shows broadcast on a Saturday.
Broadcasting background
The Space Patrol television show began broadcasting March 9, 1950, starting as a daily 15-minute show on a local Los Angeles station. However, on December 30, 1950, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) added the show as a new half-hour program to its Saturday schedule. It became an overnight sensation such that the new weekly show broadcast and the 15-minute shows continued daily on a local basis, and was seen via kinescope in other cities. A 1953 30-minute episode was the subject of the first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast on April 29 in Los Angeles on ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
The series also made history by being the first regular live West Coast morning network program beamed to the East Coast. In modern times, there is a tendency to take national broadcast events for granted, but at the time, it took an intricate network of cable and relay stations to accomplish this enormous task.