WBTV Channel 3, Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off & Sign-On from Summer 1989

Combined sign-off and sign-on clips in one file. The two clips were recorded on different occasions during the summer of 1989. The sign-off is preceded by a WBTV News promo clip featuring Sarah James. The sign-off and sign-on clips features various clips of WBTV personalities both past and current at the time this clip was produced. The clip of the guy in front of an ancient weather map dates from the 1960s, judging from the skinny necktie the weatherman, Clyde "Cloudy" McLean, is wearing. The other weatherman featured is Mike McKay, who had a great late-night TV nostalgia show on WBTV in the 1970s called Those Were The Years. The cowboy with the guitar was Fred Kirby, who hosted the Little Rascals Club and other children's shows on Channel 3 for five decades. His sidekick, "Uncle Jim", was long-time WBTV personality Jim Patterson, who presided over the station's initial sign-on in 1949. Kirby, Patterson and McLean are no longer with us.

1970s WCCB-TV Channel 18,
Charlotte NC Sign-Off

I remember WCCB-TV using this very clip during the late 1970s, for I made an audio recording of their sign-off back in 1979. This particular video clip was recorded during either the spring or summer of 1989, for it is preceded by a promo for the sitcom Gimme A Break, starring the late Nell Carter. The National Anthem is performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Not surprisingly, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints produced the SSB film. Nowadays, WCCB-TV is known as Fox Charlotte.

WPCQ-TV 36 Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off from Fall 1988

Sign-off clip from Charlotte's NBC affilliate. From 1968 to 1978, Channel 36 was Charlotte's first independent UHF station, most of those years operating as WRET-TV (named for Ted Turner of TBS and CNN fame, who owned the station). At the time of this recording, Channel 36 was operating at a power output of 2,100,000 watts. The clip features a tour of the Channel 36 facilities, then is followed by the National Anthem and color bars. Channel 36's call letters are now WCNC-TV.

WPCQ-TV 36 Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off from Summer 1989

This Channel 36 sign-off clip was recorded several months after the 1988 clip above. By this time, Channel 36 had a new transmitter site and had boosted its output power to 5 million watts. The clip features scenes of Charlotteans at work and play accompanied by North Carolina native James Taylor's tune "Carolina In My Mind". Within a few months of this recording, Channel 36's call letters became WCNC-TV on September 3, 1989.

WJZY-TV 46, Belmont/Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off from Summer 1989

Definitely among the webmaster's favorite TV sign-off clips. It's a video montage of clips from classic TV shows, cartoons and old movies, a sampling of WJZY's typical programming during the late 1980s, accompanied by Jimmy Durante's tune "Good Night". Clips in this sign-off include some from Looney Tunes cartoons, The Three Stooges, The Abbott & Costello Show, and Leave It To Beaver, as well as some from classic old flicks.

WJZY-TV 46, Belmont/Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off from June 1993

By 1993, WJZY-TV was moving away from its former program line-up of cartoons, sitcoms and older movies and was featuring more recently-made movies. This sign-off feaures a original rock-music theme and clips of films starring the likes of Pee Wee Herman, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, Charles Bronson, Jim Henson's Muppets, and other Hollywood stars of the 1980s and early 1990s.

WTVI 42 Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off from 1988

Sign-off clip of the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County PBS station, which is independent from the University of North Carolina TV network. The clip begins with the closing credits for The MacNeil/Leher News Hour, then to the sign-off announcement featuring views of downtown Charlotte.

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: My "hats-off" to Matt Sittel of Belleview, Nebraska for contributing this clip. Matt is a radio and TV "Station I.D." enthusiast, and has a website with many hundreds of MP3 clips of station ID's from all over North America. Visit his site:

http://www.mcsittel.com/

WTVI 42 Charlotte, NC
Sign-Off from June 1993

This clip features various views of the WTVI facilities and ends with a shot of the skyline of downtown Charlotte before the carrier is abruptly cut. Cable TV viewers in the Charlotte area did not see the carrier cut, for WTVI had overnight programming for them. Unfortunately, the first several seconds is
missing from this recording