DTV station identification; are local TV stations still analog on digital cable?

[Jeffhs]

I have noticed here in northeastern Ohio that the area's TV stations still identify themselves as "W...-TV and W...-DT". I wonder why they are still using the W...-TV ID, as their analog signals have been or should have been shut off by now. I saw this just a few moments ago on the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, although I know the other two network affiliates identify their analog signal this way as well. The stations cannot transmit analog signals any longer, so why have that dual identification. The NBC station in Cleveland is still (to the best of my knowledge; I don't know for certain) transmitting in analog as a "nightlight" station, but that signal will go off the air on 06.29; I guess that's why they are still dual-identifying (which will almost certainly stop when the nightlight signal is terminated), but I don't know why the other stations in town are doing it as well, when their analog signals have been off the air over three weeks now. The only thing I can figure is that the station's production department or whomever is responsible for making cue cards (or whatever they are called in the DTV age) for the station are too lazy to change the ones with the TV station's identifications. Hmmm.

I saw and heard an announcement on the NBC station in Cleveland a few minutes ago, regarding their commitment to children's programming. Normally I wouldn't comment on this, but the announcement also mentioned the station's analog and digital call signs (WKYC-TV and WKYC-DT). I don't think there was, or should have been, any need to mention the analog station in that announcement, as all their analog nightlight signal is carrying is DTV transition information; it is not permitted to carry any other programming as of 06.12 and, as I mentioned above, will disappear in six days (06.29).

My second question has to do with local television broadcast channels on cable in the digital age. I do not have digital cable, only basic service with broadcast channels only. Are these broadcast channels still analog feeds from the stations or are they digital feeds being converted to NTSC for older NTSC sets? I read in a post to another thread a few days ago that cable systems simply send the standard-definition versions (again, whatever that is; I've been out of touch with TV's behind-the-scenes stuff since about nine years ago) of the stations' digital signals over the cable.

Also, if everything is digital these days, how are TV signals being sent by cable systems over coaxial cables in the first place? For viewers with digital cable, I can understand how it's done: with a digital cable box that converts ATSC RF signals to NTSC for processing by the set's tuner on channel 3 or 4. However, for people such as myself, who have the cable effectively connected directly to the television (no digital converter box), how can these raw video signals be viewed? RF must be used somewhere along the line, as older TVs like mine, with no A/V jacks, cannot process straight video signals; if the video and audio are not on an RF carrier, I won't see or hear it. The RF signal must be on the cable somewhere before it gets to the subscribers' TV sets.