Analog shutdown - WMHT-TV19 Schenectady and WTVS-TV56 Detroit - April 16th and 17th, 2009 · 8:17pm Nov 1st, 2018
Detroit Public TV planned to shut down its analog signal on June 12, but ended up doing it at 12:00 noon local time on April 16, 2009. They had no choice. Their analog transmitter was dying, having failed seven times during the first four months of 2009. For the entire sign-off, go to 3:19 of the video. We have first the closing and funding credits of CAILLOU, then a note stating that "Detroit Public TV will end its analog broadcasting today at noon". Following a DPTV Kids Club Live promo which features Barney the Dinosaur, a video overview of the station's 54 years of service is played. The overview contains clips from local shows, along with such PBS shows as SESAME STREET, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, and NATURE. The national anthems follow, first "O Canada" (a nod to the southern Ontario viewers of channel 56, and to its Canadian audience in general; DPTV has been widely carried on Canadian cable systems since 1983) and then "The Star Spangled Banner."
WTVS signed on the air October 3, 1955 and began broadcasting in color in 1968. It's been owned by the Detroit Educational Television Foundation from the very start. On January 11, 2016, WTVS announced it would enter a partnership with Michigan State University-owned WKAR-TV; both stations would be the owners of a 24-hour cable service to be carried on one of their subchannels. The station partners with Detroit Public Schools in the management of classical and jazz music station WRCJ-FM (90.9). As with WDIV-TV and WMYD, WTVS mentions Windsor and London, Ontario, Canada as part of its primary service area.
We see a loop of a message informing viewers that WMHT is going off the air and telling viewers to call the DTV call center, the station, and TTY for information on how to take action. This then switches to a video of the station going off the air on the uploader's TV.
The financial support of WRGB, its then-parent General Electric, and many supporters and local businesses in the Albany/Capital District area helped to form the Mohawk-Hudson Council on Educational Television in 1953. It would produce some educational programming for WRGB, but eventually decided to launch a non-commercial educational television station because of the tight scheduling on the then-NBC (now CBS) affiliate. So, on March 26, 1962, they accordingly put WMHT channel 17 on the air. WMHT launched the first non-commercial classical music radio station in America when it debuted an FM radio arm in 1972. WMHT formerly (1987-99) had a sister station in WUSV/WMHX/WMHQ, which is now CW affiliate WCWN. More recently, the holding company for channel 17 renamed itself to WMHT Educational Telecommunications.
I tell ya, that was the worst 72 hours of my life that my TV was completely off. Thankfully my mama managed to get us converter boxes.