On June 12th,2009, I saw CBS2 do the same thing around 2:50 PM, but with the final playing of the National Anthem. Then the NAB Digital TV thing came on for at least a week.
I wish I could have seen my local station sign-offs, but I was still mad with the converter boxes. We have an SDTV with a digital receiver built-in, so I could see how our other TVs would look after hooking them up, and I wasn't happy. You watch a widescreen channel airing a full screen program, you get both the letter box AND sidebars! The monitor isn't all that big to begin with, so what I saw was a waste of precious screen, and I don't think those TVs have any zoom in, like newer TVs do.
When I first saw this video, I was in the basement at midnight just bored looking for stuff similar to this, then I watched this video......and it really gave me the creeps. Very classy way for WNBC to sign off, though.
It's sad on the music and the word that says goodbye and it go's away and sad for people who still don't have dtv. We should have stayed analog forever but it was bush to make it digital
i hope the australian tv stations do something like this when we turn our analog signals off in 2013, but the word goodbye is bloody creepy, i'd hate to be sleeping, then wake up and see "GOODBYE" before the TV signal dies
Can someone please post the NBC Sports theme that was used in the 1950s? It was based on the NBC chimes. In fact, there were a series of related NBC chimes based production cues used by NBC radio and TV. NBC Monitor radio used a full length version.
@CynikalProductions1 I don't think the change to digital is for the worse. That said, this was a classy way to sign off. It would've been nice to see a few older black-and-white NBC logos, but at least they didn't sign off in the middle of a newscast or a damn commercial like a lot of others had.
At 0:26 when they logos change from the peacock to the proud N to the regular N to the living color peacock and to the NBC snake you can hear the NBC nightly news music from 1982.
y'know, the nbc snake logo was pretty smoothly animated. I wonder if it was made by computer (I doubt, but I still wonder) or if it were made by hand.
Bittersweet. WNBC (TV) on analog VHF wrapped up 68 years of history, including 63 continuous years of analog service on VHF channel 4...but WNBC and its programming still live on 24/7, still coming from the Empire State Building antennas, just in a digital/color/stereo mode...so life at 30 Rock goes on, just gets sent out a little differently...nothing really lost, and if you've ever compared 720 or 1080 line digital with stereo sound with 525 analog, and mono sound, something gained...
Of all the analog signoffs I've seen here, this is certainly the most dramatic, and the most respectful. What would you expect out of NBC's flagship station? It's just a shame the NBC has become a victim of a series of bad decisions and was put in the place it is in today. But NBC is coming back! There was a lot of men and women who worked their' asses off in the 1910s-1940s so that the U.S. could be the first country on television, and their work won't be for naught!
Digital converter boxes were a solution to a non existent problem that only served to cause far more problems in its place. (Example--my local CBS affiliate could still be seen over the air on stormy of windy nights, but now thanks to my converter box (and the extra $20.00 I had to fork out for an amplifying antenna) a single a few thick clouds is enough to keep me from watching NCIS or $#!* My Dad Says.
Nicely done! Now we have more room for more cellphones in the broadcast spectrum! But, WNBC's old analog signal will always be around, shooting out into the universe until the end of time for new generations of aliens to see!
Out of all the analog sign-offs I've watched on YouTube so far, this one had the most emotion in it, and the strongest one was sadness.
Think about it: Analog TV has gone out FOREVER. It's never coming back. How does that make you feel?
On the other hand, I realize that digital is much better, and I fully support it. But you can't help but feel sad for analog. It's like a good friend you've known for decades who just died of old age.
this makes me tear up. Sometimes a computer glitches and shows the nbc screensaver, which is simply the nbc peacock breaking into segments, flying around the screen and coming back together in a circular motion.
Good riddance. I get one station now, Ch. 17 (My-PHL) from Yo-Town. I never watched that shit anyway. I put my my amplified antenna in storage and I get no stations. Now that's the way I like it. Reporting live fromthe Vatican, I'm Benny Dick.
I agree, godgundam. NBC should just be left to "die with dignity". There's nothing but crap on there now and they gave both Tom Fontana and Conan O'Brien raw deals in 2009. The whole mess really sucks!
@SailorCallie Not to mention that NBC News theme was also the final one the old NBC Radio newscasts used, from 1981 until eventual owner Westwood One killed off the original service in 2003.
Westwood One did continue to use this Nightly News theme as the logo signature for "NBC Radio News" right up to 2003!
Beyond the outright merger of NBC Radio into Mutual Radio in 1991, and beyond the stripping down of the otherwise CBS-delivered newscast only on weekday mornings past 1999... the theme - and the newscasts - were finally retired when WW1 collaborated with Fox News to launch their radio news service.
It had a longer lifespan than most would even realize.
When WNBC radio signed off in 1988, WNBC-TV legally dropped its TV suffix but kept using it in on-air promos until 1992. History repeated itself in June when the analog TV signal finally said "goodbye". WNBC-DT legally dropped the DT suffix (but still used in on-air promos) as plain ol' WNBC migrated from radio to analog TV to digital TV. The suffixes are for multiple stations with the same letters, like WCBS-AM (889), FM (101.1), HD (digital radio) and DT (channel 2).
AM radio stations don't use a suffix officially. We use it to differentiate them from other stations using the same call sign. It has more to do with the heritage of the AM band more than anything else.
So, officially, it's WCBS [(AM) or (Radio)] , WCBS-FM, and WCBS-TV in New York.
In 1992 WNBC-TV requested (and was granted) FCC permission to change the station call letters to WNBC. Until then, the legal calls were still WNBC-TV, even though there had been no WNBC radio for nearly 4 years.
After analog shutdown, by default, the FCC would assign the analog call sign to the digital station. That's what WNBC decided to do, and that change became effective once it turned off the analog nightlight on June 26th.
That's sad that they deleted the TV on an older station ID. Their legal ID had that removed in the summer of 1992, because there was no more WNBC radio, as they just moved forward as if the world had only TV stations.
I had been recording on 6/12, but only got the transition to the nightlight status, and had been checking back once in a while to see if they were still there. Great to know that someone DID get the ultimate sign off and to know that someone at WNBC cared enough to do this. How did you know this was coming? Most of the sign offs were rather crass and potentially illegal since they are required to sign off with a legal ID on either audio or video, and most I saw did neither.
Yes, most of those 6/12 analog signoffs were crass and most likely illegal, esp. in the middle of a show without any video ID. The station owners just wanted to shut off the energy-hogging, costly analog and get it over with yesterday, thus the crassness.
However, because it was such a massive and historic transition, the FCC probably didn't hit up the stations with a fine; they're just happy they did the switch as scheduled.
A very simple but classy analog shutdown for America's first and oldest commercial TV station. The early 80's "NBC Nightly News" theme song with the teletype was a nice touch. Too bad nobody saw it as the audience moved on to WNBC-DT two weeks earlier.
"Goodbye" may be a little creepy, but this is how regular network satellite feeds to affiliates end, with "Goodnight" before the scheduled feed ends and another feed on the same sat channel begins.
When all else fails at the peacock network, blame Jeff Zucker. He (might be) as bad as Fred Silverman, no offense intended to Mr. Silverman out there.
I presume the maroonish "black" on the test pattern was for effect . . . at least WNBC used the actual 1970's color TP, unlike WCBS with the "recreated" TP at the time of their analogue sign-off.
yup...and the dawn of digital television. Now they can not only give you HD content, but also track your info in ways they never could with analog. Big brother is now reality. That's why I'm cancelling my TV subscription.
Why do I feel so empty after watching this?
LJK193 1 day ago
Well at least they said goodbye. Some stations are not so ceremonious.
thelyniezian 1 week ago
This was oddly sad to watch. It marks the end of an era.
kizzume 2 weeks ago
On June 12th,2009, I saw CBS2 do the same thing around 2:50 PM, but with the final playing of the National Anthem. Then the NAB Digital TV thing came on for at least a week.
letticiarsd898 1 month ago
I wish I could have seen my local station sign-offs, but I was still mad with the converter boxes. We have an SDTV with a digital receiver built-in, so I could see how our other TVs would look after hooking them up, and I wasn't happy. You watch a widescreen channel airing a full screen program, you get both the letter box AND sidebars! The monitor isn't all that big to begin with, so what I saw was a waste of precious screen, and I don't think those TVs have any zoom in, like newer TVs do.
LuigiGodzillaGirl 1 month ago
Even though It's now digital,I still like to watch on my old CRT set !
bikebeerrun1960 1 month ago
Was that the equivalent of NBC's life flashing before its eyes?
CrazedComposure 1 month ago 3
When I first saw this video, I was in the basement at midnight just bored looking for stuff similar to this, then I watched this video......and it really gave me the creeps. Very classy way for WNBC to sign off, though.
meanstreet81 2 months ago
It's sad on the music and the word that says goodbye and it go's away and sad for people who still don't have dtv. We should have stayed analog forever but it was bush to make it digital
easfan 3 months ago 2
0:21 the NBC peacock!
Scsam2345 3 months ago
classic ncb chimes
925koma 3 months ago
i hope the australian tv stations do something like this when we turn our analog signals off in 2013, but the word goodbye is bloody creepy, i'd hate to be sleeping, then wake up and see "GOODBYE" before the TV signal dies
JT2095 3 months ago
It sounds like somebody won the jackpot.
DragonKiNG411 3 months ago in playlist TV signs
Have you the video in full?
headphone355 4 months ago
Weird and creepy.
sldl04 5 months ago
La carta de ajuste de la NBC esta en alta calidad. ¡Esa calidad me gusta! En México la transision digital se hara en 2018
Android2500 5 months ago
Can someone please post the NBC Sports theme that was used in the 1950s? It was based on the NBC chimes. In fact, there were a series of related NBC chimes based production cues used by NBC radio and TV. NBC Monitor radio used a full length version.
Glinkaism1 6 months ago
This makes me sad. It's the WNBC sign off forever for analog tv! The logos getting older makes it more sad. And the chimes too.
rtuckerivey 6 months ago
Anybody who finds this creepy it's because deep inside you know things are changing for the worse
CynikalProductions1 7 months ago 6
@CynikalProductions1 I don't think the change to digital is for the worse. That said, this was a classy way to sign off. It would've been nice to see a few older black-and-white NBC logos, but at least they didn't sign off in the middle of a newscast or a damn commercial like a lot of others had.
josephD32 3 months ago
Goodbye...we wish you well...this is WNBC analog, signing off
chip64c 7 months ago
At 0:26 when they logos change from the peacock to the proud N to the regular N to the living color peacock and to the NBC snake you can hear the NBC nightly news music from 1982.
0816brandon 8 months ago
y'know, the nbc snake logo was pretty smoothly animated. I wonder if it was made by computer (I doubt, but I still wonder) or if it were made by hand.
everett1911 9 months ago
Thatt gave me goosebumps. And the same will happen in the east of england in november
MuffinDrumful 10 months ago
Bittersweet. WNBC (TV) on analog VHF wrapped up 68 years of history, including 63 continuous years of analog service on VHF channel 4...but WNBC and its programming still live on 24/7, still coming from the Empire State Building antennas, just in a digital/color/stereo mode...so life at 30 Rock goes on, just gets sent out a little differently...nothing really lost, and if you've ever compared 720 or 1080 line digital with stereo sound with 525 analog, and mono sound, something gained...
BobWXXI 10 months ago
They should have said "Hope to see you on digital!!"
"We have to do this so, GOODBYE!"
jjovereats 10 months ago
WNBC-TV 1976 testcard.
JHollowayNetwork 10 months ago
bye.
sldl04 11 months ago
OMG! that did give me goosebumps as well. The death of a more innocent time...and the birth of more crap.
aftershock71 11 months ago 3
the same will hapen in lithuania in 2012 good bye history
Elmantukas 11 months ago
It feels like watching NBC sign off forever.
It gives me goosebumps.
OffTheShelvesWalmart 11 months ago 2
jeff baker was the one who pulled the plug
wiedep 1 year ago
Of all the analog signoffs I've seen here, this is certainly the most dramatic, and the most respectful. What would you expect out of NBC's flagship station? It's just a shame the NBC has become a victim of a series of bad decisions and was put in the place it is in today. But NBC is coming back! There was a lot of men and women who worked their' asses off in the 1910s-1940s so that the U.S. could be the first country on television, and their work won't be for naught!
spxmet 1 year ago
@spxmet Hate to tell you that the BBC had regular TV transmissions well before the USA did....
musicom67 1 year ago
@musicom67 Can't believe I forgot that. I was researching BBC archive on YT just a few months ago... So then maybe NBC is just part of US history!
spxmet 1 year ago
60's testcard?
tutorial15 1 year ago
Digital converter boxes were a solution to a non existent problem that only served to cause far more problems in its place. (Example--my local CBS affiliate could still be seen over the air on stormy of windy nights, but now thanks to my converter box (and the extra $20.00 I had to fork out for an amplifying antenna) a single a few thick clouds is enough to keep me from watching NCIS or $#!* My Dad Says.
CombatSportFan 1 year ago
Nicely done! Now we have more room for more cellphones in the broadcast spectrum! But, WNBC's old analog signal will always be around, shooting out into the universe until the end of time for new generations of aliens to see!
howellfilm 1 year ago 3
Out of all the analog sign-offs I've watched on YouTube so far, this one had the most emotion in it, and the strongest one was sadness.
Think about it: Analog TV has gone out FOREVER. It's never coming back. How does that make you feel?
On the other hand, I realize that digital is much better, and I fully support it. But you can't help but feel sad for analog. It's like a good friend you've known for decades who just died of old age.
dogman15 1 year ago 4
I kinda feel like I just watched someone die...
BrokenHedgehog 1 year ago 19
@BrokenHedgehog I agree...That goodbye at the end was like bidding farewell to a relationship.
johnnyd63 2 weeks ago
and yet the channel still on
thesailormercury1 1 year ago
this makes me tear up. Sometimes a computer glitches and shows the nbc screensaver, which is simply the nbc peacock breaking into segments, flying around the screen and coming back together in a circular motion.
atvrider7 1 year ago
Delightfully creepy.
MattTheSaiyan 1 year ago 3
I hope this kind of sign-off will also happen in Philippine analog TV switchover especially for ABS-CBN.
pcvirushater 1 year ago
Imagine Watching This at Midnight? CREEPY!
93Deli 1 year ago 3
@93Deli I have and it is creepy!
jettadude736 1 year ago
Good riddance. I get one station now, Ch. 17 (My-PHL) from Yo-Town. I never watched that shit anyway. I put my my amplified antenna in storage and I get no stations. Now that's the way I like it. Reporting live fromthe Vatican, I'm Benny Dick.
jazzfan19605 1 year ago
this would have been a great time to bring back the "Let's all be there" song
MisterSenseless 1 year ago
Why is a change of format so creepy and sad? Especially that "GOODBYE" at the end. I got chills.
johnnybaverage 1 year ago 4
i think i am so sad that NBC say
Good bye to analog and to DTV :-(
I never seen this on cable in the Philippines
hilarioph 1 year ago 2
Something about this one particular sign-off really makes the gravity of this hit home. It really is the end of an era.
PancakesoftheLove 1 year ago 5
That was more epic than the others!
FireBall517 1 year ago 2
I agree, godgundam. NBC should just be left to "die with dignity". There's nothing but crap on there now and they gave both Tom Fontana and Conan O'Brien raw deals in 2009. The whole mess really sucks!
thenewdillydally 1 year ago
How much longer until WNBC-TV signs off forever? Nothing can save NBC this time. Best to let the peacock die with whatever dignity it has left.
godgundam10 1 year ago
Now the FCC wants to take all of the TV stations off-the-air and sell the spectrum to wireless providers.
Like the term "wireless" is new. It was used by Marconi.
tvnetdude 1 year ago
"The music under the logo montage was used by NBC Nightly News in the early 80's"
And the Today Show and other NBC News-related shows, IIRC.
SailorCallie 2 years ago
@SailorCallie Not to mention that NBC News theme was also the final one the old NBC Radio newscasts used, from 1981 until eventual owner Westwood One killed off the original service in 2003.
myronfalwell 1 year ago
why couldnt they switch to Digital? I have no idea.
umahuma4 2 years ago
they did switch to digital, this is the final signoff of the analog transmitter. I wonder if they sacked the analog-trained technicians.
poorbt 2 years ago
Interesting final sign off of WNBC analog, didn't see this one, glad you have it here
musickeys8 2 years ago
Westwood One did continue to use this Nightly News theme as the logo signature for "NBC Radio News" right up to 2003!
Beyond the outright merger of NBC Radio into Mutual Radio in 1991, and beyond the stripping down of the otherwise CBS-delivered newscast only on weekday mornings past 1999... the theme - and the newscasts - were finally retired when WW1 collaborated with Fox News to launch their radio news service.
It had a longer lifespan than most would even realize.
myronfalwell 2 years ago
Comment removed
title26 2 years ago
When WNBC radio signed off in 1988, WNBC-TV legally dropped its TV suffix but kept using it in on-air promos until 1992. History repeated itself in June when the analog TV signal finally said "goodbye". WNBC-DT legally dropped the DT suffix (but still used in on-air promos) as plain ol' WNBC migrated from radio to analog TV to digital TV. The suffixes are for multiple stations with the same letters, like WCBS-AM (889), FM (101.1), HD (digital radio) and DT (channel 2).
richartrod 2 years ago 9
To correct some typos in my post, WCBS-AM is 880 on the dial, and channel 2's suffix is WCBS-TV. But I live in L.A., so what do I know (LOL)... :)
richartrod 2 years ago
AM radio stations don't use a suffix officially. We use it to differentiate them from other stations using the same call sign. It has more to do with the heritage of the AM band more than anything else.
So, officially, it's WCBS [(AM) or (Radio)] , WCBS-FM, and WCBS-TV in New York.
RolloSmokes 2 years ago
In 1992 WNBC-TV requested (and was granted) FCC permission to change the station call letters to WNBC. Until then, the legal calls were still WNBC-TV, even though there had been no WNBC radio for nearly 4 years.
After analog shutdown, by default, the FCC would assign the analog call sign to the digital station. That's what WNBC decided to do, and that change became effective once it turned off the analog nightlight on June 26th.
kiotr2009 2 years ago 13
That's correct; I just checked the FCC's TV query database on the 1992 call sign change. WNBC-TV dropped the suffix officially on June 1, 1992.
richartrod 2 years ago
Comment removed
Qopel 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@kiotr2009 It was WNBT before that.
Qopel 1 year ago
@kiotr2009 Very interesting...and sad. Thank you for sharing this with us!
brooke050870 9 months ago
That's sad that they deleted the TV on an older station ID. Their legal ID had that removed in the summer of 1992, because there was no more WNBC radio, as they just moved forward as if the world had only TV stations.
chyrongeek 2 years ago
Anyone have the Nightlight video from WCBS in NY shut off on July 12, like to see that one!
Musicasis 2 years ago
I had been recording on 6/12, but only got the transition to the nightlight status, and had been checking back once in a while to see if they were still there. Great to know that someone DID get the ultimate sign off and to know that someone at WNBC cared enough to do this. How did you know this was coming? Most of the sign offs were rather crass and potentially illegal since they are required to sign off with a legal ID on either audio or video, and most I saw did neither.
mjb784533 2 years ago
Yes, most of those 6/12 analog signoffs were crass and most likely illegal, esp. in the middle of a show without any video ID. The station owners just wanted to shut off the energy-hogging, costly analog and get it over with yesterday, thus the crassness.
However, because it was such a massive and historic transition, the FCC probably didn't hit up the stations with a fine; they're just happy they did the switch as scheduled.
richartrod 2 years ago 2
A very simple but classy analog shutdown for America's first and oldest commercial TV station. The early 80's "NBC Nightly News" theme song with the teletype was a nice touch. Too bad nobody saw it as the audience moved on to WNBC-DT two weeks earlier.
"Goodbye" may be a little creepy, but this is how regular network satellite feeds to affiliates end, with "Goodnight" before the scheduled feed ends and another feed on the same sat channel begins.
richartrod 2 years ago 31
Who says anyone's watching the digital station? NBC's ratings are at an all-time low right now, and for good reason!
My DVD recorder has a digital tuner, but every time I check what's on I don't see anything worth watching.
eyeh8nbc 2 years ago 2
When all else fails at the peacock network, blame Jeff Zucker. He (might be) as bad as Fred Silverman, no offense intended to Mr. Silverman out there.
SailorCallie 2 years ago 2
@richartrod hey at least they didn't have Clarabell from Howdy Doody saying goodbye, that would scare the shit out of me.
MrMAHBOI1 8 months ago
I presume the maroonish "black" on the test pattern was for effect . . . at least WNBC used the actual 1970's color TP, unlike WCBS with the "recreated" TP at the time of their analogue sign-off.
wmbrown6 2 years ago
that music was from the 80's not the 70's
signoff12 2 years ago
You are correct. Thanks. The notation has been updated.
kiotr2009 2 years ago
@kiotr2009
This is the real NBC, and they finally signed-off their analog signals.
89990000 8 months ago
Creepy
NebraskaFan77 2 years ago 2
More sad than creepy. It's the death of analog. :(
RolloSmokes 2 years ago 46
Well with with the Goodbye in all Black that makes it creepy
NebraskaFan77 2 years ago
@RolloSmokes
yup...and the dawn of digital television. Now they can not only give you HD content, but also track your info in ways they never could with analog. Big brother is now reality. That's why I'm cancelling my TV subscription.
LHZZ12MM 1 year ago