KABC-TV 7 Los Angeles Sign-Off 1985-86

[@jmrus2007]

I love the way the GM of the station looks like he doesn't give a damn at the very end lol

[@FitnessConnect]

So many memories. As a child, I used to intentionally stay up until the sign off - just to see that High Flight and video after it. I swear i used to dream a hundred dreams and day dream about one day being a Pilot, Astronaut, someone who dared to go and do increadible darring things. Then I grew up and got a job. :-/

[@TimBoyd2012]

I used to stay up for the sign-off as well! As far as I know, none of our stations did High Flight or the Moog SSB. I missed out.

[@lucariothehero500]

Did you finally get your dream job? If not, i hope u do soon. Never give up on your dreams and may God bless you throughout your life 😁😊☺️👌

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@TimBoyd2012 I could not stay up for these, but sometimes would wake up in between sleep about the time the sign-off would begin while listening on a radio with television sound on analog television stations 2 through 13. Occasionally, I would find it on television when either my father or mother, both now no longer alive, would be watching after the late night movie on a Friday or Saturday night.

[@richartrod]

The music during the sign off message is "Forgotten Dreams" by Leroy Anderson.

[@cuttersboi08]

For those of you commenting on the GM's reaction or lack-there-of... this was back in the days when GM's were allowed to actually work for the station and not for their corporate entities. They would offer editorals or rebutals based on what they actually felt rather than pander to popular public opinion. It's also a time when they didnt hire actors to read a teleprompter but had reporters and journalist actually reporting the news.

[@TheRenard10]

The mid-80's, I was 7. Remembering where I was, I can picture me back then watching this clip. Why don't they have sign offs anymore? Also back then, it seems I would watch N joyable channels like this one, ABC. That music to "high flight" really soothes my noctural moods, ha ha ha. The national anthem in key of F major, I'm getting to hear more, it's been years since I've heard that one. I miss my elementary school years. Now more frequently, again I can check this clip out. I'm lucky.

[@gidzmobug2323]

Used to be that they only mentioned the AM side. Mentioning the FM side was not done previously.

[@TheRenard10]

After watching this clip, my half Hispanic-half black 33 year old boo & I, would get into our birthday suits, & we would hide the salami.

[@seanwilkinson3975]

TheRenard10 : LOL! Sounds like good times.

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@seanwilkinson3975Yeah, I could go along with the birthday suits, but not hiding salami.

[@belia1313]

When TV was TV and signed off at a decent time and not on 24/7 with ANNOYING INFOMERCIALS roaming the airwaves like today.......

[@sillygoose635]

Stop moaning and groaning.

[@alfonsogreen2722]

Those were the days

[@luisreyes1963]

I feel your pain...😢

[@sillygoose635]

@Goddard Bolt oh fuck off with your nonsense, we're better with that stuff.

[@warlaker]

I'm surprised the channel 7 editors didn't catch Severino's "ho hum" look at the very end of his spiel.

[@jasonburger3533]

Editorials were common on every major local news station in the 1970s and 1980s and 1990a. The editorials would usually first air after the last of the then-hour-long 6:00 p.m. newscasts and would repeat during the wee-hours-in-the-morning sign-off edition of news, that by the mid-1980s, replays of the 11:00 p.m. local news from the same evening had replaced locally produced late news sign-off editions, thereby sign-offs were shortened, then would lead into "High Flight" and the Moog synthesizer rendition of the American national anthem, then KABC-TV would be off the air through 6:00 a.m. weekdays and 7:00 a.m. weekend mornings. Nowadays, early-morning live local newscasts begin at 4:00 a.m. in the dark on weekday mornings and at 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. on weekend mornings and air for several hours on weekdays and weekends, with a lot more early morning local newscasts on weekday mornings. Additionally, KABC-AM radio is not called AM79, but 790 AM, since the late 1980s, and currently airs the first two hours of KABC-TV Eyewitness News This Morning, which is the 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. part of the initial 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. local newscasts.

[@wmbrown6]

A version of Leroy Anderson's "Forgotten Dreams" - albeit a different recording from Anderson's 1959 re-recording that was used by WABC-TV in New York for the close of Friday evening "Eyewitness News" editions through about 1977.

[@alyssamurray6306]

Jeff, you're right about that. Believe it or not, there were some TV stations that signed off in the '90s.

[@TimBoyd2012]

Alyssa Murray Some still do

[@lunithecreator3051]

'80s

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@TimBoyd2012Yes, that is right.

[@davidmatthewvinotjr8396]

2:07 Wording of the announcement puts this signoff at 1985. The Cap Cities-ABC merger didn’t go into effect until mid 1986, even though the affiliation swaps in Fresno (Labor Day Weekend) and The NC Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) (August) had already taken place.

[@davidmatthewvinotjr8396]

By the end of 1986, the announcement was changed. But my best guess says this is from 1985. Anything from 1986, is tricky to tell, but by the end of ‘86, the ownership wording was Capital Cities-ABC Inc

[@seanwilkinson3975]

The Star Synthesized Banner sounds trippy!

[@TimBoyd2012]

It's because it was done by a Moog synthesizer, which are famous for their trippiness.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

Mort Garson was the composer.

[@oholm09]

@@TimBoyd2012 nowadays they used digital synthesizers too

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@TimBoyd2012I like the trippiness of the Moog synthesizer and the imagery of that version of the national anthem and the close on the American flag, back when real patriotism was more in existence.

[@usaisnojoke]

Here is one for you: How many still have recordings of the SIGN ON???? When Channel 7 did the test patterns for a half hour playing Muzak style music instead of the normal test pattern tone?

[@TheRenard10]

I never learned to use a VCR yet.

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@TheRenard10The VCR first went on sale to the public in 1975 and survived a 1984 Supreme Court challenge and were most common in the 1980s and 1990s, but new VCRs are no longer manufactured.

[@erickpaolod.santos3719]

In the 70's KABC Sign off message using this music of The Gustav Holst Jupiter from the planets until in the 80's

[@wmbrown6]

The version of "Forgotten Dreams" (as heard over Dean Webber's sign-off here) that I remember, is the one on this link: watch?v=VMDMSQWgBQ0 This one was used by sister station WABC-TV in New York for the close of their Friday evening editions of "Eyewitness News" through 1977. As you can see, there are some differences in the recordings . . .

[@AlexLatex2]

Thanks for posting--I saw "High Flight" and the SSB-Moog quite a few times.

[@gidzmobug2323]

Alex Latex they used to only mention the AM station (Ray Briem's program) during the signoff.

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@gidzmobug2323KABC-AM 79, 790 since the 1990s, used to go off the air from 12:00 midnight to 5:00 a.m. until 1967. They hired Ray Briem for a talk show in that time slot. That began on July 4, 1967 and went through December 17, 1994. He had a big send-off. His show, like many KABC talk radio shows, were nationally syndicated from KABC talkradio in Los Angeles. They did mention the FM sister station as KLOS 95 1/2, which the station had its frequency at 95.5 FM and it played a modern rock format, now it plays a classic.rocknformat.

[@gidzmobug2323]

@@jasonburger3533 The TV signoff usually did not mention the FM side.

[@jasonburger3533]

​​@@gidzmobug2323That is true that they usually did not mention the FM music station on the KABC-TV sign-offs, which had been KLOS-FM, which had begun as KABC-FM, before becoming KLOS-FM in 1969. However, by the mid-1980s, certainly in this 1985 or 1986 sign-off, they began to mention both all-talk KABC-AM 790 and all-music KLOS-FM as well. In this case, they identified KLOS-FM as KLOS 95 1/2 FM, as there was a period that began around early 1984 in which instead of 95.5 FM, KLOS had been identified as 95 1/2 FM for their radio frequency, since 95.5 was the same as 95 1/2 and KLOS references returned to 95.5 FM before the end of the 1980s. KABC-TV Channel 7 sign-offs before 1984 or so did only reference the AM 79 KABC Talkradio station, but began to also reference the FM radio station, KLOS-FM, as done in this 1985 or 1986 sign-off. Both KABC-AM and KLOS-FM were located at the time at 3321 South La Cienega Boulevard, in a part of Los Angeles that was just east of the Culver City city limits. Those were old buildings that were eventually replaced with modern buildings in 1993. Since then both KABC-AM and KLOS-FM have separated from each other as for where their studios are located, but still remain corporately connected, although neither is owned by ABC, but instead Cumulus Media. KABC-TV at the time of this sign-off, had a long-time location at the ABC Television Center, as referenced in this 1985 or 1986 sign-off. The address had been 4151 Prospect Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027. In the year 2000, KABC-TV Channel 7 had modern studios built in suburban Glendale, with an address of 500 Curcle Seven Drive. That pays homage to the circle 7 symbol the station began using in 1962 and ever since. That is still their location for KABC-TV Channel 7 and their digital sub channels as well. Since the switching from analog to digital HD high-definition television signals were mandated in 2009, all the over-the-air television stations have added digital sub channels and KABC-TV Channel 7 has a few of those in addition to their main station. They all have websites. In 1985, that was the first year that television broadcasts were in stereo for the first time in the United States. That was a big deal back then and stereo-capable televisions had to be gotten in order to receive the stereo sound, otherwise broadcasts were still in monoaural sound. That was when all televisions had the big cathode ray picture tube. That is where the "tube" in KZbin originates, although in 2005, when KZbin had first been invented, flat-screen TVs had begun to enter the market, although tube televisions still dominated, while currently the flat screens dominate and smart TVs are very common, although a small number of tube televisions are still sold for tube television enthusiasts.

[@jasonburger3533]

​​@@gidzmobug2323Incidentally, on the AM radio station, KABC-AM 79, later 790, well-known attorney Gloria Allred had her own talk radio show from 1988 to 2003. In the late 1980s until it ended in 1994, she had been a frequent fill-in host for Ray Briem. On her own show, she was paired with former KBIG-FM radio disc jockey Mark Taylor. Gloria Allred also was a contributing regular on-air commentator at KABC-TV Channel 7 from the late 1980s through much of the 1990s, although her radio show on KABC Talkradio lasted longer, until 2003. Gloria Allred, at age 82, is still a lawyer in practice and is a frequent guest on locally-based KABC-AM talk shows. The radio station does not have many of those anymore, but "The John Phillips Show", weekdays at 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., is the only daily traditional radio talk show broadcast on that station that takes calls from the public. The longest host, Sunday morning host of an automobile program, former auto mechanic Leon Kaplan, who hosted "The Motorized World Of Leon Kaplan", from 1979 to 2023, just retired and was a recent guest on "The John Phillips Show" and discussed how he had come to do what became the longest-running radio talk show on KABC talkradio, a total of 44 years on the air. For a time during the 1980s and early 1990s, Leon Kaplan had an in-studio feature on their "Eyewitness News" programs at KABC-TV, when the radio station and television station with the same call letters, KABC and the sister radio station, KLOS, were owned by the ABC network. The radio stations were spun off from ABC network ownership in 2014. KABC-AM 790 stopped carrying the ABC radio news on the hour at that time and no longer were ABC newsradio radio personalities guests on KABC talkradio programs.

[@wmbrown6]

P.S. It should be noted that writer Leroy Anderson recorded two versions of "Forgotten Dreams," each one used by a different ABC O&O. Here, his 1954 recording was used; WABC, through 1977, used Anderson's 1959 redo.

[@elliottglassart4859]

This is from the '80s. Believe me. I used to watch the sign off editions on the networks and this sign off was in the early '80s. The stations in the '80s DID not run 24 hours a day. Not until the latter part of that decade.

[@fathimathliusha8674]

Elliott Glass Art

[@TimBoyd2012]

It was a life-long fascination for me. Still is.

[@sillygoose635]

@@fathimathliusha8674 we already knew this.

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@sillygoose635Well, this sign-off is from the mid-1980s and there are even later sign-offs for KABC-TV Channel 7 on KZbin from 1988 and 1989, which feature the golden circle 7 and golden KABC-TV LOS ANGELES station identification with the palm trees and a crescent moon to the lower right. That was their symbol in the late 1980s through 1990. Every newscast would open with the animated palm trees in motion as the xylophone played part of the theme from the 1967 movie, "Cool Hand Luke". They used the original theme from 1969 through 1991, an updated version from 1991 through 1995, and the updated version from 1995, which is still in use 28 years later, in 2023.

[@oscarflores1980]

THANKS 4 THE INFO I'M LOOKING 4. Tittle:Forgotten Dreams (1957) By:Leroy Anderson CD:Sleigh Ride: The Best Of Leroy Anderson (1:57)

[@oscarflores1980]

DOES ANYONE KNOW THAT INSTRUMENTAL SONG THAT WAS PLAYED WITH THE 7 LOGO? PLEASE LET ME KNOW. THANKS.

[@TheRenard10]

Oscar Flores Forgotten Dreams 💭🛌

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@TheRenard10Yes, the 1954 Leroy Anderson rendition of "Forgotten Dreams" accompanied the circle 7.

[@armandovaldivia3054]

Sometimes I wish some stations could sign off rather than showing infomercials

[@awsomegenius06]

Does anybody know whatever happened to Dean Webber after a long time? Is he still alive or did he die?

[@TheRenard10]

He passed away May 29, 2018, about 7 days shy of his 83rd birthday. He was a familiar face to Los Angeles CA as a former news anchor at KCOP 13. He appeared in Dirty Harry, and other movies and TV shows.

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@TheRenard10Thanks for the information.

[@josephD32]

@warlaker given what time this broadcast, it's doubtful that many people were watching it anyway, so much like the station GM, the editors probably didn't give a damn

[@keithleeuwen877]

Informative..... :)

[@rf11404]

Just watching this makes me sad and long for the days when this nation actually had patriotism. It just doesn't happen anymore....

[@TimBoyd2012]

+Christopher White Sure would!

[@Joe402]

It happens all the time you're just pining for glory days that never existed.

[@Jemalacane0]

Some people do have patriotism, people like me.

[@jamesottenbreit6104]

rf1140

[@roberthunt9430]

rf11404 I totally agree. I grew up in Huntington Beach and during the summer I watched this sign off among many others. Then grew up and joined the Navy. Retired from the Navy. Spent all the 80’s and 90’s in service to my country. I’d have served another 10 years but injuries during service and wartime didn’t allow me. I have traveled the world over. The United States of America is by far the greatest nation on earth and I was glad to serve my country and come out in several pieces, but a proud military retired guy.

[@17z483]

KCET 28 Los Angeles Opening 2001-2002

[@jasonburger3533]

KCET-TV Channel 28 still signed off in the early 2000s.

[@TheDuMontNetwork]

I should do a GoAnimate remake of the sign-off soon, but the music for this sign-of was "Forgotten Dreams" by Leroy Anderson, the same Guy who did "Sleigh Ride", and it was the same song that 1560 WQEW in New York City signed off with Stan Martin announced the end of its 7-year run as New York's Popular Standards. That was in late December 1998 when it becomes Radio Disney.

[@sillygoose635]

please don't.

[@monkeeman1966]

No one who is pregnant would be home watching this editorial anyway. At least the young girls he is probably talking about. They are out at the bar drinking! lol. Great post!

[@jasonburger3533]

The editorial was a rebroadcast editorial from after their 6:00 p.m. news would end, back then it was an hour long, so the taped editorials would originally air just before 7:00 p.m. and "World News Tonight". After they shortened the 6:00 p.m. news to 30 minutes in the early 1990s, the editorials would air not right after the 6:00 p.m. news, but within the 5:00 p.m. weekday news. The vice-president and general manager would no longer do the editorials.

[@darla1970]

In the early 70s in L.A. ABC CBS and NBC would go off the air during the night. Like from 1-5am. This video is from the 70s I believe. Looks too old from the 80s and in the 80s tv was on all night.

[@fromrighttoleft8328]

Even in L.A. and NYC, TV stations didn't start airing all night until circa 1986 with the introduction of the Fox network, and the all-night trend didn't catch on quickly. (The exception may have been WWOR in NYC, which may have already been a sometimes-all-night station around 1979.) So yeah, it's completely believable that this KABC sign-off was from the 1980s.

[@usaisnojoke]

No, it is from the 80's. Len Beardsley was doing the voice over in the 70's.

[@TheRenard10]

Then in the late 80's, the late Roger Carroll also did the sign off.

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@fromrighttoleft8328It is a 1985 or 1986 sign-off. There are even later 1988 and 1989 sign-offs from KABC-TV on KZbin that feature their late 1980s on-screen station ID that included the animated Palm trees that would be in motion at the beginning of every newscast from late 1986 through 1990, so, yes, they still signed off through about 1990 or so.

[@fromrighttoleft8328]

@@jasonburger3533 Thanks!

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

Not a bad signoff, but Dean Webber went a little too fast. Len Beardsley's delivery has a nice and even pace. He gives a thought of the day message. A bit of trivia: The ABC Television Center used to be at 4151 Prospect Avenue in Los Angeles. (I think it's still there.)

[@TheRenard10]

Their studios are located n Glendale now.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

Obviously, they moved.

[@TheRenard10]

Dean Weber and Len Beardsley are missed. ☗☗⚘⚘

[@richartrod]

Disney still owns the studio lot, now known as The Prospect Studios. The current KABC-TV studio in Glendale, on Circle Seven Drive, is called the ABC7 Broadcast Center and is part of Disney's Glendale facility.

[@armorybrunotjr.3204]

@@richartrod Thank you.

[@lunithecreator3051]

6:04 it goes weird

[@kidsuper397]

LMAO

[@Thunderbirds501]

Tape glitch.

[@CelesteKTheNewWaveRevue]

5:41 What does that mean?

[@gidzmobug2323]

Celeste K what does what mean?

[@CelesteKTheNewWaveRevue]

THE PILOT WHO HAD EVERYTHING. What does that mean?

[@gidzmobug2323]

Celeste K good question. Might be a movie of some sort.

[@TimBoyd2012]

I was going to say a poem, but your answer was good.

[@bwc1976]

Something out of an Air Force training film, I'm guessing?

[@Pimp-Master]

Wow, nearly every image in the closing presentation involves war, hmmmm....

[@luisreyes1963]

The good ol' days of the Reagan Administration & it's rampant defense spending.

[@TheLAKERSareGodsTeam]

As opposed to what we have after the Obama recession; rampant homelessness

[@jasonburger3533]

​@@luisreyes1963That sign-off portion that included High Flight and the Moog synthesizer national anthem and its imagery began airing in the 1970s and aired through many previous presidential administrations before the Reagan administration and was in what turned out to be the latter part of the Cold War era.

[@dariowiter3078]

To the guy who upload this video, it's "Pacoima," not "Pocoima."

[@ThatGuyWhoLovesMeTV]

4:13

[@thetrustybutterknifean80sa19]

Rad

[@jamesottenbreit6104]

W///2

[@tyreeharrellwright8998]

kabc abc 7 owned by o&o

[@BLMT-df4on]

5:19