WLS Channel 7 - Ending of Saturday Night Movie, Reflections and Station Sign-Off (1977)

Here's (as far as I'm aware) the earliest known (to date) sign-off sequence, from any channel, to turn up here. This one is from WLS Channel 7, found at the end of a Umatic videotape that was mostly recorded over with high school girls' gymnastics home movies from 1977 (boooooo!) and includes:
The ending moments of the Saturday Night Movie presentation (in glorious "pan-and-scan" and quite terrible color - it's not the recording - compare to how the commercials look!) of "The Guns of Navarone" [1961] starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn. Followed, in that order, by:
"Swirling stars" animated opening/closing title sequence of Saturday Night Movie (with voiceover, by Wayne Atkinson, promoting next day's ABC Sunday Night Movie presentation of "The Gambler" [1974] starring James Caan and Lauren Hutton, starting at 8:00pm)
Promo for Sunday Night Movie presentation of "Bless the Beasts and Children" [1971] at 11:00pm (voiceover by Gary Gears)
"Note of Interest" - notice of where to send public service and community service announcements (voiceover by Wayne Atkinson)
PSA for American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) - with brief spotlights on Frank Lloyd Wright (designed New York's Guggenheim Museum at age 90), Grandma Moses (started painting at age 78), "Ambassador of Jazz" Louis Armstrong, stage actress Helen Hayes (won Academy Award for her role in "Airport" [1970] at age 70), Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Eugene Ormandy, and peanut discoverer George Washington Carver (main voiceover by Peter Thomas) (secondary voiceovers by ??)
Station ID with PSA for United Negro College Fund (voiceover by Wayne Atkinson)
Reflections - with sermon from Rev. John Ware on the theme of "Keep On Keeping On"
Station sign-off, with 1965 NAB "Seal of Good Practice" on screen, delivered at 2:42am (voiceover by Wayne Atkinson)
National Anthem, with paintings of Revolutionary War battles and Founding Fathers
Brief shot of electronic color bars, with even briefer tone and announcement of STL's (Studio-Transmitter Links) WIK-22 and WBE-787 (voiceover by ?? - sounds almost like Al Parker) before carrier is cut
"transmitting on circular polarization from atop the Sears Tower..."
This aired on local Chicago TV early Sunday, March 6th 1977 from about 2:36am to 2:44am.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television's primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s and early 80s, primarily) recorded off of any and all Chicago TV channels; footage which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical purposes. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to DVD, and to view more of the 4,600+ (and counting) video clips available for viewing in our online archive, please visit us at:
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[@timharper73]

Can't get over how crystal clear the picture of this unearthed gem still looks for being on tape since 1977!

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Indeed--its high quality is due to the fact that this video was originally recorded on 3/4" U-Matic videocassette (as mentioned in the video description), which provides a much better picture than VHS or Betamax at the time (although Beta recorded at it's fastest 1-hour BI/X1 speed came very close to 3/4"s quality). In fact, U-Matic's quality was decent enough for most TV stations themselves to use for on-air programming (I used 3/4" almost exclusively when I worked master control for a few local TV stations about 15+ years ago).

[@DavidFell]

Wayne Atkinson is reading the sign-off announcement. A water color by him hangs in my home.

[@dt2phillips]

7:42 "This is WIK 22 and WBE 787." PPFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!! The scariest ending to any sign-off we'll ever see!

[@lindenly22]

I watch television so heavily, and I had seen various station sign-offs, so I know that WIK and WBE - these are microwave stations of ABC7. Sometimes, microwave stations in a major TV channel would start with "K" instead of "W" (like KTO-43, KBD-34, etc.). The carrier cut is when you do not see the color bars anymore and you see "snowball" - this means the transmission is officially off-line for good, hence "cut off", or in brief, "cut." When the carrier is cut, the TV channel is completely off the air.

[@flatcapman]

sounded more like me toneing "F*UCK" then snow. Geez TV People MAKE YOUR MINDS UP

[@ApartmentKing66]

Yeah, those are microwave IDs.

[@haroldfridkis3879]

Agreed 👍

[@luisreyes1963]

Didn't think big city TV stations needed microwave relays.

[@thekidfromiowa]

I can only imagine what was originally on the tape before it was taped over with gymnastics.

[@kengomillia]

FYI, the "Bless the Beasts and Children" VO is by the late Al Parker. 😉

[@AmusedChild]

Great memories!

[@PaulGreen11]

"For the land of the Free and the home of the Brave"

[@mikehunt4986]

The ending of this video reminds me of the beginning of Poltergeist!

[@michaelbrantley.8628]

Good memories.

[@hf6150]

@2:50 An era when the AARP was considered non-profit and apolitical. In 2021, much has changed.

[@judacia]

1:56 the third voice was provided by Peter Thomas.

[@MichaelPhilipMaunes]

Great memories. I also liked the music video of the American national anthem, which includes American history and the founding fathers of the United States, including my favourite, George Washington.

[@jareddicarlo7816]

Hey it’s the Forensic Files guy!

[@Tmetrvlr]

For some reason I think this particular one began in 1968 or so.

[@paullarue2010]

I remember Christina Marinoff is from Chicago.

[@fromthesidelines]

"Scan-and pan" of widescreen movie.......

[@Musicradio77Network]

Barry I. Grauman Yep! This was a pan-and-scan version of the film when it was originally released in widescreen in 1961. The movie was also released on DVD many years later when it was presented in widescreen.

[@erickpaolod.santos3719]

6:15 Poltergeist (1980's movie) opening Used the Sign off

[@sgtbrownty]

This used to scare the shit out of me when I was 6 years old. All that I could think about was dead presidents and the fact that I lived across from the graveyard on 71st and Chicago on the east side of Chicago.

[@bryanttheus7214]

Does anyone know who did the theme music in the begining and end of reflections with John ware

[@pauljr.harrington1905]

You were supposed to just cut off the carrier, not me with it!

[@gidzmobug2323]

How did the last part of the movie get a blue tint?

[@Xpk951IsBack]

Fuzzymemories, is there an opening of the wls channel 7 Saturday night movie intro to "The Guns of Navarone" at the beginning?

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

Nope. Just girls gymnastics as mentioned in the video description.

[@wmbrown6]

And the opening titles would have been the same as the closing titles. On another front, wonder how those "swirling stars" would have gone with Walter Raim's "Big Show" theme as heard on WABC's "4:30 Movie"?

[@Musicradio77Network]

wmbrown6 The "Swirling Stars" was inspired by the Hanna-Barbara logo as it was first used in 1979 during the Taft era.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Looks like they had a faded print of that movie to show.

[@wmbrown6]

Would you know what color processing system would have been attributable to that fading to the point where the blacks were bluish . . .

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

wmbrown6 It could've been red (an Eastman print), and they were compensating for it by adding blue to the picture.

[@wmbrown6]

That seemed to be a characteristic of films of such fading being shown via RCA TK-27 film chains.

[@vinniemorciglio4632]

Wow, AARP ...

[@Wizardof]

AH THE SEVENTIES....Anyone had the Tele1st service?

[@bryanyancy6100]

That is ABC 7 Chicago from way back in 1977.

[@SuperTony1968]

Does anybody know who was the WLS sign off announcer??

[@timharper73]

staffer Wayne Atkinson.

[@SuperTony1968]

Thank you.

[@hollypietrzak5214]

What was that talking for over the test pattern at 7:45?

[@wmbrown6]

Almost sounded like a cross between Al Parker and Gary Gears.

[@hollypietrzak5214]

wmbrown6 who are they anyway? never even heard of them before?

[@user-ch9cg1bp5t]

WLS Channel 7 sign off please

[@aldrich1201]

This channel is signing off because the American Revolution is going on in there location wow just wow

[@paullarue2010]

I remember Christina Marinoff is from Chicago.