WJLA-TV 7, Washington DC Sign-off from September 1986

This video recording of the District of Columbia's ABC affiliate station sign-off was submitted by John Pinckney of Pasadena CA. It's of the standard variety, utilizing a static station ID graphic with voice-over announcement, delivered by the late Fred Weiss. The station ID slide features WJLA-TV's unique variation of the famous ABC-TV "Circle 7"; logo, which was used by the station from 1970 to 2001, when it adopted the standard ABC "Circle 7" design used today.

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• station
• sign-off
• sign-on
• circle
• seven

[nattyboh84]

do you have any sign-offs from WMAR-TV from the 1980s and 1990s?

[wmbrown6]

@NEPatriot - In 1963, four branches of the U.S. military put out albums in connection with the opening of the Kennedy Center (originally the National Cultural Center). Three of these albums (by the Navy Band, Air Force Band and Marine Band) have been reissued on CD. The Army Band record, however, was not, and thus is the only one of those four LP's that is currently OOP.

[NEPatriot]

@wmbrown6 I assume that album is out of publication.

[caa1000]

@wmbrown6 Really that old? I quite remember seeing this SSB around late 70's and mid 80's, but can't recall who was doing it, if it was Telemundo in Puerto Rico, PBS affiliate in the island or the WAPA America channel back then.

[wmbrown6]

@caa1000 - Actually, this "U.S. Army Band/Mount Vernon SSB" (which dated to the mid-1960's, at the very least) was used in many places - among them WNBC-TV 4 New York; WNAC/WNEV-TV 7 Boston; WBZ-TV 4 Boston; WFMJ-TV 21 Youngstown, OH; KLCS-TV 58 Los Angeles; KRON-TV 4 San Francisco; and KHQ-TV 6 Spokane, WA.

The recording dated to 1963 and was the ending track on "The United States Army Band" LP on RCA Victor LPM/LSP-2685.

[caa1000]

Wow! Classic SSB from the 1970's!

[GateStudios]

@GateStudios The irony of Weiss getting fired from radio is that the station that fired him, WXYZ, was also an ABC affiliate. WJLA now uses the same circle 7 logo as WXYZ-TV and other ABC affiliates.

[GateStudios]

Fred Weiss used to work in Detroit! His final words on Detroit radio were "those (CENSORED) are gettin' plenty smart." (He was canned for saying racial remarks on the air, BTW.)

[NEPatriot]

Been waiting for something from WJLA-TV, the former WMAL-TV, when Allbritton bought the station from the Washington Star newspaper in 1977. Even during their last years as WMAL-TV they had that version of the circle 7, which was copied by Australia's seven network in the 80's.