Jazzstage Member Username: Jazzstage
Post Number: 78 Registered: 08-2007
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:25 am: | |
I knew that would get your attention. All the kids in my neighborhood knew that Channel 62 would play soft porn movies late at night. I remember "The Senator Likes Woman." Does anyone else remember this? It seems so odd in that it was allowed. I don't remember much about the content at the time and it may not have been all that "titillating". After all, I was very young. Ok...no more bad puns. |
56packman Member Username: 56packman
Post Number: 1667 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:43 am: | |
In the early 80's channel 20 used to switch over to an encoded "premium" broadcast ( known as "On TV") after 7-8:00 at night, you needed a special decoder box to receive the picture, which was scrambled. A technician who got fired made up a schematic on the decoder circuit and photocopied it for the world. Techno-geeks were passing the schematic out left and right. If you went to the parts counter at RS electronics in Livonia and started reading down the parts list the guy behind the counter would wait until you listed the third item, and he would cut you off and ask "are you building a channel 20 decoder?" most would sheepishly answer yes. He would reach under the counter and pull out a brown lunch baggie, stapled at the top with the words "channel 20 decoder" at the top. |
Waz Member Username: Waz
Post Number: 165 Registered: 11-2006
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:49 am: | |
Channel 9 was the place to go for some racy stuff. The first time I saw breasts on TV was on some cop show they had on back in the mid-70's. Bless you, Canada! |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 2034 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:49 am: | |
Channel 9 from Canada would have art shows where they had nude models on later at night in the 80's. |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 2035 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:49 am: | |
Damnit Waz beat me by a millisecond. ;) |
Goat Member Username: Goat
Post Number: 9717 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:51 am: | |
CBC still shows a lot of nudity based movies and shows as does CityTV based out of T.O. I remember ONTV as a kid and I remember not being able to watch The Blue Lagoon due to the nudity. |
Pete Member Username: Pete
Post Number: 89 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 1:24 pm: | |
We had the Channel 20 decoder. It rocked. And I remember my dad telling us not to tell anybody. And it was the only way to watch the Red Wings. They sucked back then, but my dad and I would watch just about every game they aired. I also remember watching The Swamp Thing at my first sleepover birthday party. That was probably 4th grade. |
Craig Member Username: Craig
Post Number: 265 Registered: 02-2007
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 1:25 pm: | |
I remember hearing about the late-night hijinks on 62. "Daisy Chain" was he one that I heard mentioned. I do remember Arabic-language programming and endless footage of the glorious Iraqi army pounding on Iran during their long 80's war. This stuff made such an impression on me that in the run-up to the '91 ground war (Desert Storm) I was thinking: these guys know what they're doing; they're going to stomp our army flat. |
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick
Post Number: 785 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 1:41 pm: | |
The bootleg ON-TV decoder worked better than the legitimate one. The home brew kit outputted the sound into the speaker built into the television, while the legit ON-TV box used a small, tinny sounding speaker that was built into the decoder box. |
Rrl Member Username: Rrl
Post Number: 886 Registered: 12-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 1:42 pm: | |
Ah, the days of the rotating roof-top antenna wired to a motorized rotating wheel controller box sitting on the top of the non-remote control TV. Serious technology. I can remember rotating that antenna to just the precise location where the snowy screen would give way to a partially clear CTV (UHF 32 I believe) late night to watch Benny Hill and Bizarre. Bizarre was a late-night canadian sketch comedy show that occasionally would flash a boob or two. Sometimes they would show the unedited English versions of Benny Hill where a couple of orbs popping out could be seen as well. Big stuff for a young teenager heading into puberty! |
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 2048 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 1:53 pm: | |
I remember when our neighborhood got a community satellite dish. WOWZERS! Cable TV. We had a beige box that sat on top of the television, with a plastic arrow slider that slid horizontally from 1 to 30 or something like that. Most of those numbers didn't do anything. The Disney Channel was one of the first cable stations I remember. This was when they would play old black and white cartoons of "questionable political correctness". Wow. This was the early-mid 80's, and these cartoons were still being played for kids! |
Brougham Member Username: Brougham
Post Number: 31 Registered: 01-2007
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 3:06 pm: | |
I had the ON-TV both pirate and paid for versions. Unbelievable that we paid something like 25$ a month for about 4 hrs of broadcast per day. Then when they bellied up I lost out on the deposit after returning the box to the office way out in timbuktu for this west sider. |
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 5784 Registered: 11-2004
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 3:22 pm: | |
$25 for four hours a day? Geez, that makes my Comcast bill almost desirable by comparison! (I said almost) |
Sec106 Member Username: Sec106
Post Number: 3 Registered: 03-2007
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 4:29 pm: | |
I remember those, I was like 13 and it was great to run across that stuff when up all alone! |
Luckycar Member Username: Luckycar
Post Number: 38 Registered: 02-2007
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 4:30 pm: | |
Those Iran/Iraq war footage shows were great.Lot's of Iraqi pounding of the Iranians with their South African artillery,Soviet rocket launchers and French Jets.Now its all junk.The commentator would babble on about the glory of Saddam and his army.They would also show alot of clips of Saddam and his lackys!I thought I was the only one who saw this show.CBC rocked in the 80's,nudes in french late at night... |
Taj920 Member Username: Taj920
Post Number: 245 Registered: 01-2004
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:04 pm: | |
Pre-cable, Channel 22 (Global TV) and Channel 78 (French) out of ONtario would show soft porn. Quite the hit in high school in the mid 1970s. |
Terryh Member Username: Terryh
Post Number: 463 Registered: 11-2006
| Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 - 10:09 pm: | |
I watched a show on Channel 9 that featured a British reporter traveling the states taping a show on Americana. On one of his trips he stopped at a nudist colony in Florida: They showed everything! From what I understand there is also much less censorship in Europe. Unless you have cable you wont see much (if any) nudity on American television for many years to come. This country is much more socially rigid and conservative than you think. |
Rockcity2windycity Member Username: Rockcity2windycity
Post Number: 231 Registered: 11-2005
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 12:14 am: | |
Thanks 56pack, i was trying to explain ON-TV to someone a while ago and couldn't remember exactly how it worked. Wasn't there also on called IT-TV? |
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy
Post Number: 5796 Registered: 11-2004
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 12:25 am: | |
Benny Hill was my first viewing of nekkid ta-tas on freebie television back in the day. I think I might've saw it on before channel 50 got wise to the fact that British humour showed the naughty bits |
Rustic Member Username: Rustic
Post Number: 3136 Registered: 10-2003
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 12:57 am: | |
I remember those soft core movies on 62 back when. I remember one movie that had Ben Gazarra in it and topless strippers. I also built a decoder box for that scrambled channel 20 signal. I fondly recall Candy Stripe Nurses and Young Lady Chatterly in regular rotation. |
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj
Post Number: 24 Registered: 08-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 4:24 am: | |
Jazzstage-only Rustic is referencing you(yeah ON-TV & Select-TV stations caught a lotta flak later-the Chicago affiliate lost their license over "Nite Owl Theatre")...if WGPR-62 weren't the 1st African-American TV station in the country with Carter in the White House, that's the only way I figured they got away with it...the "Movies All Night" ads showing a fat guy sitting down with a cold 40 & bowl of popcorn were great Let's see the Gazzara pimp one was some sleaziness by Peter Bogdanovich ;http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00 79843/ Act of Aggression http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00 72618/, Widow Quiderc http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00 67943/ "The Senator Likes Women" by goremeister Leo Fulci http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00 68193/ um, "Blackenstein"...I know I'm missing a few-most of 'em were terrible yet titillating |
56packman Member Username: 56packman
Post Number: 1670 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 7:08 am: | |
Wasn't Sylvia Kristal in most of those movies? |
1953 Member Username: 1953
Post Number: 1448 Registered: 12-2004
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 7:28 am: | |
I found, as randy teenage, that my computer's USB TV Tuner could produce a crystal clear, if color inverted signal of the Playboy channel, by simply telling it to scan available signal frequencies. |
56packman Member Username: 56packman
Post Number: 1672 Registered: 12-2005
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 7:46 am: | |
When I was a randy teenager computers were the size of a refrigerator (several cabinets that size), had a monitor screen the size of a Sony watchman and had a printer the size of a desk that printed out something that looked like a cash register receipt. We had to settle for our Dad's Playboy magazines. |
Mallory Member Username: Mallory
Post Number: 183 Registered: 05-2006
| Posted on Friday, August 24, 2007 - 9:36 am: | |
And you thought the only ratings 62 ever got were from The Scene? Well, that and the RJ Watkins Late Night show. |