WOIO Ch 19 Cleveland Sign-on

[pzeud0nym]

Oh my god I can almost feel the nostalgia-induced flush of dopamine coursing through my brain hearing that terrible, beautiful synth music.

[VBaskin2010]

Is WOIO Relative To 93.7 WQIO A.K.A. The Super Q?

[newscaster13]

Also, this was after WOIO turned FOX over to WJW, not to mention FOX buying Channel 8.

[videonut33]

this is WOIO's 25th anniversary this year!

[raymieX]

John Christopher Burns probably did the audio...same VO as early CNN and Headline News, which suggests a connection.

Ironically this would have run at the same time as WEWS' jcbD open, too, come to think of it.

[myronfalwell]

@raymieX You're right! It IS Bill Tush as the VO for this sign-on! (Tush was the very same VO for CNN, Headline and WTBS throughout the 1980s.) That's fascinating because WOIO almost always used either Jeff Kinzbach or John Webster to do all station promos from day one until the flip to CBS.

Tush and Burns worked together at WTBS back in the early 80s, which explains that connection.

[jcburns]

@myronfalwell @raymiex actually the voiceover is Bill TULLIS from WTBS, not Bill Tush, the TBS on-camera newscaster and comedian. The late Mr. Tullis (he died in 2010), aka 'Mr. Troll', did most of WTBS's voiceovers and picked/licensed/otherwise obtained music. I just drove through Shaker Square a couple of weeks ago in search of residual signs of the original home of WOIO...not much evidence.

[jcburns]

@raymieX That's true. And yeah, I wrote the somewhat sarcastic copy for the sign-on. I miss doing sign-ons and sign-offs.

[GeneDunno]

I recall them saying that Ch 19 was the first in the country to spell-out their number (nineteen) as part of their stations logo.

[80zdude4]

Back in 1985 or 1986 on WOIO The Fall Guy was on weeknights at 8. Just before the opening credits the station would show that night's winning Ohio Lottery numbers. The background music was usually the intros of Pink Floyd's "Money" or Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing." Does anyone remember this (or have a clip)?

[interest547]

Nice sign-on video.

[polypolyman]

such a great sign-on...

[Haurko01]

One of the rare times that a station uses the National Anthem for a Sign-On insted of a Sign-Off.

[landgsmith]

Wow, this brings back some great memories! I remember when 19 came on the air, I especially remember running home from school so that I could watch My Favorite Martian which came on at 330pm weekdays...I used to watch it on an old 1960s color TV in the basement. I also remember when WOAC-TV67 in Canton came on the air back in the 80s. Is that channel even around anymore?

[IAmNotAFunguy]

As of June 24, 2009 no. WOAC moved to Channel 47 digital, changed its call letters to WRLM and is now an affiliate of Tri-State Christian Television.

[Maddog85]

The old WOIO-TV studios is now a goodwill store

[MsTexas73]

I miss the old Ch. 19..complete with all of it's classic TV shows. I didn't know what I Love Lucy and Dark Shadows and the Partridge Family were till 19 came about and began showing that stuff.

And Don't even get me started on Ch. 61...I LURVED that channel...esp Sunday mornings with the Blondie movies...I watched Blondie EVERY Sunday....and Ch. 61's theme song was Sun Runner by Bob James....DAYUM that HSN!!!

[blackandblue10]

I am not sure if I had ever seen the sign on before this but I had seen the Sign off plenty of times.. I believe they used to sign off as early as mighnight Saturday nights.. when they actually shut their signal off varied.. sometimes they would leave their color bars up nearly all night!

[manning44070]

i remember the byline saying "where yours in stereo." ninteen was an independent station before it became fox or CBS.

[MarionActionNews]

Indeed. WOIO was independent until Fox debuted in '86, and thanks to New World, WOIO became the CBS affiliate in 1994.

[bhilcu1]

It was "We're yours" not " Where Yours".

[sergior2003]

This is really cool. I remember this when I was little. The Cleveland Skyline doesn't even have the key corp building

[joebradio]

nicely done.. taking something routine and boring (such as a legal sign on) and having a little fun with it.. the graphic presentation reminds me a lot of the stuff Superstation WTBS did back in the 1980s.

[bluejay316]

i also miss the old fox 19 cool station back in those days.

[OpenArms81]

I miss the old Fox 19,best channel in Cleveland,along with Pre My network Wuab,and the old 61,WCLQ.

[steve44070]

Is this the 1985 sign on?

[nsa12345]

Yep. Except for the CBS logo in the color bars, this is what they used when they first came on the air in '85

[lilydog88]

Check out my channel for some classic promo spots and ads from Fox Nineteen in 1994, only months before it started to broadcast CBS programming.

[SaleGuy]

You should upload the old WOIO sign-off for good measure!

[nsa12345]

I would if I had it.

[jerrymouse16]

Why Don't You have It?

[SaleGuy]

This is a classic!

[jcburns]

You're very nice to say so. I think I was sleep-deprived when I wrote that copy.

[ethelcorp]

Is there anything John Christopher Burns can't do?!

TV in the 80s wouldn't have been the same without you.

[signoff12]

i wish i had a clean copy of the music

[kd8aqiradio]

Thank you for adding this!!This is great!!I remeber this opening. Why they used it into 1994 is beyond me. This video marked the offical ending of WOIO(the day they swithced to CBS labor day 1994). Note that by 1994 Malrite owned WOIO and had just begun a LMA with WUAB 43. BTW do you have anything from WOIO's first day as a CBS station or last day as a fox station or WJW's last day as a CBS station or first day as a Fox station?

[nsa12345]

No, sorry. Wish I did.

[wmbrown6]

Looks like they hedged their bets on the tone as well, using a combo of what sounded like 390 and 972 Hz.

[ddavenport]

Pretty neat...

[eyeh8cbs]

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