# Did ABC go off the air after Nightline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057 "2004-05-01T23:29:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/1 "2004-05-01T23:29:40Z")
(Pardon me if this has been asked and answered elsewhere. I did try a search.) I live in Nashville and immediately after the _Nightline_ program with the reading of the names, ABC – or at least its affiliate station here – went off the air without explanation. Was this just a local problem? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/2 "2004-05-01T23:34:10Z")
Having stood in Master Control in New York City ( Network Master Control ) as well as Master Control in the Washington, D.C. News Bureau on DeSales Street, I can say with a high degree of certainty that ABC did not go off the air. It never goes off the air. There is a constant flow of programming, which is either used by local ABC affiliates, or not- depending on many things. However, ABC did not go off the air. What may have happened is that your local ABC affiliate went dark after **Nightline**. If unannounced, it’s likely there was a problem. However, it would have to be a transmitter/feed problem, since anything else typically results in those cute “Technical Difficulties” graphics. Cartooniverse, NABET-16 Cameraman ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/3 "2004-05-01T23:48:52Z")
Is it possible that your local station went dark briefly as a sign of respect? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/4 "2004-05-02T00:10:33Z")
Do you have cable? Because it could have been a screwup at the cable company also. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/5 "2004-05-02T01:27:32Z")
> [@](#): > > **Cartooniverse** : Having stood in Master Control in New York City ( Network Master Control ) as well as Master Control in the Washington, D.C. News Bureau on DeSales Street, I can say with a high degree of certainty that ABC did not go off the air. Wow! And I was hoping for just a moderately authoritative answer! **friedo** , I do have cable, but it was only the ABC programing that disappeared. **This Year’s Model** , it is possible that they did go off the air out of respect, but I would have thought that they would have kept at least a photo of the flag on the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/6 "2004-05-05T00:54:28Z")
Thanks !! Now, having given that, I’ll offer a real W.A.G. comment on that last post. When I was a wee bairn, rocking out to WMMR and WYSP in Philly, we used to hear the Urban Legend about how if a radio station had more than 5 seconds of “dead air time”, they’d get an F.C.C. fine. Who knows? Not I. However, if a network or local station were to decide beforehand to go silent out of respect, I would wager that they would A) Announce same, and B) NOT go black or to snow, but instead show as mentioned, an American Flag, or other appropriate graphic. With no sound, I’d guess. But, looking like they dropped off air? No way was that a show of respect, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/7 "2004-05-05T07:31:22Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **friedo** , I do have cable, but it was only the ABC programing that disappeared. And pressing the “power” button on a computer at your cable company’s head-end will make just that one station go off the air for all the cllients served by that head-end. Heh. I should know - I’ve done it. So, apologies to anyone in southern Kentucky if just your MTV went out in August of 2000. That was me. Also, reboots can make this happen as well. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/8 "2004-05-05T17:51:20Z")
How come your handle is **“Cartooniverse”** if you’re at ABC? Wasn’t the “Saturday morning cartooniverse” a CBS lineup? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/9 "2004-05-05T21:02:53Z")
Tomorrow night’s edition of Nightline will be about government interference in broadcasting and will be cancelled mysteriously. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/10 "2004-05-05T22:16:30Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > How come your handle is **“Cartooniverse”** if you’re at ABC? Wasn’t the “Saturday morning cartooniverse” a CBS lineup? A very partial list of my credits includes ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, MTVII, CNN, VH-1, Food Network, History Channel and PBS. I’m a freelancer. So, while what I wrote was 100% truth, I am not a fulltime employee of ABC. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/11 "2004-05-06T05:33:57Z")
Wow, that’s a cool curriculum vitae! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/12 "2004-05-06T10:37:48Z")
Oh, I caught a nasty case of curriculum vitae once when I was 17. I tell ya, it was the most miserable summer of my life. Between the shots and the full-body immersions? Feh !!! The Dr’s said I got it from the doorknob of a rest room on the New Jersey Turnpike. Figures. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/13 "2004-05-06T10:44:07Z")
Is that the same as the Long Island Expressway? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-abc-go-off-the-air-after-nightline/243057/14 "2004-05-07T02:08:38Z")
Similar, yes.