• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Best/Worst/Most Interesting TV Station Logos

And, from the doomed to fail KKOG-TV/16 in Ventura CA (December 14, 1968-September 13, 1969), where I technically "began" my career in broadcasting at age 12:

1750622033855.png
You will note that the gear in the logo has 16 cogs. Or KKOGs.
 
Speaking of cogwheels,...



...take a cogwheel, add a closeup of an eye, a sunflower, an oil derrick, and a globe, then mix it with some music that can only be described as shrill, and you've got a Krusty the Clown "What the hell was that?!" Communist-era news open:

 
Speaking of cogwheels,...

...take a cogwheel, add a closeup of an eye, a sunflower, an oil derrick, and a globe, then mix it with some music that can only be described as shrill, and you've got a Krusty the Clown "What the hell was that?!" Communist-era news open:

Gee, and all we had was a slide that said "News 16".
 
...and the next year when KPWR-TV changed ownership, became KGET and then switched to NBC, the station introduced a new logo. Basically, a modified ABC Circle 7...View attachment 9453 Yes and it came close to the gold ABC Circle 7 logo KABC-TV used to have until Disney took over ABC and their affiliates.
 
Yes and it came close to the gold ABC Circle 7 logo KABC-TV used to have until Disney took over ABC and their affiliates.

I don't know where you've been, but I watch ABC7 Eyewitness News daily and I still see that gold Circle 7 pin on lapels from time to time.
 
In fact, I am watching them right now and both anchors (David Ono and Jovana Lara) have those on their jacket lapels ...
 
This one irks me to no end. Folks in Pittsburgh have known the "KDKA" call letters for over a century!

Well, they've known the "KDKA" call letters for as long as they've been alive and in town and paying attention to stuff like that.

Someone who's 35 and just starting to care about local TV newscasts doesn't have that connection. Nor does someone who just moved to Pittsburgh.

In an era where folks in broadcasting are trying to emphasize their "local" aspect, why de-emphasize the local elements? And trying to find local news on their website is a disaster when it's awkwardly integrated with the national CBS news website.

Did they bother to ask any local folks in those markets what they thought was best?

Yes, via research. And what they found was something that we kinda knew already---they knew what network they wanted and maybe a channel number (though "What channel is (network) on here?" is one of the most common questions known to man).

It's been going on for 30 years. The video quality is atrocious, but it's the only copy online---KNBC Los Angeles in 1995, becoming "NBC4", with weatherman Fritz Coleman (left) and sports anchor Fred Roggin (right):


And now, with a kazillion channels, channel numbers are less important---but "NBC Los Angeles" (which is what KNBC identifies as now, with a "4" on the screen) tells a viewer what he/she/they needs to know and most modern TVs and remotes, with voice function, will get you to the right channel on that voice prompt alone...no channel number needed.
 
Well, they've known the "KDKA" call letters for as long as they've been alive and in town and paying attention to stuff like that.

Someone who's 35 and just starting to care about local TV newscasts doesn't have that connection. Nor does someone who just moved to Pittsburgh.



Yes, via research. And what they found was something that we kinda knew already---they knew what network they wanted and maybe a channel number (though "What channel is (network) on here?" is one of the most common questions known to man).

It's been going on for 30 years. The video quality is atrocious, but it's the only copy online---KNBC Los Angeles in 1995, becoming "NBC4", with weatherman Fritz Coleman (left) and sports anchor Fred Roggin (right):


And now, with a kazillion channels, channel numbers are less important---but "NBC Los Angeles" (which is what KNBC identifies as now, with a "4" on the screen) tells a viewer what he/she/they needs to know and most modern TVs and remotes, with voice function, will get you to the right channel on that voice prompt alone...no channel number needed.
True and yes especially today when NBC and Telemundo affiliates owned by Comcast promote their content being inside the Peacock app within modern TV’s.

That was a big deal back then when marketing TV channels to Cable viewers was important from that clip. Also during the time of the clip the merger between Group W and CBS were big deals and the merger between ABC and Disney were the biggest deals for that time. Plus the rise of UPN and WB affiliates were a factor here.
 
Many years ago, my now-departed friend Doug Drigot (who was news director at KVEN while I was programming KAAP-AM/FM in the same market of Oxnard-Ventura CA) was getting a new hire from another state oriented to the market. When he got around to telling them where to find the then-three major television networks on the dial, he said "channel 4 is KNBC" and the new guy said "and which network are they?"

From that, I have always presumed that people do not automatically understand call letters, even if they are heritage or designed around the station's channel number or imaging.

I imagine there are people in Corpus Christi TX who don't know why channel 12 there is KXII.
 
Last edited:
And people don't interface with TV the same way we used to.

Six years ago, Tina Fey told the story of getting a text from her then-14-year-old daughter at home in New York. Tina was in Napa, filming "Wine Country."

Her daughter wanted to know if it was okay if she watched SNL. Tina thought about it, figured 13 was probably okay and said yes.

Then came the next text:

ALICE: "So, how do I do that?"

TINA: "Do what?"

ALICE: "Watch SNL."

TINA: "Go in the living room Saturday night at 11:30 and turn on Channel 4."

ALICE: "Wait....what? How do I even do that?"

TINA: "What?"

ALICE: "Never mind. I'll watch clips on YouTube on Sunday. Thanks, Mom."

Go ahead and make a "kid" joke, but Alice will turn 20 in a couple of months and I'll bet you neither she nor any of her classmates at college have turned on the TV and tuned to Channel 4.
 
Last edited:
Go ahead and make a "kid" joke, but Alice will turn 20 in a couple of months and I'll bet you neither she nor any of her classmates at college have turned on the TV and tuned to Channel 4.
My kids are 27 and 25, and they grew up changing channels themselves to watch Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, etc. They could absolutely find channel 4 if they wanted to. Unless you are saying that 5 years age difference is a cut off to where they stopped watching regular TV?
 
I mean, is it really sad? Is it any sadder than you and I not having to turn a crank and ask an operator to connect us to the hardware store? It's just time and technology doing what time and technology do.

I imagine, Mike, that as crank telephones gave way to direct dialing, there were many who found it sad.

And I still miss the corner hardware store.
 
My kids are 27 and 25, and they grew up changing channels themselves to watch Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, etc. They could absolutely find channel 4 if they wanted to. Unless you are saying that 5 years age difference is a cut off to where they stopped watching regular TV?

You've just answered your own question. And I'm there with you. My kids are 33 and 31 and they watched the same stuff your kids did. They squeaked in before streaming ate cable:


That appears to be paywalled, though the key points about viewing habits appear at the top. Here's an archived copy of the entire piece:


The rapid decline began in 2018---seven years ago.
 


Back
Top Bottom