Saturday, February 23, 2008

Remember When TV Statons Signed off the Air Every Night?

TV-signoffs.com - J. Alan Wall's Television Station Sign-Off Site: "This site is devoted to the memory of a bygone era in American broadcasting when all TV stations' programming ended at the conclusion of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show or The Late Movie. This site will be featuring authentic recordings of U.S. television stations ending their broadcast day with the playing of the Star Spangled Banner (SSB), America The Beautiful (ATB) or some other patriotic piece before cutting the juice or going to a test pattern. With very few exceptions, all U.S. TV stations now operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, filling their overnight schedules with home shopping fare, all-night network news, movies and daytime talk-show reruns."

4 comments:

jimkitt said...

Hi Bill,

Except for the baseball games and some news it's not worth much. Newton Minnow years ago had it pegged exactly right, the vast wasteland it is indeed.

James Reasoner said...

You bet I remember. For years the local NBC affiliate aired The Tonight Show, then a five-minute newscast at midnight anchored by a guy who always looked and sounded half-asleep, then a syndicated rerun of "Father Knows Best" before playing the Star-Spangled Banner and going off the air. I watched that schedule every night during the summer as a kid, staying up because my dad worked second shift and came in about the time the TV stations signed off, and I wanted to say hi to him before signing off for the night myself.

Anonymous said...

Now There's a classic tv lineup for you, Bill...

Unknown said...

Indeed it is, Todd, and that's a great memory, James.