RE: WGBH-TV/WGBX-TV Sign-off(s)

["Larry A. Lovering" <lloverin@genuity.net>]

Didn't 'GBH use the Radetsky March as a sign-on theme in the early sixties?

-Larry


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> [mailto:owner-boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org]On Behalf Of Peter
> George
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 3:02 PM
> To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
> Subject: WGBH-TV/WGBX-TV Sign-off(s)
> 
> 
> Greetings:
>      If you say that either David Ives or William
> Pierce was the voice(s) of the WGBH/WGBX sign-on/off,
> you are equally correct.
>      Originally (from 1968 to 1972) WGBH-TV (not
> WGBX/44) would sign-on after 30 minutes of
> test-pattern and tone and then run a pre-recorded
> mission statement/sign-on (in glorious color) with
> William Pierce as the voice.  Originally, WGBH had a
> loose confederation of colleges and universities
> making up "The Lowell Institute Co-Operative
> Broadcasting Council".  Mr. Pierce would give a brief
> history of the station and would eventually read the
> names of the Lowell Institute members with a
> harpsichord selection as the musical background with a
> colorful calydoscope of lights with the Lowell
> Institute logo inside of the lights.  It was fantastic
> especially if you brought the color level on your TV
> set, full strength. (Both WGBH and WGBX switched to
> color in 1967.)  They ran this until 1972.
>      WGBX-TV would simply turn on the transmitter with
> a test tone with a moving clock.  Eventually they
> would use colorful slides for minutes at a time. 
> Channel 44 was the poor step-child of WGBH for many
> years.  Only now over the past 15 years have they done
> something to differentiate 44 from 2.  Today it is
> known as "'GBH Select/44".  (Originally, Channel 44
> was a commercial allocation (WJDW-TV).  Channel 68
> (well before WQTV) was the original non-commercial
> allocation.)      
>      Then they changed the sign-on/off in the summer
> of 1972 with David O. Ives (the boss at the time)
> reading the updated mission statement including the
> mention of WGBH-TV, WGBX-TV, WGBY-TV (Springfield) and
> WGBH-FM.  This would be run until the late 1980's. 
> The idea was to be able to use this recording on both
> WGBH/2 and WGBX/44.  Depending on which station you
> watched, the announcer of the day would read the
> proper sign-on/off insert which went like.....
>      "This is WGBH-TV Channel 2 Boston, signing-on
> from our control room and studios at 125 Western
> Avenue Boston......... (you know the rest)".
>      Since both WGBH and WGBX are now 24 hours a day,
> the mission statement is rarely heard anymore.       
> 
> =====
> Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
> Whitman, Massachusetts
>                            "Scanning the bands since 1967"
> radiojunkie1@yahoo.com
> radiojunkie3@yahoo.com
> ***********************************************************
> 
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