Long ago, in that Pleistocene era before cable television began invading our living room and assaulted us with 500 channels and 24-hour programming, most local TV stations would end their broadcast sometime after midnight. They would conclude their programming day by airing a "sign-off" before one of their engineers shut their signal down or broadcast a test pattern or test card. These sign-offs — invariably low-rent and tacky — almost always used a combination of patriotic footage and music. One Alan J. Wall has made it his mission to memorialize and preserve this important part of our TV heritage. Who remembers falling asleep in front of a TV set — and waking up to "snow"?
Oct 20
2008
03:30 PM ET
Site of the Day: TV Sign-Offs
- Comments 4
- Add comment
Latest News
- 'Idol': Replay tonight's MJ Santilli chat
- 'Hunger Games' soundtrack: Cover art
- Melissa McCarthy, hubby land pilot at CBS
- Nancy Pelosi's 'Stop Colbert' ad: Watch
- President Obama has a Spotify playlist
- 'Wet Hot American Summer 2'? Not yet
- 'Game of Thrones' season 2: New photos!
- George Lucas talks 'Menace' 3-D
Most Commented
Top 5 Most Read
- Fox’s ‘House’ will end this season
- This Week’s Cover: ‘The Vampire Diaries’ stars talk about the red-hot Damon-Elena-Stefan triangle
- Watch ‘American Idol’ contestant Symone Black fall off the stage — VIDEO
- 'Vampire Diaries': Exclusive pics!
- Bill O’Reilly defends Ellen DeGeneres in One Million Moms, J.C. Penney controversy
I remember the PBS station in Pittsburgh used to sign off with “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Monty Python, as some real, some humorous credits scrolled by.
Here in New Zealand, we used to have the Goodnight Kiwi – a piece of animation where we watch the TV Kiwi (the bird, not the fruit) and his cat turning off the TV broadcast, putting out the milk bottle, then going up to sleep in the satellite dish. (I remember when I was a kid, there was actually a children’s television magazine based around the TV Kiwi.) It was terribly sweet, but for NZers there is a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in the piece. (In fact, a recently-established digital station is using the Goodnight Kiwi animation at the end of its broadcasts each day, although the piece is mangled by being reformatted for widescreen.)
Anyway, on the off-chance that anyone is interested, the video is at http://tvnzondemand.co.nz/content/goodnight_kiwi/ondemand_video_skin – hopefully people from outside NZ can view it.
Remember, “It’s 11 o’clock. Do you know where your kids are?”
Very Nice Site.It was my pleasure to visit your Website. I am also very Website you enjoy the article.And I also have the feeling that it was really a pity that we didn’t meet each other earlier. Because the kindness and warmth in your Website can make me completely relaxed and happy. I hope that you will visit my blog too to see if you can have the same feelinghttp://www.buynikeshoes.com