In other bizarre closedown news East Germany apparently used to close down and show a fish tank all night in response to West Germany showing big Hollywood films which used to attract Eastern Viewers. Bizarrely the fish tank at times got bigger ratings than the films!
My pleasure! It's such a fascinating little piece of history! Feel free to share amongst your fellow kiwis! Spread the word that some Brit is talking about their pop culture! 🇳🇿🇬🇧
Today is October 19, 2024 (Australia/New Zealand time), which surprisingly marks 30 years since the Goodnight Kiwi and his cat were first sunsetted from TVNZ before TV2 went 24/7. How surprising!
I fell in love with the Goodnight Kiwi closedown after watching it on TH-cam many years ago, and I have never seen the first two sign offs, thank you for presenting the history of this darling New Zealand icon, I look forward to seeing more of your views on other television sign offs from the past, including the bee from American TV stations owned by the McClatchy Family.
While its population is a fraction of the present United Kingdom, 'the lovely little nation known as New Zealand' is actually about 10% bigger than the UK. That aside, this is an aptly affectionate homage to a Kiwi television icon.
In the early 1990's I had some ex BBC OB's cameras - Philips LDK5's and sold the camera heads to TVNZ in Wellington to keep their old channels going for a bit longer until they bought CCD cameras (LDK5's are 3 tube 1" Plumbicons)
I grew up with the "Goodnight Kiwi' in the '70s but had forgotten about the original version; the "remake" replaced it in my head, so it was great to see the original again, and rediscover a forgotten memory!
I saw the goodnight kiwi in colour over here in Australia on Xmas night 1986. Good skip across the tasman that held on late at night allowing me to see TV-1 close down.
0:27 BBC2 often closes down. And I'm amazed with all the content on the iPlayer why it can't run a show from that. It's no longer Ceefax but it's often similar or a 5 minute looping trail. BBC ONE normally guess to the news channel.
I'm sure I used to have a storybook or something of the Kiwi and the cat when I was a kid! Nice to see the history, I only saw the final one growing up. :)
Not Aussie, but I wish we had closedowns like this. Nowadays it's either animation looks or color bars (in the public broadcaster's case it's still in 4:3 despite the broadcast being in 16:9)
There is an image of him accidentally breaking one of the screens in the TV control room with a broom handle while sweeping the floor. This image was used as TVNZ's breakdown slides in the 1980's.
They do use a similar image nowadays - I recall seeing one a few years back where the kiwi had accidentally tripped over a plug and knocked over some servers.
@@phirenz Do you remember the place where the Olympics coverage was coming from (that one time TVNZ probably lost the coverage feed to it hence why you saw the Goodnight Kiwi slide in question)? Los Angeles USA, Seoul Korea, Barcelona Spain, Atlanta USA, Sydney Australia? Remember that TVNZ stopped using the Goodnight Kiwi animation in 1994 (2 years before the Atlanta Olympics in 1996).
Being British, I only know of this from visiting NZ during the 2017 Lions tour. But it is so wholesome that it feels like some of the parodies (Eating Media Lunch Kiwi being a sniper shooting adverts or the Tui TV assault one) felt like a desecration of an icon.
The closing sequence brings back good memories and yes you would put out the milk bottle for the milkman deliveries late in the afternoon/early evening. The delivery trucks back then were not even refrigerated, lol, which would horrify people these days, but we are still here.
Brilliant one mate as a Brit who loves New Zealand I've always loved the Goodnight Kiwi shutdown before bedtime video I've seen so many years ago on here as I think it's cute seeing a cat and kiwi together especially although in reality like the kiwi guy in the video said their are like hunting predators towards them as they are classed as an endangered species over there and many people are surprised that NZ got colour tv before OZ did pretty impressive for a small nation the same size as Great Britain with the same population as either Scotland Wales Ireland or half of London or entire of Sydney for that matter and similarly here in England itself alone is the same as Canada and Australia combined all put together pretty such a mad comparison if you ask me btw people in New Zealand and Australia also say the Noughties when referring to the 2000s but not as excessive as us Brits though and also those in Canada and America refer it as the Aughts aswell
FUN FACT: In Indonesia, unlike most countries which plays the national anthem at closedowns, television stations play some national songs (Rayuan Pulau Kelapa, Tanah Airku, etc.). What do you think of that?
Yeah maybe it should air on DUKE a TVNZ channel that doesn't air 24/7 or maybe another channel but there's a show for kids called Goodnight Kiwi on TVNZ+ and it's a series of NZ books read by someone
Most of it was due to the lack of colour equipment. Also, they didn't want to refit the original Wellington Waring Taylor Street studios for colour since their relocation to Avalon Television Centre was imminent. Also, Coronation Street didn't switch to colour until 17 October 1974 when episode 924 (the first Coro episode shot in colour) aired - yes, New Zealand was five years behind the UK!
@@lcmortensen I think we still were a good few years behind with Coro until maybe like 5 years ago? I remember it being advertised that they were 'catching up' to the UK. Another minor thing left out is until I think late 1969 (someone correct me on the date if I'm wrong, but it was sometime that year) the four main centers AKTV-2, CHTV-3, WNTV-1 and DNTV-2 were NOT networked together. Programmes had to be couriered/sent between the stations. In fact the only way the South Island saw footage of the 1968 Wahine disaster was because a film camera-man in the South Island managed to get a signal of WNTV-1 and filmed the News off the TV with his 16mm Camera, that footage was then aired in the south, and it still survives today and can be seen here on TH-cam.
@@goodiesguy Correct. The network was temporarily completed in July 1969 for the Moon landings, using some OB vans to fill in the gaps. Since NZ didn't have a satellite connection until 1971, the Moon landing film was picked up in Sydney and rushed across by the RNZAF. Also, TV2 was not networked for most of the first year. It took until November 1975 before Wellington's wind was calm enough that riggers could get up the Mount Kaukau transmitter to install equipment.
I can hazard a guess that the abrupt cut to the South Pacific logo after v2's animation is to cover up the logo of the station's previous incarnation, similar to the 16:9 renditions of v3 used in TVNZ6&7 likely covering the TVNZ/Ch2 text taken from the 4:3 original. v2 may have been commissioned prior to the rebrand, and original v2 may be (gasp!) lost media
I've always found it rather odd that they changed the name to South Pacific, then after almost four years, it went back to TV2 (or variants of it, but that's what they've mainly been known as here, TV1 and TV2). We finally got a third channel (privately owned) in 1989, imaginatively titled.............. TV3.
@@goodiesguy When TV2 rebranded as SPTV, the two stations were fully independent of each other and competed for viewers (at least in the regions where both were available). The rebrand was, at least in part, to mark the station as an equal and not just 'the other option'. This occurred just before BCNZ was created in 1977, combining radio and television back into one corporation (though still with separate management until 1980 when this merged to form TVNZ, which became a fully separate entity in 1988 when BCNZ was dissolved.)
The piece of footage Adam used here is from my channel and the material was given to me by a former worker of NZBC in the 60s who worked on this particular clip in '75. I have various idents from both South Pacific Television and Television One on DVD from the TVNZ archive but they're for personal viewing only. Sorry.
Crazy how NZ got colour TV 3 years before channel tv got it despite channel being the same age as New Zealand’s legal tv (also I’m 35 years exactly younger than tv2)
The UK originally used the 405-line system, but had to switch to the 625-line system needed for colour, necessitating completely new transmitters. New Zealand went for the 625-line system from the outset, so only minor technical changes were needed to switch to colour.
Love this new documentary Adam, but I beg of you to make an AMTV News video as soon as possible given the news that just came out about more cuts to BBC News
Weird request but for your next shutdown doc could u do Bernd das Brot from the german kids channel KiKA I heard about this gean piece of bread while on holidays in Lanzarote (im Irish) and i found it cool and funny and i would love to see you civer him in this close doqn doc series if it as doc series
The Second One It was less good in my opinion, Especially the Kiwi's Design, the Creators of the Second One probably they inspired Woody Woodpecker for Kiwi's Design
Yes, I've quite often thought about other countries start ups and closedowns. BBC did always seem to try their best to scare the crap out of me. Excellent stuff Adam 🫠👍🥰👍
In other bizarre closedown news East Germany apparently used to close down and show a fish tank all night in response to West Germany showing big Hollywood films which used to attract Eastern Viewers. Bizarrely the fish tank at times got bigger ratings than the films!
Kiwi needs to make another comeback! These sign off sequences are really charming (especially the first and third ones).
Duke needs to use it, instead of abruptly going to the off air loop.
I’ve never seen or heard of Goodnight Kiwi and his cat before - this actually made me cry 🥹 😅 absolutely lovely.
This is the best broadcasting closedown in the world. No doubt about it... and I'm from the U.S. I still think NZ did it the best.
Ayyy! It's nice to see you talking about television stuff from my country!
My pleasure! It's such a fascinating little piece of history! Feel free to share amongst your fellow kiwis! Spread the word that some Brit is talking about their pop culture! 🇳🇿🇬🇧
I’m from a Scot and I’ve got Cousins from Wellington, NZ and they rave on about it all the time lol
I only remember this because of the 2012 TVNZ 7 closedown, but it's still pretty iconic to New Zealand and anyone who likes or loves this.
Today is October 19, 2024 (Australia/New Zealand time), which surprisingly marks 30 years since the Goodnight Kiwi and his cat were first sunsetted from TVNZ before TV2 went 24/7. How surprising!
Yeah they used it on the tvnz 6 shutdown as well.
I fell in love with the Goodnight Kiwi closedown after watching it on TH-cam many years ago, and I have never seen the first two sign offs, thank you for presenting the history of this darling New Zealand icon, I look forward to seeing more of your views on other television sign offs from the past, including the bee from American TV stations owned by the McClatchy Family.
Nice to see NZ getting a mention on the channel!
🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿
The only question I have is, does new Zealand still have to pay for free tv like the uk
The films CBC used to show over O Canada at closedown AND start up were pretty wonderful.
While its population is a fraction of the present United Kingdom, 'the lovely little nation known as New Zealand' is actually about 10% bigger than the UK.
That aside, this is an aptly affectionate homage to a Kiwi television icon.
In the early 1990's I had some ex BBC OB's cameras - Philips LDK5's and sold the camera heads to TVNZ in Wellington to keep their old channels going for a bit longer until they bought CCD cameras (LDK5's are 3 tube 1" Plumbicons)
Kiwi And Cat deserve their own Show
I grew up with the "Goodnight Kiwi' in the '70s but had forgotten about the original version; the "remake" replaced it in my head, so it was great to see the original again, and rediscover a forgotten memory!
Cheers for sharing this. Very fond memories of Goodnight kiwi and his little grey cat ❤
I saw the goodnight kiwi in colour over here in Australia on Xmas night 1986. Good skip across the tasman that held on late at night allowing me to see TV-1 close down.
0:27 BBC2 often closes down. And I'm amazed with all the content on the iPlayer why it can't run a show from that. It's no longer Ceefax but it's often similar or a 5 minute looping trail. BBC ONE normally guess to the news channel.
I'm sure I used to have a storybook or something of the Kiwi and the cat when I was a kid! Nice to see the history, I only saw the final one growing up. :)
Not Aussie, but I wish we had closedowns like this. Nowadays it's either animation looks or color bars (in the public broadcaster's case it's still in 4:3 despite the broadcast being in 16:9)
There is an image of him accidentally breaking one of the screens in the TV control room with a broom handle while sweeping the floor. This image was used as TVNZ's breakdown slides in the 1980's.
They do use a similar image nowadays - I recall seeing one a few years back where the kiwi had accidentally tripped over a plug and knocked over some servers.
I remember seeing an image of goodnight kiwi tangled up in wires used as a breakdown slide during the 1996 (or 2000) Olympics.
@@phirenz Do you remember the place where the Olympics coverage was coming from (that one time TVNZ probably lost the coverage feed to it hence why you saw the Goodnight Kiwi slide in question)? Los Angeles USA, Seoul Korea, Barcelona Spain, Atlanta USA, Sydney Australia?
Remember that TVNZ stopped using the Goodnight Kiwi animation in 1994 (2 years before the Atlanta Olympics in 1996).
Thank god i'm not the only one who knows about this little fella's existence...
The Australian one with the kangaroos was only seen in Sydney on ATN7, nowhere else. Not even the ABC did something like that.
The letter appearing in the sequence corresponds with the number that appeared on the radio call signs within each state and territory.
Canberra/Capital
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia
Western Australia
Tasmania
Darwin (NT)
YAAAAAAAS MY HOME COUNTRY NEW ZEALAND HERE WE GOOOOOOO
Being British, I only know of this from visiting NZ during the 2017 Lions tour. But it is so wholesome that it feels like some of the parodies (Eating Media Lunch Kiwi being a sniper shooting adverts or the Tui TV assault one) felt like a desecration of an icon.
Good night everyone, I'm going to close down for the night myself. I'm going to hear that closedown music in my head now.
The closing sequence brings back good memories and yes you would put out the milk bottle for the milkman deliveries late in the afternoon/early evening. The delivery trucks back then were not even refrigerated, lol, which would horrify people these days, but we are still here.
Thanks Adam 😁 Always great to see other countries TV traditions
Isn't it just! Thank you for watching!
Wow, I never thought little old New Zealand would get a mention here!
Guess what guys in three days will mark the 30th anniversary of the final broadcast! 🇳🇿
I remember this from the 70s.
If we were allowed to stay up *really* late as children (i.e. 23:30 or so) we'd be able to see the goodnight kiwi...
Finally, A Video About Television In I As New Zealand!
Beautiful video.
Brilliant one mate as a Brit who loves New Zealand I've always loved the Goodnight Kiwi shutdown before bedtime video I've seen so many years ago on here as I think it's cute seeing a cat and kiwi together especially although in reality like the kiwi guy in the video said their are like hunting predators towards them as they are classed as an endangered species over there and many people are surprised that NZ got colour tv before OZ did pretty impressive for a small nation the same size as Great Britain with the same population as either Scotland Wales Ireland or half of London or entire of Sydney for that matter and similarly here in England itself alone is the same as Canada and Australia combined all put together pretty such a mad comparison if you ask me
btw people in New Zealand and Australia also say the Noughties when referring to the 2000s but not as excessive as us Brits though and also those in Canada and America refer it as the Aughts aswell
Kiwi needs to be rebooted!
Thanks for making this video mate, it means a lot to us New Zealanders, just wondering, where did you get the TVNZ 6 ident from?
Glad you enjoyed it! It was available on YT!
The third version is my favourite, I’m so glad that I’m not the only Brit to know about this closedown.
Kiwi & Kitty could have been NZ rivals to Tom & Jerry
I told my little sister that the kiwi bird got its name because it steals your key then it goes and does a wee. And she believed me for years!
FUN FACT: In Indonesia, unlike most countries which plays the national anthem at closedowns, television stations play some national songs (Rayuan Pulau Kelapa, Tanah Airku, etc.). What do you think of that?
I think that's pretty cool! Is there much footage of these closedowns publicly available?
Hine e hine
KIWI NEEDS TO COME BACK
Yes they do!
@@AdamMartyn wait... YOU ACTUALLY REPLIED TO ME FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!
What do you think, should duke make the perfect opportunity?
@@danieldabloxgamer9205 YES
Yeah maybe it should air on DUKE a TVNZ channel that doesn't air 24/7 or maybe another channel but there's a show for kids called Goodnight Kiwi on TVNZ+ and it's a series of NZ books read by someone
3:36 Colour before our fellow Aussies I might add! Though local material was a mix of Colour and Black And White until sometime in 75.
Most of it was due to the lack of colour equipment. Also, they didn't want to refit the original Wellington Waring Taylor Street studios for colour since their relocation to Avalon Television Centre was imminent. Also, Coronation Street didn't switch to colour until 17 October 1974 when episode 924 (the first Coro episode shot in colour) aired - yes, New Zealand was five years behind the UK!
@@lcmortensen I think we still were a good few years behind with Coro until maybe like 5 years ago? I remember it being advertised that they were 'catching up' to the UK.
Another minor thing left out is until I think late 1969 (someone correct me on the date if I'm wrong, but it was sometime that year) the four main centers AKTV-2, CHTV-3, WNTV-1 and DNTV-2 were NOT networked together. Programmes had to be couriered/sent between the stations. In fact the only way the South Island saw footage of the 1968 Wahine disaster was because a film camera-man in the South Island managed to get a signal of WNTV-1 and filmed the News off the TV with his 16mm Camera, that footage was then aired in the south, and it still survives today and can be seen here on TH-cam.
@@goodiesguy Correct. The network was temporarily completed in July 1969 for the Moon landings, using some OB vans to fill in the gaps. Since NZ didn't have a satellite connection until 1971, the Moon landing film was picked up in Sydney and rushed across by the RNZAF.
Also, TV2 was not networked for most of the first year. It took until November 1975 before Wellington's wind was calm enough that riggers could get up the Mount Kaukau transmitter to install equipment.
I can hazard a guess that the abrupt cut to the South Pacific logo after v2's animation is to cover up the logo of the station's previous incarnation, similar to the 16:9 renditions of v3 used in TVNZ6&7 likely covering the TVNZ/Ch2 text taken from the 4:3 original. v2 may have been commissioned prior to the rebrand, and original v2 may be (gasp!) lost media
I've always found it rather odd that they changed the name to South Pacific, then after almost four years, it went back to TV2 (or variants of it, but that's what they've mainly been known as here, TV1 and TV2). We finally got a third channel (privately owned) in 1989, imaginatively titled.............. TV3.
@@goodiesguy When TV2 rebranded as SPTV, the two stations were fully independent of each other and competed for viewers (at least in the regions where both were available). The rebrand was, at least in part, to mark the station as an equal and not just 'the other option'.
This occurred just before BCNZ was created in 1977, combining radio and television back into one corporation (though still with separate management until 1980 when this merged to form TVNZ, which became a fully separate entity in 1988 when BCNZ was dissolved.)
Omg so wholesome ❤
4:39 there was a video of this ident with the South Pacific music but I don't think it exists anymore.
The piece of footage Adam used here is from my channel and the material was given to me by a former worker of NZBC in the 60s who worked on this particular clip in '75.
I have various idents from both South Pacific Television and Television One on DVD from the TVNZ archive but they're for personal viewing only. Sorry.
Crazy how NZ got colour TV 3 years before channel tv got it despite channel being the same age as New Zealand’s legal tv (also I’m 35 years exactly younger than tv2)
The UK originally used the 405-line system, but had to switch to the 625-line system needed for colour, necessitating completely new transmitters. New Zealand went for the 625-line system from the outset, so only minor technical changes were needed to switch to colour.
Came here early for the broadcast
Who Even brought this Animation so Adorable?
5:22: Goodnight from TV2 NZ.
When tv 2 returned after being named south Pacific tv didn't the 2 look like an early 80s bbc 2 😅
Classic Closedown
You Should do a Video of Loeki The Lion (Loeki De Leeuw)
Yeah because I've seen him on Westward TV
@@HL_LiftsAlso found its way to the US as bumpers on stations in a few cities over 40 years back.
@@ChristopherSobieniak I think France as well
@@alexmacleod3728 Yep, I saw TF1 played them during commercial breaks.
And to think, they still make shoe polish out of the wee things.
Do you have footage of the ident at 4:39 with the music?
Love this new documentary Adam, but I beg of you to make an AMTV News video as soon as possible given the news that just came out about more cuts to BBC News
I have an idea for you do a video on countries which still do TV channel sign off
That's a fun shout! Which countries still use sign offs?
@@AdamMartyn what I mean is which countries don’t have 24 hour television
ABC Kids Australia next for a Documentary.
These are the cutest thing ever! Why didn't WE have something similar here in the UK?
Can you do a Sprout video? It was an American channel with British influence in the way it was presented.
New Zealand is well known for Maori language and Hine e Hine is a Maori name
Do the Aussie's shutdown like what you mentioned in the video
Weird request but for your next shutdown doc could u do Bernd das Brot from the german kids channel KiKA I heard about this gean piece of bread while on holidays in Lanzarote (im Irish) and i found it cool and funny and i would love to see you civer him in this close doqn doc series if it as doc series
Walter Nash come from kidderminster then went to New Zealand become their primer minster
Did you hear about the bbc job cuts
The NZBC used to close down with God Save the Queen, I think.
Tom & Jerry but friends and nz
How about your take on the history of television in either or both South Africa or the People's Republic or North Korea!
Kiwi is gone
Billions Must Polish Their Shoes!
As the Dane’s would say….very Hygge
Very hygge indeed!
But i am a staff member
🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿
The Second One It was less good in my opinion, Especially the Kiwi's Design, the Creators of the Second One probably they inspired Woody Woodpecker for Kiwi's Design
Yes, I've quite often thought about other countries start ups and closedowns. BBC did always seem to try their best to scare the crap out of me. Excellent stuff Adam 🫠👍🥰👍