1970s KTUL sign-off: Indian sign language 

I REMEMBER THIS AS A KID LIVING IN TULSA DURING THE LATE 70'S LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE GUYS SINGING THE SONG THEY ARE SINGING THE LORDS PRAYER

This should have beem used for the final anslog signoff on June 12, 2009.

I always loved this sign-off. When my father died (1995), we tried to find a copy of this video to play at his funeral. My father was Creek Indian and he too loved this clip.

I can not express how much this clip means to me.My Grandfather & I would watch this together when I was a child.After he passed, this was all that I had left of him, and when it no longer played on the air, I felt lost.I was a nine year old girl who, in some cases, had no one to trust..He was my voice and strength.I value the Native American culture and I hold dearly it's beliefs.Since I have found it now, I truly belive it will be the starting point of me overcoming my mental illness. TY!

Richard Dick West - instrumental in promoting American Indian people & art.

Very beautiful and definitely unique. I can imagine that people just sat watching the snow or the test pattern for several minutes afterwards.

We played this at my father's funeral five years ago. It is beautiful. Also brings brings back so many memories.

I watched this every pm and never knew that the "Old Indian" was my very own teacher & advisor!

To all the questioners & reason seekers....this played every night from the early 60's to the mid 80's when KTUL signed off for the evening. Dr. West was a VERY accomplished man, his Wikipedia will tell you everything about him & things he accomplished in his life. RIP Dr. West....you left your mark on the late night people of Tulsa & you made your people very proud. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_West_Sr.

Wow. i have not seen this since i was a kid. thank you so much for playing this and puting this on youtube. this pretty much brings a tear to my eye. the most beautifull sign off on tv ever. thank you.

It occurred to me to put in the keys words and here it is. I believe it was channel 8's nightly sign off in the 60's as well! This brought tears to my eyes!

this brings back some very special memories as a kid growing up. I wish I could go back to that time when every thing seemed special and before all the electronics came out to distract us from what life was really like, and the things as kides we like to do. We made our own fun and when school let out for the summer off went the shoes and socks off we went to play. Great memories.

I remember this after the Plenty Scary Movie...Friday Night at eleven thirty.... ..or after Star Trek or Gunsmoke in the late 70s when I was a young lad growing up on a farm outside Tahlequah with just those 3 channels and a big antennae. Dick West sign off. Beautiful.

I was very privileged to have met Diçk West at Bacone College. This is a beautiful rendition. Thank you Diçk West. May you rest in peace.

Since I was a young teen. As I am now 68 years old. Turned this last June. I have Always Loved This. As I Always Will. To sing pray to myself. Just before I go to sleep ( - :

If you're reading this have a AMAZING day!

So beautiful! I remember seeing this as a child....and after all these years it still gives me pause and peace.

As one who signs the Lord's Prayer using American Sign Language and someone extremely proud of my part-Indian heritage, I found this to be extremely profound and beautiful. Thank you for posting it. I also couldn't help but notice how some of his signs correspond somewhat with American Sign Language. No doubt ASL copied and/or modified some signs from the Native American signs.....

I loved watching this Channel 8 sign-off as a kid after Moments of Meditation, when I got to stay up late. I just knew I could find it here on RU-vid.

My father took me to that tower when I was a kid when it was being built and the antennae top piece was still on the ground in assembly....he had me stand on the top of the antennae spire as it lay horizontally on the ground....told me that in a few months that would be the tallest manmade structure ever built by man when completed.....Jus' Sayin"......but I'd really like to say that this piece made all of us better people...we realized this land has belonged to people for thousands of years...and culture and people can change....for better....for worse....we all make it together what it will become....

I was born in Tulsa in 1963 and lived there until 1970. I remember staying up late at night in the summer and watching this sign off and a number of others including the High Flight poem with the star fighter which is also now on RU-vid.

Thank you for sharing this..this is the first time I've ever seen something like this.. its very beautiful..

This has always stayed in my heart since I was a little kid growing up in Arkansas..sometimes a tear or two...Beautiful...

When I was a kid I used to watch till TV went off just to see that. I miss it very much.

wow this almost brought a tear to my eye....this sign off stayed on straight up through the late 70's when I was a kid....and then when 24 hour cable took over... well it was an end to tv as we knew it...

I Have Loved and Still Love. This Prayer Song. Since It First Aired

Dick West was my advisor at Bacone in the 60's. He was an awesome man and said that after this was aired people would ask him to teach them how to do this signing like you could learn it in an hour.

I remember watching this as a kid in the late 70's. Seems like they used it from time to time up until the stations started broadcasting 24 hours. Lots of memories. I would watch the news with my parents then the Start Trek reruns. Or The late nigh Scary Movie lol. That intro to the Scary Movie deal would be neat to see too.

I remember a copy of this done by WDIO-TV in Duluth MN when I was a kid. The sign language was performed by Ray Murdoch, the station's weekend news anchor, who was a full-blood Ojibwe (Chippewa.) He was a younger man, and I think was seen shirtless in fringed deerskin trousers and moccasins, with I think beadwork armbands, and probably a headband and a bead necklace. Murdoch died sometime in the late 70's-early 80's, possibly an auto accident. He was also a local radio newscaster on WAKX.

Great to see this again! Wow! I always loved this when I was a child. We need to have this back on TV.

Really needvto put this back on.

This makes me cry,tears of gratitude to Jesus for all He's done for me, especially being my Lord Savior,my God,my friend.

For those wanting to know what's he's signing, it's the Lord's Prayer. It is what is being sung too 🙂.

I knew Dick West. For those who have complained that he was touting someone else's religion. Christianity was his religion. Truly Christianity is an outside religion for any who dont have a Israeli/Jewish background. West spoke of the Jesus Road as I recall, and believed that even though the white man brought much suffering to the Natives he was grateful for christianity. He was not unaware of the dark parts of the path of Native American path to Christianity. He was intelligent, and made his choices freely. Here I believe he chose to make a piece of performance art choosing to share his heritage and graceful movements with us all. He was also an expert on the history of his naive people and the sadness they endured. He was proud the Cheyenne fought bravely, but believed in education and integration were key to survival and success in a new america. He also believed in keeping tradition alive through art, storytelling, and other methods. He was a wonderful creative, intelligent and idealist person. I am glad I was able to find this beautiful memory of him online.

Most Beautiful !

This version of The Lord's Prayer is by The Robert Wagner Chorale.

The rendition of The Lord’s Prayer used here was also used by WVTV in Milwaukee, albeit with different visuals.

I'm the one who shared that old VHS recording to the Tulsa TV Trivia site. Glad to see it's preserved here.

Wow first time I saw this again in 35 years thanks for posting ! !

That is a beautiful sign off.

I remember this from years back and when asked to give a first nations assembly a talk on bullying, this came to my mind before I found it. thanks

Wonderful. I remember it vividly. It hasn't lost anything over the years. Can you see how low we've sunk?

good stuff ! i remember this when i was a youth, brings back good times. !!!!

Wow! So beautiful, God bless and have a great day ❤

I still see it, albeit very rarely, on nights that KTUL doesn't even have paid programming at night. Usually followed by a substantially more modern computer-generated graphic and a voice-over thanking the audience for watching and information on where they could go on the web or visit the station in person.

I last saw this in 1981, to the best of my knowledge.

A memory from my childhood, living in Fort Smith at the time.

I used to love watching this.

I remember one of the stations in Dallas-Ft. Worth doing something similar, but I can't remember if it was this video (my memory is as fuzzy as this film!). I always thought it was beautiful and a lovely way to end the day. Not many stations would be brave enough to show something like this now.

Still Praying, Still Singing, Still Watching.

This looks like the same one that was played when ch 7, Little Rock, AR would go off the air in the 1970s.

A station in my hometown played this clip for its sign off on Sunday nights.Itcwas so popular people stayed up to watch it However,they used one with a narrative rather than singing.

Wow. This is the first time I ever saw that (pretty obviously way before my time). I have to say, the beauty of it moved me nearly to tears... until they turned to show the giant antenna.

Absolutely beautiful.

The Truth Remains!

oh im thinking about my friend bruce who just died rip bruce

The tower seen in the video blew down in the 80's. KTUL ch. 8 was out of commission for awhile.

I actually remember this.....🤗🙏🏿❤

Thank you Im grateful for this clip

Wow, I remember this!!!

YES!

It's perfect!

God I miss this Indian man..

That is beautiful!

I remember...

Tears

Awesome...just awesome.

peace

On this same channel was the first time the Apple Macintosh commercial was aired. This was due to the fact that they had to air it sometime before the Super Bowl and the lowest rated channel was this channel which only played to a few thousand people in rural Idaho.

I miss it

Authentic Indian Sign Language. It was the international between the First Nations people of Turtle Island before the foreign language English replaced it in that role.

Wonderful. The Lord is LORD of ALL!

Does anyone know the name of this song? The scene, the chief and this song are so beautiful....I now miss that tv doesn't go off at midnight ....the good old days..rabbit ear antenna with foil balls on the tips...3 channels...my sister and I were the remotes for mom and dad.....the good old days

Yea as a kid I had to figure out what to do next now that there was no more tv to watch.

forgot to also mention STL (Studio to Transmitter Link), and the Microwave facilities.

US: Indian sign language Indonesia: Taman Cattleya Jakarta at midday and Cathedral at night

You are welcome.

Remember a different version

REMEMBER THIS ISA SMALL KID AND YOUNG ADULT GROWING UPIN TULSA/BA AREA!...THE CH 8 KTUL TOWER AT ONE TIME WAS ONE OF THE TALLEST MAN MADE STRUCTURES IN THE WORLD!...I BELIEVE ITS OVER 1,800 FT TALL!

OHH....I LOVE TO SEE AND LISTEN TO THIS..YOU NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS ARE SO VERY BEAUTYFUL AND WISE:) WOMAN FROM HIGH IN THE NORTH DENMARK.

😢❤️😢❤️😢

how did you find this? I wish tv still signed off the air these days and quit with the paid commercial loops.

I mean think about that for a minute why would the camera pan left to the Transmission Tower after the Indian's performance. Most stations usually display pictures of their Transmission Towers during their Sign-on's and Sign-off's and they're located at, mainly in remote areas (17 to 18 miles away from the Studio).

Try the one with Chief Shaka Bear Step Indian sign language also seems more serious.

tulsatv--thank you for posting. I remember this so well from my childhood. Can you tell me how to obtain a copy? I am would like to use this in a project for one of my Native American classes at RSU. Thanks in advance!

this is the year 2015 and I have the US Army report on PLS and several other books, it is a logical and simple language made for contact. It goes fairly easily in the learning stages, It does take some time. The language is not endangered. If there are no more "speakers" learning soon we will loose it.

Tulsa is next to an Indian Reservation

Part of my childhood. But wasn't there another version, too?

Does this have any connection to the Test Pattern Indian Chief Head, the one with the headrest? Nice combination.

I must be having a Mandela Effect. I don't remember it being sung, and, the scenery was different.

Who performed the music for KTUL's sign off?

@cerealflakes the Lords Prayer....

There use to be another version of this that had an Indian named Chief Shaka Bear Step, It was a much better performance, just can't find it.

Can't you guys do something to improve the sound...you tube!

What's the sign language sign for Megahertz? lol

i remember this but not with singing, rather a rich voice speaking it.

it is a gooooooooooooood. don't more hear of hard. Must be use sign language

What is this song? Anyone know?

I know Makaton, a derivative of British Sign Language used by people with learnind disabilities and stroke patients.

Can anyone translate what he said?