This is the continuation to Closedowns.
BBC:
If you did know about BBC closing down, let's take this even further.
Until 1974, BBC used to close down with the anthem (both the slow and the 1972-present version) over the regional icons. One example is a rare 1973 recording of the BBC closedown with the 1972 version of the anthem (Northern Ireland) played over the channel's logo on a blue background. There were sketchy comments suggesting that the anthem would also play over other regional icons' idents, such as the BBC Northern Ireland hand ident.
In Scotland, Northern Ireland, and some other regions, BBC had their own region-only Christmas idents. They would usually play the anthem over the Christmas idents when they closed at night. I already covered that in the prequel to this post.
BBC back then didn't have Christmas idents, so let's just say they played the normal ident back then until Christmas idents were introduced when they closed.
BBC also sometimes closed with the anthem on daytime closedowns after Watch With Mother (later See-Saw), but I can't find any video source of it.
BBC Two never played the anthem at all. They would at some point show slideshows with easy listening (i.e. music to listen to make people go to bed) until 1989 (the same year Shining Time Station premiered on PBS in the USA).
ITV:
Let's discuss about what stations used the anthem.
Anglia (and some other stations) used a slideshow of the Royal Family during late 1984/early 1985 and they discontinued it when they went 24 hours in 1987/1988, when the knight was retired.
Tyne Tees proceeded to cut to a still of the Queen instead of fading to it from a black screen when they showed a clock at closedowns. This proof comes from many Tyne Tees closedowns (even the 1987 closedown).
LWT always proceeded to show either footage of the Queen, a slideshow of the Royal Family, or a still of the Queen. Exceptions were the maintenance closedowns that didn't play the anthem (one of the 1989 maintenance closedowns did play the anthem).
Grampian played the anthem. During the early 80s they played the anthem over the flag of Scotland waving, and during the 1986 non-standard startup, they showed a still of the Queen.
UTV played the anthem over footage of the Queen. Before that, an announcer was heard off-screen over a slide of a landmark (there was another closedown that had a male announcer leaving viewers with a view of Castle Rock before the anthem, it's now deleted).
STV only played the first half of the anthem, according to the 80s videos. They would show stills of the Royal Family.
TVS and TSW played the anthem during their entirety of them not being 24 hours, even if Night Network existed, after the block ended, they would close and play the anthem. There are rare finds of the TVS closedown with a still from the 1987 ident. TSW used the Westward footage until they changed the footage a few years later.
Southern played the anthem over footage of the Royal Family for the entirety, except for the last closedown, which showed the Southern symbol spinning away (the text disappears, the background changes to a starry space, and the symbol remains) along with an echo of the Southern jingle.
Thames only played the anthem during its early years. Later, they proceeded to use a specific Good Night clock on a plain black background.
ATV played the anthem on an organ (early versions were performed by an orchestra).
ABC also played the anthem, but it lasted very long, which climactically successfully reached the end. They showed a still of the Queen.
Associated Rediffusion always played the anthem over footage of the Queen. It was unknown if they used static images of the Queen for this station.
Westward played the anthem with the footage later used by TSW for a few years before the change. Then, during its last few days, they used a Loeki segment to finish broadcasting once and for all.
And lastly, these stations only played the anthem at an event (or completely refused):
1. Granada
2. Yorkshire
3. Border TV
4. Central (only played the anthem when an important person died, and they never used it at closedown)
GB News:
This station is the most recently launched station to play the anthem. But only at startup! They would close down, albeit they only showed the GB News ident and then a testcard. I also think TalkTV starts the day with the anthem, since no footage of the TalkTV startup has been surfaced yet.
International Stations:
Some international stations played different anthems at closedown or startup.
For example, one of Yugoslavia's stations played an orchestral abbreviated rendition of a Zdravko Čolić song over a still of a Yugoslavian flag with words that says "Druže Tito, mi se kunemo". And Dutch stations always closed with the Dutch anthem over a still of some buildings. In Germany, some stations closed with the lyrics of the anthem accompanied by the anthem playing.
That's all I have to say. Bye.
BBC:
If you did know about BBC closing down, let's take this even further.
Until 1974, BBC used to close down with the anthem (both the slow and the 1972-present version) over the regional icons. One example is a rare 1973 recording of the BBC closedown with the 1972 version of the anthem (Northern Ireland) played over the channel's logo on a blue background. There were sketchy comments suggesting that the anthem would also play over other regional icons' idents, such as the BBC Northern Ireland hand ident.
In Scotland, Northern Ireland, and some other regions, BBC had their own region-only Christmas idents. They would usually play the anthem over the Christmas idents when they closed at night. I already covered that in the prequel to this post.
BBC back then didn't have Christmas idents, so let's just say they played the normal ident back then until Christmas idents were introduced when they closed.
BBC also sometimes closed with the anthem on daytime closedowns after Watch With Mother (later See-Saw), but I can't find any video source of it.
BBC Two never played the anthem at all. They would at some point show slideshows with easy listening (i.e. music to listen to make people go to bed) until 1989 (the same year Shining Time Station premiered on PBS in the USA).
ITV:
Let's discuss about what stations used the anthem.
Anglia (and some other stations) used a slideshow of the Royal Family during late 1984/early 1985 and they discontinued it when they went 24 hours in 1987/1988, when the knight was retired.
Tyne Tees proceeded to cut to a still of the Queen instead of fading to it from a black screen when they showed a clock at closedowns. This proof comes from many Tyne Tees closedowns (even the 1987 closedown).
LWT always proceeded to show either footage of the Queen, a slideshow of the Royal Family, or a still of the Queen. Exceptions were the maintenance closedowns that didn't play the anthem (one of the 1989 maintenance closedowns did play the anthem).
Grampian played the anthem. During the early 80s they played the anthem over the flag of Scotland waving, and during the 1986 non-standard startup, they showed a still of the Queen.
UTV played the anthem over footage of the Queen. Before that, an announcer was heard off-screen over a slide of a landmark (there was another closedown that had a male announcer leaving viewers with a view of Castle Rock before the anthem, it's now deleted).
STV only played the first half of the anthem, according to the 80s videos. They would show stills of the Royal Family.
TVS and TSW played the anthem during their entirety of them not being 24 hours, even if Night Network existed, after the block ended, they would close and play the anthem. There are rare finds of the TVS closedown with a still from the 1987 ident. TSW used the Westward footage until they changed the footage a few years later.
Southern played the anthem over footage of the Royal Family for the entirety, except for the last closedown, which showed the Southern symbol spinning away (the text disappears, the background changes to a starry space, and the symbol remains) along with an echo of the Southern jingle.
Thames only played the anthem during its early years. Later, they proceeded to use a specific Good Night clock on a plain black background.
ATV played the anthem on an organ (early versions were performed by an orchestra).
ABC also played the anthem, but it lasted very long, which climactically successfully reached the end. They showed a still of the Queen.
Associated Rediffusion always played the anthem over footage of the Queen. It was unknown if they used static images of the Queen for this station.
Westward played the anthem with the footage later used by TSW for a few years before the change. Then, during its last few days, they used a Loeki segment to finish broadcasting once and for all.
And lastly, these stations only played the anthem at an event (or completely refused):
1. Granada
2. Yorkshire
3. Border TV
4. Central (only played the anthem when an important person died, and they never used it at closedown)
GB News:
This station is the most recently launched station to play the anthem. But only at startup! They would close down, albeit they only showed the GB News ident and then a testcard. I also think TalkTV starts the day with the anthem, since no footage of the TalkTV startup has been surfaced yet.
International Stations:
Some international stations played different anthems at closedown or startup.
For example, one of Yugoslavia's stations played an orchestral abbreviated rendition of a Zdravko Čolić song over a still of a Yugoslavian flag with words that says "Druže Tito, mi se kunemo". And Dutch stations always closed with the Dutch anthem over a still of some buildings. In Germany, some stations closed with the lyrics of the anthem accompanied by the anthem playing.
That's all I have to say. Bye.