WCBS-TV Channel 2 Sign-Off
and Sign-On from 1977

Sign-off and sign-on of the CBS Network's flagship station combined in one clip.The clip begins with the closing graphic for The Late Late Show followed by a religious PSA. Then comes the Give Us This Day message delivered by a Los Angeles Rabbi. The live sign-off announcement follows with a mix-up of the slide graphics (presumably the person handling those was dozing a little bit), followed by the National Anthem film and about one minute of the black-and-white 1940s-vintage WCBS-TV test pattern. After this comes the sign-on (done with live announcer), which features a rather greenish-looking NAB Seal of Good Practice.

Cablevision Family Channel 10
(Long Island) Sign-Off
from 15 October 1978

A brief sign-off announcement (by Doug Keck) accompanied by a computer-gererated animated Cablevision graphic. Immediately following this is the "Cable Chuckles", jokes and riddles submitted by Long Island young people (though no one thought about it back in 1978, the posting of the kids' street addresses would probably not be considered a good idea today). After several of those comes the school lunch menus for Long Island local schools for Monday, 16 October 1978. The audio playing during the jokes and menus was from WYNY-FM 97.1, now WHQT "Hot 97".

WNBC-TV Channel 4 Sign-Off
from 22 March 1980

Another classic Big Apple clip, this time it's NBC's flagship station. It commences with a news report (joined in progress) delivered by legendary NBC announcer Don Pardo of Saturday Night Live and the original Jeopardy fame. After that comes a WNBC-TV Editorial by editorial director Joseph Michaels, which is folloed by several PSAs and a station ID by Don Pardo. Then it's the Sermonette, delivered by Fr. J. L. Tahaney of the Brooklyn Diocese. After three more PSAs, its the pre-recorded sign-off announced by Arthur Gary, featuring the 1965 NAB Seal of Good Practice, followed by the U.S. Army Band playing the SSB, then color bars. With no offense to the late Mr. Gary, I would have loved to have heard Don Pardo himself do the sign-off announcement!

WCBS-TV Channel 2
Sign-Off from 1981

My apologies for the rather poor quality of the clip. It starts off with a promo for Barnaby Jones weekday reruns. Then it's Give Us This Day (with a brief mix-up of audio clips at the start; it's the sound engineer cat-napping this time!), featuring the Reverend Ann Jones of New York City. The Seal of Good Practice featured in this clip is a variation of the final version the NAB unveiled the previous year.

WOR-TV Channel 9
(now WWOR-TV, Secaucus NJ)
Sign-On 6 March 1981

A 5 AM sign-on clip, recorded one cold and slushy late-winter morning in Manhattan in 1981. The sign-on announcement is delivered by Barbara Korsen, who would also do the newscast later in the clip. Afterwards, there's a brief Pledge of Allegiance film and the Mormon SSB film. This is followed by a sermonette delivered by Rev. Nicholas J. Capua of the St. Thomas Aquinas Church. Later that year WOR-TV would move its transmitter to the World Trade Center, and in 1986 would move its studios across the Hudson to its current location in Secaucus, New Jersey.

WABC-TV Channel 7
Sign-Off from 1983

It's time for the ABC Network's New York flagship station to sign-off now. But first, we have PSAs for the Salvation Army (with June Lockhart) and the Epilepsy Foundation, a station ID, and the Morning Message sermonetted by Rabbi Joseph Potasnik. The sign-off announcement follows, delivered live by Wally Parker, and is followed bt the U.S. Marine Corps Band performing the National Anthem as the U.S. Flag is being lowered. There's a few seconds of the WABC-TV color bars at the end.

WNET "Thirteen" (Newark NJ)
Sign-Off from 1984

Sign-off of the New York metro area's flagship station of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and produces a number of the network's programs. This 1984 clip is announced by Donna Drews and also mentions several chief staff members that handled the day's programming duties. The "N-E-T" in the call letters comes from the old National Educational Television network, the forerunner of PBS.

WNBC-TV Channel 4 Sign-Off from 23 June 1986

Another sign-off of the flagship NBC station. This one commences with two station IDs and a PSA about bicycling. Then there is a summary of the day's news and sports highlights and weather forecast delivered by Bill Wolff, who was the announcer heard introducing NBC's afternoon soap, Another World from 1964 to 1987. Next is the sign-off, announced by Fred Facey (the sermonette apparently has been axed by this time as well as the Seal of Good Practice). The SSB film is the same as that of the 1980 sign-off posted above. There's a few seconds of WNBC-TV's color bars at the close.

WNYC-TV 31 (now WPXN) Final Sign-Off from 30 June 1996

For 35 years (1961-1996) New York's Channel 31 was owned and operated by the City of New York itself. In 1996 the City sells its TV station to a partnership of Dow Jones and Company and ITT for $209 million. This clip, aired at 12 midnight, is the last that viewers would see of WNYC-TV as it would become WBIS-TV the next day. The final sign-off is a long credit roll of the names of the station's staff members. For more details about WNYC/WBIS/WPXN, visit this Wikipedia page.

WBIS-TV 31 (now WPXN) Final Sign-Off from July 1997

WBIS-TV 31 premiered on 1 July 1996 with a hybrid format of business news, sports programs and informercials. After only one year of this, Channel 31 was up for sale again. Paxson Communications would buy the station from Dow Jones/ITT for $225 million. Before Paxson took control, WBIS-TV signs off for the final time in the matter similar to that of WNYC-TV (above), but the station's staff had swelled greatly since that time. Can you find anyone that you might know listed in this mile-long credit roll?