Does anyone out there remember a time when all the stations went off the air at night and all that was on TV was snow? In Detroit this was before September 1975 when Channel 62 debuted and became the first station in the area not to sign off, (I think, I'm not 100% sure.) That must have been strange in our 400 station cable world we live in. I was 7 in 1975 so my memories of it are very vague. I mostly recall channel 50 late movie,
(no Bill Kennedy just a forgotten bumper.)

They'd have a clip of some preacher say a prayer.
Then a clip of the national anthem provided by the military.
Then a really long ID (owned and operated by....some programs recorded ....).
And then they'd tell you to tune to their radio station (like Music 'til Dawn on WWJ).
Then a test pattern.
Then nothing.
In the morning, they'd reverse the process.

Instead of pictures of military hardware, channel 9 played O' Canada with pictures of Canadian scenery. That says something about the difference between the two countries.

Once in a while, after a station signed off, you could get a skip signal from some far away station on the same channel or an adjoining channel. One time I got channel two from Orlando.

Well I remember around 1968, I worked afternoons and would get home around 2 or 3am and watch tv till around 6. There would be some movie on or reruns of Marlin Perkins and his Mutual of Omaha wild life shows. I forget what channel he was on, Ch2, I think. Don't really remember what other stations stayed on. I know Ch9 signed off, but, I'm positive that not all channels signed off at that time.

WJBK played High Flight at signoff.
http://www.detroitkidshow.com/High_Flight.htm

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www.detroitkidshow.com

The F-104 Starfighter is still my favorite plane of all time! And the High Flight clip still brings a chill. Gotta go to the Selfridge Air Show today.

Yes, I, too, recall how the Canadian sign-off anthem featured natural wonders while the American sign-off stressed military might...usually.

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"The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one's mind a pleasant place in which to spend one's leisure."
- Sydney J. Harris

The Channel 9 sign off was available until a few years ago, until they went to an all night schedule. The last part had a weird new age like noise for the last two minutes.


Even though sign offs are pretty much a thing of the past, (in this country at least) they live on You Tube. There's even a Yahoo Message Board on the subject.

It seems that most of the Chicago TV stations have had a full 24 hour a day schedule since at least the mid-50's.

Any seasoned Chicagoans here to verify which ones?

The F-104 Starfighter is still my favorite plane of all time! And the High Flight clip still brings a chill. Gotta go to the Selfridge Air Show today.



This might come off morbid, but did you see what was all over the news today?
(This thread has taken a weird turn.) If I come off insensitive I apologize in advance.
Also, condolances the that man's family.

I'm 29, and generally not old enough to remember the days of TV stations signing off. But I appreciate the tradition and history of it. I thought it was great that up until a few years ago, Channel 9 Windsor actually still signed off at night. Very old school I believe it was during the 2008 Olympics that they went to 24 hours for Olympic coverage, and then after the Olympics ended they kept the 24 hour format. Kind of a shame, in a way. I remember that when I was young, Channel 9 would play O Canada to sign on at I think 6 am. I believe I remember a clip of Mounties (or possibly soldiers, haha) raising the Canadian flag. Then a message of "we welcome you to our broadcast day."

Yes. I witnessed the mishap clearly through 10-power binoculars, though I was too far back to see Mr. Green hit the ground. I heard no gasps, no sobs, only stunned silence as the announcer's tone went from a strange exuberance borne of "unexpectance" to grim solemnity. Quite sobering, to say the least.

I was somewhat surprised that show officials opted to continue the show after about an hour with no official medical word announced to the crowd. Methinks his official death pronouncement was known, but withheld from the crowd -- the show must go on.

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"The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one's mind a pleasant place in which to spend one's leisure."
- Sydney J. Harris

Wasn't like 4 people killed in airshows over the weekend?

Time to stick to dream cruises...

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Both Democrats and Republicans are "liberals"! The Republican ideology is classical liberalism, while the Democrats is welfare liberalism.

WKAR-TV still signs off at midnight, although the local cable systems get an overnight feed.

Where I grew up (Midland, MI) I remember getting up from bed in the wee hours in the early 70's. Turned on the set and saw nothing but static or test patterns. Being an impressionable toddler (4 years or so) it kinda disturbed me as 'my shows' weren't on. Times were a lot different then!

Yep. I'm the the one who started that yahoo message board or yahoo group in other words.

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/USTVSignoffs/

When I was a kid we lived in a remote part of Ontario with only one TV channel. They signed on around 4:00 PM and off around midnight. On the weekends they signed on earlier, around noon.

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We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.

Louis W Brandies. 1914.