People also did not watch nearly as much tv in the 1980s as they do
today. Most people did not have cable. Most people received maybe 5
stations at the most, nbc,cbs,abc,pbs, and an independent. Those would
commonly go off the air at 11pm or midnight.


Hey I'd forgotten about that, I remember when I was a little kid a few times
when the TV station was just a test pattern with a tone early in the
morning. Don't even know when they stopped doing that.