WTVS - Final Sign Off - April 16, 2009

[crazyrabbits]

The residents of Detroit are now honorary Canadians.

:)

[WestWash97]

@pigeonshouse

What's the purpose of these 'DTV switchovers'?

[dmhharris]

WTVS-TV & WTVS-DT Detriot, Michigan, United States Of America (Channel 56.1) - Final Sign Off (April 16, 2009 (Thursday))

[DetroitLives313]

"Oh Canada" was always played along with the "Star Spangled Banner" at the end of the television broadcast day when I was growing up. I never thought it odd or strange until a comment here on Youtube.

[ShaqFlims]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT­TTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!! WTVS IS in Canada Its American Dammit!!!!!!!!!!

[Jerseysson27]

@ShaqFlims Perhaps i can help clear the air a bit, you see, michigan is bordered with canada due to in part with the lakage, and they are close to canada, so they share the same frequency, and they have to acknowledge the two countries, especially mexico and the usa. If you want proof, look up the XETV Sign on

[matthewdurocher]

What a classy way to end. As someone from Windsor Ontario (across the river from Detroit), I grew up with Ch. 56....and my folks donated money a few times to them....mind you the Digital Switch was a bit of a scam.

[foamer4269]

I'm not from the Detroit area, but this reminds of Ch.17 WNED in Buffalo (my PBS station). They would always play O Canada! and The Star-Spangled Banner. I grew up on that station, however when they went digital they did at midnight and just cut in the middle of a station ID. The WTVS sign-off brings back lots of memories. I wish WNED has done the same. About American station playing O Canada, WKBW, WUTV and WNYO still play the song. I don't believe it's required just a curtosey.

[mapleavenue77]

I enjoyed both renditions of the two national anthems. Nothing beats a crisp sounding military band!

[wrhiv72]

i wonder what happens after the sign off.

[SonamyChao]

I seen this the day it was broadcasted.

[MadameLil]

Wow - nice grammar.

[SonamyChao]

I'm foreign, n.n

[denelson83]

Hey! Those national anthem renditions were done by the U.S. Navy Band.

[thelyniezian]

The Canadian anthem sounds a lot more like a hymn tune than the American one.

Nice touch I think, to have both. If any.

[richartrod]

"O Canada" is an original composition that has been called one of the best anthems from any country because of its melody and words. The melody for "The Star Spangled Banner" is admittedly based on a popular British beer drinking song from the Anacreontic Society, a club for professional men interested in music. Being an American and a teetotaler, I still love my national anthem. :)

[glitterbear101234]

haha i could tell this was after caillou! lolz xD

[Empressofwar]

Nice to know that they gave a little nod to Canada before they signed off. =D

Go Canada!!

[richartrod]

A very classy bi-national analog signoff for WTVS.

Playing the Canadian and U.S. national anthems is similar to when NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball games are played with one from each country: the guest country's anthem is played first, followed by that of the host country. This is a long standing tradition for both our countries at all public events, including broadcasting across the border to each other.

[wab001z]

I am proud of WTVS for signing off from a faulty, inferior transmitter to use a new one. Such is progress within a progressive soceity.

[wab001z]

This is not literally the final sign-off of WTVS itself, only

the Final Analog Transmission Sign-Off. And it's signing off

to use a modern transmitter because the old one isn't working.

This is an end of nothing except a internal technical difficulty.

[noobasaurus253]

Don't know why, but I like watching these. Lots of curiosity from what all these tv stations went through. Now I need a seattle one.

[marc1178]

Now if Cogeco Cable would add channels 56.2 and 56.3 to their lineup we wouldn't be missing out here in Canada.

[ferrari2197]

wow the Canadian anthem. Why? A-channel or CBC doesn't do the USA one.

[theSameRetroWindsor]

Likely a nod to the carriage of WTVS all accross Canada.

[NordicOten]

Yeah, that's what happened. I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba and receive their signal over digital TV.

A nice little nod to the North.

[teg24601]

@theSameRetroWindsor You are correct. KCTS in Seattle and WGBH in Boston do the same thing because they along with WTVS are broadcast all across Canada on Cable and Satellite.

[Jerseysson27]

Because michigan is on the border with canada and detriot is close to the canadian border, and they have to honor both countries.Just so you know.

[pigeonshouse]

I don't think it's a legal requirement, just one of those cordial agreements.

Otherwise all those other border cities e.g.Buffalo would have to follow suit and presumably the same for the ones along the border of Mexico.

That library music to promote digital seems to be the same music used by Fox in Buffalo. (watch?v=CPecx3Z1BNM).

I bet none of the stations over here in the UK will have any kind of proper sign off except some dumb presenter not really understanding what is going on.

[richartrod]

It's a sign of goodwill on all sides of the border. In San Diego XETV, which broadcasts in English from across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, plays the Mexican and U.S. before its early morning news programs. However, Mexican law requires its anthem played at station sign-on and a guest country's anthem immediately afterward at public events. Check XETV sign on here on YouTube for the video.

[pigeonshouse]

Well it's good that they do that! It shows they respect their audience as a whole.

We used to have the UK national anthem when stations used to close down on the BBC.. Although as the BBC is a national broadcaster rather than network broadcaster I doubt they played Amhrán na bhFiann in respect of ROI residents on the border provinces; that would be deemed too politcal :P

The way the BBC has dumbed down recently I doubt they'll even acknowledge 80 odd years of analogue TV when we 'switch'.

[thelyniezian]

Sign-offs seem a bit oldhat these days, especially since most of the main stations don't really close down, just switch over to the news channel in the case of the BBC or whatever.

To be fair most of the main channels close down too late for most sensible people not working nightshifts to notice. And until we get the DVD recorder working, I can only record analogue...

[1L6E6VHF]

WTVS usually does not have them either (not on analog decades before this and not on digital) because they no longer sign on and sign off. Nor do CBC and A Channel. SRC still signs off nightly (though they do not shut the transmitter off, and use the channel to sho the coming day's schedule), and SRC still plays an O Canada film when the broadcast day ends.

[writerpatrick]

@ferrari2197 As with many US stations, some PBS stations like WNED are available in Canada and even get some of their funding from Canadians.

[pepsiru1es92]

WKBW shows both anthems,too.

[prckay]

it so nice to see USA stations using our Anthem Too

[KarateDude97]

Well you are our neighbors, especially here in detroit. =)

[KOFILMSANDMEDIA]

barney looks mad scary in that pic

[Geno2733]

I guess considering the DTV changeover was on the horizon, it was un-economical to repair a rusty piece of shit that just eats electricity. lol. They were probably broadcasting in Digital to begin with, so it was probably the most efficient move to make.

[kargaroc386]

from 0:07 to 0:22 the music reminds me of the WFQX sign off from 1994

[rleong101]

An example of the reach of Detroit's TV stations: Shaw Cable in Calgary broadcasts those stations for "time-shift" purposes.

[wrking1]

Ooh, I never knew Channel 56 went digital. All I knew was channel 20.

[98770]

our tv stations are shutting down tommarrow but our digital signal work flawlessly

[kargaroc386]

did WXYZ already sign off?

[cwf1701]

as of 6:00 AM, WXYZ Analog 7 is off the air. of note, WJBK is the only DT allocation (in Detroit) to change channels on June 12 as their DT channel move from DT-CH-58 to DT-CH-7. WJBK has to wait until WXYZ is off the air before they can change Channels.

[DuckRadioLccc]

KLRU's is just as good. They aired the 4th stanza SSB, followed by the original station ID slide (which included former sister station KLRN). All of it from the original 2" tape - but w/o any narration. Chilling to see.

[videostoshare]

I have been looking for stations that honor those who fought for our freedoms in this way. Several years ago, most if not all stations used to do so. In fact, I believe it was an FCC requirement.

Please call all your local" stations that are still broadcasting in analog and request that they too honor our history with the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" and the final thing going over their analog channel.

[mrceleb2006]

In Stephenville, Nfld., EastLink Cable gets this as the eastern PBS station (as well as on Shaw Direct), but on Bell TV, it's WGBH-TV from Boston as the eastern PBS station.

[bigoranget]

By far, one of the best sign-offs. Almost all stations just abruptly ended broadcasting (sometimes even half way through a TV show)

[MasterChiefSquare]

thank you for capturing a classic moment in television history. this is one of the best sign offs i've ever seen (for the digital conversion that is).

[transammike]

Wow, whenever I think of PBS, I think of 56.

[1L6E6VHF]

Thanks so much for posting this, you saved me the inconvenience of a 44MB upload, and yours is infinitely better then mine (digital camera aimed at CRT full of moiré and banding)! I don't remember WTVS showing playing "O Canada" on nightly signoffs (before 1979), but WKBD (50) certainly did (along with "The Star Spangled Banner", of course)

[aquateensown]

Thanks for uploading. I missed the analog switch off because I was at school and I forgot to record it..

[LondonGuysVids]

Are those digital over-the-air boxes avalible here in Canada? I refuse to pay for cable or satellite but don't mind watching local stations for some stuff such as news.

[98770]

check with your electronics store.

[Davros2006]

I couldn't tape it due to scheduling conflicts on my DVD recorder, so thank you, Robert, for putting it online.

[theSameRetroWindsor]

No problem, I'm glad they went off before June 12, lol. I only have 4 VCR's for WJBK, WDIV, WXYZ and WWJ's final sign off's. I also have a DVD recorder for WKBD. That should cover them all, lol.

[damron13]

When will A Channel 60 and CBET 9 be signing off ?

[RetroWinnipeg]

A Windsor: August 31, 2009. Permanently.

[Mrtraveler01]

I think the DTV conversion deadline in Canada is sometime in 2011 I believe.

[Neville6000]

It is.

[RetroWinnipeg]

I wouldn't expect these stations to have special sign-offs. I recorded WDAZ on February 17, and nothing special occurred. Of course, maybe it's different when it's not from cable...

[theSameRetroWindsor]

It probably is, because on cable, WTVS did not show this, they just showed standard programming, I taped this off antenna.

[Ecossaise]

Aw this is sad, but they will continue on in digital. I remember watching this channel when I was young for Sesame Street !