This week’s pick is honestly really more than one. I noticed early in the morning along with a friend through IM’ing that there have been many analog shutoffs and signoffs that have been uploaded online. Being the big TV geek I am, I thought I’d try and see which one I thought was the best.
My absolute favorite so far is Georgia Public Broadcasting’s. As I mentioned in the previous analog-to-digital entry, it was done back in February. Unfortunately, thanks to the greedy folks over at Warner Music Group, the sound is not available. After the general manager of GPB mentions the fact that the nationwide required date had been moved from February to June and the reason why they decided to go along with the February date, the traditional signoff which hadn’t been seen in quite a while since going 24/7, with a video montage of places all around the state of Georgia (the Atlanta skyline, the Okefenokee swamp, etc.) with the classic Ray Charles rendition of “Georgia on My Mind” was shown. Very classy.
Two other favorites I’ve seen so far are from WRTV in Indianapolis (great clip montage), and KYW 3 in Philadelphia. With KYW’s, the original test pattern plays, which then fades into a slide with the word “Goodbye” under the CBS eye. It’s very sentimental and a good way to show off the end of an era.
It’s nice to see these stations use historical significance as well as sentiment and tradition for these signoffs. Fans of station logo histories will love signoffs like WOSU’s in Columbus, Ohio.
And again, it’s absolutely lame to see some of these stations do zip for the actual switch. For months and months this was touted as this huge deal and with some stations nothing period was done. Blah.
Analog TV signoffs are my online picks for this week! Find your favorites!
Showing posts with label dtv transition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dtv transition. Show all posts
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Goodbye Analog, Hello Digital
June 12th, 2009 marked a big day in the television industry, presumably the biggest since the transition from black and white to color. Stations across the country after decades have now stopped broadcasting in analog and now run digital only.
If I didn’t have cable right now, I’d probably be cheering at this moment. There are plenty of benefits with digital reception. All the years of struggling to get certain channels to come in with those bunny ears, and even missing out on shows because the reception is just too crappy, are now done and over with. Also, it’s really nice to have RTN and seeing Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, and the current primetime favorites in HD widescreen. I notice better picture and crisper sound even on an older TV set. It’s like watching the shows on DVD.
From a local perspective, it was interesting to see how the stations handled it here in the Atlanta metro. We had some good coverage from WSB and WXIA with a veteran personality on WSB and the original engineer from WXIA, but I give major props to the Fox affiliate here, WAGA. Not only did they have the original engineer who signed the station on in 1949 to appear to turn the analog signal off; but it was also very cool of them to get the original script used that first day in 1949 and read from it. I do hate how a few stations (WPCH, WGCL, and WATL) apparently did nothing for the actual switch. After this huge campaign, there was no logo or anything in sight with any of those stations before the sign-off. It was back in February, but Georgia Public Broadcasting did an amazing switch using the old traditional sign-off, with "Georgia on My Mind" playing.
After all the campaigning with the commercials, the crawls on the screen, and the news reports, the digital transition is finally done. Here’s to a brand-new era of television!
If I didn’t have cable right now, I’d probably be cheering at this moment. There are plenty of benefits with digital reception. All the years of struggling to get certain channels to come in with those bunny ears, and even missing out on shows because the reception is just too crappy, are now done and over with. Also, it’s really nice to have RTN and seeing Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Price Is Right, and the current primetime favorites in HD widescreen. I notice better picture and crisper sound even on an older TV set. It’s like watching the shows on DVD.
From a local perspective, it was interesting to see how the stations handled it here in the Atlanta metro. We had some good coverage from WSB and WXIA with a veteran personality on WSB and the original engineer from WXIA, but I give major props to the Fox affiliate here, WAGA. Not only did they have the original engineer who signed the station on in 1949 to appear to turn the analog signal off; but it was also very cool of them to get the original script used that first day in 1949 and read from it. I do hate how a few stations (WPCH, WGCL, and WATL) apparently did nothing for the actual switch. After this huge campaign, there was no logo or anything in sight with any of those stations before the sign-off. It was back in February, but Georgia Public Broadcasting did an amazing switch using the old traditional sign-off, with "Georgia on My Mind" playing.
After all the campaigning with the commercials, the crawls on the screen, and the news reports, the digital transition is finally done. Here’s to a brand-new era of television!
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