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From: TechnerVideo
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  • I think that every day they should still cut TV for the national anthem. East coast time sunrise and sunset. My generation doesn't give a care about this nation except for a choice few and it might actually make them respect the flag for a bit. Either way, I still wake up to reveille, play to the colors, and end the day to retreat.

  • This National anthem sign off ran one night a week on WTRF-TV

  • when new wtc tower is made will they  put the transmitters there

  • were are the transmitters now?

  • @honeybaby000111 nearly all TV, and most radio, stations in NYC lost their transmitters on 9/11, however they returned to air that same day due to the their back up transmitters in place on the Empire State Building.. Unfortunately, TV reception outside of the city has not been as easy since, and DTV is a joke up here.

  • well the fcc does not make laws they make rules, and the reason why you don't see this anymore is because stations don't sign off at night anymore, and note it only applies to broadcast stations. Would they enforce this rule most likey not if stations still turned off their transmitter.

  • @mstello18, I would like to think that I paid a lot of attention to TV station sign-offs back in the day. I recorded them and uploaded them here. The national anthem was cultural; a part of Americana. These sentiments have mostly died; broadcasters don't feel a loyalty to our Nation like they did then. And, of course, most stations do not sign of anymore. There is no law or rule or regulation for a station to play the Anthem when signing off, whether they shut the transmitter or carrier off.

  • @mstello18 my local pbs station mpbn goes off air from 1:00 AM to 6:00 AM.

    they play my country tiz of the though at the end.

  • Well stations do really go off the air anymore so they don't have to play the national anthium anymore, but if they do turn off their transmitter the FCC says they have to play the anthium. Would they enforce that rule, who knows.

  • @mstello18, nope, there is no law they have play the national anthem.

  • An important piece of TV history. More poignant because the broadcast was from the WTC--a strong reminder that these are different times. Would be nice to know which years this sign-off was running.

  • God I miss those days of tv programming!!!

  • I believe this sign off is quite historic. Due to the fact their programs were transmitted from atop of the World Trade Center.

  • Wow, that was 1986? I thought by then all the stations were on 24 hours. I remember one station in Cleveland, Ohio had a short video called High Flight. I've found a few versions of it but not the one I remembr.

  • Now there's always something on. Stations don't even sign off anymore. It's either repeats of things shown earlier in the evening or infomercials.

  • back in 1992 I was 10 years old and the only station I ever remember signing off was the local PBS station..

    which brings me to this question what was the need to sign off for and as far as I know I don't think any station now signs off anymore.

  • wow...why did they all play the nationsl anthem at the end? I am 14 now so I have NEVER seen a sign off lol

  • People back then were more patriotic and respectful than they are now.

  • I miss the good ol' days of the classic sign-off every night. It was always on the weekends though, since I had to go to elementary school the next day! Boy... am I dating myself?

  • If I'm not mistaken, all the stations are now 24 hours right?

  • yup back when believe actually loved america

  • Amen to that.

  • Not all of them. Some digital TV-based affiliates still film sign-ons and sign-offs.

  • The Nation Anthem, 'Beautiful"

  • That scary hum did not make it at the end.

  • ;-) cool

  • Heard on sign-offs prior to 1982 between the "key station" and studio location info was this: "Service to our community through television programs that entertain, inform and educate. This is the pledge of WABC-TV as a subscriber in good standing to the Television Code of the National Association of Broadcasters. This seal assures you of Channel 7's constant efforts to present the finest programs." This wording dated in that form to the late 1950's.

  • True, 'wm'- but I wanted to make sure everyone who's never see this sign-off knew exactly how it began....

  • The missing part of the opening disclaimer:

    "This is station WABC-TV in New York- Channel 7- key station in the ABC Television Network. WABC-TV's studios are located at the ABC Television Center, 7 Lincoln Square, New York..."

  • Actually, here it comes in at "--incoln Square, New York..." ;)

  • Looking at the Marine Corps "SSB," it looks like it could've been filmed in or around 1959. The giveaway:  The flag had the short-lived 49-star layout.

  • And did'nt WNEW TV Ch 5 also use this same

    US Marine Corps SSB Film before the Flag Evolution one?

  • Possibly, but I can't tell - my earliest recollections of "SSB's" other than WPIX's homemade film to the Army "SSB" was 1974 - and WNEW already had the Flag Evolution "SSB" by then.

  • Did'nt Wally Parker become the announcer for

    WABC TV around 1980?

  • Actually, Mr. Parker had been with WABC since at least the 1960's, doing V/O work on the radio station from time to time . . . he also was at the announcing booth for the Jan. 27, 1979 edition of "EWN" which is elsewhere.

  • So by this time in 1979, was Mr. Parker also the announcer for the WABC TV Sign Off and

    Sign On's?

  • Mr. Parker would've only done sign-offs, on the weekends - divvying it up with the likes of Ed Jordan, Tedd Lawrence and possibly Barbara Korsen as well. On sign-ons, announcers included George Hayes and the legendary Fred Foy.

  • P.S. Mr. Parker had been with ABC since 1965, up to the late 1970's doing regular news updates for the American Entertainment radio network, plus some news updates for WABC Musicradio 77 in the years when ABC staff announcers did the news at :55 and :25. He retired in or around 1990.

  • I thought that their programming is transmitted from the Empire State Building?

  • It was, between 1951 and 1980 . . . and again since 2001 after the Twin Towers fell. (Trivia: Channel 7's first transmitter, from 1948 to 1951, was atop the Hotel Pierre.)

  • Okay. So let me get this straight. The WABC TV station transmitted at Empire State Building in the 50's, WTC from 1980 to 2001, and back to Empire State since the WTC attacks?

  • Bingo. But in terms of the first Empire transmitting stint, again it was 1951-1980. Much of their sign-off script dated back to the '50's.

  • Did'nt WNEW TV Ch 5 first use this same US Marine Corps SSB film for signing off before switching to the Flag Evolution SSB in the

    mid 1970's?

  • Now it is, after 9/11 that is now the case :)

  • And by then they dispensed with the test pattern slides and had EIA-189-A color bars. But Wally Parker was the announcer, as he was in 1983 . . .

  • If I am not mistaking, did'nt WABC TV originally use a Horizontal Grid Test Pattern accompanied by a 385Hz audio tone before the first generation Color Bar in 1974?

  • If you go to the 'GGN Information Systems' website, you'll see simulations of WABC test patterns used from its start as WJZ in 1948 up to the 1960's (with early 'circle 7' positioning).

  • Outstanding! Simply outstanding!

  • When in 1983 did WABC TV start using the

    US Marine Corps SSB?

  • By the sounds of it, WABC were still doing live sign-offs around this time.

  • Alas, this was one of the last; after September of 1986, WABC was a 24/7 station.

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