(I got on a kick of creating these for a while...:)
Posted on 09/10/2013 8:32:11 PM PDT by lee martell
Nowadays, thanks to the internet, cable, and satellite media, there is programming literally around the clock, at least in today's United States. There is never a time when you could turn on your state of the art, flat wall screen tv, press all the button combinations, only to find "nothing is on". This seems to be what the public wants, a never ending access to shows, movies, youtubes and music. It is nice to have but a short road to almost any type of production, at almost anytime. Of course, all depends on a reliable electrical grid to keep everybody connected, if that's what you want. I recall when local stations would sign off, I mean really sign off the air for the whole night. Many local stations would end the day with a solemn reading by a famous historic figure, or when it was near Christmas and Easter, Psalms were read. Then a test pattern, then a fade to black, or all night static. One Easter, the Kyrie by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was used; a combination adult and children's choir.
As late as in 1983 this was the case. I recall vividly the weekend the world found out that Lady Astronaut Sally Ride had gone into space. After all the interviews and hoopla, it was time for Channel 4 to go off the air. Channel 4 then played what is probably my favorite, a piece by Gabriel Faure called Pavane, Opus 50 for flute and orchestra. The scene shows a swan on the water slowly going to sleep.
I was a fan of the late shows, when I got older, the late-late shows, long before pioneers like Tom Snyder of the Tomorrow Show gave more of us a reason to stay up late. We no longer had to settle for yet another showing of a B movie. When I say B movies, I mean something like the one with Tallulah Bankhead, called 'Die, Die, My Darling!", or Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?".
Other classic B films came out during the "rodents are the perfect pet" phase, one was "Ben" a story about a Boy and his Rat. Theme song by Michael Jackson, prior to his 10th facial reconstruction. The second Rat film of the time would be "Willard" with Ernest Borgnine. This film centered around a nerdy young man who was as they say nowadays; bullied. His only friends were rats, which he trained to do his bidding. the Willard character was being pushed around by whoever Ernest Borgnine was playing. Willard's classic line was "Tear Him UP!!" as he sicced his ratty pals on poor Ernest B.
I remember waking up to the sign-off drone plenty of times. I loved it when it was on the old Indian head or the target, somethign like that. But toward the end, it was just vertical stripes of obnoxious colors. Maybe I'd fallen asleep in my Nth watching of "The Big Sleep." I loved the crap-shoot of old movies on late-night TV. The wierd thing is while I saw "The Big Sleep" literally about 100 times over my late-night TV-sneaking youth, I still regularly watch and love that movie.
But hey, I remember when an Apple III computer cost about $4,000 and was treated with such respect in the office that few dared to approach it. It had big green screen square lettering on the screen. I think you could play pong on it, but don't recall exactly. Four thousand dollars, in the early '80s. Five years later, that fancy computer wasn't worth fifty bucks.
and let’s not forget the ‘blue dot’ in the center of the tube as the television shut down.
Those prices dropped fast
I do remember seeing an external CD burner once costing nearly a grand. Now every old computer has one.
LOLOL!!
Here are some links to video of different sign-offs...
A generic Sign off from a station in San Francisco KBHK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M29IW13fDjQ
Another one from Texas station KRGV-TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkDPvuidzLg
Here is one with a sign-off for four stations with the same closing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Qvev8EaF0
And one from Philadelphia in 1971
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW2_rEBgeOo
a 1960s sign off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZ_rQKAy7c
Sign-off from the 50s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuIic17ijP8
One More
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hZROQtZlYM
It is neat seeing the different kinds of sign-offs.
‘_______when your baby got you up at 3 in the morning______’
Have thought of that over the years, and think how lucky are these 3am parents nowadays!
With 4 babies spread over 10 years, I would have loved late-night TV!
Did have some good magazines around, tho.
I sure have no babies keeping me up nowadays, but I certainly am a nightowl!
‘_____sign off with the Star Spangled Banner___________’
Yeah, that was great.
Here in Southern CA, FOX has been playing the anthem at about 2am for some months now. Very good version.
I rarely see it - just hear it from the other room. I have never heard how this came about.
But the station isn’t signing off. . .
KMJ-TV24, Fresno (McClatchy before they went hard left...Eleanor was still alive) “Bee” sign off: http://youtu.be/IGmfijNQE8E
(I got on a kick of creating these for a while...:)
I miss all of those less-known movies you used to see late at night (although these days I’m seldom up late anyway). Seems as though all the stations started running those horrible “infomercials” instead.
KONO FM 101.1 in San Antonio plays the National Anthem EVERY day at noon.
If I ain’t driving I stand up and put my hand on my heart
My gurls shake thier heads but understand why....
I have it playing in my shop on weekends and will stop what I am doing and pay respect.. to my country.
I remember “Rabbit Ears” fondly too! LOL!
And when they didn’t work well, we would tape coat hangers onto them or better reception.
That’s amazing! Spooky too..A perfect fit.
The eyes of a tyrant don't lie...
Remember the crackle the screen used to give off as the TV shut down? Some even made a sort of 'zoink' noise.
Why did they do away with this?
Why did they do away with this?
Because the degraded left pushed every decent, red blooded American out of the broadcast business. Now you have to cover your children's ears half the time during most movies and TV programs.
It makes me sick to my stomach.
Don’t let Moochelle see that. She’ll want another baby!
That was what really KILLED local late-night television... the advent of infomercials. It ruined everything, virtually overnight. Infomercials weren’t even allowed up until the late-80s. Sadly, I say since I’m a huge Reagan supporter, I believe it was his FCC that got rid of the prohibition.
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