Weather Radio: all weather, all the time
The U.S. Weather bureau signs on radio station KWO35, located at New York’s La Guardia Airport, broadcasting weather forecasts primarily for the benefit of pilots. Not targeted for public consumption, the experimental station broadcasts for several hours a day at a frequency of 162.55Mhz, outside of the spectrum reserved for FM radio. A similar station on the same frequency will later sign on at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in 1953, again mainly for the consumption of airline pilots. Marine forecasts are added later, and the system helps the Weather Bureau prevent its local forecasters from being overwhelmed by requests for “personalized” weather reports for pilots. These two stations are the precursor for the nationwide weather radio network operated by the Weather Bureau’s successor agency, the National Weather Service.
The United States conducts the first-ever successful test of a thermonuclear bomb at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean as part of Operation Ivy. The explosion resulting from the first hydrogen bomb test has a yield equivalent to 10 megatons of TNT, with a three-mile blast radius, stripping vegetation from the ground in the surrounding area. There is significant radiological fallout from the event, and one pilot assigned to fly a jet fighter through the area an hour after the detonation loses control of his plane, crashes, and dies due to residual radiation interfering with his instruments and controls. Traces of the previously undiscovered (but theorized) elements einsteinium and fermium are found afterward.
ABC airs the 68th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Elen Willard guest stars.
Nestled into a mountainous forest region of Puerto Rico, the Cornell University-funded Arecibo Radio Telescope officially begins operations. With a diameter of a thousand feet, this remains the world’s largest radio telescope until the 21st century. Studies of Earth’s ionosphere are high on the priority list, but radio astronomy isn’t far behind, and important discoveries are made at Arecibo within months of it opening.
The 126th episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone airs on CBS. Telly Savalas stars.
The 
NASA begins making detailed plans for a pair of orbiter/lander spacecraft, now named Viking, to be sent to Mars in the mid 1970s (possibly as early as 
The 18th episode of The Six Million Dollar Man is broadcast on ABC, starring Lee Majors and Richard Anderson. Monte Markham guest stars.
ABC airs the 
The 
The 
ABC airs the ninth episode of Sid & Marty Krofft’s The Lost Saucer, starring Jim Nabors (The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle USMC) and Ruth Buzzi (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In). Jean Ross guest stars.
Jet Records releases 
The 
ITV airs the 12th episode of P.J. Hammond’s science fiction series Sapphire & Steel, starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley.
NBC airs the 
The 
The eighth episode of the Hammer Studios-produced horror anthology series Hammer House Of Horror airs on ITV. Christopher Cazenove (Dynasty) and Diana Dors guest star.
Exidy’s colorful coin-op video game 
General Consumer Electronics (GCE) introduces a self-contained vector graphics video game unit, 
CBS airs the sixth episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. David Mendenhall and Robert Duncan McNeill (Star Trek: Voyager) star in an episode comprised of two short stories.
The fourth episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, airs on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall, and Courteney Cox. Jesse Dizon (Operation Petticoat) and Branscombe Richmond (Renegade) guest star.
ABC premieres 
ABC premieres the 
The 
UK regional broadcaster TVS airs the 
NBC airs the 13th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell.
The 
The second episode of the science fiction crime drama Super Force is broadcast in syndication in North America, starring Ken Olandt, Larry B. Scott, and Patrick Macnee (The Avengers). Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica) guest stars.