If you watched TV in northern California between the 1960s and the late 1980s, you might have fond memories of local shows and local celebrities, particularly those who were on at odd hours - late at night or on weekend afternoons. You might even have a favorite movie host or show which you remember well, but haven't seen in years.

Unfortunately, not much remains to help us revisit those days. Home VCRs became common only in the latter years of the period in question, and TV stations tended to erase and reuse expensive broadcast-quality videotape in the earlier years. For many of these shows, all we've got left are fading, fragmented memories. UHF Nocturne exists to preserve what memories we still have of watching local TV in northern California from its beginnings to the late 1980s.

The site is currently comprised mainly of the webmaster's own recollections, but is intended as a collective effort. Poke around here, enjoy the old ads and listings, and if any of it sparks memories of your own, email them to me for inclusion on the site! (With full attribution, of course.) Even the most fragmentary memories and anecdotes are useful!

Write to UHF Nocturne... AGAIN! -- As mentioned below, a hard drive crash wiped out a lot of data while I was in the process of updating this site last year. Among the lost files were emails from a number of people recollecting shows and personalities from the days of broadcast yore. Essentially, if you wrote me any time before the middle of last year, chances are I no longer have your name, email address, or any record of what you wrote me about! I'd love to hear from you again! The site is growing rapidly and your memories are important! So please take a moment to email UHF Nocturne!

Thursday, March 3 2005 -- Obsessive listmaking in progress... I've added a list of 50s SF and Horror movies on DVD for your reference and to waste time when I should be doing my taxes. The list also includes titles not on DVD, for the edification of the many studio heads and their minions who read UHF Nocturne daily.

Monday, February 28 2005 -- Thanks in large part to UHF Nocturne correspondant Perry Martin, major revisions were made to the Creature Features entry, with changes on every page and the addition of three entirely new pages! Perry sent me a long email with quite a few choice memories of Sacramento and Bay Area shows and hosts, which I'll be incorporating into the site over the next few weeks. I can't thank Perry enough! Some minor changes... were made to the Unknown Guide posted two weeks ago, to reflect my finally putting 2 and 2 together to identify KRON's horror show Nightmare as the 50s one hosted by Terrence. Moments after that was done, Doktor Goulfinger informed me that Nightmare had an earlier host than Terrence. If Goulfinger keeps this up, we're getting him a crown, a throne, and a crudely crayoned sign that says King Of All Trivia! And finally... color graphics now adorn the page for KICU's late-80s Friday Night Frights.

Thursday, February 10 2005 -- New Sacramento station home pages Added front pages for KXTV 10 and KOVR 13. There isn't a lot to say about these two, other than to note their local news shows. Speaking of which.... And now, the news -- I spent the last week browsing the collection of TV Guides for local news ads. I made it up to about 1970, and found ads for news shows on KTVU, KCRA, KGO, KXTV and KOVR. This is just the tip of the iceberg - I have TV Guides up to about 1989 or so. I'm hoping the ads will prompt some memories in someone - I wasn't much of a TV newshound back then, and my few recollections are pretty cynical.

Friday, February 4 2005 -- The Mystery Of The Unknown Guide! -- I found what appears to be a local advertiser giveaway from 1958 on eBay. Here it is in all its yellowing glory!

Thursday, January 27 2005 -- It's about time for some new content! -- Actually, it was about time for some new content a year ago! In fact, I had quite a few new pages prepared in the spring of 2004, only to have them wiped out in a hard drive crash before I could post them. My strategy at the time was to do a big, all-at-once overhaul of the site. It was painful to watch it all go down the drain with my hard drive! It's taken me until now - January 2005 - to get back on the ball to recreate them. The lesson learned? Add new material progressively, as it comes in. I figured I'd start with some links!