1970s KTUL sign-off: Indian sign language
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Dick West's "Lord's Prayer" sign language from Channel 8's nightly signoff in the 1970s.
(from Guestbook 25) Christopher said:
I was reading in the first guestbook, and noticed a comment about Dick West's Indian Sign Language. It was at the end of Channel 8's day. Dick was a good friend of our family. Mr. Leake got Dick (who at that time was resident artist at Bacone College) to do it. Dick was a tremendous artist. He later went to an Indian college in Kansas, then retired to Ft. Gibson Lake. Some of his paintings can be seen at Gilcrease Museum, at Bacone, and even the Smithsonian. He moved to Arizona to be close to one of his sons, and died a few years ago.
(Video courtesy of Steve Smith)
More about Dick West at the top of this page:
tulsatvmemories...
I can not express how much this clip means to me.My Grandfather & I would watch this together when I was a child.After he passed, this was all that I had left of him, and when it no longer played on the air, I felt lost.I was a nine year old girl who, in some cases, had no one to trust..He was my voice and strength.I value the Native American culture and I hold dearly it's beliefs.Since I have found it now, I truly belive it will be the starting point of me overcoming my mental illness. TY!
God bless, red.
What a beautiful memory!
I always loved this sign-off. When my father died (1995), we tried to find a copy of this video to play at his funeral. My father was Creek Indian and he too loved this clip.
If you go to Channel 8 on look out mountian, in Tulsa, Oklahima. You can buy one for $15.00. At least they use to sell them at the front desk. Their on DVD. I got one myself. I'm Sorry I do wish I had seen your comment. Much Sooner Than Now.
I REMEMBER THIS AS A KID LIVING IN TULSA DURING THE LATE 70'S LISTEN CAREFULLY TO THE GUYS SINGING THE SONG THEY ARE SINGING THE LORDS PRAYER
This should have beem used for the final anslog signoff on June 12, 2009.
As one who signs the Lord's Prayer using American Sign Language and someone extremely proud of my part-Indian heritage, I found this to be extremely profound and beautiful. Thank you for posting it. I also couldn't help but notice how some of his signs correspond somewhat with American Sign Language. No doubt ASL copied and/or modified some signs from the Native American signs.....
ya think??
Wow. i have not seen this since i was a kid. thank you so much for playing this and puting this on youtube. this pretty much brings a tear to my eye. the most beautifull sign off on tv ever. thank you.
It was an incredible signoff, and seeing it again brings tears to my eyes as well😢
There was a rumor at the time that the Indian was Mr. Zing, but I heard later that it was someone else associated with KTUL
Since I was a young teen. As I am now 68 years old. Turned this last June. I have Always Loved This. As I Always Will. To sing pray to myself. Just before I go to sleep ( - :
this brings back some very special memories as a kid growing up. I wish I could go back to that time when every thing seemed special and before all the electronics came out to distract us from what life was really like, and the things as kides we like to do. We made our own fun and when school let out for the summer off went the shoes and socks off we went to play. Great memories.
It occurred to me to put in the keys words and here it is. I believe it was channel 8's nightly sign off in the 60's as well! This brought tears to my eyes!
Very beautiful and definitely unique. I can imagine that people just sat watching the snow or the test pattern for several minutes afterwards.
I remember this after the Plenty Scary Movie...Friday Night at eleven thirty....
..or after Star Trek or Gunsmoke in the late 70s when I was a young lad growing up on a farm outside Tahlequah with just those 3 channels and a big antennae. Dick West sign off. Beautiful.
I knew Dick West.
For those who have complained that he was touting someone else's religion. Christianity was his religion. Truly Christianity is an outside religion for any who dont have a Israeli/Jewish background. West spoke of the Jesus Road as I recall, and believed that even though the white man brought much suffering to the Natives he was grateful for christianity. He was not unaware of the dark parts of the path of Native American path to Christianity. He was intelligent, and made his choices freely. Here I believe he chose to make a piece of performance art choosing to share his heritage and graceful movements with us all.
He was also an expert on the history of his naive people and the sadness they endured. He was proud the Cheyenne fought bravely, but believed in education and integration were key to survival and success in a new america. He also believed in keeping tradition alive through art, storytelling, and other methods. He was a wonderful creative, intelligent and idealist person. I am glad I was able to find this beautiful memory of him online.
Well said and thank you for sharing your personal memories of Mr. West 🕊
Thank you, for sharing this. A great learning experience. Ty
I'm a West, of Lord Delaware
We played this at my father's funeral five years ago. It is beautiful. Also brings brings back so many memories.
The tower seen in the video blew down in the 80's. KTUL ch. 8 was
out of commission for awhile.
I was very privileged to have met Diçk West at Bacone College. This is a beautiful rendition. Thank you Diçk West. May you rest in peace.
Richard Dick West - instrumental in promoting American Indian people & art.
Really needvto put this back on.
Thank you for sharing this..this is the first time I've ever seen something like this.. its very beautiful..
So beautiful! I remember seeing this as a child....and after all these years it still gives me pause and peace.
Sigh...me too (-:
I watched this every pm and never knew that the "Old Indian" was my very own teacher & advisor!
I'm the one who shared that old VHS recording to the Tulsa TV Trivia site. Glad to see it's preserved here.
How's it going there, SS? A lot of people have appreciated your contribution.
I see HAL9000 is your icon; coincidentally, I rewatched 2001 again today. Also a Khruangbin fan. What are the odds?
@@tulsatv Going well, thanks! Hope all is well with you. Your site has always been one of my favorites and has been a comfort during all my years on the Pacific coast. I've subscribed to you here and will keep watching!
@@tulsatv I use it in my workplace as well and if someone makes a request I can't grant, I sometimes reply, "I'm sorry, (their name). I'm afraid I can't do that." 😊
I think the image of HAL's eye you have may be from the sequence where HAL is losing his higher functions. I noticed today that the "pupil" becomes smaller as Dave works. When HAL was fearful just earlier, the the pupil appeared in partial eclipse.
To all the questioners & reason seekers....this played every night from the early 60's to the mid 80's when KTUL signed off for the evening. Dr. West was a VERY accomplished man, his Wikipedia will tell you everything about him & things he accomplished in his life.
RIP Dr. West....you left your mark on the late night people of Tulsa & you made your people very proud.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Richard_West_Sr.
When my brother and I were little in the late 60s, we used to stay up late in the summer months just to watch the station sign offs. I remember this was one of our favorites.
I was born in Tulsa in 1963 and lived there until 1970. I remember staying up late at night in the summer and watching this sign off and a number of others including the High Flight poem with the star fighter which is also now on UA-cam.
Wonderful. I remember it vividly. It hasn't lost anything over the years. Can you see how low we've sunk?
I loved watching this Channel 8 sign-off as a kid after Moments of Meditation, when I got to stay up late. I just knew I could find it here on UA-cam.
I remember watching this as a kid in the late 70's. Seems like they used it from time to time up until the stations started broadcasting 24 hours. Lots of memories. I would watch the news with my parents then the Start Trek reruns. Or The late nigh Scary Movie lol. That intro to the Scary Movie deal would be neat to see too.
Great to see this again! Wow! I always loved this when I was a child.
We need to have this back on TV.
wow this almost brought a tear to my eye....this sign off stayed on straight up through the late 70's when I was a kid....and then when 24 hour cable took over... well it was an end to tv as we knew it...
This has always stayed in my heart since I was a little kid growing up in Arkansas..sometimes a tear or two...Beautiful...
Wow first time I saw this again in 35 years thanks for posting ! !
When I was a kid I used to watch till TV went off just to see that. I miss it very much.
I remember a copy of this done by WDIO-TV in Duluth MN when I was a kid. The sign language was performed by Ray Murdoch, the station's weekend news anchor, who was a full-blood Ojibwe (Chippewa.) He was a younger man, and I think was seen shirtless in fringed deerskin trousers and moccasins, with I think beadwork armbands, and probably a headband and a bead necklace. Murdoch died sometime in the late 70's-early 80's, possibly an auto accident. He was also a local radio newscaster on WAKX.
A memory from my childhood, living in Fort Smith at the time.
My father took me to that tower when I was a kid when it was being built and the antennae top piece was still on the ground in assembly....he had me stand on the top of the antennae spire as it lay horizontally on the ground....told me that in a few months that would be the tallest manmade structure ever built by man when completed.....Jus' Sayin"......but I'd really like to say that this piece made all of us better people...we realized this land has belonged to people for thousands of years...and culture and people can change....for better....for worse....we all make it together what it will become....
Most Beautiful !
I Have Loved and Still Love. This Prayer Song. Since It First Aired
Dick West was my advisor at Bacone in the 60's. He was an awesome man and said that after this was aired people would ask him to teach them how to do this signing like you could learn it in an hour.
good stuff ! i remember this when i was a youth, brings back good times. !!!!
This makes me cry,tears of gratitude to Jesus for all He's done for me, especially being my Lord Savior,my God,my friend.
If you're reading this have a AMAZING day!
Thank you and you too Jaimie!😊
Wow! So beautiful, God bless and have a great day ❤
I remember this from years back and when asked to give a first nations assembly a talk on bullying, this came to my mind before I found it. thanks
Authentic Indian Sign Language. It was the international between the First Nations people of Turtle Island before the foreign language English replaced it in that role.
For those wanting to know what's he's signing, it's the Lord's Prayer. It is what is being sung too 🙂.
Michael, Oh I have such SWEET MEMORIES of this as a child! THIS was special! I was a Night Owl even as a child & it was special when I could stay up THIS LATE!!!
@@ritadaniels3175 We also had an Indian signing the Lord's prayer in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was on Channel 9 , KHJ , Los Angeles , sometimes dad would let us watch movies with him in the summer or weekends. Check out Obsolete video , KHJ TV 9 1970-71 Sign off another version.
@@ritadaniels3175 👍
I used to love watching this.
I remember one of the stations in Dallas-Ft. Worth doing something similar, but I can't remember if it was this video (my memory is as fuzzy as this film!). I always thought it was beautiful and a lovely way to end the day. Not many stations would be brave enough to show something like this now.
This version of The Lord's Prayer is by The Robert Wagner Chorale.
I still see it, albeit very rarely, on nights that KTUL doesn't even have paid programming at night. Usually followed by a substantially more modern computer-generated graphic and a voice-over thanking the audience for watching and information on where they could go on the web or visit the station in person.
Absolutely beautiful.
Beautiful done
That is a beautiful sign off.
Before the US National Anthem
Thank you Im grateful for this clip
I last saw this in 1981, to the best of my knowledge.
oh im thinking about my friend bruce who just died rip bruce
Wow. This is the first time I ever saw that (pretty obviously way before my time).
I have to say, the beauty of it moved me nearly to tears... until they turned to show the giant antenna.
Anything on television has to be sponsored. Welcome to earth.
I actually remember this.....🤗🙏🏿❤
This looks like the same one that was played when ch 7, Little Rock, AR would go off the air in the 1970s.
It's perfect!
That is beautiful!
Wow, I remember this!!!
Still Praying, Still Singing, Still Watching.
Awesome...just awesome.
YES!
Does anyone know the name of this song? The scene, the chief and this song are so beautiful....I now miss that tv doesn't go off at midnight ....the good old days..rabbit ear antenna with foil balls on the tips...3 channels...my sister and I were the remotes for mom and dad.....the good old days
It's a rendition of "The Lord's Prayer", which was put to music in 1935 by Albert Hay Malotte. It's unknown which version of the song they used.
The Truth Remains!
I remember...
Tears
I miss it
Yea as a kid I had to figure out what to do next now that there was no more tv to watch.
God I miss this Indian man..
peace
On this same channel was the first time the Apple Macintosh commercial was aired. This was due to the fact that they had to air it sometime before the Super Bowl and the lowest rated channel was this channel which only played to a few thousand people in rural Idaho.
Wonderful. The Lord is LORD of ALL!
forgot to also mention STL (Studio to Transmitter Link), and the Microwave facilities.
You are welcome.
I mean think about that for a minute why would the camera pan left to the Transmission Tower after the Indian's performance. Most stations usually display pictures of their Transmission Towers during their Sign-on's and Sign-off's and they're located at, mainly in remote areas (17 to 18 miles away from the Studio).
OHH....I LOVE TO SEE AND LISTEN TO THIS..YOU NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS ARE SO VERY BEAUTYFUL AND WISE:)
WOMAN FROM HIGH IN THE NORTH DENMARK.
Andrea Ipsen just people I assure you
Andrea Ipsen thank you!
this is the year 2015 and I have the US Army report on PLS and several other books, it is a logical and simple language made for contact. It goes fairly easily in the learning stages, It does take some time. The language is not endangered. If there are no more "speakers" learning soon we will loose it.
Actually Greg if one goes to Tahlequah, OK the language is still on the signs of businesses & spoken in families there. One of my uncles grew up on the Illinois River there & went to Northeastern State University & learned our native Cherokee language. Cherokee is a VERY complex language, right up there w/ Chinese, as being one of the most difficult to learn.
Just thot I'd add that in here....it w/ be a shame of kids don't keep their heritage language going I agree!
I have been closely associated with the full blood native speaker out side of the nation for many years.. I know Talequah very well. I am a direct descendant of Judge David Carter. While the language is posted around town.. it is not the regular language of the people... howa?
The Sequoya school there has raised a new generation of native speakers.. and immersion classes are common for head start kids... now...and it is now a supported language on the internet...
😢❤️😢❤️😢
tulsatv--thank you for posting. I remember this so well from my childhood. Can you tell me how to obtain a copy? I am would like to use this in a project for one of my Native American classes at RSU. Thanks in advance!
REMEMBER THIS ISA SMALL KID AND YOUNG ADULT GROWING UPIN TULSA/BA AREA!...THE CH 8 KTUL TOWER AT ONE TIME WAS ONE OF THE TALLEST MAN MADE STRUCTURES IN THE WORLD!...I BELIEVE ITS OVER 1,800 FT TALL!
US: Indian sign language
Indonesia: Taman Cattleya Jakarta at midday and Cathedral at night
Part of my childhood. But wasn't there another version, too?
I don't recall one myself.
@@tulsatv I've decided that the "other version" I remember was The Lords Prayer being signed at Pow Wows (but not by Dick West). I'm so glad this is on UA-cam.
Remember a different version
I do too!
how did you find this? I wish tv still signed off the air these days and quit with the paid commercial loops.
Does this have any connection to the Test Pattern Indian Chief Head, the one with the headrest? Nice combination.
Try the one with Chief Shaka Bear Step Indian sign language also seems more serious.
@cerealflakes the Lords Prayer....
I must be having a Mandela Effect. I don't remember it being sung, and, the scenery was different.
There use to be another version of this that had an Indian named Chief Shaka Bear Step, It was a much better performance, just can't find it.
Here’s another version. This is a spoken version of “The Lord’s Prayer” by Walt Connolly. KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV) and KDOC-TV (Anaheim, CA) played this as well. m.ua-cam.com/video/1Z5_fKItlWA/v-deo.html Starts at the 2m 35 sec mark.
Who performed the music for KTUL's sign off?
Tulsa is next to an Indian Reservation
Can't you guys do something to improve the sound...you tube!
What's the sign language sign for Megahertz? lol
WTRickman really? what is a hertz and I will tell you. Imagine people on the plains getting the idea of a hertz? I can't.
I understand that it is hopping around on one foot while holding the other one and grimacing.
i remember this but not with singing, rather a rich voice speaking it.
I think you may be right....
What is this song? Anyone know?
The Lord's Prayer
it is a gooooooooooooood. don't more hear of hard. Must be use sign language
the language is endangered, and on the edge of extinction. This is a correction of my last post.
I know Makaton, a derivative of British Sign Language used by people with learnind disabilities and stroke patients.
My guess is he's probably describing the station's operation concluding its broadcast day, Who owns the Station, what the station is affiliated by, Studio's location, Transmitter's location, height of the Transmitter, the area it serves, what channel it operates on, the Effective Radiated Power that operates the visual and aural transmission, the assigned frequency the station operates on, being an Equal Opportunity Employer, And inviting its viewers to join them when they return to the air.
Dan you're not funny at all. This was a great man leaving a legacy! What are you leaving to the world (that can be printed in public)!!!
@@azdesertgray5937 I wasn't trying to be funny to begin with. Usually when your watching TV at 2:00 in the morning and showing a sermon like this and showing a 1200 ft tower with it means the station is going off the air. That how it was when I was growing up on Analog TV.