I am such a news junkie I have to leave the TV on all night, at a subliminal listening level, just in case there is breaking news.
For some reason I woke up at 3:30. CNN wasn’t even trying to report the news then. MSNBC was airing Olympic hockey. I scrolled through the channels and discovered this on Encore Black.
The antiquated “Indian Head” test signal, accompanied by audio of the Gettysburg Address.
That ran for about a minute, followed by a black screen reading:
Test Patterns
SMPTE Bars
4 channel tone 500hz – 20dbfs
1:00.00
And what followed that was a minute of the classic color test pattern and the emergency alert system tone.
Then another, and another. It was a retrospective of test patterns which I found wildly exciting. I felt as if I’d stumbled onto a spy numbers station.
After fifteen minutes it suddenly switched to the middle of previously scheduled programming.
So, of course I can’t be expected to sleep with this excitement. It’s five am now, and the news is on, and it is BORING compared to the test patterns.
3 responses to “This is What My TV does at Four AM to Entertain Itself”
Junk sleep. Buy a white noise machine. The world will not stop spinning if you miss the news.
Oh dear. Well, I know how it can be. I get my little Kindle Fire out and watch old episodes of Keeping Up Appearances and Parks and Recreation.
Zayrina – I’m not in charge of the world spinning. And I caught up on my sleep the next day.
Hattie – I’ve never had sleep problems. I think this might have been the first signs of a nasty cold I’m just now getting over.