Duration 11:38

The Last Day of Analog TV in the US Documented

by Antenna Man

225 565 watched

9.3 K

Published 16 Jul 2021

In this video I document the last day of analog NTSC TV broadcasting in the United States on July 13th, 2021. I show TV stations that are still on the air and as they shut down thanks to viewer submitted videos. Besides a few translators in Alaska analog TV should no longer exist in the US. Were there any TV stations that stayed on the air past the deadline? Link to my video explaining the future of Franken FMs on 87.7FM: /watch/0hp5-_1qk2Tq5 Thanks to the following people who submitted footage: Steve Martilotta from Syracuse (WVOA-LP Shutdown)” /watch/wdl3ELGAxKDA3 Steve Ehrhardt from Missouri (WVOA-LP DX): /watch/4dq1Xr4u2T2u1 YouTuber Jesus Villalpando (WSRW-LP Shutdown): /watch/48Y-xw3gQFsg- YouTube channel pepsiru1es92 (WAWW-LP footage): /watch/EhRZt6utBvstZ Youtube channel Jman to the 64 (WDCN-LP Shutdown): /channel/UCTP1cHW4n2iAuX6r5v7Bq1g/videos Youtuber Michael Huynh: /watch/IAtO3xpukR5uO For an antenna recommendation from me visit my website: http://antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html Check out the Antenna Man Store for recommended antennas and accessories: https://www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman Considering a Channel Master antenna? Use my affiliate link below: https://www.channelmaster.com/?rfsn=6279509.d2c216 🔌 Did my videos help you cut the cord? If so, consider a PayPal contribution, Patreon, or a Channel Membership: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=8L5UBJ7JX86PG https://www.patreon.com/AntennaMan Sign up to my e-mail list: https://bit.ly/2whSoTI Like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AntennaManPA/ E-mail brief general questions or sponsorship inquires to theantennamanpa@gmail.com - before sending an e-mail consider a custom antenna recommendation below if you are looking for help with an antenna setup. http://www.antennamanpa.com/antenna-recommendations.html

Category

Comments - 1083

@

@AntennaMan3 years ago Do you have reception problems? Consider an antenna recommendation from me below! 26
@

@pepsiru1es923 years ago Its an honor to be immortalized in an antenna man video! Thanks again for documenting this. 720
@

@xbrandi12345x3 years ago I don' t know why it makes me so sad that analog stations no longer exist but it does. I grew up watching analog tv and it just seems like the end of . ...Expand 1121
@

@Bluelightsinthesky3 years ago The shut down is just eerie. Especially at the end of the clip, its like not being able to have time for anything, its like not having time to escape for a nuclear explosion. 304
@

@S955US843 years ago The snow, ghosting and other artifacts of analog tv were a lot easier to take than the never ending drop outs, freeze ups and glitches of digital reception. 860
@

@Markimark1513 years ago Rip analog tv in america, i remember when all our local analog channels shut down in 2009, i recorded cbs and was tuning to pbs from a sega game gear. . ...Expand 480
@

@manoflego1233 years ago That' s pretty amazing to witness the death of a station like that. Gives me chills. Although it' s also a bit funny to see it just cut off mid commercial. 367
@

@CelticShae3 years ago I have a feeling that in 40 years, tyler is gonna be hella famous. Future generations looking back will understand and appreciate this work. Thanks for . ...Expand 326
@

@manoflego1233 years ago Holy cow they' re still using an atari video music system? That' s an obscure bit of hardware. 156
@

@fuijika3 years ago Thanks for immortalizing this. Here goes away a cultural technological phenomenon. When two different technology can pickup the same signal. Rip franken fm. 179
@

@mikecampbell58563 years ago My earliest tv memories are from 1961 when i was 4. We had one tv channel on a tiny screen in glorious black and white. 180
@

@nakayle3 years ago The nice thing about analog was you could diagnosis reception problems just be looking at the picture. Noise, multi-path, co-channel, weak signal were . ...Expand 56
@

@CullenCraft3 years ago I joined the broadcast community at a time when everything is changing. It' s heartbreaking to see the signals drop to static. The end of 100ish years of history. 34
@

@jmantothe643 years ago Thanks for including me in your video! It took a while to get the video signal, because it was so weak that i had to go to the tower to get a clear signal also, i' ll have to update my channel banner and stuff, i made it years ago and it looks pretty bad, so hopefully it' ll look better than before!. ...Expand 36
@

@theartdump32573 years ago There' s still some analog channels left in canada, but it' s still crazy to think it' s been completely wiped out elsewhere. I' m sure we' ll . ...Expand 23
@

@mazda96243 years ago Despite the fact that i haven' t used analog tv since 2009, this is still incredibly sad to me. 56
@

@staticintheatmosphere3 years ago Its like a part my childhood being taken away. 124
@

@algorithminc.88503 years ago I' m into engineering of modern high-tech, but old-school is really important to understanding modern high-tech. And where it all came from. There . ...Expand 20
@

@arttoons.80463 years ago I remember watching a channel called noggin and i whitnessed the day it finally shut down. I don' t remember what day it was, but it was scary with the noise and the color bar showing up. 24
@

@MrBnsftrain3 years ago So this explains how i was able to hear a ' radio play' as a kid! I remember playing around with the radio we had in the bathroom when i was six . ...Expand 22
@

@majordisappointment86923 years ago Screw the fcc analog was the best when i was young loved getting those late night skip tv transmissions from all over. It really was thrilling to watch different programming from another local. 210
@

@ZacharyDietze3 years ago Analog was always better than cable, even back in 2009 before all of the main channels were forced to switch. Id rather take the snow effects and slight d needto connect to your wifi 24/7 with no brief dropouts in between. I just try to stick to downloading as much as i can, wether it be through purchases or through pirating and/or archiving. Its way more convenient by then, has no connection issues, no ads, and is most likely to be cleaned up more than how it originally aired on television anyways. But still, it really sucked that they still went under at the time because while the internet was starting to go on a massive rise by that point, not everyone would still transition quick enough or could afford it, and it certainly doesnt help when some areas can receive signals worse than others too depending on where you are. shameon the fcc and everyone else involved for forcing the shut down of independent stations. everyoneshould have an alternative to watch television, no matter how low in quality it is. Imagine having no option to watch television anymore by the 1990s unless you subscribed to the internet, which was still in its public infancy at the time. None of the kids wouldve had a clue what the heck a tv or nickelodeon were if that was to happen. I know its a more drastic comparison, but still, the point is that not everyone is willing to fork out an absurd amount of additional money just to watch something. The internet by itself is expensive to keep as is, so i dont think paying for stuff like streaming services is worth it at allmy parents still subscribe to one or two services at a time, but if i was them, i would just not pay for any period and look for free alternatives. Its not like the exclusive content from each service gets dumped in some places the same day or day after they come out anyways. Yao what people might think thats cheating, but unless theres physical releases for said media, then i dont think there should be a problem in downloading stuff myself. Its the same reason why emulation is a thing for video games, because most of those games arent even playable anymore on modern systems. Its not because we get paying for stuff entirely, its because of preservation. Why else do you think stuff like the lost media community is much bigger now than it ever has been before? Hell, even before stuff like that, restoration efforts have always been a big deal even during the late 20th century. I say late because everything before the 1970s was always trashed and replaced, even for popular stuff at the time since it wasnt easy to have physical home media until then. Theres currently over 90 lost doctor who episodes for a comparison! I dont care for that show a lot, but thats a lot,and thats just from a fully syndicated show! So yeah, i dont feel bad about simply downloading stuff off the internet anymore. Its not like its an illegal thing to do anyways, and even if it was, its still much easier and preferable than paying for something i can have in a worse way and with the money i do not have. Needless to say, the only things i go out of my way to buy physical media for these days is video games still being made and sold, but even then its not exactly hard to just buy something like an sd card (for the nintendo switch at least) and put all the digital purchases on that either. Its less preferable but hey, its another physical option technically speaking, i guess.
damn, i really went off on a tangent there didnt i? lol. ...Expand 17
@

@zgsrandomnesshub75613 years ago Thanks for the vid, tyler. I did have a few videos ready, but i forgot to submit them to you! Also, you are all right to miss analog. We just killed 80+ . ...Expand 14
@

@andrew82933 years ago That's the best analog signal i've ever seen! Wish a few more of those were still around. 21
@

@NEILEAS3 years ago Wrme-lp and kbkf-lp still broadcast on 87. 7 and on atsc 3. 0. 42
@

@ebinrock3 years ago Someday there' s going to be hell to pay when there' s some big emergency and digital transmission fails for some reason, or fails to decode, and . ...Expand 132
@

@theytookraff3 years ago I grew up around the major transition from analog to digital (mid 20s-early 2010s) and it hurts, i used to watch stuff in my parents analog tv (like id="hidden22" old recordings of wwf) even though i didnt see it much since we switched to digital shortly after 2009, this still hurts. ...Expand 10
@

@WickerBasket93 years ago Seeing the fluttering diamonds at on a CRT TV on channel 6 is so cool. and a bit trippy, too! 5
@

@canadianpsycho18673 years ago I hope tropospheric ducting is strong on december 3 so i can possibly watch the final moments of analog tv in canada. Theres a channel 3 station 95 m id="hidden24"iles away, a channel 6 station 109 miles away, and a channel 10 station 130 miles away. Ive received all of these stations before. Canada still has some analog tv stations in low populated areas many broadcast at a very high power. My local community tv station switched to digital in february. ...Expand 31
@

@wallyprichard74513 years ago I miss analog. Back in the good old days during the 90' s we all had tiny pocket sized portable color televisions which you cant find today. 23
@

@scottlarson15483 years ago The most interesting thing reported on the avs forum during the analog shutdown was that as the stations were switching off on the east coast, people were bettertheir analog reception was getting every day. People had been putting up with noisy picture quality and had no idea it had been interference from other stations the whole time until those interfering stations switched off. I saw the screen shots they posted from before the stations started shutting down and i could not believe anyone would put up with watching that mess every day. ...Expand 8
@

@tsntana3 years ago I like how the intro to your videos is a throwback to analog tv. 6
@

@glorbojibbins24853 years ago Rest in peace
you will be missed. 58
@

@shitty_beatles3 years ago Is anyone else at least slightlyabout this? Pretty much all of our analog communication methods have been more or less been shut down. even if they aren' t in popular use, the thought that they' re gone is troubling. The mechanisms might be forgotten in a generation or two. I grew up with the internet and even i know that it' s dangerous to not have a backup option. ...Expand 120
@

@DJ_Rainy3 years ago I heard a radio station on 87. 7 yesterday. Couldn' t tell what it was thou. 35
@

@nimbypig3 years ago For all of you antenna geeks out there: i rescan my over the air tv and got analog channel 2 out of canada on 7/15/2021. I am located southeast of rochester . ...Expand 8
@

@brady42223 years ago Very interesting, here in australia analog tv transmissions began to be phased out in 2010 and completely ceased in 2013. 4
@

@davidarnette3273 years ago Absolutely, giant media especially iheartmedia destroyed radio, i don' t don' t even listen anymore. Great video! 82
@

@ItsaRomethingeveryday3 years ago I so miss the days of analog tv, when the bi yearly skip would occur, it wasn' t uncommon to receive tv stations that were several hundreds of miles . ...Expand 12
@

@robertmoore81663 years ago Wow! I actually own one of those atari video music boxes. So cool to see another one! 17
@

@royrowland57633 years ago I appreciate your efforts, and please keep this video up. This is great for posterity to watch. 1
@

@09impala3 years ago Theres just something about analog that i just love. Everything was more simple and could be worked on fairly simply if you had the right skills. 7
@

@drsysop3 years ago More pirate stations will pop out now for sure. 50
@

@charlessmith18903 years ago We tried a few years ago to get the fcc to extend the fm band down to 68 mh. This would double the fm band space there by giving a lot more room for local . ...Expand 4
@

@rickslife3 years ago Great documentation of the analog shut down. A piece of americana fades into history. Thanks for all your hard work taylor! 3
@

@theamazingDrBob3 years ago Hey man. Thanks for sharing this, i had no idea that this had happened. I just checked 87. 7 fm down here in south florida, and it has gone silent with . ...Expand 4
@

@yaboidustin24473 years ago I just realized how many retro handheld tv' s are useless now. 34
@

@Tom_A.K.3 years ago Thank you tyler! Always a fan! Rip analog tv! 2
@

@Wenlocktvdx3 years ago Analoguetv in australia closed long ago now. As a tv dxer i have no signals to look for now, although i sometimes see digital signals (dvb-t) from traralgon . ...Expand 3
@

@writerpatrick3 years ago I remember watching a number of stations shutting down their analog broadcasts and some stations, mostly cable channels, starting up for the first time. 3
@

@Seth_Andretti3 years ago The documentary we never knew we needed, ggs! 2
@

@johnny-becker3 years ago With digital, it either works or doesn' t work (sometimes both but never at the same time) with analog, you got both work and doesn' t work. It . ...Expand 2
@

@FujikkoJP11 months ago i am very glad that i wittiness this in 2009 thanks to my parents visiting west virginia us back then three years after i created this youtube account. 2
@

@BrainCleanser02 years ago This has been sitting in my watch later list for over a year and i' m glad i finally watched it.
@

@jav053 years ago Thanks for sharing my video
also it' s ksrw not wsrw. 1
@

@frankm4963 years ago Hard to believe this wonderful early tv standard survived this long. I think over 50years commercially? I remember as a youngster seeing a test patterns . ...Expand 11
@

@matthewmallett3 years ago I was born in 1985 my first memory of antenna television was the ice storm of 1991 in new york i' m actually going to miss the color bars and the snow . ...Expand 1
@

@simongrayakarapgod31583 years ago Why did the frankenfm stations need to switch frequencies when only analog tv could actually pick it up? 18
@

@jpsned2 years ago " analog over-the-air tv had a charm that will never be matched. " very nicely put. I grew up during the 1960s and 70s in central nj -halfway 2-wcbs, nyc
3-some philly station that didn' t come in well
4-wnbc, nyc
5-wnew, nyc
6-same as 3
7-wabc, nyc
8-didn' t come in at all
9-wor, nyc
10-wcax, had same programming as cbs
11-wpix, nyc
12-didn' t come in at all
13-wnet, public tv out of newark, nj, often didn' t come in well
seems like we had our antenna pointed toward nyc! When my family got a tv with a uhf receiver (channels 14-83) the only channels we could get were channel 29 (wtaf, philly) and i believe 48, which i never watched.
things i remember about analog tv were that the programming wasn' t bunched together in such a split-second manner as it is with cable. You always had about a second or so of empty space between commercials and programming. On the back of the tvs you had horizontal hold and vertical hold knobs to adjust the picture when that was needed. Also, i remember the fact that it took the tv a few seconds to warm up, and then you had that vacuum-tube glow on the tube after you shut the tv off. ...Expand 1
@

@Sir_Maximus_Hardwood3 years ago Omg. My grandma had that panasonic tv radio at the beginning. I remember going to here house as a kid one day, asking to watch tv, and being brought into her room and told to use that thing. I cried lol. 3
@

@PinkKirlia2813 years ago Dang. Those announcements with all the shapes moving on the screen was very scary. Lol. 2
@

@blakemcnamara91053 years ago I' m a railfan so i imagine it' s the same feeling as when they retire old trains from service and the only times you can ride them are for special excursions but it just doesn' t feel the same. 3
@

@Knaeckebrotsaege11 months ago Not really ota, but in germany we still had analog cable tv (which is much less of a luxury here than it seems to (have been) in the us? Til mid 2021 id="hidden40" with around 35 stations. The shutdown announcement via on-screen banners came rather abruptly (only a week or two before the shutdown) very much a shame as this was the last easyway to demo and test analog equipment (tvs and vcrs mainly) without having to set up your own in-home low power transmission clusterfck. That said, ota in itself was also a fck of many clusters. Dvb-t (the equivalent to atsc here) was pushed really hard, but only a couple years after the analog ota shutdown, private stations began to drop from dvb-t citing too high transmission costs vs. Viewership, which in turn made getting a dvb-t receiver even less appealing than it already was, between reception issues and dropouts. 2019 then saw the final nail in the coffin as dvb-t (based on mpeg2 video like a dvd) was shut down and replaced by dvb-t2 based on mpeg4. And while they were at it, they also cranked the drm knob all the way to 11 so the only stations you could receive for free were the 3 or 4 state-run ones, making dvb-t2 basically a stillborn. End of the story? Ota is dead, both analog and digital. Yay forhuh?. ...Expand 2
@

@bobh.45803 years ago Yes, i' m sad to see analog go. And the digital transition was a joke as well as the repack. Maybe astc 3. 0 will finally make things the way they should be. 20
@

@peanutbutterjuicy77043 years ago My local cable company in rural kentucky still has analog-only cable, channels 2-40. 3
@

@numberyellow3 years ago I used to work for cablevision in jersey. I remember back in ' 09, we had an absolute ton of jobs for catv installs, due to the wholeis going away soon" hype. 4
@

@milkyproduxions3 years ago Well scott, good mornin- static intensifies. 1
@

@dotjanitalks23 years ago This is so sad, free tv is gone, you have to have a newer tv with digital to get anything. 16
@

@voiceofjeff2 years ago Wmto in norfolk va had it' s share ofwhen they first came on the air, they ran a continuous loop of audio and never gave id' s. what happened was, they were reported as being a " pirate station" because they were throwing a massive signal over norfolk, but never id' d themselves or had any talking other than liners. When the fcc investigated, they discovered they were over power and fined them. They were on one of the tall tv towers in suffolk, va.
as of now, streetz fm is broadcasting on an fm signal at 102. 1 they bought( in virginia beach which doesn' t even cover all of the hampton roads area, and the franken fm on channel 6 seems to be gone. ...Expand 2
@

@elisa.sblogs53563 years ago Thank you for sharing watching from canmore alberta canada. 1
@

@raymondmartin67373 years ago I always liked tv and fm dx since i
started my interest in mw, fm, and tv
in 1960, which led to my interest in the
amateur ra id="hidden44"dio to this day. Thanks for
this interesting video. I remember wnyz-
lp when living near new york city. These
low power fm stations served a purpose,
as you said the mw and fm are pretty boring these days. They sound a lot alike from
my 60 plus years of listening to them. Ray. ...Expand 3
@

@SoUtHMeMpHis3 years ago Those channels always had the best holiday themed content you' d see christmas episodes of bygone tv shows that you can' t find on dvd, blu ray, . ...Expand 2
@

@lucifer2b6663 years ago Me tv fm is still up in chicago. I' m so happy. Listen to it every day. 2
@

@dennisanderson38953 years ago As a young teen (long ago) something i loved doing in the wee overnight hours was floating the uhf tuning dial and picking up a tv station i' d never havethat tape proving the signals bounce! Y' all got nothing better to do?. ...Expand 8
@

@FlatEarthDisciple3 years ago I' ve had strange experiences of picking up radio stations on tv and tv on radio bands before. Kinda cool. My old analog tv used to get kjkj fm 107. 5 in grand forks, nd. 2
@

@Chad_Thundercock3 years ago
I appreciate that quick attempt to recognize people at the shutdown. I wonder how much trouble he got in for sandwiching that in there.
@

@pnice163 years ago I swear to god, i just started watching and already you talked about ' cuse. Glad we' re on the map!
@

@williampalenik73063 years ago R. I. P. Analog tv/ franken fm we will miss you dearly! 4
@

@sxyangeleyez3 years ago You need to do a video on the people that have hijacked station air waves. Max headroom for life! Peace brothers from ytown. 43
@

@jerrydemas20203 years ago Tyler, are those crossed stroking index fingers(shame on you) known outside of our location. My mom was from quakertown. I was the recipient of shame fingers a few times. Jerry in hatfield. 8
@

@Space_Reptile3 years ago The abrupt cut to static in the shutdowns makes it look like a literal plug is being pulled, brutal and sad. 1
@

@Garfieldescu3 years ago It' s truly sad that analog is gone in the us. Canada will still have them for some time. My country has stopped broadcasting in 2018, moldova, our . ...Expand 1
@

@marigoldmusic333 years ago Wvoa and its dancing diamonds gives me an eerie feeling, and i dont really know why or how to explain it. 5
@

@intermissionbuffalo3 years ago Limited local air staff is right. All the time i hear stations have problems right on the midnight hour because the stations aren' t manned anymore. 1
@

@dukdukproductions62943 years ago watching a frequency suddenly die is almost ominous 3
@

@uwuster3 years ago I' m not sharing you a video but, i live in texas and we still get 4 channels on analog tv we actually started using it a few months ago and haven' t . ...Expand 1
@

@ArmedBread8 months ago The fact that its on my birthday makes analog just more special to me.
@

@richardr59283 years ago In chicago metv fm wwme 87. 7fm is still broadcasting but they did shut down their signal on channel 6 last month. 3
@

@MichelleBradley3 years ago Norfolk, atlanta and denver were granted special temporary authority (sta) to continue 87. 7 analog as a part of atsc3, similar to vtg' s stas in chicago and san jose. 3
@

@IMLMadras1st3 years ago Hey antenna man, do you have any idea why, in my hometown of tijuana, if you had an old tv with knobs you could tune to approximately channel 80-ish you were able to hear phone conversation from i dont know where?
@

@ignatiusgrippa3 years ago Wvoa should' ve been spared just for their brilliant use of the atari video music. To pick that signal up out of the blue late at night would' ve been the coolest. 2
@

@dougie46713 years ago If you wanted to remotely switch between cable/pay and your antenna which rf relay would you choose?
@

@shankysays3 years ago In india also, since 2010 only digital was pushed very hard. In 7-8 years then, everyone finally shifted to digital signal. Now analog tv are dead in india. 5
@

@syd50993 years ago I was a little late on this. But rip to analog forever! 9
@

@guillermorodriguez8363 years ago In san diego channel 6 used to be fox. I remember when we would tune the big speaker stereo to 87. 7 and watch star trek tng, or othervery much a poor mans theater sound for a crt tv with no audio out. 1
@

@JuEdWa3 years ago Hi, this is so good and interesting video! But i have question. I live in finland, so is it possible, that there is any a low power terrestrial tv station in finland? 2