Sign-on and sign-off

A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries), which is the sequence of operations involved when a radio or television station shuts down its transmitters and goes off the air for a predetermined period; generally, this occurs during the overnight hours although a broadcaster's digital specialty or sub-channels may start up and closedown at significantly different times as its main channels.

Sign-off message broadcast by DWWX-TV (ABS-CBN Manila) ABS-CBN Franchise renewal, before stopping all broadcasts at 7:52 pm (PST) in compliance with the NTC order on May 5, 2020.

Like other television programming, sign-on and sign-off sequences can be initiated by a broadcast automation system, and automatic transmission systems can turn the carrier signal and transmitter on/off by remote control.

Sign-on and sign-off sequences have become less common due to the increasing prevalence of twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week broadcasting. However, some national broadcasters continue the practice; particularly those in countries with limited broadcast coverage. Stations may also sometimes close for transmitter maintenance, or to allow another station to broadcast on the same channel space.[1]

Sign-on/start-up

Sign-ons, like sign-offs, vary from country to country, from station to station, and from time to time; however, most follow a similar general pattern. It is common for sign-ons to be followed by a network's early morning newscast, or their morning or breakfast show.

Some broadcasters that have ceased signing on and signing off in favour of 24 hour broadcasting may perform a sign-on sequence between at a certain time in the morning (usually between 4 and 7am) as a formality to signify the start of its operating day (in the United States, the broadcast logging day begins at 6am local time).

Sign-on/start-up sequence

The sign-on sequence may include some or all of the following stages, but not necessarily in this order:

  • For television or radio stations that cut off their signal during off-broadcast hours, a test pattern or a static image accompanied by a 1 kHz tone or music may be broadcast fifteen to twenty minutes before the actual sign-on. Digital channels may still run overnight programs or interstitials at this time (ITV Nightscreen in the United Kingdom being an example), which conclude when the station's main programming schedule begins.
  • A signal to turn on remote transmitters may be played—this is usually a series of touch tones.
  • On radio stations, especially international stations on shortwave, an interval signal may be played in a loop, usually for 3 to 5 minutes before the actual broadcast starts.
  • Technical information is provided. This can include station identification (call sign and city of license), transmitter power, frequency or channel number, translators used, transmitter locations, list of broadcast engineers, and/or studio/transmitter links (STL).
  • A television station may show a video and photo montage set to the national anthem or other patriotic piece of music. The accompanying television video may include images of the national flag, head of states, national heroes, national military, national symbols, and other nationalistic imagery (especially on state-owned broadcasters), or simply the station ident.
  • Ownership information about the station, and a list of related organizations.
  • A greeting to viewers or listeners.
  • Contact information, such as street and mailing addresses, telephone number, email, and website details.
  • A prayer or other religious acknowledgement, particularly in countries with a state religion, in theocracies, and on religious broadcasters.
  • This program guide for the upcoming programs, or the day's programs.
  • A disclaimer that station programming is taped, aired live, or originates from a television or radio network.
  • Another disclaimer that programs are for personal use only (sometimes with information on copyright restrictions), and a statement that businesses cannot profit from showing them by applying a cover charge for viewing.
  • A statement of commitment to quality; this may be in the form of a recognized standard, such as the Philippines' Broadcast Code of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines).
  • A station identification, including some or all of the television channel, AM or FM frequency, call sign, branding, and a clock ident.
  • Generally a station jingle or slogan will be played, accompanied on television with video clips featuring station programming or personalities.

While most of these sign-on steps are done as a service to the public, or for advertising reasons, some of them may be required by the government of the country.

Sign-off/closedown

Sign-offs, like sign-ons, vary from country to country, from station to station, and from time to time; however, most follow a similar general pattern. Many stations follow the reverse process to their sign-on sequence at the start of the day.

Many stations, while no longer conducting a sign-off and being off air for a period of time each day, instead run low–cost programming during those times of low viewer numbers. This may include infomercials, movies, television show reruns, simple weather forecasts, low cost news or infotainment programming from other suppliers, simulcasts of sister services, or feeds of local cable TV companies' programming via a fiber optic line to the cable headend. Other broadcasters that are part of a radio or television network may run an unedited feed of the network's overnight programming from a central location, without local advertising. During what are otherwise closedown hours, some channels may also simulcast their teletext pages or full page headlines with music or feeds from sister radio stations playing in the background. Some stations, after doing a sign-off, nonetheless continue to transmit throughout the off-air period on cable/satellite; this transmission may involve a test pattern, static image, teletext pages or full-page headlines which was accompanied by music or a local weather radio service.

Sign-off/closedown sequence

The sign-off sequence may include some or all of the following stages, but not necessarily in this order:

  • An announcement made about the upcoming sign-off to inform viewers that the station is about to go off-air.
  • A station jingle or slogan may be played, accompanied on television with video clips featuring station programming or personalities. A series of program trailers may also be played.
  • A prayer, hymn, or other religious acknowledgement, particularly in countries with a state religion or theocracies, and on religious broadcasters.
  • A short weather forecast, newscast, or a pre-taped sermonette.
  • A clock ident, which can be silent, play music or feature an announcer.
  • A message to viewers or listeners thanking them for their patronage, along with an announcement of the time when the station is scheduled to sign on again.
  • A program guide for the following day's programs.
  • Ownership information about the station and a list of related organizations.
  • Contact information, such as street and mailing addresses, telephone number, zip code, e-mail, and website details.
  • A disclaimer that programs are for personal use only (sometimes with information on copyright restrictions), and a statement that businesses cannot profit from showing them by applying a cover charge for viewing.
  • A statement of commitment to quality; this may be in the form of a recognized standard, such as the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines).
  • The viewer may be encouraged to view or listen to alternative services during the station’s downtime; these are usually sister or affiliate stations.
  • A statement of commitment to quality; this may be in the form of a recognized standard, such as the Philippines' Broadcast Code of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines).
  • An invitation to tune into alternate services, usually other radio or television services related to that particular service.
  • A television station may show a video and photo montage set to the national anthem or other patriotic piece of music. The accompanying television video may include images of the national flag, head of states, national heroes, national military, national symbols, and other nationalistic imagery (especially on state-owned broadcasters), or simply the station ident.
  • The station may display some type of novelty item, such as an animated character, particular to that station or its locale.
  • Stations in Germany would use a slide with the station logo and the word Sendeschluss (in Germany and Austria also alternatively spelt Sendeschluß, meaning “shutdown”), shown prior to the test card (as opposed to before the signal being cut) to tell the viewer to switch off their sets. This practice ceased around 1994-96.[2]
  • The display of a test pattern, a variation on the station logo, or a black signal, often accompanied by a monotone sound for a short period of time; radio stations may just play a monotone.
  • Viewers may be reminded to turn off their television sets just prior to the transmitter being switched off. This is still in regular practice in some places like Russia and some areas of Japan.
  • A signal to turn off remote transmitters may be played; is usually a series of touch tones. Once the transmission has been cut off the viewer may only see or hear static on an analog tv signal) On digital the signal will either display a message, or a black screen with no audio if completely cut off as there is no transmission to be decoded..
  • A loud tone may be played on the audio to encourage sleeping viewers to turn their television sets off.

While most of these sign-off steps are done as a service to the public, some of them may be required by the government of the country.

Religious acknowledgements during sign-on and sign-off
Country Religious acknowledgement
Algeria Quran reading[3]
Armenia Christian blessing[4]
Bolivia Christian sermonette[5]
Brazil Christian programme[6]
Brunei Quran reading[7]
Canada Christian sermonette[8]
Egypt Quran reading[9]
Germany Bible reading, responsorial psalm or Christian prayer[10]
Greece Christian sermonette, prayer or psalm[11]
Iran Quran reading[12]
Ireland Christian prayer[13]
Israel Psuko Shel Yom
Jordan Quran reading[14]
Libya Quran reading[15]
Malaysia Quran reading[16]
Morocco Quran reading[17]
Myanmar Buddhist quote[18]
Nepal Hindu song[19]
Niger Quran reading[20]
Pakistan Quran reading[21]
Philippines Christian prayer[22]
Saudi Arabia Quran reading[23]
Syria Quran reading[24]
Trinidad and Tobago Christian prayer[25]
United States Christian prayer, sermonette or inspirational message[26][27][28]
Western Sahara Quran reading[29]
Yemen Quran reading[30]

Special sign-on/off cases

Historical

In a number of countries closedowns formerly took place during the daytime as well as overnight. In the United Kingdom this was initially due to government-imposed restrictions on daytime broadcasting hours, and later, due to budgetary constraints. The eventual relaxation of these rules meant that afternoon closedowns ceased permanently on the ITV network in October 1972, but the BBC maintained the practice until Friday 24 October 1986, before commencing a full daytime service on the following Monday. Afternoon closedowns continued in South Korea until December 2005. Hong Kong's broadcasting networks (particularly the English-speaking channels) also practiced this until mid-2008. In these cases, the station's transmitters later did not actually shut-down for the afternoon break; either a test-card was played or a static schedule was posted telling viewers of the programming line-up once broadcasting resumes.

Religious

India

During religious holidays or occasions, Doordarshan and Akashvani will broadcast a prayer of any religion through the day, a week or a month (e.g. During Ramadan, a reading from the Quran, a Muslim quote, or a call for Azan and Fajr prayer will be broadcast. During Lent, a Christian prayer, a hymn or a psalm will be broadcast).

Malaysia

During Ramadan, Malaysian public broadcaster RTM operated TV1 24 hours a day instead of signing off. In 2012, TV1 broadcast 24 hours a day during the London Olympics in 2012, due to the time difference.[31] This would become permanent in August 2012, to coincide with their sister channel, TV2 by showing reruns from the broadcaster's archive library and movies on early mornings before start-up.

Philippines

During the Holy Week in the Philippines, terrestrial television and radio stations continue their regular broadcast schedules (including Lenten drama specials from Eat Bulaga! and It's Showtime) from Palm Sunday until Holy Wednesday. From the midnight of Holy Thursday until the early hours of Easter Sunday (before 4 AM PST on most commercial broadcasters), most non-religious television and radio networks either remain off-the-air due to using the timeframe for annual maintenance of their broadcast equipments or truncate their broadcasting hours and feature special programming such as Lenten drama specials, religious-themed programming and news coverage of various services and rites. Catholic Media Network member stations also follow the latter pattern, broadcasting Easter Triduum services and other similar programming.[32]

Campus radio stations' operations during this time are left to the discretion of their respective schools, colleges, or universities by either closing down on the afternoon of Holy Wednesday or remaining off-air for the entire Holy Week.

On cable and satellite, with the exception of specialty channels that broadcast horse racing, cockfighting, and the like that sign-off and remain dormant during this period, most international networks distributed in the Philippines continue to broadcast their 24/7 regular programming service week-long, while other Philippine-exclusive channels continue with specially-arranged schedules from Holy Thursday to Black Saturday or sometimes regular programming.

There have been notable historic exceptions to the abovementioned protocols, such as

  • 2015 - when Typhoon Maysak (Chedeng) struck Aurora, some radio and television stations that were supposed to sign-off during the Triduum before the typhoon's landfall in the Philippines, aired news updates related to the typhoon
  • 2020 - during the coronavirus pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, government-controlled television and radio stations abandoned signing-off during the Paschal Triduum while the daily #LagingHanda press briefings conducted by the Presidential Communications Operations Office augmented its broadcast operations. On commercial radio and television stations, news updates related to the pandemic were broadcast alongside special programming.
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See also

References
  1. An example of this is the United Kingdom’s BBC Four/CBeebies and the Czech Republic's ČT art/ČT Déčko.
  2. "Chronik der ARD | Das Erste rund um die Uhr". web.ard.de. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbCd8NoiUf8
  4. http://www.intervalsignals.net/Files/arm-public_radio_domestic_290908.m3u
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EycV1gCAWsA&t=185s
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bx9l3_V-Fw
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HnvjCw2k0U
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Be6MVNz10
  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdY-i58tai0
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWSZ5kgCnS8
  11. http://www.intervalsignals.net/Files/grc-z-yened_rvd_1974.m3u
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTZrYZ6rHNk
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCIFhSv-XVs
  14. http://www.intervalsignals.net/Files/jor-rj_arabic_250207.m3u
  15. http://ing-sat.what.hu/satlogos/libya.htm
  16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMyRtYRiW4
  17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOsRo9jrt0E
  18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzUyABJ7ZWc
  19. https://books.google.com/books?id=PpfzDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT186&lpg=PT186&dq=radio+nepal+bhajan+sign+on&source=bl&ots=cgVLsR-4B-&sig=ACfU3U1vCKniNNM4bU5eTx9qNzV7R38W6Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiih5Kh0tDqAhUxmXIEHQtWC284HhDoATAEegQIDBAB
  20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zbpITJKUZg
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_z-EPRS4w4
  22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYQ0yYtkSPg
  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwYO4Y_0dNc
  24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgqnwCEh2fk
  25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjBFs_W1qUo
  26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4qymrEV0M
  27. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aICYeqUyNAE
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UReVVrbL8xs
  29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RysgTYFsSE
  30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6GRCw-LR8Y
  31. https://www.budiey.com/siaran-sukan-olimpik-2012-di-london-dalam-bentuk-3d/
  32. https://varsitarian.net/circle/20081117/is_philippine_tv_still_holy_week_friendly
  • TV-Signoffs.com - J. Alan Wall's website devoted to sign-offs and sign-ons of United States television stations
  • TV-Ark
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