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View Full Version : Back when TV stations signed off...


N2NH
03-18-2011, 11:44 PM
... This was MetroMedia Channel 5's sign off inviting viewers to listen to their AM Radio Station. Now it's owned by Fox.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J8FAUHW6qY
W3MIV
03-19-2011, 06:41 AM
All good things come to an end. But Fox?
ka8ncr
03-19-2011, 08:27 AM
The station I worked for in Toledo always signed-off their HD after midnight before the transition. But then they figured out that the NTSC transmitter burned more electricity and it cost more for a master control operator than they were taking in running infomercials, so they signed off at 1:00 a.m. They continue to do it.

I would expect this will become more popular as viewer counts decline and so do revenues. I'd let you know if that were the case, but in about a month I'll do my own sign-off in TV and move into software job.
ki4itv
03-19-2011, 08:46 AM
We had Justice and The Circuit Rider (http://circuitrider.webs.com/), who would shamelessly give us the last life lesson of our day. Virginia, go figure.
W3WN
03-19-2011, 03:13 PM
All good things come to an end. But Fox?Well, nothing's perfect.

But consider...

The Metromedia stations were what was left of the Dumont Network O&O stations. (The exception was WDTV Channel 3 Pittsburgh, which was sold to Westinghouse... and is today KDKA TV Channel 2). Dumont was actually the first TV network. So, when Fox bought Metromedia out, and used these stations as the framework of a "new" network, they were actually resurrecting the old Dumont Network.
W2NAP
03-19-2011, 04:04 PM
I remember all the locals here signed off about 1 to 2am. back in the 1980s back in the good ol analog days when we could actually pick up indianapolis tv with rabbit ears
n2ize
03-19-2011, 04:22 PM
I wish radio still sounded like that. Nowadays it sounds like crap.
kb2vxa
03-19-2011, 06:34 PM
YOU BETCHA! I cut my teeth on WNEW 1130 and Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom was my introduction to the big bands and old standards. You just don't hear stations like the one that "put the new in New York" anymore.
N7RJD
03-19-2011, 08:56 PM
Back when TV stations signed off...

Otherwise known as "Before the invention of the infomercial."
W4RLR
03-19-2011, 09:41 PM
My younger kids have no concept of a time where there were only three TV stations in the market, where the station signed off at midnight, and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings from 7 a.m. to noon. No MTV, no CNN, no HBO.

Anyone remember when HBO was only on from noon until midnight? The rest of the time they ran color bars and tone. They were also unscrambled, so they made a cheap substitute for a video and audio reference in the station I worked at in Georgia.
kd8dey
03-19-2011, 09:48 PM
I remember listening to rebroadcasts of classic radio shows back in the 70's on AM radio
Only the shadow knows :)

I miss TV Dx-ing during bad weather now that everything has gone to shit (Digital)
n2ize
03-20-2011, 01:24 AM
I remember listening to rebroadcasts of classic radio shows back in the 70's on AM radio
Only the shadow knows :)

I miss TV Dx-ing during bad weather now that everything has gone to shit (Digital)

You meant it went dipshital.
n2ize
03-20-2011, 01:27 AM
YOU BETCHA! I cut my teeth on WNEW 1130 and Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom was my introduction to the big bands and old standards. You just don't hear stations like the one that "put the new in New York" anymore.

I used to hang around the WNEW transmitter site quite often many years ago. What a nice stock room they had. Shelves and shelves of radio parts. Found a nice UTC mod xfmr there.
W2NAP
03-20-2011, 02:11 AM
I miss TV Dx-ing during bad weather now that everything has gone to shit (Digital)

tell me about it, with rabbit ears in the analog days id get locals 4,6,8,13,20,23,29,40,49,and 59 with this digital shit 23 if you hold your breath right you might get 49
n2ize
03-20-2011, 11:11 AM
I'm all for taking this country back and bringing back the old days.
NQ6U
03-20-2011, 01:09 PM
I'm all for taking this country back and bringing back the old days.

Yes! Let's take the country back to where it was 100 years ago. Then we won't have even worry about any of the TV stuff.
N2NH
03-23-2011, 03:28 AM
YOU BETCHA! I cut my teeth on WNEW 1130 and Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom was my introduction to the big bands and old standards. You just don't hear stations like the one that "put the new in New York" anymore.

There used to be a big band station at the upper end of the dial, but Radio Disney bought it and now it plays nursery rhymes and Disney Teeny-Bop. *sigh*

For some reason, I couldn't get this sign-off out of my mind for the last week or so.
KC9ECI
03-23-2011, 05:31 AM
Speaking of signing off...WEAU lost it's tower some time last night. http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/WEAU_13_tower_collapses_in_Fairchild.html I wonder if W0AIH will let them use one of his?