1978 Cablevision sign-off and Cable Chuckles from Jericho NY

[chip64c]

So what did the plug say when it wanted power? Socket to me

[JesseL85719]

Whoever wrote the question at number 8 on the list of Cable Chuckles must have poor grammar.

[nonix81]

For the layman- Jericho is a township located in Long Island, NY State

[coffeeandsugar20]

Michael Jackson was alive in 1978. Didn't anyone think of the children?

[chip64c]

Probably via radio station, so that way, when broadcast, the work receives air time...yes I know it's TV, but TV or radio air time is still air time; my guess as to the licensing

[chip64c]

Probably via radio station, so that way, when broadcast, the work receives air time...yes I know it's TV, but TV or radio air time is still air time; my guess

[autodrivex]

Nowadays, of course, they'd be sued by the RIAA for using a Beatles song.

[eyeh8nbc]

@autodrivex It was common for cable channels to play a radio station over text-based stuff like this. I don't know how the music-licensing stuff was handled.

[nomadcowatbk]

@eyeh8nbc

a lot still do that

[gerryono]

This whole setup of jokes, school lunch information, and "oldies" music (yes, I consider 60s music playing in the 70's to be "oldies") would be ideal for kids, if it werent being played in the dead of night after an "mature" movie

[Manafichu]

This channel is now TV 10/55. And since I live in this area, I know (or heard of) the towns mentioned on Jokes #1,3, 4, 7, 8, and 10.

[gerryono]

@Manafichu

And nowadays, they just air reruns of "House" and "Judge Judy"

[vivaeljason]

I seriously do not get Cable Chuckle #9. Am I missing something?

[eyeh8nbc]

@vivaeljason She made him 3 stockings because she heard he grew another FOOT- in the English language, this means he either grew a foot as in the unit of measurement, or could be misinterpreted as in growing another foot, as in what people normally have two of and don't grow additional ones. Any more questions? :)

[vivaeljason]

@eyeh8nbc I am an idiot...I think I was overanalyzing the "in the army" part and was trying to figure out what the hell the "foot" thing had to do with the army. As a pun master (and English teacher) I am ashamed of myself.

[LJK193]

Ah, what a classy way to end a good night of TV. Upcoming lunch menus, jokes from kids, and the Beatles before you turn off the TV off and go to bed. I wish it was still like that now.

Though it kinda creeps me out they'd actually put these kids' addresses

[187SicknesS]

wow, they posted the addresses of kids on TV? pedobear must be rolling in his grave!

[neinsudtexas10]

This is cool. I don't know why, but the 70s seemed like a really cool time. Awesome video.

[Jigglypufflove33]

This is now WLNY 10/55.

[zjc92]

That is the NASTIEST school lunch menu.

[ladyi7609]

@zjc92 Wow, you come off as SUCH an insufferable, spoiled brat. I actually really like what the Syosset Public, Westbury, and East Meadow Schools were going to serve on Monday, October 16 and would've preferred that over the mystery meat sludge my high school served, or the tuna salad or PB&J sandwiches I invariably consumed in my packed lunches during that same time period. The only time I actually enjoyed school food in HS was when I would occasionally get a breakfast taco in the AM.

[zjc92]

@ladyi7609 /lifestory

[zjc92]

@ladyi7609 Sorry, I know it actually MAKES me an insufferable, spoiled brat, but it was just too easy. :P

[592010]

This brings back memories.

[thatmuse76]

I think the writing on Cable Chuckles is actually higher quality that the programming that is shown on the cable stations nowadays.

[putdownan8dude]

@sygo7g me too

[androide675]

Wow, memories of my 2 years old...

[jzcrandall]

I love the fact they published their home address. Let's just make it easy for sex offenders.

[thegmanyo]

I really, really, really like the synth intro to this, as well as the deterioration of the VHS recording of it. It sounds like something Boards of Canada would sample. Hauntology at its finest.

[ThePhantom2K9]

Cable is almost worthless now due to the internet's access to certain programme.

[cr1901]

@ThePhantom2K9 I fully agree, but id cable completely dies, there's a facet of youtube whose life is limited (us watching these types of videos... imagine our children watching on YouTube, what we see on cable TV now... :P

Child: Dad, what was cable?

Me: Well, err son... )!

[joecassara]

I love that they included the joke writer's home address.

[mattster51]

family cable 10? and cable chuckles? wtf

[a3poify]

norweigan wood?

[combinownage]

@GUITARMASTER5004

Funny thing, this is the song that made me a Beatle fan, from this video.

It is still my favourite song.

[ihatestalkers]

The beginning of that is so freaky!!

[putdownan8dude]

@ihatestalkers hey its not creepy, thats just how the 70s were. the graphics didn't pander to your sensibilities like they do now.

[ihatestalkers]

@putdownan8dude Nah, it's still creepy. ;)

[HCShannon]

What's the best way to turn heads?

Go to Church Late!

Don't get it!

[WhatsAYak]

@HCShannon - Well, if you arrive at church late, the rest of the congregation will turn their heads to see who's entering after the service has already started. :-)

[pancakeman22]

Excellent work!! This channel is gone, am I right?!!

[pancakeman22]

Nice video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[freeplay73]

What the hell is up with showing people's addresses, haha!

[ihatestalkers]

@freeplay73 I agree - that would so not happen today!

[nomadcowatbk]

@freeplay73

people on Long Island felt safe in the 70s, no child abductions

[arielcjr]

WoW A $25 Savings Bond!!

That's a lot of money! :P

[jhwink]

Ok that's not smart giving out the home addresses of kids.

[DLA75]

Y97? NBC's 97.1 WYNY New York?

WYNY became country in the 80's and switched frequencies with WQHT Hot 103.5 in 1988 when NBC sold off it radio stations and later swtchig to Dance as 103.5 WKTU in 1996.

[thelyniezian]

Hmmm.. some of those jokes only make sense to Americans (baseball, sweepstakes) and at least one isn't terribly funny (cornflakes and strawberries) IMO. Interesting that they actually tell you on TV what tomorrow's school dinners are going to be... no chance of that over here!

[megaben99]

school dinners? is this for college students, or something? cool idea though. the one thing i like about this is that if you send in a joke, you get money. all i have to say about that is, BLING BLING YEAH!!! sorry, but anyways, this is an interesting video. p.s. i too think that the jokes only make sense to americans.

[RatedRKJerichO]

I grew up in Jericho! In fact I moved there in 1978 at the age of five. With my family of course, not on my own ;)

[ineedtolikeyou]

It's scary.

[kargaroc386]

APPLE II

[kargaroc386]

hmm

back in the 70s, when some cable channels signed off, there would just be a blue screen.  does anybody have that on tape?

[blugreen123]

i love how they emphasize "kosher" frank on a roll in the first menu.

wow!! a 5 Dollar check!!

[chalklounge]

The background music is ID'd as Y97 in Long Island. Y97 no longer exists today. I'm familiar with the addresses posted here -- such exposure of children's addresses and ages would be unthinkable today.

[jeesonus]

"Savoy Truffle" during school lunch menus...? I think I'm in love!

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Lol, very Teletext like.

[Azusa109]

They would never display the full address nowadays in the sad time of ID theft.

[JMFabianoRPL]

They'd never play Norwegian Wood in this sad time of the surviving Beatles not letting people use their songs...

[megamanfan3]

True. With modern computers, ID theft is now highly possible.

[ianhawdon]

and also the fact they are addresses of children... We are far to paranoid today!

[evenmorebetter]

25 dollar savings bond, SWEET

[mysteriousrabbit]

My favorite part, starting at 2:59, is where they start listing the meals they served at various Long Island schools for that day. There's something strangely evocative about it.

[shanejensen]

Wow, this is from the year I was born. We still used these same screens until the early 90s.

[visaman]

Some of those jokes I just heard on the Archie's Jukebox DVD. Yes, I'm old enough to have seen the show when it first aired.

[mbraune]

I dont believe they had paid royalties to the Beatles...

[threethirteen666]

do u know name of song?

s

[kargaroc386]

it's audio from a local radio station. they didn't have to pay anything.

[mysteriousrabbit]

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

[Ryoga2K]

The radiostation certainly did, or at least to the Beatles song's tenants at the time

[devulboy1]

Looking at Cable signoffs and prime time blocks is a trip down "memory lane". Another Palmer/Colony cable memory I have is KABC 7 was also blocked to allow KESQ 3 (ABC) show ABC programs. It had Real estate ads with pictures of homes for sale. In the early 90s, cable access "DCTV10" then Continental or MediaOne purchased the local cable server made it a video channel, and in 2000, the final change was Time-Warner Palm Springs: they dramatically got rid of those computerized cable signoffs. +

[devulboy1]

aaahhhh, the early days of cable featured bold colored advertisements and tickers made on those early Apple computers. Palmer and Colony cable of the Palm Springs Cal. area where I live had the same thing, plus audio of 1960s/70s/80s oldies in a way to provide an early "cable radio" station experience. "You're watching Palmer cable 4" was a really cheapo cable access program, when FCC laws required Palmer to block KNBC 4 Los Angeles programs, because KMIR 6 (NBC) aired them the same time. +

[GCBiggles]

This was the best era of flicking through channels late-night. Very late-night.

It was gold, right through from this to the mid-late 80s.

Now it's all infommercials. And no network has any individual identity anymore the way the used to. They've all morphed into the same garbage.

Thanks for preserving this beautiful slice of when having a television was worth it.

[kcthatsawinner]

Doug Keck is now an executive at EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network, and he is the executive producer of all the programs you see on the Global Catholic Network.

[ate7bronko]

very interesting, i recently had a trouble call where a customer had problems with that channel

[worm082]

oh thats great that they put up all those little kids addresses lol

[sansri88]

I like their music choice for the cable chuckles :D

[kargaroc386]

the old cablevision logo looks familiar even though i haven't seen it before i watched this.

[PGMEagle]

4:14 - What is a "cookie surprise"?

That's when you wait in line and find out there are no cookies. That's the surprise lol

[ladyi7609]

@PGMEagle HA! Though in all seriousness, it was probably some kind of cookie but in a bar shape, kinda like lemon or pecan squares. Which sounds quite nice, actually. Though for pure amusement value, I prefer your definition.

[PGMEagle]

That beginning music is freaky

[superbuick]

Holy @#$%!!! You aren't kidding. I was 4 years old in 1978 and that intro music/animation would have freaked me the @#$% out.

[WishesNetwork]

Intresting.

[m173627]

Jericho is a town in the Nassau County of Long Island, about 30 miles from New York City.

[extremehockeyfan]

Cool sign off!

[ate7bronko]

nothing better than going into a house and seeing a 30 year old splitter and some 59 wire and wondering about all the years of television that passed through those wires.

cable rocks verizon sux balls. fuck you and your shitty network!

[fuzzplugjones]

and now you can, because all those kids' addresses are right there for everyone to see.

[singinglawnchair]

4:14 - What is a "cookie surprise"?

[Kargaroc286]

Looks like the Cablevision logo at the beginning created on Scanimate.

[poopskinTheLiar]

I wish i was around in the days of cable sign-offs...

[poopskinTheLiar]

Whoops, accidentally marked my comment as spam while trying to add on a side note.

---

i'm saddened by the fact that neither me nor my kids will experience ASCII-style corny jokes at 3:00 AM for some reason...

[poopskinTheLiar]

side-side note: propably because i love old things. i'm currently trying to procure a apple ][GS off EbAY.

[everyonelovesbutters]

on top of that its beatles night.

[blinkingblythe]

wow, putting the full address of CHILDREN over the air. Very fucking smart there, Einsteins.

(I guess those really were different times back then).

[nomadcowatbk]

no google streetview backthen, I guess they felt safe outside NYC

[electrogeek77]

"How is your straw and berries?"!?!? Sounds awfully filthy for a 9-year-old!

[mattratt512]

how do you turn on javascript???

[grannyBangproduction]

dude i know people that live around there lol a shity pbs thing

[BojanglesUdon]

I'd be creeped out if I saw my address being broadcast on an open TV network, that's for sure

[MADDOG3200]

yea well in the 1970s you really didn't have to worry much about your address being posted on TV (unless you lived in LA during the murder rampage in the early 70s). I think i would be more terrified if this was taped in 1988 (the "everybody's a stranger" era)

[MADDOG3200]

the opening gave me creepy goosebumps.

i find it interesting to see how TV was like before my days... better than today.

[eyeh8nbc]

@MADDOG3200 Well, Cable and TV have always been and always will be 2 different things, even if some might think otherwise.

[Rach84]

LOL the comments on this video crack me up. This is a good find. I'm always interested in what cablevision looked like before I started watching it in the late 80s as a little kid.

[Kargaroc286]

was this channel scrambled? i see evidence where at the side of the video, it is blue

[reprobacious]

When I was a kid going to the schools around there, they used to charge us extra if we DIDN'T take milk that we DIDN'T want with lunch so it ended up getting thrown away. Just plain stupid!

[reprobacious]

Ha, I remember this stuff. These kids are about 40 now (ACK!).

[Mlink187]

I wonder if I could still get those beef n frank rolls.

shit im 30 years late for them!

[reprobacious]

I'm sure the same ones are still available (shudder).

[battechno]

I was born in april 1978. but my parents and I didn't get cable until like 1981 or 1982.

[eyeh8cbs]

My parents didn't get cable til 1989 (I bugged them for years before that!) but then we promptly cancelled it when we saw how crappy it had gotten by then! Of course it's even worse now.

[lucite11]

This is creepy and comforting at the same time. Has such a late-nite feel to it.

[Kargaroc286]

closeogramming!!!???

[Kargaroc286]

the opening is creepy

[tristanunsworth]

Wow. Why did they list the addresses of all the kids who sent in lame jokes... so you could go to their houses and kick their asses? lol It's bizarre. GREAT find! :-)

[JimR541]

Reading your post I decided to see if some of those families still live at those addresses and some still do.

[fireguye4]

ive been working there for 8 years, i bet they want to forget this abortion. LOL

[burr1aj]

whats milk-fruited jello? lol

[krushsister]

My guess is that it's supposed to read "milk/fruited jello", i.e. the milk is to drink and the fruited jello is to eat for dessert. I would really like to thank JohnFordDanceTroupe and Golfhaus for telling me what that song was (the one that ended up being "Savoy Truffle"). The Beatles, huh? They did glam rock too? Outrageous. Weird. And cool.

[burr1aj]

the song on here is Norwegian Wood.

[krushsister]

Uh, dude, that's only the FIRST song. A song everyone KNOWS is "Norwegian Wood"... ? To borrow a British phrase, "some mothers do 'ave 'em"!

[wmbrown6]

The audio came from WYNY-FM (97.1, now WQHT "Hot 97"), which at the time had an "all-Beatles, all the time" music playlist, possibly as a tie-in to the ill-fated "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" movie. Notice also "I'll Be Back" is also heard here . . .

[RyanMing1]

Who taped this and why?

[eyeh8cbs]

Don't know exactly who taped this, but they recorded the movie that was on then let the tape run to the end and never taped over it.

[RyanMing1]

That makes sense. Anyway, it's awesome.

[Kargaroc286]

it seams like someone fell asleep while it was recording.

i guess it was recorded from the new VHS system with a piano key recorder. i think tapes were only 4 hours then. now there not much better.

[TheManofthefuture101]

@eyeh8cbs

i do agree that some one forgot to stop the recording

back then you were suposed to stop the recording when the program you wanted to be recorded ends.now a days recivers with recording capabilites stop it itself with out telling it to do so!isn't technology great when it comers to recording!

[nomadcowatbk]

probably a kid who wanted to see their joke but it was past their bedtime

[nomadcowatbk]

@RyanMing1

probably a kid or their parents who wanted to see their joke

[JackSpader]

Looks like the Cablevision logo at the beginning created on Scanimate.

[SpecialTVOffer]

WYNY (now Hot 97) was running an all-Beatles format at this time.

[JimR541]

I remember that. It was all Beatles for a few weeks until they came up with a new format which I think was Adult Contemporary.

[PF9ThePikachuLover]

I got all the Beatles music that was released between 1963-1970: all the original UK albums, plus the MMT and Past Masters compilations, and I also got the complete Anthology series and LOVE and The Early Tapes - and it's all on my iPod! Now I just need to get Live at the BBC and I'm complete. (Live at the Hollywood Bowl doesn't count because it was never released on CD.)

[Shahamu]

If those kids are still living at home in their 40s that would be pretty sad.

[nomadcowatbk]

@Shahamu

maybe they bought their parents house when their parents moved to florida

[OpenArms82]

I like the synthesizer music Cablevision intro!

[Y2p731]

Why would Cablevision put people's addresses on tv. That's wrong.

[VictorGolfCharles]

This was presumably before the Child Protection Law.

[cjhyde78]

Why your mad there older now : ( sorry no young boy for you

[jstewartf4president]

reminds me of the Apple 2E.

[krushsister]

This is strangely comforting. And I don't think the cafeteria food sounds bad at all. Better than much of the stuff I saw when I was in grade and high schools (mid '80s - late '90s), for sure. Also, what was the name of that second song (the one after "Norwegian Wood")? It was oddly catchy, and I don't normally like '70s music. But yeah, that "straw and berries" joke was lame, but it's the only real bum one.

[JohnFordDanceTroupe]

The song was "Savoy Truffle" by the Beatles off of the "White Album".

[Golfhaus]

That was another Beatles song, the "classic" hit "Savoy Truffle" off of the White Album. Interesting coincidence that it came on around the same time as the school menus started to get displayed.

[skystarless]

Ha! This is awesome.

[jefferyb304]

This is very high tech compared to what our cable company had in southern WV until about the late 80's. The messages would appear one line at a time until the complete message was posted.

They still have stuff like lost& found, happy birthday, community notices and for sale postings along with business ads.

[lbracey]

Wow, that food sounds disgusting as HELL!

[kyl416]

Oddly enough, Cablevision was using the same old computer text until as recently as about 2000 for their OTB channel.

[tvcommercialman]

Ya, Continental Cablevision here in Mid Ohio used text just like that from about that time till the late 90s when Media One took over. Our cable since 2000 has been Time Warner Cable, we got cable internet like the week they took over.

[nintendo1984]

this is my pubic area

[visaman]

Keep your pubic area to yourself!

[SuperMatch2007]

Cable chuckles! :lol:

[caramelturtles]

oh no! I ate that lunch in SHS. wow funny video , even funnier is that I still remember cable vision when it was a BIG DEAL and it looked like this???

[chibicelchan]

This is so creepy. I should not watch this at 2 in the morning.

[DevSodDribble]

Ugh. Thank god I don't have to eat school cafeteria food! I noticed they're offering 'chilled milk.' Wow, so much better than that hot milk you get everywhere else. :D

[shackpack]

Highlight: The groovy "Y-97" liner in the middle of the music.

Lowlight: "What did the corn flakes say to the strawberries? How is your straw and berries?"

[TServo2049]

That's WYNY...

[RolloSmokes]

Jericho is a village in Nassau County, about 20 miles east of New York City. This also must be from one of Cablevision's first and flagship systems -- not sure about then, but today they're based in Woodbury, N.Y., not far from Jericho.

[njboricuaparati]

Not only that but they posted Children's names, ages and addresses too! I know it was 1978 but hello, there were pedophiles around then too. Can you imagine the lawsuits that would come out of this today. Unbelieveable!

[AutisticPsycho]

Hahaha, I agree. I was about to the say the same thing.

[krushsister]

(a.) It was a more innocent time. (I'm guessing; I wasn't even born then.)

(b.) They figured few people would be watching this and so they thought nothing of it.

But yeah, even when I was a kid (at the dawn of the "stranger danger" era), no one would have thought this prudent. Hm.

[MopTopClownsMustDie]

a "family" channel showing the uncut rocky horror??? how wacked is that!? LOL

[JMFabianoRPL]

Yeah it's like if a Family oriented cable channel tried to show the likes of Grease and The Sixth Sense...oh wait.