What TV did you watch as a kid?

[2LaneCruzer]

I used to love Herb Shriner. He was a funny man, very dry sense of humor...also a harmonica player of some note:

 

[Oaktree]

As far as I know, it was because they could not generate enough advertising dollars to justify running programming 24/7.

Now, they have enough advertising to keep running. A lot of that is due to digital content. The newspaper I worked for was family owned and also had several TV stations. In fact, one of the first in the country, that started in studios in the newspaper's building. About 15 years ago they got into bed with google advertising. There are servers installed in the station that have tons of ad content stored on them. If the station cannot sell any local or national advertising to fill a spot, the servers automatically insert advertising in the blank for pennies on the dollar. So that's why you see obscure weird products and infomercials advertised at odd hours of the night. It's the bottom of the barrel, run it if you have a spot open, lowest cost TV advertising available. There's no guarantee that your ad will be run, but if it is run, they'll send you a bill.

A lot of those late-night ads are what are called "per inquiry" (PI) spots. The station doesn't get paid for running the ad, but if your station generates a sale you get a commission. All those "not available in stores" gadgets fall in this category.
I still doubt that stations are making any money in the overnight hours, but with some of this technology they're losing less.

Another factor in tv (and radio) stations staying on the air 24/7 is competition...if your competitor(s) are on, you'd better be too.

 

[2manyrocks]

I always wondered why TV went off at night in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Was it loss of revenue in those hours or federal regulations?

I think people had to go to bed because they had to get up and go to work in the morning.

 

[MossRoad]

It says the Russians are coming, head to your bomb shelters.

 

[Oaktree]

I think people had to go to bed because they had to get up and go to work in the morning.

People still do, but you make a good point that very few cities had something going on late at night, manufacturers working 3 shifts, etc.

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised shows like Johnny Carson attracted as much of an audience as they did. Waay past my bedtime.

 

[2manyrocks]

As I recall, Carson was after the 10 pm news here and wasn't late, late night. And he put on a pretty good show and seemed to me to be a very personable host.

 

[Oaktree]

As I recall, Carson was after the 10 pm news here and wasn't late, late night. And he put on a pretty good show and seemed to me to be a very personable host.

I presume you're in the central timezone? East coast time for his show was 11:30.
Wasn't commenting on him as a host (I only saw the show a handful of times), just that it was on too late for me.

 

[sd455dan]

And the classic that all night owls watched, as the station signed off for the night. They played this right before they switched to the test pattern. I have no idea what the Morse code at the end says.

There were some other Air Force versions


My favorite, similar to this one aired locally on a station many years ago,

SR-71 and Star Spangled Banner sign off

 

[2manyrocks]

Sorry, yes, I was in the Central time zone. I see how 11:30 EST would be late.

 

[Jstpssng]

I presume you're in the central timezone? East coast time for his show was 11:30.
Wasn't commenting on him as a host (I only saw the show a handful of times), just that it was on too late for me.

I watch more Carson on YouTube now than I ever did when he was alive.