WCAE-TV 50 - Final Sign-off (March 31st, 1983)

Clip courtesy of Clark Szabo
The local PBS station, WCAE-TV signed off for the final time due to financial issues as the funding has ran out because the school board decided to use the money for educational purposes.
All content in this video are owned by the original owners.

[@KeithLemick]

I was a student volunteer at the station all four years while attending Lake Central (1966 - 1970). The first years were very exciting because we were doing live television where anything could (and did) happen. I typically ran and monitored the video board but could work any of the control room jobs. The original Chief Engineer (Jim Sheetz) is alive and living in Wisconsin. Unfortunately the original Station Manager (Lou Iaconetti) passed away. For those interested, there is a Wikipedia article on WCAE. If you get a chance, read the reference articles at the bottom of that page.

[@MewTheEASLoverorMewVeeon-lj2gs]

R.I.P WCAE, may all of Indiana be with you :(

[@bwc1976]

Very sad, but so glad someone was able to capture these final moments.

[@tyrannoyoshi]

“Well everybody, this is it.” should be a meme someday

[@michaelbonner4126]

It should

[@Matthew6248]

A few years later, the channel 50 license would go to WPWR which allowed it to move from Channel 60 to Channel 50

[@Lou-yf1jo]

that chilling moment when all of a sudden, you are presented with a guy about to decide the fate of the tv channel, standing in front of a giant server sort of thing, i wish there were more moments like that. 3:39

[@editingdemon12345]

At least we got to know the name of the guy and he does not look uncanny. :) Not that chilling.

[@MinifigNewsguy]

It’s not a server nor a computer of its time but the transmission equipment

[@jerrycurtis7097]

This piece of video really hits home with me. I was a student volunteer at the station from Fall 68 through Spring of 71. Also, Mike Atwood is mentioned in the opening bit and by coincidence I had lunch with Mike yesterday.

[@nicholascrockett63098]

It's kinda like the same reason they pulled the plug to WKBS which is 5 months after they did this at 3:57 2:17 The National Anthem at the WCAE logo at Sunset Sign-Off plays!

[@Lisa-di1wi]

The reason that Channel 48 (WKBS) went off the air was because Field Communications was selling all of their stations, including Channel 48. And unfortunately, Channel 48 couldn't find a buyer for the station. Unfortunately, I was out in L.A. when Channel 48 went off the air.

[@darthneon0701]

R.I.P. WCAE-TV

[@pauljr.harrington1905]

That channel was a disaster. It had a lot of problems and would be down for extended periods of time. They couldn't maintain their equipment.

[@ftjm69]

This popped up in my recommended feed some 40 years after the shutdown of this station

[@michaelbonner4126]

Well everyone, this is it, said the person who was gonna press the button to sign off for eternity/ forever

[@v4m.pir3]

They all look sad

[@matthewcampbell7985]

As a viewer of my pbs member affiliate kera channel 13 and listener of 90.1 fm the reason to sign off st.john school got money problems and that's too much money to keep the station on the air.

[@shenmisheshou7002]

The author, John Magee Jr., died in an air-to-air collision on a practice mission days after this was written. His father, John Magee, is a hero in China for documenting the rape of Nanjing before the beginning of WWII. Without Jon MaGee's work in photographing the carnage and torture of the Chines at the hands of the Japanese soldiers, the world may have never known he vicious and brutal the Japanese were. When the Chinese have a remembrance ceremony, they invite John Magee's decedents to attend. John Jr went to school in China for some of the time that his father was a missionary there, buy John Sr could see that the Japanese expansion threatened China and sent Jr. to live with his mother in England. This is a history that few Americans know, but the MaGee name is revered in China. I am fortunate enough to know of this because some of the MaGee descendants are close friends. I had known of the Rape of Nanjing, but I did not realize that the author of High Flight was the son of the Missionary, John Magee, that showed us the utter brutality of the Japanese occupiers.

[@juanpablofernandezrauchtvr9256]

Is "Final Time"

[@eduardoretro4789]

Other countries have a closure of the transmission because all the history of extinction on television in other countries is all over 🙏👍😢😮

[@eduardoretro4789]

Tower always end of the end of the whole be a little later guys every story has extinction there's a lot 👍🙏😢

[@AusomeAsherYT]

Who was the engineer who pressed the off button on the transmitter?

[@DipsanDhimalNepali]

your mom wcaeLOL

[@ItzJaxsonoki30763]

0:49

[@narutooosasukee4204]

2:37 good thing!

[@kaiokendo]

It has too much glitches

[@damianvhs4127]

Well that was in the original video from Facebook, it isn't perfect but at least it's uploaded in higher quality

[@antoniopadilla2489]

@@damianvhs4127 where can I find this on Facebook?

[@Lou-yf1jo]

that's no glitch, that's just how vhs recording was at the time.

[@eliaschannel2008]

Furby Boom TV Final Sign Off (January 7th, 2023 [Officially], January 1st, 2024 [Unofficially])

[@narutooosasukee4204]

4:93 good thing!