End of and era....

[compucat]

The stations here in Hampton Roads Virginia just went off. WTKR channel 3 switched off right before Letterman was to begin. None of the stations did a sign off. They just disappeared with no reverence for a system that brought us information and entertainment our entire lives. We are in the digital age now whether we like it or not.


(Sing to the tune of the NBC chimes) We Are Screwed.

[bgadow]

Thought I should chime in, if a little late. Friday was a very busy day for me, but I really wanted to do something with the switchover. I had a few minutes in the morning so I pulled out the old set I keep in the office-a 12" bw Philco from the 60s. Bought that thing at a yard sale 15 years ago for a dollar. It gets drug out every few years-I watched the Clinton/Lewinsky testimony on it, I watched 911 unfold. So Friday morning I watched a couple minutes of daytime TV and snapped a few pictures-this was of the only local station left on analog. (also the only thing you can pick up here with a set-top antenna)

It wasn't until about 9:30 that night that I had time to switch a TV back on. (Well, my wife was in the back watching digital) Much to my dismay, the local station (WBOC) had already flipped the switch! (this is the one which I had earlier mentioned, with an online schedule which continued on into Saturday) So, I quickly switched over to my outdoor antenna to find: nothing left from Baltimore; 3 DC stations were coming in. Pioneer broadcasters WRC-4 & WTTG-5 (the former being NBC owned, the latter being an old DuMont flagship) were running the same DTV endless-loop. The Maryland Public Broadcasting station from Annapolis had it, too. I found only one station airing "real" programming-the Spanish language station from DC. They even had a countdown clock, and were talking about it on the 11pm news.

I could almost pick up WGAL-8 from Lancaster-I kept tweaking the antenna but just couldn't get a watchable signal. It looked like, from what I could see, they were airing something besides the same old continous loop.

At that point I was tired and just said the heck with it. WRC & WTTG will be running the loop for another month, so I'll tune in again then. Otherwise, it wasn't worth my time to stay up until midnight. Sandy G said it-with a whimper, not a bang.

One other thing: Saturday I was talking to a TV repairman I know. He said he was swamped Friday, installing converter boxes. Hooked 'em up as fast as he could all day. He charged $50 labor for each service call. Good for him!

[Chucklbunny]

it is a sad day...analog is no more.


I swear I miss the old test pattern of days gone by......no more national anthem at 1am......that warm fuzzy feeling of watching your favourite show in B/W at nite is gone.

[Boobtubeman]

Yep... Those 5am sign ons and spending the next hour aligning my tv sets..

Steve

[yagosaga]

Hello,

in these days too, the last German analogue television transmitter of the public teleivison service was switched off. See a video from the last regular PAL colour tv transmission in Germany:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8PM4qR3uUg

Kind regards,
Eckhard