Local58.tv

local58.tv/digital is an "archived" website that is cited in the episode Digital Transition as a resource viewers can use to receive a free digital conversion kit for their analog TVs. Its pages contain cryptic and distorted images of diagrams and informational articles not unlike those from the Local 58 Archives. The site that supposedly archived the Local 58 website, LookBack Web Archive, is a parody of Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

1999

The 1999 page shows Local 58's website in its most primitive form. Tabs to the right labeled "Public Access," "Current Events," "careers," and "Archives" all redirect to the page you're already on while the "Schedule" tab links to the Local 58 YouTube channel.

At the bottom of the page is a distorted and hard-to-read photocopy of an article regarding a television component called a vestigial lowband filter. It talks about what the device does and how it must be completely replaced if a maintenance issue arises, since tampering with it is illegal. The image itself seems to come from the appendix of some publication issued by the Civil Broadcasting Authority, the agency that coproduces the Skywatching TV show.

2001

The 2001 pages originally could only be seen and accessed by clicking on the 1999 page first. The first 2001 page only displays an "internal server error" that encourages the reader to contact the server administrator to inform them when the error occurred and anything the reader might have done to cause the error.

The second 2001 page displayed a similar error message, but it also contained a more legible article about magnetic tape called "The Era of Home Recording". The article for the most part explained the different uses a consumer could have for magnetic tape, but the ending sentences read the following:

"Time, at once both warden and thief, laid low by gossamer loops of air and iron. Here is a greater, finer memory than that of men.

Before the gilded doorsill of our master's silent house, we lift our mortal eyes along its wide forgotten stair, and fix them thereupon an empty throne."

The second 2001 page was later replaced. Now, it is a more stylized version of 1999 page with pictures, waving American flag gifs, and decorative versions of the tabs on the left side of the page. The "All your favorites" section now has images of the Contingency-era Local 58 station ID, the Public Eye and Still Life intros from A Look Back, Skywatching's intro from Skywatching, a never-before-seen late-night movie block, and the 2000s Local 58 station ID.

2017

The 2017 page leads to the Local 58 YouTube channel, which was created on September 30, 2017 and began seeing uploads on Halloween that same year.

2021

The first 2021 page is the one you're taken to if you type "local58.tv/digital" into a web browser. It repeats information that can be found in the episode Digital Transition about how the Local 58 TV station will switch from analog to digital broadcasting on July 13, 2021 and that those with analog TV sets will need a digital converter box to properly watch the channel.

After the page shows a glitchy image of a digital converter box, it continues by saying that readers can ask an electronics retailer or call [622-5580|(845) 622-5580] to see if they're eligible for a free digital conversion kit. Just when the text tells readers that “there are other receivers” to choose from if they are ineligible or missed the availability window, the whole page devolves into a series of garbled and discolored screen grabs from Local 58 broadcasts.

The second 2021 page used to open up the episode Digital Transition in browser, but now it displays another faux server error message and a heavily distorted photocopy of another book page. It appears to possibly have text near the bottom center of the page that reads something like "RESEARCH PROSPECT-".

Gallery

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  LookBack Web Archive logo
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  Vestigial Lowband Filter from the 1999 page
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  The Era of Home Recording from the original second 2001 page
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  The digital converter box from the first 2021 page
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  Distorted screenshots of Local 58 broadcasts from the first 2021 page
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  The image under the new second 2021 page
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