WNYC-TV first went on the air as experimental TV station WUHF, the first UHF TV station in the USA to have scheduled broadcasts. They proudly served the tri-state area with PBS programs, educational services, multi-language leased-time program blocks, and an excellent video show called "Video Music Box" which showcased local and up-and-coming talent. It's a shame to see them go. I moved out of the area in 1993 and never got to see their final sign off. Thanks for posting this.
It was a commercially licensed station then as of now. What is rare about this station is that it aired programming from NET and then PBS during its first 35 years of existence despite being commercially licensed. Stations with commercial licenses are allowed to air programs from educational networks like PBS but educationally licensed stations can’t air commercial programming. In Buffalo, WNEQ was put up for sale in the late 1990s and had an educational license at the time. Its license was swapped with commercially licensed WNED in 2000 (which carried PBS) so that it could be sold properly. The station’s sale was completed in 2001 and a callsign change to WNLO followed; it is now the affiliate of the CW for Buffalo.
WOW this was the PBS-esque station that brought American viewers of BBC series such as Doctor Who, Blakes' 7 and The Prisoner. If it was not this station I would not be into Doctor Who!!!!!! After15 years, now I know what happend to WNYC 31. It is a sad and heart braken moment.
They put on other shows like EastEnders, Robin Hood, Star Cops & Glenroe. I remember rushing home from Flushing to my home in Jamaica in a under an hour to be in front of the TV to watch Video Music Box. But in the summer of 87. It will repeat at 11pm from Mon-Thurs but had to wait until Doctor Who concludes at around Midnight. Then on Saturday morning 10 or 11AM.
"The preceeding program was paid for by Sinovision Incorporated, it comes to you from Channel 31's leased time service - A distinct component of WNYC TV." I loved this ident and announcement, even though I never watched the actual programs. Somehow the background music combined with the moving electronic 3D shapes made this fondly memorable."
I miss this channel so much it was definitely my favorite PBS channel i would watch all the children's shows such as Sesame Street Reading Rainbow ETC. and video music box on weekdays can't get no better than this
I never saw this before. Glad you posted it. I like how they used the fireworks--seen as part of the National Anthem--featured. WNYC-TV was a unique station for NYC--with foreign programs that were "leased time" and even their own newscast. There is still WNYC Radio at 820 AM and 93.9 FM--all of which were at One Centre Street in New York.
I miss this channel so bad. Video Music Box (which, with Friday Night Videos, was your MTV if you grew up without cable in the 80s in NY), J-Doramas, K-Drama and the news in Chinese... This channel was amazing, all my NY people know what's up...
God I remember this station so well when I was a kid. I used to love WNYC. I used to watch the Chinese shows on Saturday mornings . LOL I Loved them! And Namaste America too!
I actually watched the sign off when it occurred. It was a shame to lose this station. I remember watching Doctor Who, Blake's 7, the Prisoner, Black Adder and Secret Agent on this station. I also remember the chinese program journey to the west. All great shows. Giuiliani was such an asshole for getting rid of this station. Now we have crap.
Before DVD, we taped Secret Agent off Ch. 31, these tapes served well for years when it was impossible to find old tv shows for sale! Agreed that this station going off the air was sad.
And yeah that ' Good- Bye Folks' thing kinda creeps me out too a bit. The way it just pops up out of nowhere and the screen is black. I thought I was the only one who thought that! LOL
I used to watch their weekly broadcasts of RAI Itallian league soccer(they were fed up to our community via satellite). And when I visited New York, I used to like to watch channel 31(when I wasn't sightseeing, of course).
I used to watch Italian Soccer ⚽️ games on Sunday mornings when I didn’t to go church and Video Music Box on weekday afternoons on WNYC channel 31 back in the day in the 90’s. Good memories back then.
RIP WNYC-TV 31. I grew up watching that station. To me it was a substitute station for WNET 13 whenever I wanted to watch shows that I liked like Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Villa Alegre and The First Four Seasons of The Electric Company before they got too carried away with playing The HEY YOU GUYS Scream a lot by repeating The Last Two Seasons of TEC. In the much later years. Instead of signing on early in the morning, it would sign on at 1:30 PM in the afternoon and the only PBS Kids Show that they would keep on showing is Villa Alegre. They would no longer show any other children's shows at all. Not even Mister Rogers. Man. I'm surprised that at least The Last Two Season of TEC wasn't constantly repeated a lot. Not to mention by December of 83, they decided to air Sesame Street Metropolitan Museum of Art aka Don't Eat The Pictures on their station. Especially that they stopped airing new episodes long ago way before they decided to air The Second Sesame Street Special on TV 31😐
And of course, they had the FCI morning news program Supertime with Naoko Ishitaro & Tetsuo Suda in New York, along with the Tokyo anchors whose names I never knew.
@RichardClifford Same here! I became a soccer/football fan pretty much because of the Italian Serie A/B and European Championship matches that were satellited from RAI to WNYC during the late 80s. I also enjoyed watching the Italian sports program Domenico Sportivo, TGI news, EastEnders, and the many European films they aired. At the time, I lived in the Bronx when cable was not yet available there. I would pull up the UHF ring to watch WNYC's broadcasts. As was mentioned, this channel is a casualty of when Rudolph Giuliani was in the middle of his term as mayor. There was a nationwide smackdown campaign by the Republican Party to stop funding to PBS and programs like the NEA. I remember there being a mad-rush, last-minute campaign to keep the station alive through donations but it didn't work. We can really use a diverse, multicultural station like this one in New York, of all places, but I guess with cable being what it is, that can't happen.
I was introduced to "The Prisoner" with Patrick McGoohan and Blake's 7 when WNYC-TV 31 aired them. And I'd also watch the news in Italian on RAI (and try to follow it with my limited knowledge of *Spanish*) and the Leon Charney Report, which later continued oon WNYE channel 25
One thing that missed about WNYC 31 was that they aired some of channel 13 WNET's pledge programs once or twice without the pledge commercials after channel 13 WNET's pledge drive was over. I used to have my late grandmother tape channel 13 WNET's pledge programs on WNYC channel 31 so that I wouldn't have to fast forward the long annoying pledge commercials. Whenever channel 13 WNET's announcer would say "Please help support your local public television station!" at the beginning of the commercial, WNYC channel 31 would have short quick commercials about other programs that were going to be on.
it was such a tragedy for me at that time, I thought I would never see video music box again thinking it was off the air till I later found out they moved it to channel 25 which made me feel better but it wasn't the same cause it only aired one day of the week and its still like that today
"This is the final broadcast of WNYC-TV. Tomorrow, this station will begin its first day as WBIS-TV. The staff of WNYC-TV thanks you for your support over the last 35 years."
I also grew up with Video Music Box in the '80s! But WNYC Channel 31 also aired all these great British imports, Blake's 7, Secret Agent, The Prisoner. Also, if there was anything you missed on PBS WNET Channel 13, it would often be repeated on 31. (I still don't have have cable, well, now I have a cable modem, but still no cable TV! Dont know what I will do when digital TV is forced upon us, I'll have to buy one of those converters.).
This was a very interest TV station, providing public service programs and multicultural airtime, too. If anybody is reading this comment, I have a question. Does anybody know what WNYC's schedule was like? I tried to look for some vintage schedules, but they're not out there.
They used to air the latest Japanese TV drama on Saturday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 with English subtitles. There were Chinese programs later in the evening from Sinovision (if I remember correctly). There was "Today's Japan" on weekdays -- an English-speaking 30-minute news program on the latest news from Japan.
I agree, I'd rather fight than switch! But the excuse they give is that it's necessary to free up all these analog frequencies for use as emergency bands for fire departments, coast guard, etc. I don't know how they've managed all thse years without them, and I see a government cable company dHDTV conspiracy! I love my rabbit ear antennas! I don't even believe in this so-called "Internet" fad!
@danawadd You know, if it was not WNYC I would not know what Doctor Who was. Thanks to my little brother who was like 10 months old and he was hitting the remote control. The Tom Baker adventure of Warriors Gate help me open doors to the Who universe. It also got me into Blakes' 7 and The Prisoner. Yeah after 35 years at that time the station cancels!
Although they did show some PBS programmes, no. WNYC was owned by the city of New York. Its death was caused by Rudy Giuliani's decision to privatise the station and sell it to the highest bidder in a blind auction.
well after id was a final announcement , then there are so many staff in the list. (Did you know who announce this in WNYC-TV?? and where's test card?)
