Best/Worst/Most Interesting TV Station Logos

[TVWorldwide]

Love this 1970s psychedelic animation from WPVI

Several other stations used this style of news open, including KFSN in Fresno:

did they have drones back then?

No.

 

[Ed Nielson]

French TV pre-ORTF 1964 when it was simply RTF.

 

[TVWorldwide]

French TV pre-ORTF 1964 when it was simply RTF.

They didn't change the logo much when RTF became ORTF:



Here's a sign-on animation for ORTF's Second Network:

ORTF in North America? Yes, it operated a station in the tiny French territory of St. Pierre and Miquelon off the coast in Newfoundland:


Source: YouTube/stewssman

When ORTF's Third Network launched in 1972, our friend from upthread, Catherine Chaillet, was chosen to design its look:

But the really big changes happened in December 1974, when ORTF was broken up and replaced with TF1, Antenne 2, and FR3.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Oh, and since I brought up tiny St. Pierre and Miquelon (with a population of just around 6000--not a typo), here's a clip of their local newscast from 1982, when the station there was a part of the FR3 network:

 

[TVWorldwide]

Some unused network IDs created by a graphics design company in 1972:

And an unused WMAQ logo from the early '90s:


Source: Logopedia/Dwaynep2010

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Another epic channel 7 logo.

WTRF-TV Wheeling WV, early 1980s.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Speaking of Channel 7 logos, here's the very patriotic logo used by CTC7 in Canberra, Australia's capital, in the 1980s:

For reference, here's the Australian flag:

 

[IM42A]

Okay, are we not going to mention how epic is the former logo of WDBJ in Roanoke–the 7 with the star on top?

Introduced sometime in the middle 1970s, and before it was affixed with the station's now-trademarked slogan, "Your Hometown Station ®️"...

View attachment 8926

And since we're mentioning epic 7s, let's not leave out Wausau from this conversation. Legendary logo, legendary mascot.

View attachment 8927

Pretty sure the WDBJ logo is an homage to the Mill Mountain Star, signifying Roanoke as the "Star City":



And then there's "Sir Seven" on WSAW.

 

[IM42A]

Love this 1970s psychedelic animation from WPVI followed by aerial footage from a helicopter - did they have drones back then? - chasing various people and one whitetail deer around the countryside.

Notice how they name-checked cities in adjacent markets, such as Lancaster and Wilkes-Barre. Those areas probably got WPVI on cable back then.

 

[IM42A]

Oh, and since I brought up tiny St. Pierre and Miquelon (with a population of just around 6000--not a typo), here's a clip of their local newscast from 1982, when the station there was a part of the FR3 network:

Interesting that they placed a period between the S and the T in St-Pierre. I've never seen that used in French before.

 

[IM42A]

Some unused network IDs created by a graphics design company in 1972:

And an unused WMAQ logo from the early '90s:


Source: Logopedia/Dwaynep2010

The ABC "ball" logo has remained basically unchanged since the 1960s.

I'd hate to see them try to improve upon it. Remember the "N" fiasco with NBC and Nebraska public TV in the 1980s.

 

[IM42A]

Another epic channel 7 logo.

WTRF-TV Wheeling WV, early 1980s.

View attachment 8962

They also carried WTRF on cable in Oakland and Grantsville MD back then. I recall WTRF on Grantsville cable in the 1990s, and I want to say they carried WHAG Hagerstown as well (Oakland cable, which served Garrett County, shows WHAG per the 1982 Broadcasting Yearbook, but that was years before I was in Grantsville) but I can't swear to that. They carried all the Pittsburgh majors and at least WJAC, don't recall WWCP or WTAJ.

One morning, they had WHIO Dayton overtaking WTRF due to a tropo opening. When you're that high up in the mountains, pretty much anything can happen.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Interesting that they placed a period between the S and the T in St-Pierre. I've never seen that used in French before.

I assume it was done for esthetic reasons.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

SBT

For a different abbreviation, see Scala Build Tool. SBT (abbreviated from Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão) is a Brazilian television network owned by Grupo Silvio Santos. It was formed in 1981 with three former-Rede Tupi stations (Channel 4 from São Paulo and Channel 5 from Porto Alegre and from...

logos.fandom.com

SBT Network Brazil uses a logo that resembles ABC here in the United States.

 

[TVWorldwide]

That's interesting that GMA Philippines even used the Gold Circle 7 logo that was associated with KABC-TV in the late 1980-early 1990's. Here is KABC-TV version of the gold ABC7 Logo.

WLS in Chicago also used a gold version of the Circle 7 logo during its On Your Side era:

 

[Kemosabe]

Anyone remember the Kaiser Broadcasting Company station logos?

When the group was sold, Field Communications updated the logos.

 

[TVWorldwide]

A compilation of Australian IDs showing most classic TV logos from that country:

 

[TVWorldwide]

A treasure trove of PBS station logos:

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

National Nine News Australia in the 1980's used the Designs of ABC News in the United States but with the Cool Hand Luke: Tar Sequence cut the theme ABC O&O's used in that era.

Also interesting TV3 Network New Zealand in the 1990's used the Nightline Name for their newscasts and even borrowed the designs from ABC News.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Australian television often borrowed designs and concepts from the U.S.

In the 1980s, ATV10 in Melbourne and TEN10 in Sydney used Move Closer to the World as news themes along with WPVI-style opens:

Later in the 1980s, most Seven Network stations adopted a look based on the NBC Nightly News, complete with The Mission by john Williams:

This is how similar the set in Adelaide looked to the NBC original: