Editing Indian-head test pattern (section)

== As a cultural icon ==
From the late 1950s the test pattern gradually began to be seen less frequently, after fewer sign-offs, on fewer stations, and for shorter periods in the morning, since new and improved TV broadcast equipment required less adjusting. In later years the test pattern was transmitted for as little as a minute after sign-off while the transmitter engineer logged required [[Federal Communications Commission]]-US/[[Board of Broadcast Governors]] transmitter readings before cutting power.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

The Indian-head test pattern became obsolete in the 1960s with the debut of [[color television]]; from that point onward, an alternate test card of [[SMPTE color bars]] (and its immediate predecessors), or colorized versions of the NBC/CBS-derived "bullseye" patterns became the test card of choice. Since the 1990s, most television stations in the [[United States]] have broadcast continuously without regular sign-offs, instead running [[infomercial]]s, networked overnight news shows, syndicated reruns, cartoons, or old movies; thus, the broadcast of test patterns has become mostly obsolete (though they are still used in post-production and broadcast facilities to check color and signal paths).

Nevertheless, the Indian-head test pattern persists as a symbol of early television. Many U.S. television stations chose the image of the Indian-head card to be their final image broadcast when their analog signals signed off for the final time between February 17 and June 12, 2009, as part of the [[digital television transition in the United States]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxnDrgbrMj0&list=WL&index=6 | title=Historic WLWT-TV Turns off Analog Signal | website=[[YouTube]]| date=15 June 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=WMTV 2009 analog sign-off | date=16 July 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4LTk3CNHEI |access-date=2023-06-28}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2024}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVEQiSuEhmg | title=MPT Analog signoff | website=[[YouTube]] | date=17 November 2022 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=August 2024}}

A variant of the card appeared on the Canadian sketch comedy show [[Second City Television]] in the late-1970s,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZSwYEqL738 | title=SCTV - Second City Television - "Lust for Paint" - WMAQ-TV (Complete Broadcast, 8/20/1978) 📺 | website=[[YouTube]] | date=28 March 2019 }}</ref> and another variant appeared on theatrical release posters for [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s 1989 film ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]''. Some [[Pioneer Corporation|Pioneer]] GGV1069 [[LaserDisc]] reference discs released for the NTSC market included a variant of the card, but modified with a gray-colored grid and a drawing of a [[Komainu|Japanese lion-dog]] replacing the Indian-head portrait.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Laserdisc-players-screenshot-comparison/id/12907/page/2 | title=Laserdisc players - screenshot comparison - Original Trilogy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/feedback.html|title=A selection of comments and suggestions received using the Feedback form or direct via email|work=meldrum.co.uk|accessdate=2015-06-07}}</ref> It was sold as a night-light from 1997 to 2005 by the [[Archie McPhee]] company,<ref>The Indian-head test pattern night light was included in a set of three novelty night lights with test pattern lamp shades: RCA TK-1 Indian head (1950s), SMPTE color bars (1960s), and an [[Emergency Broadcast System]] (EBS) TV-test slide image ("This is a test! This is only a test!") from the middle [[Cold War]] era.According to the customer service department of Archie McPhee company, Seattle, Washington, the set of three, as Item #10480, was sold from 1999-01-11 to 2005-06-17. Their representative said these lamp shades were created by the company, and not obtained from an outside source. (Source accessed by phone on 2007-11-07).{{original research inline|date=August 2017}}</ref> reminiscent of the times when a fairly common late-night experience was to fall asleep while watching the late movie, only to awaken to the characteristic sine wave tone accompanying the Indian-head test pattern on a black-and-white TV screen. The test card also featured in the opening sequence of the early 1960s science fiction anthology ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CtjhWhw2I8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/8CtjhWhw2I8 |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=The Outer Limits Intro|last=chicagosundials|date=19 November 2008|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> It also features as a loading screen in the [[Fallout (franchise)|Fallout]] franchise.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://mashable.com/article/fallout-easter-egg-please-stand-by |title='Fallout' hides a neat game loading screen Easter egg in episode 1 |author=Shannon Connellan |date=2024-04-13 |publisher=Mashable }}</ref>

===Artifacts===
Nearly all of the hard-to-open, steel-shielded monoscope tubes were junked with their Indian-head test pattern target plates still inside, but many of the board-mounted lithographs survive.

The master art for both the portrait and the pattern design was discovered in a dumpster by a wrecking crew worker as the old RCA factory in [[Harrison, New Jersey]] was being demolished in 1970. The worker kept the art for over 30 years before selling it to a collector.<ref name="Pharis">{{cite web|url=http://www.pharis-video.com/p4788.htm|title=Chuck Pharis Web Page : The Indian Head Test Pattern Story! , Updated April 29, 2017|website=www.pharis-video.com}}</ref>