They were warned about the switch to digital for months, but still they waited.

On Friday, hundreds of Hoosiers were without television reception after local stations yanked the plug on analog broadcast signals, as required by the federal government.

Why the wait?

“I’ve been out of town awhile,” said Ferrell Asher, Indianapolis, a retired AT&T assembly line worker who bought two converter boxes at Best Buy on East Washington Street on Friday to connect to his analog televisions. “I’m gonna go ahead and hook it up today.”

Kevin Clark, Indianapolis, waited until Friday to set up his converter box, but he’s pleased with the result.

“Wow,” Clark said. “I can’t believe the picture. You don’t have to stand up there and mess with the antenna all night.”

Nationally, about 2.2 million households were without cable at the beginning of June, according to research company SmithGeiger. That number was about 35,000 in Indianapolis, or 3 percent of the local TV viewing market.

Under federal law, full-powered television stations had until 11:59 p.m. Friday to convert to digital broadcasts.

Among several confusing elements of the transition, many stations were moving to new frequencies Friday. That means even digital TV sets and older sets hooked up to converter boxes need to be set to “rescan” the airwaves. New TVs and the converter boxes have menu options, accessible through their remote controls, to enable a rescan.

Some people also might need new antennas, because digital signals travel differently than analog ones.

“My staff and I will be monitoring the transition closely, analyzing the types of calls our help line is getting, communicating regularly with broadcasters and other key stakeholders,” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps said in a news release.

Retailers such as Best Buy and Radio Shack anticipated many people would not be ready for the conversion.

“For some people it’s last-minute, so it’s nerve-wrecking,” said Kurtis Bellamey, home theater manager at Best Buy.

A number of local stations, including Fox and NBC affiliates, cut their analog signals early Friday. But WFYI, which has a heavy public affairs lineup Friday evenings, planned to wait until 11:59 p.m.

“Friday night is a big night for us, so we wanted to wait to make sure people had one last chance to watch all of our local shows,” said Steve Jensen, vice president of engineering for WFYI.

Both Bright House Networks and Comcast were inundated with calls from people wanting to connect to cable, which will allow analog television to receive digital signals.

But Brooke Hummer, 30, Greenwood, was in no rush to jump on the digital TV bandwagon. She said her work schedule is very demanding, and she has yet to order a converter-box coupon.

“Wednesday when I try to watch ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ is when it’s going to hit me,” Hummer said.