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A thread about--test pattern instrumentals.
Self | 5/30/'08 | Zionist Conspirator

Posted on 05/30/2008 10:32:58 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator

Those of you of a certain age will recall a time when TV stations didn't stay on the air constantly but signed off late at night (with the National Anthem) and signed on again early in the morning. And in those days televisions had tuning buttons on them that had to be adjusted by hand so the snowy signals from far away could come in as clearly as possible.

Each morning the station would begin the day with a "test pattern" (usually with an Indian's head somewhere about for whatever reason) so the viewer could tune his set for the day (including getting the color right). Anyway, during these fifteen minutes or so of the test pattern the station would play the most beautiful, delightful music--always instrumental and perhaps what would be called "easy listening."

Ever since getting on the Internet I've been trying to find material on these test pattern instrumentals. Unfortunately, their title and performers were never given so it's very hard to search for them on YouTube or Napster. Just by accident I know a couple of them: Java by Al Hirt and That Happy Feeling by Bert Kaempfert (the holy grail of all test pattern instrumentals, available on YouTube), but there are so many more that I can remember but whose titles or performers I am totally ignorant of.

One in particular I've been thinking of lately is one that was (I believe) featured on an episode of "I Love Lucy" when Ricky sang in in full "native" costume (of course, the test patterns only used the instrumental version). I've tried to find that episode of "I Love Lucy" online just so I could get an idea of the title and look for it.

Is there anyone else out there who has a nostalgia for these long-departed phenomena of those days? Does anyone else know any specific titles or performers?


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Miscellaneous; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: internet; music; nostalgia; vanity
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To: Sax

Lurch - Boston public access channel 1

61 posted on 05/30/2008 11:53:01 AM PDT by weegee (VOTE MCCAIN: Susan Saradon says she will move to Italy or Canada if he's elected)
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To: weegee

"Oooooh! SKerry Stuff kids!!!"

62 posted on 05/30/2008 11:53:51 AM PDT by weegee (VOTE MCCAIN: Susan Saradon says she will move to Italy or Canada if he's elected)
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To: ADemocratNoMore
Jimmy McGriff wrote a song FOR Ghoulardi, called "Turn Blue". They were introduced to one another through Don King, the boxing promoter.

It really is a strange world.

63 posted on 05/30/2008 11:57:00 AM PDT by weegee (VOTE MCCAIN: Susan Saradon says she will move to Italy or Canada if he's elected)
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To: weegee
Uncle Floyd!! Where in the heck are you coming up with this stuff!

"Has this one got a nut in it?"

"Do the Oogie Boogie!"

L

64 posted on 05/30/2008 12:00:56 PM PDT by Lurker (Islam is an insane death cult. Any other aspects are PR, to get them within throat-cutting range.)
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To: weegee
and the substitute host, The Revolting Liquor Blob (aka, The Kopechne Killer)

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

65 posted on 05/30/2008 12:03:31 PM PDT by Sax
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To: Zionist Conspirator

FLIPPO THE CLOWN FROM COLUMBUS, AHIYA!

Many fond and funny memories.


66 posted on 05/30/2008 12:05:36 PM PDT by Mugwump
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To: Zionist Conspirator

I remember the test-pattern well enough, but I really don’t recall any musical accompaniment with it. On the other hand, those “Please Stand By” type cards almost always had something Bert Kaempfert-ish playing.

Anyway, I too miss ‘local television’ as it used to be... the movie-hosts, in-studio kiddie shows and such... even though much of it was disappearing already when I was young. Television as it exists now, with hundreds of vapid satellite stations, and zero local identity (other than news), is really, really depressing. I’ve pretty much given up on it entirely, limiting myself almost exclusively to old favorites on dvd.


67 posted on 05/30/2008 12:32:20 PM PDT by greene66
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To: greene66

TV has become a hundred talking heads trying to sell you on a political position or some whatnot that you don’t really need.

Whether it is a “science” program or a “check out my howiz and carz”, it is people selling something.

What ever happened to ENTERTAINMENT?

It can be thought provoking, it doesn’t have to be mindless, but infotainment sucks. And these people who are talking at me aren’t my friends.

The golden age of tv is dead.

Programming will be streaming in the coming decades and the only shared television moment will be lost for all but breaking news stories. Even “awards” shows are rebroadcast so they aren’t about “suspense”.

Networks may be a branding but networks as we know them may be dead. The studios that produce the programs may become the bigger names in the future.

And as Youtube has shown us, people want shorter more thoroughly entertaining programming.

Expect the 30 minute time frame (which was necessary to keep tv schedules in sync) to go away. You can watch 5-12 minute episodes of whatever. And why should you watch 8 minutes of filler in the episode and 5 minutes of commericals?

Cut to the chase, and pay pennies per download or monthyly subscription, etc.

Expect more advertising that resembles programming too. Is it an ad if you WANT to watch it? Maybe commercials will continue the trend of buying up smaller bands’ songs. Maybe they will make a music video FOR the band so long as it is also a full on product placement ad for some company. The art won’t be so present, the commerce will take precedence, but ultimately they would get exposure.

Anyway, the “need” to fill 24 hours (or even 18 hours) with programming has gone away. They sell any dead airtime to infomercial advertisers.


68 posted on 05/30/2008 12:57:07 PM PDT by weegee (VOTE MCCAIN: Susan Saradon says she will move to Italy or Canada if he's elected)
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To: weegee
Another tv staple was Take 5 by Dave Brubeck.

Take Five is a great piece of music!

So was A Taste Of Honey by Herb Alpert At The Tijauna Brass.

A lot of Herb Alpert was used. It's easy to find on the Net.

And there were a lot of “industrial” records just use for background and bumper music and in house advertising.

I'd like to get my hands on an album of that!

69 posted on 05/30/2008 1:17:28 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ve'elleh toledot 'Aharon uMosheh, beyom dibber HaShem 'et-Mosheh beHar Sinai.)
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To: JZelle

They used to play High Flight every time TV came on and went off here in Nashville,powerful poem

There were 2 stations and they`d start broadcasting about 2 in the afternoon.
They`d call it a day about 11pm

We never had any music with the test patterns


70 posted on 05/30/2008 1:48:17 PM PDT by Harold Shea
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To: Zionist Conspirator

bump for later


71 posted on 05/30/2008 3:16:47 PM PDT by real saxophonist (The fact that you play tuba doesn't make you any less lethal. -USMC bandsman in Iraq)
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To: chimera
The lack of sweep would cause a brief centering of the beam, and that coupled with the persistence of the phosphors would result in the slowly-fading central “dot”.

The persistance of the phosphors was below 1/30 of a second. The persistence of the "dot" was due to the slow cooling of the electron gun filament and the comparably slow bleedoff of the high voltage ("ultor anode") supply.

72 posted on 05/30/2008 3:51:10 PM PDT by Erasmus (Nihilism never amounted to anything.)
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To: weegee
Ed Wood had Korla Pandit as the organist for Ed's cast party in the cold storage warehouse, playing for Ed's dramatic entrance, all in Angora.

<}B^)

73 posted on 05/30/2008 3:57:31 PM PDT by Erasmus (Nihilism never amounted to anything.)
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To: Zionist Conspirator
I owe you for that one!

Click here.

Cheers!

74 posted on 05/30/2008 6:19:09 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: weegee
How many people are nostalgic for watching the tv picture tube turn completely OFF as the picture shrank down to dot before fading out?

That, and in the old days when stations went "off the air" at 1AM or 2AM, and after the national anthem and/or a hymn, there would be a black screen for a few seconds, then an abrupt transition to snow.

The loneliest feeling in the world, to one experiencing it for the first time...

Cheers!

75 posted on 05/30/2008 6:22:15 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Bigg Red
Speaking of local color, do you remember Romper Room, Hodgepodge Lodge (w-a-a-a-a-y out in Owings Mills!), or Stu Kerr in Professor Kool's Fun Skool?

Full Disclosure: and Captain Chesapeake, or Captain 20?

Cheers!

76 posted on 05/30/2008 6:26:53 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: grey_whiskers

“in the old days when stations went “off the air” at 1AM or 2AM, and after the national anthem and/or a hymn”


There was several small clips they used to play in So Cal.
One was an extended version of the SSB set to a montage of historic paintings and still clips. Another had Raymond Burr relaxing on a bench reading a Bible with the voice over quoting Psalm 23:6. My favorite was the High Flight poem with film action from and about F-104’s. There was one more odd one which popped up from time to time. It featured skelletelized dead bodies in tattered civil war(?)garb while playing a neat bluegrass tune.

I also recall the yearly TV PSA’s telling aliens the deadline for fileing whatever form was required at that time.


77 posted on 05/30/2008 7:27:02 PM PDT by Old Flat Toad (Pima county- Home of the single vehicle accident with 40 victims.)
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To: Zionist Conspirator
Music? We didn't have no stinkin' music back when I was a kid. Just an annoying tone.


78 posted on 05/30/2008 7:36:38 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie
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To: grey_whiskers

Romper Bomper Stomper Doo! Oh, I do indeed remember it. Loved that show as a little girl in the 1950s. Miss Nancy was the teacher then. Her daughter Miss Sally took over later. I am probably older than you, as I remember “Hodgepodge Lodge” (that woman was weird!) and Professor Kool, but I turned them on for my own children.

I remember “Captain Chesapeake”, but I never watched it. Did it start in the 1960s? I guess I was too old. I think he played cartoons, right? Never did like cartoons, even as a child. Big exception, of course, “Rocky and Bullwinkle”, which I watched as a teen.

“Full Disclosure” and “Captain 20” I never heard of.

How about the “Buddy Dean” show?


79 posted on 05/31/2008 7:18:42 AM PDT by Bigg Red
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To: Zionist Conspirator

You people are missing the point!

&&&
I’m sorry. I am one of the guilty ones.


80 posted on 05/31/2008 7:19:54 AM PDT by Bigg Red
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