As far as I remember, the anthem was only played on the "primary" service, so on TV BBC1. Similarly, on radio, only Radio 4 played it at closedown, as it was the descendant of the original BBC radio service.
I do miss the test card, and I remember the powertone as well, it was an almost deafening drone, it usually followed the music played. I remembered my family fell asleep during the last show of the evening before the news, was more than 16 years ago, mind you so I can't remember all of it, but the news would come on, I'd check the weather forecast (as I used to enjoy being outside as a kid) and then I'd wait for the test card music to play, I loved it, was always cool to listen to. -cont-
Thank you for this of course. Nice to see Test Card F with music and the twin lined BBC2, even though it was 1997. I think the last time Test Card F was shown was around 1998 or 1999; after that it became the redone Test Cards J or W as far as I know. Also with that instead of either the BBC ONE or BBC TWO idents, it showed just BBC underneath it. I think this lasted until around 2009 when the test card was last shown overnights during engineering work at the time. Well done too!!
The test card music is the same as that used by Channel 4 in their early days. I remember dancing in front of my bedroom black and white portable waiting for Countdown to come on.
The testcard used in this clip is from the early 1980s, not from 1997. You can tell there's an edit because the noise bar from the VCR changes at that point. A BBC2 closedown of that time would end with tone (usually 440Hz GLITS) and black not with test card and music. The test card of this era had on it a BBC2 logo with the slanted underlined box /B/ /B/ /C/ and the same stylized 2 as the continuity symbol.
When I was young in the 70s, my dad used to put the test card on, for the music, some of the tunes you could dance to, sometimes they played songs from the charts
I never realised the test card had music in the early hours, I always remember the music in the mornings, after about an hour of the tone (beeeeeeeeeep!)
The test card section of this video is from the Sweet Moods tape that was broadcast on BBC2 between June 1985 to June 1986. Which explains the ident being the old style stripy 2, rather than the stylised 2 from the 90's.
You have exactly the same views on modern telly as I do. I look forward to very few programs these days, and most are repeats of old shows or films. It is not about quality anymore, its quantity.
Have you ever noticed that the mid to late 1990s BBC continuity presenters had an almost "sexy" or "saucy" style of voice? Now in 2022 the continuity announcers are like teachers on Xanax talking to schoolchildren.
@@dalekusa It's most likely because the test card was missing on the original tape, but then the uploader found another video with the test card and then spilced it into the other source
Sorry for asking a silly question.. Why do stations leave the carrier on with a test pattern after sign off? In my market before most of the stations went 24/7 they would shut the transmitter down.. The local public tv station does. The rest of the stations run shopping channels during the overnight. Our local NBC station signs off at 3:05 and signs back on at 3:30 AM.
That Test-card, was added afterwards, as it has the 70's / 80's BBC 2 symbol. If it was real, it would have had the '2' & the NEW (1988-1997) BBC Logo.
No it wasn't. The track Almost Together was on 3 test csrd tapes (2 on channel 4 and 1 on the BBC). There was a test card tape on channel 4 in the 1980's that included a trsck that was on one of the BBC test card tapes in the 1970's. The tail end of one of the channel 4 mainly classical tapes had 2 tracks that was on a BBC tape. Many of the tracks we've heard down the years have appeared on multiple tapes and between TV organisations. But nothing has been nicked. This is clearly a made up video. Combined from 2 different times. The track was actually the second track on the BBC2 tape of the time the 1980's.
Same goes for the early hours of 5th January 1997. The early hours of 29th June 1997 still has "Firecracker" being used after the clock, but has "Water Reflection" going into Weatherview. Which other closedowns have you seen with that "Firecracker" ident being used after the clock at closedown?
