Sign-on and sign-off

The sign-on sequence may include some or all of the following stages, but not necessarily in this order:

1. For television or radio stations that cut off their signal during off-broadcast hours, a test pattern or a static image accompanied by a 1 kHz tone, music or radio station may be broadcast fifteen to twenty minutes before the actual sign-on. Digital channels may still be running overnight programs or interstitials at this time (as is the case with ITV Nightscreen in the United Kingdom), which conclude when the station's main programming schedule begins.
2. A signal to turn on remote transmitters may be played—this is usually a series of touch tones.
3. On radio stations, especially international stations on shortwave, an interval signal may be played in a loop, usually for 3 to 5 minutes before the actual broadcast starts.
4. Technical information provided, such as the station identification (call sign and city of license), transmitter power, frequency or channel number, translators used, transmitter locations, list of broadcast engineers (in the Philippines), and studio/transmitter links (STL).
5. On television stations, a video and/or photo montage set to the national anthem or another patriotic piece of music may be played; on radio stations this would just consist of the music, usually the national anthem. The accompanying television video usually involves images of the national flag, head of states, national heroes, national military, national symbols, or other nationalistic imagery, particularly on state-owned broadcasters. Some countries, like North Macedonia, Brazil, Azerbaijan, South Korea and Cambodia, also put lyrics on-screen (the Cambodian one also has a so-called karaoke-like lyric highlighting which appears in a lot of music videos in Cambodia as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and their neighbouring countries, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand). The US also utilised this in their national anthem video (one where the instrumental version of their national anthem plays, with lyrics fading in and out letter to letter to switch between verses) until the late 70s where replaced by modern versions of their national anthem videos. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, the anthem plays over the ident.
6. Ownership information about the station, and a list of related organizations.
7. A "good morning" greeting to viewers or listeners.
8. Contact information, such as street and mailing addresses, telephone number, email, and website details.
9. A prayer or other religious acknowledgement, particularly in countries with a state religion, in theocracies, and on religious broadcasters. For example, sign-ons in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand typically include a quote from Gautama Buddha, those in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Brunei Darussalam, Niger, Malaysia, Morocco, Bahrain, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, generally include an Islamic reading from the Quran, a Muslim quote, or a call for Azan and Fajr prayer, those in the Philippines (except in Bangsamoro), Italy, Russia (except for some republics), Canada and the United States include a Christian prayer, psalm or hymn of some type and stations in South Korea, India and China have a prayer of any religion depending on the day.
10. This program guide for the upcoming programs, or the day's programs.
11. A disclaimer that station programming is taped, aired live, or originates from a television or radio network
12. Another disclaimer that programs are for personal use only (sometimes with information on copyright restrictions), and a statement that businesses cannot profit from showing them by applying a cover charge for viewing
13. A statement of commitment to quality; this may be in the form of a recognized standard, such as the United States National Association of Broadcasters' "Seal of Good Practice" (until 1983) or the Philippines' Broadcast Code of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines)
14. A station identification, including some or all of the television channel, AM or FM frequency, call sign, branding, and a clock ident
15. Generally a station jingle or slogan will be played, accompanied on television with video clips featuring station programming or personalities.

While most of these sign-on steps are done as a service to the public, or for advertising reasons, some of them may be required by the government of the country.

The sign-off sequence may include some or all of the following stages, but not necessarily in this order:

• Nearly when a program or movie ends, they show PSAs through Ad Council or any organizations, then station ID announced.
• An announcement made about the upcoming sign-off to inform the viewers that the station is about to go off-air.
• A station jingle or slogan may be played, accompanied on television with video clips featuring station programming or personalities. A series of program trailers may also be played.
• A prayer, hymn, or other religious acknowledgement, particularly in countries with a state religion or theocracies, and on religious broadcasters. For example, closedowns in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Senegal, Brunei, Malaysia, Egypt, Niger, Oman, and Indonesia generally include a fifteen-minute reading from the Qur'an and a call for the midnight salat; stations in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong and Macau typically have a quote from the Buddha; Israel aired reciting daily biblical, Midrash or Aggadah verses (Psuko Shel Yom); stations in Canada, Germany, Italy, Philippines (excluding Bangsamoro), Russia (excluding some republics), the United Kingdom and in the United States include a Christian prayer, Biblical passage, a psalm or a hymn; while stations in China, South Korea and India have a prayer of any religion depending on the day.
• A short weather forecast, newscast, or a pre-taped sermonette.
• A clock ident, which can be silent, play music or feature an announcer. In the United Kingdom, BBC One and BBC Two had the announcer speaking over a clock ident, before switching to the national anthem over the station ident. BBC Two's clock just faded to black after the closing announcement, but in November 1994, the channel began playing various idents in full before fading to black.
• A "goodnight" message to viewers or listeners thanking them for their patronage, along with an announcement of the time when the station is scheduled to sign on again.
• A program guide for the following day's programs.
• Ownership information about the station and a list of related organizations.
• Contact information, such as street and mailing addresses, telephone number, zip code, e-mail, and website details.
• Technical information provided, such as the call sign, transmitter power, translators used, transmitter locations, a list of broadcast engineers (in the Philippines only), and studio/transmitter links (STL).
• A disclaimer that station programming is taped, aired live, or originates from a television or radio network.
• A disclaimer that programs are for personal use only (sometimes with information on copyright restrictions), and a statement that businesses cannot profit from showing them by applying a cover charge for viewing.
• A statement of commitment to quality; this may be in the form of a recognized standard, such as the United States National Association of Broadcasters' "Seal of Good Practice" (before 1982) or the Philippines' KBP Broadcast Code of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (Association of Broadcasters of the Philippines).
• An invitation to tune into alternate services hosted by their sister/affiliate stations (for example, radio station). In the United Kingdom for example, when BBC1 or BBC2 closed down for the day, the announcer invited the outgoing viewers to tune into BBC radio services during the TV station's off-hours.
• On television stations, a video and/or photo montage set to the national anthem or another patriotic piece of music may be played; on radio stations, this would just consist of the music, usually the national anthem. The accompanying television video usually involves images of the national flag, head of states, national heroes, national military, national symbols, or other nationalistic imagery, particularly on state-owned broadcasters. Some countries, like North Macedonia, Brazil, Azerbaijan, South Korea and Cambodia, also put lyrics on-screen (The Cambodian one also has a so-called karaoke-like lyric highlighting which appears in a lot of music videos in Cambodia as well as China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and their neighbouring countries, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand). USA also utilised this in their national anthem video (one where the instrumental version of their national anthem plays, with lyrics fading in and out letter to letter to switch between verses) until The late 70s where replaced by modern versions of their national anthem videos. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, the anthem plays over the ident.
• The station may display some type of novelty item, such as an animated character, particular to that station or its locale.
• The display of a test pattern, a variation on the station logo, or a black signal, often accompanied by a monotone sound for a short period of time; radio stations may just play a monotone. In Germany, before switching to the test card (especially ARD and ZDF), a slide with the logo and the noun "Sendeschluss" or "Sendeschluß" is shown, before it slowly fades to black. This means if a viewer (especially knowing German language) sees the word "Sendeschluss" it means the viewer should turn off their television sets. In ARD, while showing testcard, a female voiceover repeats itself, instead of playing tone. Nowadays, the transmission is handed over to a 24/7 channel.
• Viewers may be warned to remember to turn off their television sets just prior to the transmitter being switched off; these announcements were particularly common in the early days of television, but are still in regular practice in some places; in Russia this was common until the mid-90s, and in Japan this was also common in some prefectures when there is no 24/7-hour service available (Toyama, Nagano, etc.)
• A signal to turn off remote transmitters may be played; is usually a series of touch tones. Once the transmission has been cut off there will usually only be video static on television stations or radio static on radio stations. In the digital age, a black screen is displayed as no transmission is able to be decoded, with sets not able to receive a signal turning off automatically if the feature is enabled, and audibly for television and radio, the audio is completely silent.
• A loud tone may be played on the audio to encourage sleeping viewers to turn their television sets off.

While most of these sign-off steps are done as a service to the public, or for advertising reasons, some of them may be required by the government of the country. For example, in the U.S. or in the Philippines, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, or the National Telecommunications Commission require stations to identify themselves before leaving the air, which usually means they must announce their calls, city of license, and broadcast frequency or channel number.

In a number of countries closedowns formerly took place during the daytime as well as overnight. In the United Kingdom this was initially due to government-imposed restrictions on daytime broadcasting hours, and later, due to budgetary constraints. The eventual relaxation of these rules meant that afternoon closedowns ceased permanently on the ITV network in October 1972, but the BBC maintained the practice until Friday 24 October 1986, before commencing a full daytime service on the following Monday. Afternoon closedowns continued in South Korea until December 2005. Hong Kong's broadcasting networks (particularly the English-speaking channels) also practiced this until mid-2008. In these cases, the station's transmitters later did not actually shut-down for the afternoon break; either a test-card was played or a static schedule was posted telling viewers of the programming line-up once broadcasting resumes.

During religious holidays or occasions, Doordarshan and Akashvani will broadcast a prayer of any religion through the day, a week or a month (e.g. During Ramadan, a reading from the Quran, a Muslim quote, or a call for Azan and Fajr prayer will be broadcast. During Lent, a Christian prayer, a hymn or a psalm will be broadcast).

During Ramadan, Malaysian public broadcaster RTM operated TV1 24 hours a day instead of signing off. In 2012, TV1 broadcast 24 hours a day during the London Olympics in 2012, due to the time difference. This would become permanent in August 2012, to coincide with their sister channel, TV2 by showing reruns from the broadcaster's archive library and movies on early mornings before start-up.

During the Holy Week in the Philippines, terrestrial television and radio stations continue their regular broadcast schedules (including Lenten drama specials from Eat Bulaga! and It's Showtime) from Palm Sunday until Holy Wednesday. From the midnight of Holy Thursday until the early hours of Easter Sunday (before 4 AM PST on most commercial broadcasters), most non-religious television and radio networks either remain off-the-air due to using the timeframe for annual maintenance of their broadcast equipments or truncate their broadcasting hours and feature special programming such as Lenten drama specials, religious-themed programming and news coverage of various services and rites. Catholic Media Network member stations also follow the latter pattern, broadcasting Easter Triduum services and other similar programming.

Campus radio stations' operations during this time are left to the discretion of their respective schools, colleges, or universities by either closing down on the afternoon of Holy Wednesday or remaining off-air for the entire Holy Week.

On cable and satellite, with the exception of specialty channels that broadcast horse racing, cockfighting, and the like that sign-off and remain dormant during this period, most international networks distributed in the Philippines continue to broadcast their 24/7 regular programming service week-long, while other Philippine-exclusive channels continue with specially-arranged schedules from Holy Thursday to Black Saturday or sometimes regular programming.

There have been notable historic exceptions to the abovementioned protocols, such as

• 2015 - when Typhoon Maysak (Chedeng) struck Aurora, some radio and television stations that were supposed to sign-off during the Triduum before the typhoon's landfall in the Philippines, aired news updates related to the typhoon
• 2020 - during the coronavirus pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, government-controlled television and radio stations abandoned signing-off during the Paschal Triduum while the daily #LagingHanda press briefings conducted by the Presidential Communications Operations Office augmented its broadcast operations. On commercial radio and television stations, news updates related to the pandemic were broadcast alongside special programming.