Non-SSB sign-on/sign-off films?

[Stanislav]

(First of three sign-on/sign-off related threads.....)

Back when most stations actually left the air for a few hours each night, the s/on and s/off routines almost always included one of the many Star-Spangled Banner films (many of which, I recall, were military-oriented and probably provided to stations free of charge by the various branches); announcements of frequency, power, STL links, etc.; the old "Seal of Good Practice;" maybe a sermonette, etc. etc.

But there were also some non-SSB film features that were used pretty widely. Two that come to mind are "High Flight," with the shots of military jets accompanied by a recitation of the famous poem of the same name; and the "Indian Lord's Prayer," with the prayer recited on audio as a Native American performs it in sign language. I also recall occasionally seeing a station that eschewed the use of the SSB and instead had a film set to "America the Beautiful."

What are some other sign-on/off film features that were in wide use back in the day?

 

[Smittian]

I remember one of our local stations used a version of the SSB that was like a mini-history lesson. Many stations used that one, I beleive.

As I've posted on here in the past, the coolest sign-off I have ever seen was by Corpus Christi's KIII back in the late 80's-early 90's. They used Journey's "City By The Bay" (When the lights go down in the city.............) while showing various night-time scenes around Corpus Christi and the call letters K------I------I------I were superimposed one at a time on the screen. It ended with a shot of downtown CC, with it's lights glowing on Corpus Christi Bay. The voice/over would then come on saying "This is K-Triple-I, Corpus Christi, Texas, an affliliate of the ABC Television Network wishing you a good night."

 

[Ultimajock]

...one of my favourites was the one WMTV/15 Madison used during the mid-1980s; in fact, I have a copy of it on VHS, and I understand WMTV doesn't even have their copy of it anymore. It was of a film titled "Atmospheres" by a station engineer named James Higgins, and it was a series of shots of Madison area landscapes set to Ennio Morricone's hauntingly beautiful closing title theme to Days of Heaven...

 

[Matt]

In the 1960's and 70's, WRAL-TV 5 in Raleigh would sign off to the sounds of "Dixie", showing a sequence of pictures of state government buildings and restored homes in the Raleigh area.

It was the only station I ever knew that did not use the SSB to sign off at night.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[rwells2265]

KLRT-16 in Little Rock, Ark. back in the '80s had what appeared to be a regular sign-off, with the typical frequency/power boilerplate .... but right after giving that info, the announcer paused and said "Is that technical stuff, or what?"

Don't recall anything else about the sign-off, except for that (funny) remark. KLRT's promotion department was rather outside-the-box in its day.

--Russell

 

[Stanislav]

KLRT-16 in Little Rock, Ark. back in the '80s had what appeared to be a regular sign-off, with the typical frequency/power boilerplate .... but right after giving that info, the announcer paused and said "Is that technical stuff, or what?"

Don't recall anything else about the sign-off, except for that (funny) remark. KLRT's promotion department was rather outside-the-box in its day.

There are some KLRT clips on YouTube, promos and such, and it does appear like they took themselves considerably less seriously than most stations did.

 

[Tim L]

In collecting TV Guides from various places, I saw in a 1968 Southern Ohio edition that Independent WKTR-16 in Kettering (Dayton) listed "High Flight" as an actual program every day at sign-on and sign-off..

 

[jc]

in the 1980s I remember seeing WGNO TV-26 New Orleans (then Ind. now ABC) had various scenes of New Orleans think with a song Canon by Pachelbel in the background. Toward the end of the song they had signoff message I can't remember exactly

 

[DToTheJ]

I remember one of our local stations used a version of the SSB that was like a mini-history lesson. Many stations used that one, I beleive.

That would be "Flag Evolution", used by such stations as WTXF (WTAF) in Philadelphia, and the aforementioned WRAL in Raleigh. Channel 5 in New York, back when they were WNEW, used a close with local shots and the "Flag Evolution" song playing behind it.

btw The actual title to the Journey song is simply, "Lights".

 

[Davros2006]

I know the most obvious thing to say for "Non-SSB sign-on/sign-off films" would be to include every other national anthem in the world, so I'm not going in that direction (too obvious). However, I will ask was there ever a film that used "God Bless America"? I know the song has been popular at the start of Philadelphia Flyers games (and was performed live by Kate Smith on a few occasions in the '70s), ever since it was first heard at the Spectrum in 1969.

 

[newsmark]

When I worked in Sherman, Texas, in the early 80s, I found an old two-inch tape labeled "Sign off: That's What I Like About the South."

It was the Great American Trilogy (Dixie, Battle Hymn, Hush Little Baby), but not by Elvis. It was set to scenic sunsets that were not local.

Anyone know the origin of this signoff?

 

[Ultimajock]

When I worked in Sherman, Texas, in the early 80s, I found an old two-inch tape labeled "Sign off: That's What I Like About the South."

It was the Great American Trilogy (Dixie, Battle Hymn, Hush Little Baby), but not by Elvis. It was set to scenic sunsets that were not local.

Anyone know the origin of this signoff?

..."American Trilogy" was originally done by Mickey Newbury, so it could have been his version...

 

[RobertAnthony]

I know the most obvious thing to say for "Non-SSB sign-on/sign-off films" would be to include every other national anthem in the world, so I'm not going in that direction (too obvious). However, I will ask was there ever a film that used "God Bless America"? I know the song has been popular at the start of Philadelphia Flyers games (and was performed live by Kate Smith on a few occasions in the '70s), ever since it was first heard at the Spectrum in 1969.

Wonder if this would work?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hltnN4YzADU



It's from WTEN-10 in Albany, NY.

 

[raedizzle2008]

In the 1960's and 70's, WRAL-TV 5 in Raleigh would sign off to the sounds of "Dixie", showing a sequence of pictures of state government buildings and restored homes in the Raleigh area.

It was the only station I ever knew that did not use the SSB to sign off at night.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

I was born in 1971, so WRAL must have retired that "Dixie" sign-off thingy by the time I knew what a TV was, but my 1st remembrance of WRAL's signing off was about 1980, and they used an SSB film that featured many pictures depicting events in American history, in forward chronological order, from colonial times to the flag on the moon in 1969. It also had the anthem played instrumentally, but after the anthem had finished, the last few "stanzas" (notes) would repeat as more pics are shown, and throughout the SSB, the different flags used during our history (the dreaded "Rebel" flag, and the increasing number of stars on the official flag as time marched on). Some sign-off enthusiasts (as me) referred to that clip as the "Flag Evolution" SSB. You can easily find it posted on YouTube. WRAL used that piece till about 1996, when they used a "in-house" produced SSB, with many local pics of people in the Raleigh area participating in activities while the music was playing. Then a few years later the station dropped SSB's totally as they became truly 24/7/365.25. (They signed off every night till mid-80's, and then signed off Sunday nights and now no more)