i'm a big media history buff. i love looking back at how radio and television has evolved over its lifetime. thanks to services like youtube, my curiosity continues to be piqued as i keep finding new and interesting clips to check out. in fact, i'm such a nerd that i often stay up way too late when i definitely should be sleeping watching and listening to vintage media clips.

anyone remember when television stations used to sign off at night?




(hbo signoff, 1979)

believe it or not, as we all know, television stations used to not be 24 hours! sadly, these days, i can't think of one TV station i know of that isn't on constantly any longer, even if it's just infomercials. i remember turning on PBS a few years back while i was channel surfing and watching their last night of them signing off. they kept talking about how they were going 24 hours the next day and how it was unprecedented for the station.




(WBZ sign-on and sign-off, 1990)

i wonder if sometimes we would have been better off if television had stayed that way. i feel that would be next to impossible to do these days, unfortunately. so many people are up so late that to sign most stations off would be a disservice to them. and even if TV stations did sign off, would it matter? there's the internet, and DVD's, and podcasting, and everything else. i suppose we're past a point where we can really go back to the way it was.




(OEPBS [oregon pbs] signoff, 1981)

(i'd have posted more boston signons and signoffs but they're all monopolized on youtube by this one guy who's disabled embedding. curses! if you're curious, just youtube "[station name] sign-off" and you'll find plenty.)




(WABC [new york] signoff, 1983)

as another total nerdy aside, check out the evolution of PBS. maybe it's because i'm trying to work hard for public media, but i've been doing a lot of research on the history of public media and this is what i stumbled across. makes me feel old ... which one do you first remember?