Grand Avenue by Mike Thompson for March 05, 2020

Saturday nights WCAU in Philly would be on until about 4 AM. I stayed up once when I was 18 to see a movie. That’s how I know.

Back in the early fifties in Los Angeles, the tv came on at 5 ( with the test pattern) and went off at ten.

Yep….I remember as a kid the handful of stations signed off at midnight with a test pattern (I think it was midnight. Obviously, I was already in bed, asleep). But for sure, I remember them coming back on the air at 6am on Saturday morning with cartoons. But first, they played The Star Spangled Banner with an image of a waving flag.

What is that moon phase called?

Yeah. That’s about right.

when was that? One minute after 11:59 pm, duh.

I discovered the USN’s Blue Angels this way.

The internet is ALWAYS open…

So that is why so many people don’t know the tune of the National Anthem?

That’s just a vicious rumor, next thing you’re gonna tell us is they displayed a test pattern.

A long time ago, when stations did sign off, a political candidate bought a few minutes of local tv on as many local stations as he could afford (there was no such thing as cable) right before midnight and ran his ad. At the end of the ad he ran the national anthem and then a test pattern. Thinking the broadcast day was done many turned their sets off, not staying up for the advert his opponent had purchased afterwards. (this was in the days of the Fairness Doctrine)

At morning startup farmers got the commodity quotes from the Grange’s Farm Report.

I remember those days when I was a kid.