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Circle 7 logo
- Thread starter dustintv
- Start date
ABC invented it when they set out to monopolize Channel 7 back in the 50's, when it looked possible that the FCC was going to delete 2-6 like they had 1 years before. ABC thought that by having their affiliates be Channel 7 in all the markets that had them, then they would be on the very first channel in all those markets.
It instantly became the most recognizable "Channel 7" logo and spawned many imitators. The big rule is that if something works, don't fool with it, so it's stuck all these years. Anyone who sees a white circle with a blue interior with a horizontal white line and grew up around a Channel 7 is going to have their brain trip "Channel 7" even before they notice if the figure in the circle is a 7 or not.
What I find strange is that ABC never went the logical route and did the same thing with all the other numbers to brand the logo network-wide back when all this started.
It instantly became the most recognizable "Channel 7" logo and spawned many imitators. The big rule is that if something works, don't fool with it, so it's stuck all these years. Anyone who sees a white circle with a blue interior with a horizontal white line and grew up around a Channel 7 is going to have their brain trip "Channel 7" even before they notice if the figure in the circle is a 7 or not.
What I find strange is that ABC never went the logical route and did the same thing with all the other numbers to brand the logo network-wide back when all this started.
I remember a similarity between the Circle K logo (capital K in a circle) and the one-time Krystal logo.
KeithE4 said:
The circle-7 was in use by ABC affils as early as 1967 ... KATV/Little Rock was using it by then.
As I understand, it's a trademark of ABC, and only their stations can use it as it appears. If a channel 7 defects, they have to go with something else ... although often it's something close. Good example is WJHG in Panama City, Fla. Was ABC from 1973 through (1980?), using the ABC circle-7. www.wjhg.com ... that logo is what they've used since flipping back to NBC.
--Russell
S
searadiofreak
Guest
mleach said:
Maybe so, but the current KMGH graphics package looks pretty darn good, IMO. Not always the case for this station...
BTW, the WJHG logo is almost exactly the same as the KIRO-7 Seattle logo, w/o the NBC graphic of course.
7 NEWS-WSVN in Miami uses the circle 7 logo.
Not all "Circle 7's" are the ABC one. There are differences in several non-ABC 7 markets.
The story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_7_logo
I proudly own an authentic "Circle 7" from WABC-7 that was given me by a chance meeting with the late Roger Grimsby some 35 years ago. At the time, he was not enamored with "Eyewitness News" and many were not so with him. Got it right from his jacket, in fact. It was during the end of the first era with Bill Beutel. Fortunately, they lasted for another decade and more together.
I have treasured it ever since.
A good look of a legend on radio & television: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHA3niNs0AY
Roger Grimsby died in 1995.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbwsJp8Mpro&NR=1
The story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_7_logo
I proudly own an authentic "Circle 7" from WABC-7 that was given me by a chance meeting with the late Roger Grimsby some 35 years ago. At the time, he was not enamored with "Eyewitness News" and many were not so with him. Got it right from his jacket, in fact. It was during the end of the first era with Bill Beutel. Fortunately, they lasted for another decade and more together.
I have treasured it ever since.
A good look of a legend on radio & television: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHA3niNs0AY
Roger Grimsby died in 1995.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbwsJp8Mpro&NR=1
oaktree said:
Funny thing about WJLA and the "ABC circle 7"..back in the 80's, the Washington Post ran an add for ABC's "20/20" with the WABC-TV Circle 7 logo on the ad. WJLA then went public saying how "ugly" it is and they would never use THAT logo. Prior to 2001/2002..WJLA's circle 7 logo looked very much like the Australian network "SEVEN'.
For years I heard various things about this. One WJLA was getting sick of the constant rumors of them being sold to ABC while another was that comment was "tounge in cheek". Then somebody connected to blind DC radio/TV personality Ed Walker made a fuss that he/she actually did the "7" logo back in 1976 around the time when WMAL became WJLA and a promise was made to keep that logo in use for 25 years (the time frame is about right but the Ed Walker part..not so sure ).
WJLA in Washington used a stylized "Circle 7" for years (since the mid-70s,) even as WMAL-TV before being purchased by Albritton Communications (WJLA's call letters refer to the the owner.) It adopted the original ABC "Circle 7" in 2001 and remains the largest ABC affiliate that is not owned by ABC to use the original logo.
There was also the Circle 5 logo, which was used by a couple Scripps-Howard stations including WEWS in Cleveland. There's some stations using a Circle 13 logo of sorts - not surprisingly, ABC O&Os including WTVG in Toledo.
WNAC-TV in Boston used a ripoff of the circle-7 logo as a CBS affiliate, in the 1970s.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...ad.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/WNAC73.PNG
WNAC-TV in Boston used a ripoff of the circle-7 logo as a CBS affiliate, in the 1970s.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...ad.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/WNAC73.PNG
oaktree said:
The number "7" logo for the old WMAL-TV was indeed the same as it was later for WJLA but I don't remember a circle being around it until at least 1976. At least not in their TV Guide ads from the early to mid 70s such as this from 1973 "See Barry ZeVan..the weatherman tonight on Total News 7".
Now if they used a circle on-air..that I can't remember.
Now as far as being the longest running logo on DC TV.. that may be a close call since WTOP/WDVM/WUSA more/less used the same channel 9 logo from 1970 until the late 90's.
around the same time WUSA had dropped "Eyewitness News" ( there was rumor some years afterward that WJLA would pick up that news brand when they got Gordon Peterson & Doug Hill away from 9 but they never did.
Also for the record WDCA channel 20's logo stayed pretty much the same too from their sign on in 1966 until 1986 when they became "DC 20..Your Superstation".
WTTG and WRC...now they have gone through various types of logos through the years..actually a bit too much as during the 80s those two had changed the logos quite often it seemed.
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