I remember the test-pattern well enough, but I really don’t recall any musical accompaniment with it. On the other hand, those “Please Stand By” type cards almost always had something Bert Kaempfert-ish playing.
Anyway, I too miss ‘local television’ as it used to be... the movie-hosts, in-studio kiddie shows and such... even though much of it was disappearing already when I was young. Television as it exists now, with hundreds of vapid satellite stations, and zero local identity (other than news), is really, really depressing. I’ve pretty much given up on it entirely, limiting myself almost exclusively to old favorites on dvd.
TV has become a hundred talking heads trying to sell you on a political position or some whatnot that you don’t really need.
Whether it is a “science” program or a “check out my howiz and carz”, it is people selling something.
What ever happened to ENTERTAINMENT?
It can be thought provoking, it doesn’t have to be mindless, but infotainment sucks. And these people who are talking at me aren’t my friends.
The golden age of tv is dead.
Programming will be streaming in the coming decades and the only shared television moment will be lost for all but breaking news stories. Even “awards” shows are rebroadcast so they aren’t about “suspense”.
Networks may be a branding but networks as we know them may be dead. The studios that produce the programs may become the bigger names in the future.
And as Youtube has shown us, people want shorter more thoroughly entertaining programming.
Expect the 30 minute time frame (which was necessary to keep tv schedules in sync) to go away. You can watch 5-12 minute episodes of whatever. And why should you watch 8 minutes of filler in the episode and 5 minutes of commericals?
Cut to the chase, and pay pennies per download or monthyly subscription, etc.
Expect more advertising that resembles programming too. Is it an ad if you WANT to watch it? Maybe commercials will continue the trend of buying up smaller bands’ songs. Maybe they will make a music video FOR the band so long as it is also a full on product placement ad for some company. The art won’t be so present, the commerce will take precedence, but ultimately they would get exposure.
Anyway, the “need” to fill 24 hours (or even 18 hours) with programming has gone away. They sell any dead airtime to infomercial advertisers.