The Test Card

[dinoboy]

If you were young during the 1970's like I was, chances are you woke up very early in the morning, turned on the tv, expecting to watch Sesame Street. Unfortunately for me, the only thing that was on was the test pattern with the colored bars on display, followed by the annoying monotone.
Truthfully, there was a time that I turned on the tv, saw the test pattern, but there was no sound and everything was quiet. The living room was dark and a small light was on in the hallway. So I just sat there in front of the tv with the volume full blast with nothing to be heard. Suddenly this sound was heard that went "Bo de dooooo" followed by a "bim boom bim boom" low sounding beat. This had scarred me half to death, and nobody was woken up from the sound. Other nights I watched the test pattern, I saw weird shapes appear in the center that was black on the inside, and often heard a bo de deeee, and the sound of a traffic jam and cars honking. I think that the people at the tv station had used this time to test out new hardware, display effects, and sounds figuring that nobody was watching.
Anyway, it does sound strange that the test pattern was a thing on tv that amused young kids back then, and all because we expected to see Sesame Street on tv when we turned it on, not the test card. I'll make some fan art pics to bring back the memory of those days.

 

[fuzzygobo]

the test pattern

Hey man! You might remember, for a while throughout the 70's. On Saturday morning, on Channel 13, WNET, before they showed Sesame Street (usually around 7 am in the summertime) they showed the rainbow-colored test pattern, and after the electronic beeps and whatnot, they would actually play music! They had about a dozen or so catchy little instrumental numbers, and if you were patient enough (like I was) you get to hear this great showcase of music before they geared up for Sesame Street. These were some pretty spiffy little tunes, only about 90 seconds in length. Some were jazzy, some bluesy, some pretty heavy rock. They sound like Joe Raposo outtakes.
I have no idea who composed these little jingles, or where to locate them.
But some of them were used on another early-Saturday-morning-New-York-favorite, The Patchwork Family. Does this bring back any happy memories?
Anyway, yes, it was great that we could be so easily entertained by a series of colored bars. And if that got boring, you could always switch over to Channel 2/WCBS and stare at the Indian head. But Channel 13 was way better in my opinion.

 

[zns]

It's so amazing. Now adays, you don't find too many test patterns on tv stations anymore.

 

[Andy]

When I was really little, I remember that WGBH would have a photo slide on the screen for MET (Massachusetts Educational Television), and in the background, they'd play the instrumental hit "Classical Gas". To this day, whenever I hear that song, I picture myself in front of the old TV waiting for Sesame Street to start. The photo, btw, pictured a group of kids gathered around a portable TV. The kids looked like they were at camp, but I could be wrong.

 

[maltodextrin]

I loved these little test card songs on Channel 13 when I was about 11 or 12. Finally tracked down one of them.
It seems that they fall under the genre of "library music."
This was my favorite of the ones they used to play.

the test pattern

Hey man! You might remember, for a while throughout the 70's. On Saturday morning, on Channel 13, WNET, before they showed Sesame Street (usually around 7 am in the summertime) they showed the rainbow-colored test pattern, and after the electronic beeps and whatnot, they would actually play music! They had about a dozen or so catchy little instrumental numbers, and if you were patient enough (like I was) you get to hear this great showcase of music before they geared up for Sesame Street. These were some pretty spiffy little tunes, only about 90 seconds in length. Some were jazzy, some bluesy, some pretty heavy rock. They sound like Joe Raposo outtakes.
I have no idea who composed these little jingles, or where to locate them.
But some of them were used on another early-Saturday-morning-New-York-favorite, The Patchwork Family. Does this bring back any happy memories?
Anyway, yes, it was great that we could be so easily entertained by a series of colored bars. And if that got boring, you could always switch over to Channel 2/WCBS and stare at the Indian head. But Channel 13 was way better in my opinion.