The very first Emmy Awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, January 25th, 1949 from the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles, California. The broadcast was carried on KTSL-TV (now KCBS-TV). Only programs produced in Los Angeles were eligible. For the next five years, the Emmy Awards ceremony was seen on a local Los Angeles/Hollywood station. Beginning with the 7th Emmy Awards ceremony (held on Monday, March 7th, 1955) national programs were eligible and the broadcast was seen on network television, initially on NBC and later rotating between the networks.
The history of the Emmy Awards is complicated and involves two different organizations: the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS, founded in 1945 in Los Angeles) and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS, founded in 1955 in New York City). The two groups worked together for many years to produce the Emmy Awards. In 1974 a daytime ceremony was established. In 1977 the organizations split, with ATAS keeping the primetime Emmy Awards and NATAS in charge of the Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards, the Sports Emmy Awards, the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, the News & Documentary Emmy Awards and the Humanitarian & Public Service Emmy Awards. (The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, founded in 1969, oversees the International Emmy Awards
It is my understanding that the UCLA Film & Television Archive houses the collection of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation and has copies of every awards ceremony dating back to the 6th Emmy Awards, broadcast in February of 1954 on KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV). Both the Paley Center for Media and the Library of Congress have copies of various ceremonies. I’ve put together the following status guide for the Emmy Awards ceremonies broadcast between 1949 and 1979. If anyone has an comments or corrections, please hit the comments.
(I am not sure exactly when the title was officially changed from Emmy Awards to Primetime Emmy Awards; the first Daytime Emmy Awards were broadcast in 1974 and that seems like a likely date for the switch.)
| Emmy Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Net | Ceremony | Airdate | Status |
| KTSL-TV | 1st Emmy Awards | 01/25/1949 | |
| KFI-TV | 2nd Emmy Awards | 01/27/1950 | |
| KLAC-TV | 3rd Emmy Awards | 01/23/1951 | |
| KECA-TV | 4th Emmy Awards | 02/18/1952 | |
| KLAC-TV | 5th Emmy Awards | 02/03/1953 | |
| KHJ-TV | 6th Emmy Awards | 02/11/1954 | UCLA |
| NBC | 7th Emmy Awards | 03/07/1955 | UCLA |
| NBC | 8th Emmy Awards | 03/17/1956 | UCLA |
| NBC | 9th Emmy Awards | 03/16/1957 | UCLA |
| NBC | 10th Emmy Awards | 04/15/1958 | UCLA |
| NBC | 11th Emmy Awards | 05/06/1959 | UCLA, Paley, LoC |
| NBC | 12th Emmy Awards | 06/20/1960 | UCLA |
| NBC | 13th Emmy Awards | 05/16/1961 | UCLA, Paley |
| NBC | 14th Emmy Awards | 05/22/1962 | UCLA, Paley |
| NBC | 15th Emmy Awards | 05/26/1963 | UCLA, Paley |
| NBC | 16th Emmy Awards | 05/25/1964 | UCLA, Paley |
| NBC | 17th Emmy Awards | 09/12/1965 | UCLA, Paley |
| CBS | 18th Emmy Awards | 05/22/1966 | UCLA |
| ABC | 19th Emmy Awards | 06/04/1967 | UCLA |
| NBC | 20th Emmy Awards | 05/19/1968 | UCLA |
| CBS | 21st Emmy Awards | 06/08/1969 | UCLA |
| ABC | 22nd Emmy Awards | 06/07/1970 | UCLA, Paley |
| NBC | 23rd Emmy Awards | 05/09/1971 | UCLA, Paley |
| CBS | 24th Emmy Awards | 05/14/1972 | UCLA |
| ABC | 25th Emmy Awards | 05/20/1973 | UCLA |
| NBC | 26th Primetime Emmy Awards | 05/28/1974 | UCLA |
| CBS | 27th Primetime Emmy Awards | 05/19/1975 | UCLA |
| ABC | 28th Primetime Emmy Awards | 05/17/1976 | UCLA |
| NBC | 29th Primetime Emmy Awards | 09/11/1977 | UCLA, Paley, LoC |
| CBS | 30th Primetime Emmy Awards | 09/17/1978 | UCLA, Paley |
| ABC | 31st Primetime Emmy Awards | 09/09/1979 | UCLA, Paley, LoC |
Related:
The Television Academy would do fans a favor and release past Emmy shows on home video. I have a copy of the 11th Annual Emmy show on DVD purchased from Shokus Video (if I could sneak a plug in); it was not digitally remastered but was entertaining nonetheless. Although I have most of the recent Emmy telecasts on videotape (including the infamous 1983 show with Joan Rivers and Eddie Murphy), it would be nice to have all of them in my collection. Come on, Television Academy: Release the shows to the public and make some money at the same time!
In addition to the ‘Emmy Awards’, I’d also purchase dvd’s of old ‘Academy Awards’ and ‘Tony Awards’ broadcasts.
This could turn into a nice income sideline for all the various academies.
Great ideas Mike & DuMont!!