The End of Analog Broadcast Television: June 12, 2009

[@NJRoadfan]

WCIU must have had the most hyped analog transmitter shutdown countdown ever. Most stations didn't celebrate with a special program, they just pulled the plug.

[@evelynsmith9690]

+NJRoadfan ikr thay don't take pride in there stasons and thay probly ben aroud from the 1930s!

[@HarmonicVector]

You should check WNBC sign off which paid a homage to the logos over the years ending with the Snake logo and a white Goodbye. Static followed.

[@DrewWalker]

My Dad was the host for this program. I called him yesterday and asked him about it. It was indeed hyped.

[@ShadeATV]

@@HarmonicVector it feels like an end of the world tape

[@MsJamiewoods]

Milwaukee stations WITI-TV 6 and WISN-TV 12 ran specials for their analog shutdowns.

[@emph66]

NTSC had a great run of about 70 years, can't complain about that.

[@RGC198]

They certainly had a great send off there. Many analogue TV channels here in Australia just shut off their transmitters without any prior announcements at all. Some viewers even phoned in thinking their TV had either suddenly developed a fault or the TV transmitter had broken down.

[@SigmaRho2922]

The country of Japan was unique in that is digital switchover, which took place on July 24 at noon, involved the use of blue information notices that were aired on the analog signal. The transmitters themselves signed off their analog signals at midnight the same day. Two special editions of the daily variety shows were produced that had a focus on the switchover, and both of them aired on affiliates of TBS and Fuji. NTV and NHK produced news specials instead. In Iwate, Miyagi,and Fukushima prefectures the switchover took place at the end of March 2012 due to delays caused by the damage suffered in the 2011 earthquake that affected the area.

[@RGC198]

@@SigmaRho2922 Hi Serenity, it is great to know that the Japan TV stations kept their viewers well informed. Here in Australia, apart from the 7 Network in the major cities, which aired special close down programmes, most other TV channels just switched off without any prior warning at around 9.00 am in the morning of the analogue close down dates. Incidentally, back in the analogue years, some TV enthusiasts in Japan were occasionally able to receive long distance TV from the Philippines, New Zealand and even Australia, when atmospheric conditions were in favour. All the best. Rob.

[@TheLifeOfKane]

Same happened in America, this channel was one of the few tha did a promotion

[@syxepop]

I do believe Seven was the one with the most proper send-offs, as I've seen on YT great endings for their Sidney, Melbourne and Brisbane stations.

[@RGC198]

@@syxepop Yes, BTQ 7 Brisbane, ATN 7 Sydney and HSV 7 Melbourne all had official send-off archival programmes before the analogue transmitters switched off.

[@CavemanCBB]

This was the beginning of the end of the days that I watched TV at all. There are no Digital stations in my area. Once and awhile when I go camping I can get digital TV on the set in my camper. But, as soon as the slightest gust of wind comes by it blocks up and quits working. I gave up on TV. Thankfully, I do have the internet. I wonder if that wasn't part of TV's collapse.

[@back2the80s]

digital sucks in my area. just a way to get people to pay for cable

[@ossd199]

No DTV Stations? In mexico a city called loreto has same problem so the population of like 20,000 people use internet or have cable or satellite tv.

[@SpookyFoxyMulder]

Where do you guys live? I'm in Victoria, Australia and we have over 25 free crisp HD channels. I am in a major city though.

[@ossd199]

@@SpookyFoxyMulder i live in los cabos mexico and i only have 2 dtv stations out of 7 dtv stations that can be catched on san jose del cabo. So i only catch TVMAR and Televisa aswell as 4 stations of radio(89.1 radiante fm, 96.3 cabomil, 99.1 iert bcs, 107.9 radio chureya).

[@pierresoorden5975]

Cable/satellite, IPTV, live streaming

[@bobskie321]

In the Philippines our analog TV is NTSC-M which means that analog TV from the U.S. works here but not digital. In digital we are using the Japanese ISDB-T not American ATSC which means you still need a converter box if you use an ATSC TV in the Philippines. It is part of our culture that a Filipino from abroad buy a lot of stuffs there and bring them back home including TV, VCR, etc. because it is cheaper there. We called them "balikbayan". A balikbayan box often contains random stuffs tightly packed inside.

[@TheVCRTimeMachine]

The weird thing is once TV reception quality improved I actually started watching less television.

[@cardboardboxification]

My flat screen 500 channels and aint nothing on.... I’ll stick to my 1956 zenith black and white playing twilight zone on dvd..

[@Galidorquest]

Back when the Willis Tower was still the *Sears* Tower... Good times...

[@ShadeATV]

No, this was 2009, not 2001

[@SRCVintageElectronics]

My dad used to have an old television from the 70's and he threw it out because they didn't have antenna anymore :(

[@ossd199]

You could have moved the antenna, used a VCR recorder and try to catch a tv low power A station.

[@mikesamra9126]

I personally think the analog signal had much more depth and realism just like vinyl records have over CDs..Digital is a process that loses in the translation back to analog so we can hear and view things.

[@tubetype9958]

Analog: IFHGDS[PIAFIJG[WSPEAIRFGJZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ **FUZZ* Digital: ................................. You: aNaLoG is bEtTeR

[@willtubes73]

@Melanie , So? Use that for televisions that can't pick it up well. Digital signal looks better, sounds better, so that's what I'm sticking with no matter what

[@willtubes73]

@Melanie , That's a real shame. I was planning on watching and carrying my 55 inch tv while jogging! I guess I'll be stuck with pixelation

[@willtubes73]

@Melanie , The picture sucks. I would literally rather have a better picture, then go ahead with worrying about those factors. It's inefficient, converting an analog signal to display on a modern TV. I would say analog would only be good for portable televisions, but with digital, why bother?

[@lazarusblackwell6988]

Analogue rules.

[@christopherhulse8385]

I still miss Analog today.

[@JoeFoerster]

It won't be too much longer that shows will be delivered via podcast-type streaming subscription. The idea of broadcast "channels" will be as archaic as horse and buggy.

[@SteveHolst]

Yet still some people cling to it.

[@TombstoneChris]

Joe Foerster They wont do it because believe it or not not everyone has access to streaming devices, nor can they afford them. So as long as people will pay for standard TV it will exist. I for one enjoy it I have shows that I like to watch and I like to watch them at the time they air.

[@JoeFoerster]

***** The Amish still drive horse and buggy too. ;-)

[@wigwagstudios2474]

why did i fucking cry

[@bls3746]

Here in the UK analogue TV ended in 2012. I remember my grandma and grandad used to have a CRT analogue TV and they had to get rid of it cos it didn’t accept digital signal lol. They got a HDTV instead

[@kenseabury1067]

At least one can still simulate an NTSC color signal on a Blonder Tongue modulator.

[@theawesomenerdz7891]

In my country (Vietnam), analog TVs still works flawlessly.

[@Happypumpkinboy]

The Awesome Nerdz is it still running?

[@TNOffical25]

I'm From Romania, Yet!

[@M3rtXray]

Same in Turkey. I love analog tvs!

[@mrflashport]

I love the commentary, "the FCC is taking back channels 52 through 69 to give it to public safety"...yeah we got the shaft. Because public safety got very little of 700.The majority of 700MHz now belongs to the telecom cartels, who's endless greed for every MHz of spectrum is like an insatiable hunger. Meanwhile, screw the public who always ends up paying the price. Now they want 600MHz. Pretty soon, if you want to use any RF, you will be paying one of these greedy monoliths per KB, per second, and per word to use it. Nice work FCC. Always working for "the public" interest.

[@ZombieRyushu]

+mrflashport This one one of two severe problems I had with that. They did this so the Telcos could have it, and what is worse, they let the Cable Providers encrypt the formerly Clear QAM stuff to where if you want cable, you have to have a box on every TV Regardless of whether it can do QAM or not.

[@jacobmcarthur2192]

They probably had to do the digital switchover because they didn't want stuff like the "Max Headroom Incident" happening again. Yet people still can hack into television signals (Example: Anonymous).

[@ZombieRyushu]

Jacob Mcarthur I have no idea what you are referring too.

[@snmthecloser]

Jesus bro there's people dying all over the world find something important to be so worked up about

[@leaks2055]

@@ZombieRyushu google it

[@thatonethattalksalot7656]

*the next day, these precious CRT TVs were out on curbside and dumpsters due to the take over of the digital world of HDTVs and digital everything!* 😭😭

[@kraig8812]

Digital sucks

[@MsPiktorina]

On Hungary, ch124.1 (which sends Szeged TV) has the lowest dtv signal at Szeged.

[@9852323]

I know they did it too soon such a waste

[@hoopsy]

its digital time baby

[@devicemodder]

to be picked up by tv collectors and retro gamers everywhere...

[@TombstoneChris]

The things that sucks is soon you will be required to have an HD TV. As they are going to end Standard Definition Broadcasts. I really enjoy your videos. I love the golden age of TV, I still use an old CRT TV myself. I am not into these Flat TVs Plasma or LCD. To me they are not made as well and are easier to break and or fail. Now I have a question. Is it possible to install an Digital Tuner into an old CRT TV? And I am not talking about the DTV box. I am talking about taking the back off and installing one directly to the circuit board and then drilling out a hole for to be able to connect a line to it?

[@ZombieRyushu]

+TombstoneChris It depends. I am curious if it would be possible to install direct RGB Taps into a CRT Television to get the cleanest signal possible. Typically this is done with video games.

[@Vortmite1]

I have an HD TV, I don't even watch analog when I was a kid! I was watching xfinity Now I got Xfinity X1 to make more quality

[@ZombieRyushu]

XFinity is just Comcast's name for Digital QAM Cable. Every Cable Co uses QAM now.

[@ki5aok]

I was reading about this ATSC 3.0 standard. It's basically over-the-air IPTV. Sucks it isn't compatible with ATSC 1.0/2.0.

[@MsJamiewoods]

Would have been neat to see the end of WCIU-TVs analog signal on that old color "roundie" set.

[@lazarusblackwell6988]

Thank you for this vid bro. I appreciate it a lot.

[@giragama]

Here in Mexico, the shutdown of the analog air signal was on December 31st of 2015, but even nowadays we still have an analog cable signal, so we can still using our old TVs without a decoder.

[@ossd199]

Hi, from la baja sur here, and im from los cabos. In the shutdown moment we had like 2 or 3 channels(?) because i dont clearly remember since i only watched channel 2 for news and channel 7 for cartoons. From 3 channels to 7 channels in Los Cabos. What a great inprovement😒😒

[@albertpintor3522]

In rural San Luis Potosi, everyone i know now has sky or dish because free broadcast TV is now pretty much non existent

[@syxepop]

@@ossd199 - most likely you've only got Canal 5 (now a shared frequency with Las Estrellas) after the analog shutoff. Probably a few more larger networks as well.

[@jefferyb304]

I'm glad we have 2 thru 22 as analog on our cable service. I curb sided a 2004 Zenith. New power cord and it works perfectly with a beautiful. I wish I could find Zenith models from the 80's and earlier.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Bring back analog TV! We always want analog TV stations forever!

[@WildDiamond07]

You can use a digital converter box with your old TV. It's not that hard.

[@Handobolo]

@@WildDiamond07 its about keeping the funk alive

[@Handobolo]

@@WildDiamond07 appreciation for older tech

[@WildDiamond07]

yeah

[@jeromeglick]

@@Handobolo Watch that funky TV, white boy...

[@Jflux69]

Glad to see a new video. Do you have anymore repair videos coming?

[@butcharmstrong9645]

Pardon the complete non-sequitur here but I was wondering what the significance of the flag behind the TVs was. I don't believe I've ever seen one like it before.

[@eastmolman]

This was on my 46th Birthday.

[@ThomasWoolum]

What happened to these old Analog TV Transmisstors?

[@CavemanCBB]

Transmitters... I wonder that too. Wouldn't it be great to find one in the trash and set up a illegal channel !

[@michaelhuynh8793]

Import to Philippines

[@Dr-Random]

@@CavemanCBB good idea! I would call it “Sneaky-TV” (Sarcasm, that’d get you in serious trouble.)

[@MsPiktorina]

12:10 swich off?

[@ogorekkiszony7236]

i want it back. so much better than digital.

[@lazarusblackwell6988]

The death of the analogue TV signaled the death of the society.

[@edstar83]

The last analogue tv station in Australia was switched off on Dec 2013. :(

[@marcioferreira7774]

In Brazil,the end of the analog transmisions begin in 2017. Frist,in the largest cities of the states.

[@MrOrthopedia]

The transition to DTV was originally going to occur in late 2008.

[@syxepop]

Originally it was stated by Law to be in 12/31/2006. Law was amended several times, last one to 2/17/2009, before getting the 6/12/2009 final date.

[@cpbaseballman8452]

I used to get a message saying to upgrade to Comcast and a similar message telling me about Comcast box

[@tamacat2001]

14:26: Yeah, this dosen't look like TMZ.

[@evelynsmith9690]

any more anlog transmiders left? becase I think I halve a old 80s or 70s tv siting around in my dads shop and some day I want to use it.

[@rollercoastermaniac2]

you can get a digital converter box, and if you don't have AV, connect it through antenna out, and change the tv set to channel 3 or four. there are some stations still in analog, but its very few, so the chances are that you need a big ariel antenna to catch them.

[@Claydood]

I miss analog broadcast, was so much better than the digital ones. Had much better content as well.

[@ZombieRyushu]

I have a question, have you ever tried to mod one of these to have the ATSC Tuner internally, or give them Component or RGB Ports for game consoles?

[@OBUDDY.]

I expect the buzz is from the transmitter?

[@TRG6486]

The dtv switch is the biggest reason why antennas are harder to pick up stations with it makes me wonder why the police band and everything didn't switch to digital rather then the tv stations

[@TRG6486]

@@Ali6359. what was the police stations?

[@MECHOWL]

If anyone's still in this comment section: Does anyone have footage of LPTV Station WWME-TV (Analog channel 23) shutting off their signal? If so, please upload.

[@dennismckay309]

It's the same video, it was simmucast.

[@MECHOWL]

@@dennismckay309 Though it’s been so long since I posted my initial comment, what I probably meant was when Ch. 23 Analog went off for good (it lasted for a few years after analog shutdown as a low-power station)

[@matthewblalock4916]

exactly why did they do away with analog tv?

[@luisreyes1963]

Something about the FCC granting the telecoms freed up bandwidth by doing away with Analog TV signals.

[@ki5aok]

So they can sell off the 700mhz spectrum to telecoms in a spectrum auction (FCC received $18.9 Billion dollars. They did it again for the 600Mhz range this year (reallocating channels 38-51 for the telecoms again). That auction netted $12 Billion dollars.

[@joemcconnell2674]

Because we moved to the digital age.

[@lucyramos8564]

wonder what happened with the tv that turned of?

[@Y0Y0Evan]

May I please use this for an Analog TV video I want to make?

[@Szari124]

Just go to a thrift store

[@bigdanwess]

Hi Doug, nice to hear from you again ! Hope you're doing well...

[@Iquitthischannelnow]

Did you have digital version of this channel of the analog shutdown, it was on Vimeo or something

[@VIRGONOMICS]

Great video document on Chicago analog TV last minutes. Nice man cave !

[@eascec8374]

WCIU's Switchover Looks Kinda Weird.

[@ViliamJakubek]

I like the Zenith Chromacolor sign 😊

[@TheTarrMan]

So stupid question but that mean with an analog TV you can tune in the police frequencies now and listening to what they're saying?

[@luisreyes1963]

Nope.

[@ki5aok]

@@luisreyes1963 Actually, if the police is broadcasting on one of the former television channels and their signal is in analog (not digital and not encrypted), then yes, you can. I had an old Montgomery Wards black and white TV set that was made in the 70's. The tuner would tune to channel 83 (all the way at the end of the 800mhz range). When the FCC got rid of channels 70-83 back in 1983 to reallocate it for analog cell service (AMPS), I was able to pick up one side of the conversation from cell phones on Channels 80-83. If I was really lucky, the other side of the conversation would be on an adjacent channel.

[@charlesloukas1946]

Are you near or far from the station is this a DX signal ?

[@Bluethunderboom]

I've seen what happen in 2009 on Analog Signal on Local TV. =)

[@pierresoorden5975]

CRT televisions with those tuners are over

[@kd5yut]

make some more repair videos! Please. I love them

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

Weird, it was 2011 for me. But I’m also in England.

[@KLewisChef]

Shout out to KIRO channel 7 (Seattle, WA) @ 20:07

[@chip599XX_VGRLeader]

You’re using an Old TV from 70s or 80s

[@eascec8374]

Today Is The 10th Anniversary Of DTV.

[@Iquitthischannelnow]

I'll be 12 years old and the anniversary of DTV

[@Iquitthischannelnow]

I'll be 12 years old and the anniversary of DTV

[@pernelldh]

Sears Tower is now renamed as Willis Tower.

[@ThomasWoolum]

Did you hook up converter boxes to these TVs yet? True or False

[@Vortmite1]

12:27 9...8....7....6.....5.....4.....3....2....1! White noise

[@Musicradio77Network]

SuperChicken / Become a Chicken! That's a jump scare for ya!

[@TheVCRKing]

12:34 Hello digital!

[@odouls779]

Resolution of analog pictures are finer than digital because they have no pixels. The shadow glide (transition from light area to dark area) of analog pictures is smoother than digital because in the latter the shadow glide goes in numerical steps from light to dark, resulting in "mapping" or "flaking" of skins of the subject. This bothers me but it's OK for others.

[@emph66]

The old analog TV signals were crap compared to 1080P and 4K video, if you can't see the obvious improvement keep a white cane close at hand.

[@odouls779]

+Emph Squee - The old analogue shows pictures in normal proportion. The digital TVs shows distorted pictures, people are too fat and short and tires are oblong, faces are wide. If you can not distinguish the difference, you are aspect blind.

[@emph66]

I don't know what you're using to watch video, I'm guessing an old 4/3 CRT so the signal has to be formatted to that screen causing the distortion. Or conversely a 4/3 original recording that's stretched to match the the 16/9 format. A good blue-ray, satellite or over the air 1080P recording on a modern 1080P or 4K monitor looks fantastic and the aspect ratio is matched to the program material providing the correct geometry. I've been around a long time and have seen the best NTSC TV's and they don't hold a candle to the new digital sets in picture quality. Reliability is another issue, the new sets aren't built to the same reliability standards as the older CRT based sets. The old sets were expected to last 20+ years.

[@odouls779]

+Emph Squee - At least you know that most TV stations are still transmitting in the old 4:3 signal and if you bought a digital TV of 16:9 screen, you are wasting a lot of screen area by viewing in 4:3. Moreover, the pictures of human skin and faces shows "flaking" because of ladder step shadow glide. It's ok for most people.

[@genann_1441]

1 decade later, channel 6 is still going

[@sethhorst6158]

I just pick up a faint audio on channel 6.

[@ki5aok]

@@sethhorst6158 You got a hybrid station. Those are low powered stations that are still broadcasting in analog. They are used to broadcast a radio station at around 87.7Mhz.

[@danhthanh3005]

Wow, you have a lot of TV.

[@airaero5473]

Jesus you have so many old tvs lucky!

[@thecooldude9999]

The low power stations are going to shut off this December.

[@TheSkullArmyMC]

I thought it was September.

[@rollercoastermaniac2]

+thecooldude9999 Apparently, they won't, VHF stations now have the option to stay analog. Thank god, I want to use the remote numbers (2, 9) not type in the channel code (eg. 5-12), its just a retarded method...

[@therealhardrock]

12:35 The historic moment when analog TVs went PFFFTSHHHHHHH....

[@hondotoo]

Channel 23... the beginning of METV

[@jujubinx-0001]

0:10

[@billsmith5985]

Sign-off by throwing a rubber chicken, a-la Svengoolie........................perfect

[@kapapitanjanjanmigel8515]

WGN 9 (The CW),WCIU 26 (Independent),WFLD 32 (FOX),WPWR 50 (MyNetworkTV) Are The Last Analog Station To Broadcast In Chicago Area

[@kapapitanjanjanmigel8515]

These 3 Analog Channels Terminated & These Channel 32 Remain On Air In Analog As The Nightlight Station

[@kapapitanjanjanmigel8515]

WBBM 2 (CBS),WMAQ 5 (NBC),WLS 7 (ABC),WTTW 11 (PBS),WCPX 38 (Ion Television) In Analog Signed Off Earlier That Day At 12:30PM CDT

[@kapapitanjanjanmigel8515]

Also The WYCC 20 (PBS) Off Air In Analog By April 16th,2009

[@kapapitanjanjanmigel8515]

WWME 23 (MeTV) Remain On Air In Analog

[@greeneye2037]

So that tv is pretty much useless now ?

[@nxx99]

Without a converter box, that is.

[@TheLifeOfKane]

But not really, theres apparently broadcast tv still in the middle of america A youtuber did a whole thing about it, i saw a news broadcast on analog from 2022... pretty cool

[@syxepop]

Officially Analog TV went out of the few US locations that low-powered translators still got it in early '23. The last standouts were a very few AK translators that needed extra weeks to make the switch. The YT channels that did the shows about the final US analog turnoff were "Antenna Man" and "WNY Over The Air".

[@piranasdelcaribe3555]

Now is history .

[@gacha_skylerwolf6151]

My sister was big girl i saw a old tv is big like the same on televison in 2000

[@jefferyclark2340]

they really wanted analog television to end.

[@dfpolitowski2]

Sad but progress must move on. None of the vintage TV tuners mean anything anymore.

[@phillies4100_mainsite]

Dave P They still work with converter boxes and you CAN use cable with them. We have an old TV hooked up to Verizon

[@pixeldoom2406]

I'm working on a short range PAL broadcast system, to watch stuff on all of my old tvs. I'm planning to use an RF modulator connected to one or two amplifiers and then connected to an antenna. I'll keep analog tv alive, at least on a very short range...

[@luisreyes1963]

All those handheld TVs & radios capable of getting TV audio signals are now obsolete.

[@ritchienavarro2920]

ANALOG TV IS OVER

[@Bruce-vq7ni]

is that Elvis's bedroom.

[@thetvexplorer]

12:27 analog countdown

[@BenceVass11]

Tv is screwed up... 8:50

[@sethhorst6158]

It's not the TV itself, it's signal disruption.

[@theeasybeats5913]

I watched it on a 2" Casio TV that was it

[@amortaripe8388]

You are in store of televison

[@therealhardrock]

12:34

[@_ponkachonka]

From hearing all that 60-50hz buzzing your TV doesn’t sound very healthy!

[@bigalsmallengines]

I wish they would have stuck with analog. Digital TV is a poor performer unless you live across the street from the transmitter....

[@ラブリーショータイム]

これは、古道具屋で撮影されたものですね。

[@baldi5165]

baldi angry >:(

[@hailuaxipho6723]

WCIU atv:26,dtv:23

[@notidentified9667]

so sad

[@baldi5165]

oh that stupid i luv analog tv and dey still ded >:(

[@jessicabarbara2323]

DTV sucks??

[@michaelhuynh8793]

Brody B now soon we will switch from atsc 1.0 to 3.0 you need converter boxes again for flat screen tvs

[@FunkSkunkOfficial]

Yes

[@joemcconnell2674]

Better picture though. But then once you got the analogue TV tuned in it wasn't a bad picture. I had trouble with my dtv could not get a great signal from my TV aerial the picture kept jumping and going to a blank blue screen. Thankfully I got it sorted. But they do suck the reason you only get 5 or 7 years before they go. Analogue TV's could last over 20 years.

[@migueloseguera2953]

No offense, but the stupid WCIU analog sign off just makes people hate my favorite movies/shows. To all of good users who hate my favorite shows/movies, Please respect my opinion.

[@ScratchAKAMiguelMcGee]

Miguel Oseguera That's my cringey comment I posted a year ago.

[@beckigreen]

Miguel Loud aka Miguel Oseguera I wouldn't brag about it.

[@jessecoffey4737]

Yeah. It was really weird. And it didn't seem to have any place in this comment section whatsoever.

[@billsmith5985]

Sign-off by throwing a rubber chicken, a-la Svengoolie........................perfect