I like the music in this. As a musician myself, I can appreciate techno and new age music. Hopefully I can convince some of these stations to use my music in the future for their programming.
Five MILLION watts! I thought it was 340 KW ERP?? and I can't believe that they were the first in stereo for that area; why did stereo take so long to catch on? Come on, in the mid 80s most stations were still broadcasting in mono; that's crazy!
WTIC was the first UHF TV station in the US to do 5 megawatts ERP Visual. This would become the glass ceiling in power granted by the FCC for UHF stations. Others did follow down the road, including "WBNE" 59, which also was at 5 megawatts when it signed on several years later.
Channel 59 took 41 years to sign on... they were granted a broadcasting license in 1954 but didn't hit the airwaves until 1995. Talk about procrastination.
It's sad there isn't more of the personal touch on TV. Local stations had personality back then. I remember summers staying up into the early morning and catching the national anthem followed by the ad for that days Star Trek rerun.
The apostrophe was there, it just happened to be in the exact spot as one of those lights, which kinda obscures it...but yeah, I had to look several X before I realized the apostrophe hadn't been omitted, myself! LOL
When Bob Steele said "America's most powerful television station," he meant it. I live in Milford, CT. At the time I had 1 tv in my house that did not not have cable, and I remember how well it received channel 61. That's quite remarkable since channel 3 only came in ok, and channel 30 barely. For some reason, I remember NYC stations coming in better (of course, channels 8, 20 and 49 came in excellent).
jjm, I guess that's what 5,000,000 watts of power looks like. Interestingly, 30 and 61 both are on Rattlesnake. But in terms of ERP, 30 is at 3,090,000 watts. Also from Farmington to Milford it's just about direct line of sight. Wonder if TIC's higher position could also have been a factor?
I believe this 100%...I remember being at our beach house in Surf City, NJ in the summer of 1986 and picking up WTIC-61 on a TV with rabbit ears (and clearly) all the way down there. That's 164 miles, mostly over ocean with some flat areas of Connecticut and Long Island (about 60 miles) in between, which I'm sure helped, too.
Yes! I've been looking for some of this! Do you, by chance, have the nightly National Anthem signoff with the church bells and the images of Elaa Grasso included?
That of course is Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. And you know this is the first time I've seen the sign-on of what is now Fox 61. And how ironic is it that the man who appeared at the first WTIC-TV (now WFSB) Bob Steele signed on the second station with the WTIC-TV calls.
I was a child, but remember this very well. THANKS FOR POSTING
foot2wood 1 year ago
Did FOX 61 (which is what we call WTIC-TV today) do the Ella Grasso tribute when they switched to digital? If so, please upload it!
kcthatsawinner 1 year ago
Anyone know what the music on this sign-on is?
singinglawnchair 1 year ago
@singinglawnchair - "Sunrise", by Joe Sample.
WhatsAYak 1 year ago
I like the music in this. As a musician myself, I can appreciate techno and new age music. Hopefully I can convince some of these stations to use my music in the future for their programming.
ARInternetTelevision 2 years ago
Five MILLION watts! I thought it was 340 KW ERP?? and I can't believe that they were the first in stereo for that area; why did stereo take so long to catch on? Come on, in the mid 80s most stations were still broadcasting in mono; that's crazy!
1DanielChristensen 2 years ago
i remember when we first had 61,the programing was pretty lame.They would play old reruns of the munsters at like 8pm PRIME TIME,it was pretty cool.
scittball 2 years ago
what a classy introduction...made even better with the narration voice of Dick Summer.
5BGVO4 2 years ago
WTIC was the first UHF TV station in the US to do 5 megawatts ERP Visual. This would become the glass ceiling in power granted by the FCC for UHF stations. Others did follow down the road, including "WBNE" 59, which also was at 5 megawatts when it signed on several years later.
klystron22 2 years ago
Channel 59 took 41 years to sign on... they were granted a broadcasting license in 1954 but didn't hit the airwaves until 1995. Talk about procrastination.
OllieAverage 2 years ago
It's sad there isn't more of the personal touch on TV. Local stations had personality back then. I remember summers staying up into the early morning and catching the national anthem followed by the ad for that days Star Trek rerun.
spotofbother 2 years ago 2
Did anyone else catch the spelling error at the end? "Were all yours"
novakrambaro 2 years ago
The apostrophe was there, it just happened to be in the exact spot as one of those lights, which kinda obscures it...but yeah, I had to look several X before I realized the apostrophe hadn't been omitted, myself! LOL
WhatsAYak 2 years ago
I hate spelling errors...
ARInternetTelevision 2 years ago
WTIC 61 now Fox 61 was way ahead of it's time
lighting2008 3 years ago
This is awesome - I remember this whole thing from the day it aired. It literally gives me goose bumps to see it again.
TheKid965 4 years ago 4
I like the commercial "Starting Fresh and Breaking Through." This is the short version. Do you have the long version of that commercial?
burbank 4 years ago
I can remember the lyrics for the second part:
We're a part of your community
Sharing dreams and history
Truly yours, independently
Channel 61's for you and me, yeah
61 so personally,
We're all yours, Hartford
We're all yours, Hartford
We're 61, TIC-TV
TheKid965 4 years ago 2
Yes yes I remember it so well. I wish the long version could be posted here. I would love to see it! Thanks for posting the lyrics!
burbank 4 years ago
When Bob Steele said "America's most powerful television station," he meant it. I live in Milford, CT. At the time I had 1 tv in my house that did not not have cable, and I remember how well it received channel 61. That's quite remarkable since channel 3 only came in ok, and channel 30 barely. For some reason, I remember NYC stations coming in better (of course, channels 8, 20 and 49 came in excellent).
jjm1965 4 years ago 9
jjm, I guess that's what 5,000,000 watts of power looks like. Interestingly, 30 and 61 both are on Rattlesnake. But in terms of ERP, 30 is at 3,090,000 watts. Also from Farmington to Milford it's just about direct line of sight. Wonder if TIC's higher position could also have been a factor?
NEPatriot 3 years ago 5
It's probably a combination of the higher position and the higher wattage.
jjm1965 3 years ago
I believe this 100%...I remember being at our beach house in Surf City, NJ in the summer of 1986 and picking up WTIC-61 on a TV with rabbit ears (and clearly) all the way down there. That's 164 miles, mostly over ocean with some flat areas of Connecticut and Long Island (about 60 miles) in between, which I'm sure helped, too.
seabass11 2 years ago 7
Yes! I've been looking for some of this! Do you, by chance, have the nightly National Anthem signoff with the church bells and the images of Elaa Grasso included?
KML0224 4 years ago
Yes. I posted it separately as:
WTIC-TV-61 and The National Anthem
bill06492 4 years ago
That of course is Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington. And you know this is the first time I've seen the sign-on of what is now Fox 61. And how ironic is it that the man who appeared at the first WTIC-TV (now WFSB) Bob Steele signed on the second station with the WTIC-TV calls.
NEPatriot 4 years ago 2