WIS-TV Channel 10, Columbia, SC
Sign-Off from Summer 1989

Among my top favorites of all my collection of TV station sign-off clips, for it features a rarely-seen but wonderful patriotic film with John Wayne narrating a poem entitled "You Ask Me Why I Love Her?" The clip starts with the closing credits of With This Ring, a religious program, then on to the sign-off announcement featuring only a WIS-TV logo graphic. This one was captured one Sunday night late at my home near Walkertown, North Carolina, about 200 miles from Columbia, which explains some of the fuzziness in the video.

WIS-TV Channel 10, Columbia SC,
Sign-On from 8 March 1993

Recorded the same morning as the WPDE-TV sign-off and sign-on clips posted below during a few days of R&R down in Cheraw, South Carolina. Starts with about a minute of color bars, then an "America the Beautiful" clip which features the Iwo Jima Memorial statue in Washington, DC, then the station ID announcement.

WPDE-TV Channel 15, Florence SC Sign-Off circa 1988

Sign-off clip of Florence's ABC affiliate contributed by Matt Sittel of Belleview, Nebraska. At the time he recorded this he was attending North Carolina State University in Raleigh, which explains the fuzzy video and static-ridden audio. Feature lots of scrawling word graphics and a few video clips of the station's programming at the time. It ends with the much-overused U.S. Air Force "Aim High America" SSB, then color bars.

WPDE-TV Channel 15, Florence SC Sign-Off and Sign-On March 1993

The Florence area's ABC affilliate's sign-off and sign-on combined into one clip. This was recorded Monday morning, 8 March 1993, during which time I was spending several days in Cheraw, South Carolina on a vacation, and made this recording from my motel room's cable TV line. The sign-off is preceded by a WPDE-Hardee's restaurant promo and a brief spot advertising the premiere of The Jerry Springer Show. Fans of the US Air Force's "Aim High America" SSB clip (which I am not) will love this clip, as it is featured twice here.

WSPA-TV Channel 7, Spartanburg SC
Sign-Off from Summer 1989

My apologies for the fuzziness in the recording, for it was a DX recording made at my home and the reception wasn't very good the night I taped it. The clip starts with the final few seconds of Eyewitness 7 News (since changed to News Channel 7), then to the sign-off, which features a tour of the WSPA-TV studios and facilities.

WCSC-TV Channel 5 Charleston, SC
Sign-Off from Summer 1989

Preceded by the tail-end of a late-night classic flick show called When Movies Were Movies, hosted by Mike Hyatt, who also does the sign-off announcement. The sign-off itself features video of the Charleston area, including the historic section of downtown. Also featured briefly are the two giant steel bridges over the Cooper River, which I had the privilege of driving on during a vacation with friends at Charleston a couple of years before this clip was recorded. Both bridges were replaced by a new eight-lane cable-stayed bridge in 2005, and as of this writing are still being demolished. The sign-off ends with a U.S. Navy SSB film, then some very brief color bars before the carrier is cut.

South Carolina ETV Network
Sign-Off from 19 October 1991

Features what appears to be computer-generated animation of the planet Earth, then to the SCETV logo and color bars, which has the date of this recording superimposed over them. Obviously this is a long-distance capture, for it is in black and white and is very unstable.

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/

South Carolina ETV Network
Sign-Off from 29 November 1998

Recorded while I was taking a few days vacation down in Cheraw, South Carolina during Thanksgiving weekend 1998. It is preceded by the tail-end of an airing of PBS's "Stargazer" program starring Jack Foley Horkheimer. This is one of the first sign-offs I've seen where the station's (or, in this instance, network's) web site is mentioned.

WOLO-TV Ch. 25, Columbia, SC
Sign-On from Autumn 1988

One morning in 1988 I managed to receive two of Columbia, South Carolina's UHF stations, WLTX-TV 19 (CBS) and WOLO-TV 25 (ABC). I wasn't able to get WLTX's sign-on (if they had one), but I was able to record the one of WOLO-TV 25. Sadly, I was very dissapointed with it, for it was only just a station I.D. clip with no mention of ownership or technical stats. The Star Spangled Banner clip that precedes it features video of the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, and the Iwo Jima Memorial as well as some World War II-vintage military footage.