KCRA Channel 3 Sacramento sign-off 1986

Рет қаралды 63,511

17 жыл бұрын

KCRA was on the air 24 hours a day, with a straight feed of the CNN Headline News channel filling out the later hours, except for Sunday nights when they'd sign off with this at 12:30 AM. By 1987 they finally put in Headline News Sunday nights as well and were full 24-hours.
This includes one of two versions I've seen of the "High Flight" poem with Air Force footage, followed by "Bluebird Of Happiness" which might have looked a lot nicer if the film they used wasn't so grainy and dirty.
The tape this was recorded on ran out right at the end of the sign-off, so you don't get to see what happened afterwards- most of the time the screen would go white, with the station logo at the bottom and the signal would stay on with silence til sign-on time. Since 2000 KCRA has stuck its logo on the screen during all non-NBC programming, so essentially they are just a big test pattern now, at least til June '09 when the analog station finally goes off the air.
This is recorded from a stereo broadcast; it was common at the time for stations to run all mono material through a fake stereo processor, often with annoying results.
**UPDATE! It seems that KZfaq is now playing this clip in STEREO, at least if you have your preferences set to default to High Quality! If you have the ability to play just the left and the right channels separately, switch back and forth and try to hear how the station's "stereo processor" worked!
I've got another recording of this which does include the final fade-out and a few seconds of the white screen that ran the rest of the night, I'll try to get that up soon.

Пікірлер: 84

@Ronbo710 12 жыл бұрын

AWESOME!! I grew up in Manteca just south and I always found these cool sign offs spooky lol. Back when there were only three stations in the Valley :).

@shehanum 3 жыл бұрын

Hell yes! Freaking me out watching it now! It was like the world was ending.

@syn707 5 жыл бұрын

I used to love staying up to see this. I was young, didn’t fully understand...but realized there was a remarkable beauty in the poem and the Song. Talk about memories...thank you! Thank you!

@listen2100 10 жыл бұрын

This poem always makes me think of my Mom.She would recite it whenever we would see this....Love and Miss you dearly Mom...

@SDGamer638 3 жыл бұрын

A little history behind this sign-off sequence...variations of this have aired throughout the 65 years that KCRA has been on the air as a television station. It is in two parts-Part One is a visualization of the famous sonnet “High Flight” (paying tribute to the spirit of flight), and Part Two the inspirationally influenced “Bluebird of Happiness”. One version I have seen (at least the “High Flight” portion) dates back to the late 1950s (this version is elsewhere on KZfaq), and is a more dramatic and fully orchestrated rendition than the one you see here (the late 1970s version with William Conrad, shown here in edited form). The second portion, “Bluebird of Happiness”, looks to be filmed with KCRA cameras, and may date back to around 1964 when KCRA became a full-color station. It utilizes, as its soundtrack, a stereo version recorded by the late, great Jan Peerce around the early 1960s (and obviously presented here in mono). The final sign-off disclaimer follows. The disclaimer presented here dates to around the early 1980s and features narration by one of KCRA’s staff announcers, Jim Barber, who occasionally appeared on the station’s newscast as its substitute sports anchor. Prior to this, the disclaimer had a number of variations, one featuring a slide of a hand holding a plug (implying someone unplugging the power, indicating in this case the end of a broadcast day), another featuring a sequence of eyes beginning to close (also implying the end of a broadcast day). The lengthy sign-off sequence last aired on a regular basis around the end of the ‘80s when KCRA went 24 hours daily, rather than signing off one day a week. Rarely does KCRA have to sign off for any reason these days, but this sign off film still airs occasionally when it does.

@user-uy2vj5xe8l 8 ай бұрын

Now owned by Hearst broadcasting

@scuppino 17 жыл бұрын

this was a nice treat. I remember this sign off well. used to be, all the channels had sign offs. A different time. A different Sacramento.

@gladfan1989 3 жыл бұрын

Loved these sign offs growing up in Sacramento.

@impact66 12 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for this. I grew up in sacramento and stayed up just to watch high flight. It brought chills then and still does now. So many memories of a great time in my life.

@gladfan1989 6 жыл бұрын

As did I on school breaks and holidays. Sweet childhood memories.

@Discontinuedddddd Жыл бұрын

KCRA has always been an NBC affiliate, and until 1999, a Kelly Broadcasting Company O&O (now a Hearst affiliate). I'm still glad they're here as of today. Unlike most of the TV stations that played the national anthem, KCRA end its day with High Flight and Bluebird of Happiness. No national anthem at that point. KCRA is still one of the most important TV stations out there, and they mean business. Without it, how are we going to watch TV in Sacramento? As a person from that city, I like what they do for us: inform, educate, and entertain. There are no limits.

@TheMediaHoarder Жыл бұрын

KCRA and NBC are garbage now. NBC was the best network but they killed their legacy when they became the first of the big 3 to use a logo bug.

@goriajk 17 жыл бұрын

Thanks for bringing this on KZfaq. To me, NBC stations signing off were always the best...KNBC 4 was clearly my favorite of all signoffs - Channel 4 had the longest signoffs (almost ten minutes long) with the Navy Hymn set to visions of the open sea (I hope someone has a copy of that and share it on this site) The Jan Peerce classic song "Bluebird of Happiness" just makes this one of the best signoffs I've ever seen. It's perfect. JG

@gidzmobug2323 Жыл бұрын

There are a few KNBC sign-offs available on KZfaq.

@spershall 15 жыл бұрын

This is the longest sign-off I've ever seen!

@spudwas 17 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this sign-off! I have been looking for this for years! THANKS

@PortPowerAZ 12 жыл бұрын

This got me to thinking of when my dad used to repair airplanes at McClellan AFB from the 70's until its decommissioning in the early 90's.. I would see this not soon after George Michael's Sports Machine, broadcast from WRC-TV until a few years ago, thanks to 24/7 sports news killed it..

@rclaughlin 6 жыл бұрын

Thank you for uploading this sign-off. To my knowledge, the video of "Bluebird of Happiness" is nowhere else on KZfaq.

@gladfan1989 6 жыл бұрын

Check out KCPQ's sign off from 1985, the same song is there with a different video package.

@facebook51ify 4 жыл бұрын

@@gladfan1989 It was the sign off from KCPQ channel 13 on March 4, 1984.

@johnnysama 3 жыл бұрын

A KCPQ signoff from 1996 also has the Bluebird of Happiness film.

@TheMediaHoarder 12 жыл бұрын

@PortPowerAZ Their Sunday late-night line-up consisted of Sports Machine at 11:30, At The Movies at 12:00, then sign-off, except for a while in 1986 they added "The New Candid Camera Show" at 12:30 which was actually from the 70s. They aired that most weeknights at 2:30 too. Many of those had the original "promotional consideration" tags at the end, which already looked quite old.

@Ronbo710 9 жыл бұрын

That is WIlliam Conrad ... for First Alert :).

@sanjuro66 6 жыл бұрын

This sign off helped me get to sleep during the wee hours of the morning.

@owadave 14 жыл бұрын

I have wanted to see this version of High Flight for decades. Thank you so much for posting this!

@g0thchik77 14 жыл бұрын

I remember seeing the beginning High Flight when I was a kid. It still spooks me to this day.

@akarpowicz 15 жыл бұрын

I used to stay up late to watch KCRA sign off just for Highflight and Bluebird of Happiness. But I saw an older version of highflight, which I prefer - not so much background music. Thanks for including Bluebird of Happiness. (We lived on the coast 120 miles south of Sacramento. We had a TV antenna on top of a 40 foot power pole. We would aim the antenna south and catch the signal reflecting off a hill. We got perfect reception from two Sacramento TV stations. The good old days...

@gidzmobug2323 7 жыл бұрын

akarpowicz there are several versions of High Flight on KZfaq. One of the local television stations here, KABC, used to run an older version at signoff.

@rclaughlin 6 жыл бұрын

The things people would do for good reception in the pre-cable, pre-satellite days.

@rclaughlin 6 жыл бұрын

The things people would do for good reception in the pre-cable, pre-satellite days.

@junoxtc 15 жыл бұрын

totally awesome! and rad ... ty for posting this .. i loved the music in the beginning part and the ending was classic too

@17z483 3 жыл бұрын

KCRA Mile 3 Sacramento Castlehaven Water Park, November 6, 1998

@MichaelRaymondTornadoStooge 15 жыл бұрын

KXAS-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX used a shorter version of that video as their sign off before going 24/7 in the late 90s.

@cllewis1 17 жыл бұрын

that's one heck of a tower!

@ApartmentKing66 4 жыл бұрын

You think it's impressive on TV, you should see it at the base. I've stood right next to it. It's very impressive. In fact, as you stand near the concrete slab the base stands on, look up the tower, and you'll swear the tower looks like it's going outwards over you. It's a surreal optical illusion.

@paintmn1 13 жыл бұрын

Even if you went to bed early... people would set there alarms just to get up and watch this.That's about all the exitement one could stand in those days.

@georgiepadilla4656 8 жыл бұрын

First song: Keith Mansfield - Trucking Company

@beraboman 7 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for identifying that. I am good at finding songs but I could NEVER find that one. Thanks again.

@PlayerFiveVids 5 жыл бұрын

Second Song: Keith Mansfield - Dawn Of Aquarius (Version B)

@sszushi 17 жыл бұрын

This brings back memories from the '70s when I sometimes watched "The Tonight Show" in its entirety, then kept the TV on to see what was next. Usually channel 3 just signed off at 1:00 am. Who filmed and produced the excellent Bluebird of Happiness "video" and where was the footage filmed? Now, the only clip that could top this is Kaity Tong delivering the channel 3 news. Kaity Tong was my teenage idol (I was the teenager, not Ms. Tong. :)) No homework was finished until I got my Kaity "fix".

@spudwas Жыл бұрын

Kristine Hanson for me.😉

@sszushi Жыл бұрын

@@spudwas Yes Kristine Hanson, Playboy's September 1974 playmate 'o the month. ☺♂

@boyhowdy666 17 жыл бұрын

I remember this vividly as a child who could never get to bed on time. This was always a bummer to see, because I knew a) I had to get up soon to go to school and b) I had to get up to change the channel if I wanted to watch anything. I was a really lazy kid.

@goldcylon 14 жыл бұрын

My dad used to work for the TV 40 back in the 50's, and Ice Land that just burned down.

@user-uy2vj5xe8l 8 ай бұрын

Sad that the McClellan and mathet air force bases closed

@RolloSmokes 17 жыл бұрын

What's the name of the traditional Irish song played in-between? I'd assume it must of had some tie-in to the Kelly family who owned KCRA back then...

@jasonnstegall Жыл бұрын

High Flight. Legendary. William Conrad. ALSO Legendary. BTW, who’s singing BOH? Nelson Eddy?

@chasebakerofthe209 7 ай бұрын

Jan Peerce

@RapIsDeadly 14 жыл бұрын

@akarpowicz Haha....I stayed up so many times myself and saw this. It was kind of memorizing

@spudwas 17 жыл бұрын

"Bluebird of Happiness" sung by Jan Peerce an opera singer.

@TJOPootertoot 17 жыл бұрын

It IS William "Cannon" Conrad! In fact, that's what it says onscreen when it starts.

@pernelldh 2 жыл бұрын

And he was the narrator for Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons too.

@504nlb 2 жыл бұрын

Join us again tomorrow morning, and we wish you a good night.

@chasebakerofthe209 7 ай бұрын

I think this aired sometime before NBC changed its logo...?

@goriajk 17 жыл бұрын

MY 'NAVY HYMN' DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE. Please check out the KNBC 4 SignOff from 1981 here on KZfaq. Very grateful that Don had delivered this and thanks to eyeh8cbs for the KCRA too!!! Joe

@dynamo805 10 жыл бұрын

Can anyone help fill in this vague memory? I grew up in the Bay Area in the mid-1980s, and I remember KCRA boosted its signal strength to be picked up cleanly in the South Bay (where I grew up) through an antanae. I also vaguely remember looking at a ad to that effect in a 49ers program. What was the deal with that- why did they start, why did they stop and when did it happen?

@CYBERVISIONSdotCom 7 жыл бұрын

I think that was about the time they built the broadcast antenna towers in Walnut Grove; those damn things are 2000' tall, and close enough to the Bay area that it'd be easy to boost the signal to get it to Fairfield, and into the Bay area. Those things really allowed them to increase their signal and viewership with it to compete with the SF stations. As for why it stopped? Not positive, but best guess would be Cable TV if you think about the timeframe you're referring to. The towers still exist of course, but they've got mounted MW transmitters on them now, and Sat equipment.

@ApartmentKing66 4 жыл бұрын

@@CYBERVISIONSdotCom The signal didn't need "boosting" to get to Fairfield. We watched Channel 3 in the 70s in Fairfield with no problem whatsoever, and that was off the 1,549' original tower. With 100,000 watts of video power at over 1,500 feet off the ground, they had no problem reaching anything between the Sierra and the Coast Ranges for at least 50 miles up and down the valley.

@columbusmediatalk 17 жыл бұрын

Does anybody know the name of the music they play during the first 16 seconds of the video?

@jareddicarlo7816 6 жыл бұрын

Trucking Company by Keith Mansfield

@ums07 13 жыл бұрын

Where can I get a copy of this?

@murielsartre 17 жыл бұрын

The guy reciting sounds like William Conrad!

@jareddicarlo7816 6 жыл бұрын

Maybe because it IS William Conrad!

@groucho1953 12 жыл бұрын

@columbusmediatalk If you are talking about the ABC signoff it's called JUPITER from "THE PLANET"S. My brother told me this he works at Griffin observatory. I like that music too.

@Ronbo710 11 жыл бұрын

It sounds like a lot of the Military Promo video themes of the age. That is what I believe the original video (pre- voiceover) to be. Could be wrong though.

@MarkMichaelSalin 15 жыл бұрын

Who owns the Walnut Grove tower? KCRA-TV3 or KRBK-TV31 or both?

@gladfan1989 6 жыл бұрын

It might be an effort of both stations.

@joerouse7908 2 жыл бұрын

Hearst, the owner of KCRA

@bradhasbrouck 17 жыл бұрын

I think KBJR used that film back in the late 1970's and 1980's.

@kavalkid1 6 жыл бұрын

@tanthiennguyen6101 4 жыл бұрын

Why Not Let me Happy............?

@Reubenhubert 15 жыл бұрын

That was a really long sign off. In Cleveland, Ohio I remember High Flight followed by the National Anthem. Not long at all.

@Murple333 17 жыл бұрын

Heh... I remember when TV went off the air at night. Seems that the first Iraq War put an end to that, first with all night news coverage... then when they realized they could make ad money at night, the all night news was replaced with stuff like reruns of Magnum PI and MASH, and now there's new programs almost all day and night on broadcast TV. Some sation in the DC area also used this signoff video.

@gidzmobug2323 7 жыл бұрын

Murple the Murple All-night news coverage was happening before the Iraq War. CBS had an all-night news program in the early 1980s.

@kcthatsawinner 15 жыл бұрын

Here's something for KZfaqrs to think about: John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s 'High Flight' was printed on September 5, 1941. KCRA 3 signed on the week of September 5, 1955 as Sacramento's first TV station. And that's tonight's KZfaq fact of the day!

@ApartmentKing66 5 жыл бұрын

You'd do well to do your homework if you're going to try to come off as a trivia king, Fred. Your "KZfaq fact of the day" is wrong. KCRA-TV was, and still is, Sacramento's 3rd TV station, not first. Once on the air, they legitimately began claiming a lot of "firsts" because they could as that was the kind of owner Ewing "Gene" Kelly was: he poured a lot of KCRA's considerable profit margin back into the station, then sons Bob and Jon after him, but their original sign-on date (September 3, 1955) was not one of those firsts.

@CYBERVISIONSdotCom 7 жыл бұрын

The original "High Flight" that KCRA used to play in the '70's and early '80's was a lot better than this one. "Cannon" just didn't have that narrative voice like the original voiceover artist did in the original.

@ApartmentKing66 15 жыл бұрын

Kcthatsawinner, Your "KZfaq 'fact' of the day" is incorrect. KCRA-TV was NOT Sacramento's first TV station. It was actually the third, behind KBET Channel 10 (March '55), and KCCC Channel 40 (1953). KOVR Channel 13, while located (now) in West Sac, is actually a Stockton station. In fact, when 13 signed on in November '54, they did so from their E. Miner Ave. studios. Don't know when they moved operations to 1216 Arden; probably after moving their transmitter to the Walnut Grove tower.