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ON TV (Station Sign-Off, 1981)

Here's the ending of the ON-TV presentation of the film "Avalanche Express" on WSNS Channel 44, followed by the station sign-off.

This aired on local Chicago TV early Thursday, May 21st 1981.

This clip aired on Thursday, May 21st 1981, and is included in the following categories:
  • 1980s
  • WSNS Channel 44
  • Station Sign-Offs
  • ON TV, Spectrum, Tele1st - Commercials & Related Clips

    Viewer Comments

    That's some snazzy music in the background there.
    Comment posted by Pete on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 12:29 AM

    Why would they give the number to call to become a subscriber? Wasn't the signal scrambled at that point?
    Comment posted by TeleFrank on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 9:04 AM

    I thought about that as well TeleFrank. I think they did that in case you were at a friend or family member's house and wanted it for your place.
    Comment posted by Pete on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 4:34 PM

    Maybe they unscrambled the signal at the end as well before throwing it back to TV44, so, anyone could have seen the number.
    Comment posted by afdave on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 5:44 PM

    I thought at this point ONTV was operating on WSNS 24 hours a day. Would anyone know at what time of the morning did this sign-off happen and when did ONTV go 24/7 on TV44?
    Comment posted by Tim on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 6:49 PM

    Note that the CHICAGO in the WSNS type is the same font as CHICAGO in the aforeposted (is that even a word:)?) AM CHICAGO clip. I know that's of little consequence to anybody but I thought it's postworthy
    Comment posted by GalagaFleetCommander on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 7:06 PM

    That would be from within the ITC Avant-Garde family of fonts. There was a difference, however: The "weight" of the font as used by "AM Chicago" was bold; this example was medium.
    Comment posted by W.B. on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 7:11 PM

    This sign-off occured at about 12:10am early Thursday.
    Comment posted by FuzzyMemories on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 8:24 PM

    ONTV went 24/7 in August 1982.
    Comment posted by Phantom on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 8:30 PM

    About the 24/7 didn't they run some "Public Service" shows unscrambled once in awhile to pretend they were serving the public? Which of course led to a whole bunch of organizations challenging their license with the FCC. And that went on for years and years.
    Comment posted by TeleFrank on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 4:32 PM

    Technically you're right. One hour of free programs five days a week from 6-7 AM. In a September 1982 article lamenting the end of free WSNS, Tribune critic Ron Alridge points out the loosening of rules by the FCC encouraged Channel 44 to expand ON TV's schedule. Given the Reagan administration FCC, the challenges probably failed.
    Comment posted by Phantom on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 5:09 PM

    Check out this video for some of the "Public Service" stuff that ran unscrambled.
    Comment posted by APM on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 8:01 PM

    I must admit. I knew someone who built their own descrambling box. It descrambled the video onto the tv screen but the audio came from a speaker on the descrambling box itself and not the tv.
    Comment posted by TomChiTV on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 4:53 PM

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    This clip has been viewed 1140 times.
    This clip debuted on FuzzyMemories.TV on Wednesday, July 28th 2010.



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