[what]

There's always the danger of post-closedown filler falling off air, as in this example from S4C

[Stooky Bill]

Usually they weren't that simple, they were probably sometimes the most complex junction of the day. Some stations has a routine of multiple slides, captions, live reads, music etc.

However as you say if something doesn't work they could just busk it or skip over it. And of course most closedowns weren't time sensitive, if Channel 4 closed down at 1:37 rather than 1:36 then that wasn't a problem.

[robertclark125]

There's a closedown, I think on YouTube, from Granada, where the New Granada Theme plays, but no clock! Colin makes note of this at the end, when he lets you know about the ILR stations in the area. Another one was from C4, where the announcer closes down for the night, but the Channel 4 ident breaks up in silence, no C4 jingle!

[Stooky Bill]

Of course with some closedowns in the old days it might be that mistakes were more likely when it was a late one and the end of a long shift for the crew and announcer.

Especially if they'd had a tipple during the late film, in fact wasn't there something about Ian Stirling of TSW being known to pop out to a local bar during his shift?

[nwtv2003]

Of course with some closedowns in the old days it might be that mistakes were more likely when it was a late one and the end of a long shift for the crew and announcer.

Especially if they'd had a tipple during the late film, in fact wasn't there something about Ian Stirling of TSW being known to pop out to a local bar during his shift?

There was a Tyne Tees closedown that was on YouTube but it’s gone now of them closing down at 5:25am because of the delay of a Torvill and Dean event in Ottawa, which also coincided with the night the clocks went forward. The clip was literally an announcement by Bill Steel closing down the channel and advising that TV-am was on air next, there was no epilogue nor national anthem. Whilst not a technical problem of the likes, certainly you couldn’t blame them for wanting to dash home. 

I’m not sure whether Iain Stirling rumour came from, but there is a closedown somewhere where’s just laughing throughout because of the preceding film.

[James2001]

There was a Tyne Tees closedown that was on YouTube but it’s gone now of them closing down at 5:25am because of the delay of a Torvill and Dean event in Ottawa, which also coincided with the night the clocks went forward. The clip was literally an announcement by Bill Steel closing down the channel and advising that TV-am was on air next, there was no epilogue nor national anthem. Whilst not a technical problem of the likes, certainly you couldn’t blame them for wanting to dash home. 

I wonder what happened there, I imagine they wouldn't have even bothered shutting down the transmitters, maybe they pretty much switched the signal over to Camden not long after.

[Neil Jones]

There's always the danger of post-closedown filler falling off air, as in this example from S4C

I remember seeing on YouTube some US TV station that had closed down but had one of those rotating powerpoint style presentations(similar to ITV nighttime) to fill some time. I can't find it now and I thought I'd posted it at the blue place but I can't find it there so maybe I dreamt it.

Anyway the computer generating this they'd put straight to air - and it blue-screened for no obvious reason (much like a lot of blue screens in Windows really), so live on air the computer restarted, went through its POST, reconfigured itself, did some Windows setup type stuff (presumably it had done a Windows update at some point), was full of "bug me every time I want to run this program" notifications all over the screen and then recovered back to the presentation it had just thrown a strop over.

[nwtv2003]

I wonder what happened there, I imagine they wouldn't have even bothered shutting down the transmitters, maybe they pretty much switched the signal over to Camden not long after.

This happened in 1984 and at that time TV-am didn’t start until 7:25am on a Sunday, which was mentioned. Sadly the clip is no longer online (I’m certain it was KillianM2), but I’d have thought they would’ve switched off the transmitter as there was a gap.

[robertclark125]

This happened in 1984 and at that time TV-am didn’t start until 7:25am on a Sunday, which was mentioned. Sadly the clip is no longer online (I’m certain it was KillianM2), but I’d have thought they would’ve switched off the transmitter as there was a gap.

Not quite the same, but here's one from Granada, from early hours of 30th October 1987 (depending what you term early hours!), with Charles Foster closing down, at 04:55, after some boxing.
www.youtube.com 

[lookoutwales]

I'm reminded of an anecdote from a former Granada transmission controller called Paddy Owen that features in a book of recollections about the 'first generation' at Granada (well worth if a read if you can look it out)

At the behest of the TCs, they installed an early form of automation (a bit like how Anglia launched with their 'Topsie' system) - and had horrendous problems with it.

IIRC, it came to a head at closedown one night when the clock repeatedly came up on screen, and for whatever reason, they found they couldn't go off air.

The off-duty controllers duly converged at one of their homes to watch the output as they attempted time and again to close (lots of drink consumed...)

Finally, they got through to management, who promptly 'blew their top' and ended up decommissioning the automated equipment at a huge cost.