Hey fellow old guys, I'm trying to recall the name of the little clip that TV stations used to play when they went off the air at night. (Yes young ones, there was a time when TV stations did not stay on the air all night! :D )

They usually showed it right before the national anthem and it was the one with the F-104 doing aerial manuvers and right at the end, the narrator said, "And I reached out, and touched the face of God." Does anyone recall the name of that poem?

Could it have been this one?

HIGH FLIGHT

By Pilot Officer John G. Magee Jr.

Oh! I have slipped the surely bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlight silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew -

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Sources compiled from Air Force History Support Office and U.S. Air Force Museum.

High Flight! And I found this on You tube. Thanks!

YouTube - HIGH FLIGHT-1960'S original

Hey fellow old guys, I'm trying to recall the name of the little clip that TV stations used to play when they went off the air at night. (Yes young ones, there was a time when TV stations did not stay on the air all night! :D )

You didn't mention for the "young ones" that all the stations (ABC, CBS, and NBC -- all three of them) went off the air each night.

Dave

Wow...remember that :D

You didn't mention for the "young ones" that all the stations (ABC, CBS, and NBC -- all three of them) went off the air each night.

Dave


Wow that brings back some memories....im not even that old and i remeber TV going off the air at night. Then Davey and Goliath in the mornings.

Yea, and if you got up early enough you got to watch "The Modern Farmer".

there are stations up this way that go off the air every night.. one of the Fargo stations just goes to a traffic camera on I94 right as it crossed over the Red River from Minnesota, and they show that live shot for about 5 hours every night. pretty entertaining stuff, i tells ya..

I remember when when we had only NBC and CBS, no ABC. On Saturday morning we got to watch the test pattern while waiting for the farm report to come on! Of course, this was all in black and white! Cartoon came on when the farm report was over!

we got to watch the test pattern while

woke up plent a night to that :yes:

http://ac4.yt-thm-a03.yimg.com/image/3b2894790a0a3e1e

and after the test pattern signs off, lots of white noise..... ;)

I remember the sign off.

We didn't need no remote cause we only had one channel back then..WDAF - Channel 4.

You didn't mention for the "young ones" that all the stations (ABC, CBS, and NBC -- all three of them) went off the air each night.

Dave
The part that needs to be emphasized--ALL three of them. No cable. Well, yeah, there was a cable...leading from the antenna on the roof of the house!

More TV Trivia:

Not so terribly far from here are the tallest (and the third-tallest) man-made structures in the USA. And unless someone knocks it down, the one is likely to stay the tallest--building it sparked a new height restriction from the FAA. The TV station was based out of Fargo, they had a broadcast tower built that is 2,063 feet high; another competing Fargo station (KXJB) built a similar tower but about one meter shorter--and then built it again twice more. After completion of the shorter tower the third time, the construction crew raised a 4-foot high flag pole on top just to show that they could have built the tallest tower...

The "shorter" tower was damaged by a military helicopter in '68; it fell over again in an ice storm in '97.

Gotta have a tall tower to reach the edge of the Wastelands...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVLY-TV_mast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KXJB_Tower





Who remembers:

"If this had been an actual emergency..."

and why February 20, 1971 is important?

http://ac4.yt-thm-a03.yimg.com/image/3b2894790a0a3e1e

and after the test pattern signs off, lots of white noise..... ;)

this is the one I remember most. Man, we even had to GET UP to change the channel!

This is the one I remember.:yes:

http://www.google.com/images?q=tbn:4t1DET3w2jVHCM::www1.istockphoto.com/file

Schurkey,
could this be what you were referring to in 1971?

February 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_20) - The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System) sends an erroneous warning; many radio stations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_station) just ignore it

http://ac4.yt-thm-a03.yimg.com/image/3b2894790a0a3e1e

and after the test pattern signs off, lots of white noise..... ;)

We had channels 5,7 and 9 sometimes 2!:)

Schurkey,
could this be what you were referring to in 1971?

February 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_20) - The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System) sends an erroneous warning; many radio stations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_station) just ignore it

I remember the day that happened. I remember listening to WRKO out of Boston when the actual alert was played. If I remember correctly it was a Saturday. Funny what sticks in your mind.

... and why February 20, 1971 is important?

from: http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1971/february_20_1971_140128.html

February 20, 1971 in History

National Emergency Center erroneously orders U.S. radio and TV stations to go off the air. Mistake wasn't resolved for 30 minutes

I can remember back when we bought a converter box to pull in uhf channels...had a loop made out of a coat hanger bolted on the back...could turn a dial to change position of coat hanger for best reception...actualy i remember back in the fifties, we had a television, the only one in our neighborhood....my dad would turn it around to face out the window of our apt...nieghbors would come out on friday nights with their lawn chairs to watch the "Gillette Cavalcade of Sports live fights from Madison Square Gardens.....screen might have been 12 " big, so everybody leaned in close to watch...us kids just hooted at the guys all hunched forward drinking Falstaff and watching the fights...announcer had a mike that let down from the ceiling...looked as big as a big block piston...that's been a while ago.....man i'm getting old:sad:

That was back in the day. I myself as a kid was the REMOTE CONTROL..l:)"SON PUT THE TV ON CHANNEL 5" .... dads

The national anthem was always twice as loud as the show that you had fallen asleep watching,

How about the air raid siren that would go off for five minutes at noon evety Saturday. Around here, every elementary school had one. I remember hearing it recently in another town, might have been during the drag races in Sturgis last summer. Where ever it was, I had to explain it to my 8 year old.

I'm no expert, but isn't that plane an F105 Starfighter?

http://ac4.yt-thm-a03.yimg.com/image/3b2894790a0a3e1e

and after the test pattern signs off, lots of white noise..... ;)

We called that "ant fights". :D
BillL

That was back in the day. I myself as a kid was the REMOTE CONTROL..l:)"SON PUT THE TV ON CHANNEL 5" .... dads

Same here. Forunately, there were six of us kids so we took turns.

Anyone ever have aluminum foil on their rabbit ears?

Anyone ever have aluminum foil on their rabbit ears?

No, but I remember my dad wrapped about a 1 1/2 inch wide section of aluminum foil around the lead in wire and would slide that up and down till he got the best reception. Talk about "high tech" ;) .

The part that needs to be emphasized--ALL three of them. No cable. Well, yeah, there was a cable...leading from the antenna on the roof of the house!

More TV Trivia:

Not so terribly far from here are the tallest (and the third-tallest) man-made structures in the USA. And unless someone knocks it down, the one is likely to stay the tallest--building it sparked a new height restriction from the FAA. The TV station was based out of Fargo, they had a broadcast tower built that is 2,063 feet high; another competing Fargo station (KXJB) built a similar tower but about one meter shorter--and then built it again twice more. After completion of the shorter tower the third time, the construction crew raised a 4-foot high flag pole on top just to show that they could have built the tallest tower...

The "shorter" tower was damaged by a military helicopter in '68; it fell over again in an ice storm in '97.

Gotta have a tall tower to reach the edge of the Wastelands...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVLY-TV_mast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KXJB_Tower





Who remembers:

"If this had been an actual emergency..."

and why February 20, 1971 is important?

hey- i get signals off those towers. .well, i did until i got the cable tv hooked up..

No, but I remember my dad wrapped about a 1 1/2 inch wide section of aluminum foil around the lead in wire and would slide that up and down till he got the best reception. Talk about "high tech" ;) .

When HBO first came out, you recieved it with a special antenna. One of my best friends dad had made his own out of saucer sized tobacco tin, 36" brass rod with metal rings around it spaced every so many inches along it's length and a homemade printed circuit board. He worked as a civlian contractor, designing electronic weapons guidance systems for the Air Force (Nellis AFB). Paranoia had it mounted in their attic, pointing out a 3" hole in the gable.

I grew up on the extreme outskirts of Las Vegas. We got the 3 big networks and a local independent that became a Fox affiliate. Cable started reaching my neighborhood my senior year of high school. The above mentioned friend lived in the next development west, but it took a couple of years for cable TV to cross Rainbow Blvd. You'd be surprised how pissed off those residents became after repeated delays. City Council and County Commission meetings, as well as, nightly news were all monopolized with citizens complaining, "I want my MTV".

In '82 I moved to Phoenix to go to UTI. Cable was in its infancy there also. They had some pay TV that came through UHF, but required a converter/scrambler box to watch. By grasping the existing VHF antenna, one of my room mates, Bert, and only Bert, could get the nudey channel to come in crystal clear. No volume, but, what the hey, it's a nudey channel. He'd stand, fidget, sit, lean, for hours, holding on to the antenna. We got our BTV.

That was back in the day. I myself as a kid was the REMOTE CONTROL..l:)"SON PUT THE TV ON CHANNEL 5" .... dads

Same here, but then a neighbor that learned to repair TV's by mail order courses gave my grandpa a contraption that fit over the chanel changer and fastened to the TV with two wood screws. A cord ran from it to a box with 1 button, which when pushed changed the channel! It quit working afer a few months of us kids abusing it though!
Anyone else ever see one of those contraptions???:)

I'm no expert, but isn't that plane an F105 Starfighter?

F-104 Starfighter. The F-105 Thunderchief was the fighter-bomber made famous as the "Thud", that carried the USAF war to North Vietnam in the mid to late 60's.

Schurkey,
could this be what you were referring to in 1971?

February 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_20) - The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System) sends an erroneous warning; many radio stations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_station) just ignore it

from: http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1971/february_20_1971_140128.html

February 20, 1971 in History

National Emergency Center erroneously orders U.S. radio and TV stations to go off the air. Mistake wasn't resolved for 30 minutes
DING! DING! DING! We HAVE some WINNERS.

I hereby send you each a Laurel; and Hardy handshake.

i think i remember when we didnt have tv-when we did get one, the tv repairman was a reg at the house-i lived to watch Flash Gordon
anyone remember super tv-i think it was out before HBO, used to steal the signal

We got four channels when I was a kid, networks plus PBS. No airplanes or poems, just a pic of a waving American flag and the anthem then the test pattern for about 30 seconds, then snow. We used to get one channel durring the day then all four at night, but my dad bought a roof mount antenna and amp from radio shack for some outlandish price and we got daytime reception. He was real happy when I got old enough to go on the roof and dink with the antenna while he watched for the best picture. I remember one year in the late 70s, we were watching one of the NFL conferance championships and the game went past its time slot, so they cut the game off and showed the movie Heidi, I thought my dad was going to throw that 9" Sony out the window he was so hot. When we finally got Cable someone tried to pass a local ordinance to block Mtv, not the nudie channel, just Mtv.

and while Heidi was starting he missed one of the biggest upsets in NFL History!:yes: