TV One (TVNZ) - Closedown (31 August 1989)

TV One (now TVNZ 1) closed down at midnight on the evening of Thursday 31 August 1989 (overnight Friday) after showing a rerun of Return of the Saint (at 11pm), followed by a promo for the welcome return of Howards' Way at 8.35pm on Sunday nights (from 3 September that year).

The exact time check was accompanied by a live, closing message from Mike Bodnar, TV One's on-duty continuity announcer for that night: "And our Thursday night entertainment concludes now. Don't forget to turn off your set as we'll be closing down transmission in just a moment. On behalf of everybody behind the screens here at Television One, this is Mike Bodnar wishing you a very good night."

That message was inspired by the phrase "Don't forget to switch off your television set" (and on rare occasion, "Don't forget to switch off your television set, and unplug it from the socket"), which was used by Britain's ITV during the early years of television. It was used as a warning to not leave your television on, and to not leave it plugged in; doing so on early television sets ran the risk of the television overheating and subsequentially catching fire.

Special thanks to YouTube channel Sleek822 for the use of this clip.

English and Māori subtitles available.