WLVI-TV 56 Boston - Sign-On 1986 (2 of 2)

[CelesteK]

Let's just remember that not all of us had the pleasure of watching Bozo The Clown. :)

[Ledheaded101]

Im still looking for the Do a flip for breakfast commercial lol

[Ledheaded101]

You brought back a lot of great memories, this is definitely from 83-85. Long live the memories of 56..it's amazing how it all comes back like it never left.

[hessdx1]

Old school 56 was Awesome !

[boofdfast]

LMAO... at classic Bozo clip. This musta either been at 6:30am or 7:00am. Usually, Bozo was the first show to start on Channel 56. lol

[wwefreak2003]

Man these were the days! I miss these days!

[darrylhaynes]

jews.....

[krewgarr]

Really wondering why there is zero discussion of the real reason WHY there is a Jewish blessing preceding the sign-on of a general-audience American UHF station... I find it profoundly disturbing and very, very telling.

[MSTS1]

See:

'WLVI-TV 56 Cambridge Boston - Sign-Off 1985'

Got the same complaint there, that WLVI was using a Muslim blessing..

The fact is, the sign-on/off sermon statements which WLVI used were a rotation of: Christian, Jewish, Muslim.

Apparently, the reason you've found my vid. 'disturbing' and 'very, very telling' is that you did not know that there are other different versions of this sign-on/off. Or- am I wrong about that?...

[krewgarr]

Okay, cool. The thing that got me unsettled was the notion of one religion/orientation/creed/cul­ture demonstrating what would seem* like an exclusive endorsement or sponsorship of the station and/or all its programming (*to someone who did not know WLVI actually respected diversity by having different groups represented). I have a fond place in my heart for the old Ch. 56 and MY faith was shaken a bit after I got that false impression from this clip. Thanks for clearing it up.

[cybersalad]

I always wanted one of those giant tootsie pops they'd win on Bozo. I was so jealous of the kids who won them.

[jaybreak]

So the Jews really control the media?

[CelesteK]

@jaybreak Oh stop it. :P

[Bruins90210]

wow I remember this!

[CelesteK]

Does anyone here speak hebrew?

[CelesteK]

I'd like to know what he's saying in the first part of the sermon?

[320k]

cool - check out the PCC cars in the background when Bozo is running around

[jaimiepat]

Wow. These kind of clips on you tube make me SO nostalgic and kinda sad for some reason. I'd get up really early (as an 11 year old in 1986) before school and watch channel 56 up in New Hampshire. I always felt like I was watching something super serious and important. The light outside would just begin to get brighter as 6am approached.

[mca1218]

I know EXACTLY what you mean. I don't know whether it was the 'basso profundo' quality in the announcer's voice or the fact that this was all going on before anyone woke up, but it SEEMED very suspenseful and significant. Local on-air checks were the best. That moment in time is literally gone- at least in Washington, DC.

[jaimiepat]

Well yeah, let's see: stone faced religious readings, business info regarding the tv company, and some sort of pro-America scenery. Just felt like a very conservative (not in the political sense) way to begin the day. And then of course, even as a kid, I could tell the Bozo episodes were from a time before I was even born. 1960's clothing and cars, etc. My own private, eerie start to the morning.

[CDF1970]

Awesome!

Thanks for posting this and the sign-off ass well.

I anxiously await more WLVI stuff.

[Punkghost21]

bozo the clown! lol

[VaultMasterDBT]

The WLVI logo slides on this clip look older than the ones used in the sign-on I have from 1983 - the display seen here looks like the Field era version (1977-83) with the '56' in the box. However, I am not disputing that this was from 1986. Also, that must be an old rerun of WHDH-TV 5's Bozo's Big Top with Frank Avruch!

[LowellDevil]

Yes it is, they used to carry Bozo back in those days.

[MSTS1]

And I believe that sequence was filmed at the MBTA Watertown carhouse. You can see the PCC streetcars parked. It used to be the terminal of the T's A-Line- the old Green Line branch that connected to the B-Line at Packards Corner- Brighton Ave. & Commonwealth Ave. in Allston.

[wmbrown6]

Could it be that the WLVI sign-off we all know and love could've come from 1988 or so? Given the difference between the station logo in the Field era and after Gannett took over (even with the same Eremitage font being used)? Also, would anyone know which color cameras were used by the first WHDH when it was kicked off Channel 5 in 1972? (I know in 1967 it was RCA TK-43's.)

[MSTS1]

The first bit on part 1 "commencing test pattern and tone transmission", that little test pattern bit is from 1988.

[wmbrown6]

Would you know at what point WLVI's use of this test pattern came to an end? I frankly prefer this kind of color scheme to the 1980's design as was used by fellow Boston stations WNEV (now WHDH) and WSBK.

[MSTS1]

I don't actually. Once I had them on tape and my schedule changed I wouldn't be up those hours again to see them. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make it out of the 80s as stations at some point soon would go 24-hrs.

So, 1988 is probably the last year I saw it on-air, as I can remember.

[SK3Online]

Hmm, I remember hearing that "test pattern and tone transmission" sound byte a lot earlier than 1988. I remember hearing it when I was six, seven years old, and that was 1983-84.

[MSTS1]

I wouldn't doubt '83-'84. 1988 refers to the year I made that particular recording.. The earliest recording I have of it is 1985.

[MSTS1]

We had an issue with our cable in '83 and my tapes from that year were horrible quality; I no longer have any of them, I think. Didn't record in '84. This could be from '85, but the tape is marked '86.