• 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

Is it time for a "new" 'CVB 5?

G

Garrett

I hate to bring this up. But it is inevitable, you can't keep the same station logo forever.
Or maybe you can?

Let's face it, Natalie leaving Channel 5 is something of a final link to the 70s and 80s in Boston TV history. Channel 5's current logo was fresh and new in 1972. But it has been the same logo for nearly 35 years. Put another way, the last different logo that Channel 5 had was the very elegant WHDH 5. That's going back a long ways.

So the question is this, to those of you who know, and those of you who don't: Is it time for WCVB to reinvent their logo? Do we need a new 5? And, is anyone at Hearst-Argyle thinking about this too? At the other end of the spectrum woud this be a bad idea? Would we be talking about another CBS 4 to WBZ type situation? Would it turn off viewers?

What do you think?
 
Garrett said:
I hate to bring this up. But it is inevitable, you can't keep the same station logo forever.
Or maybe you can?

What do you think?
Click to expand...

Why don't we ask ABC's original O&Os that question? They had their legendary Circle 7 since the early-1960s.
 
I doubt it. For all the homogenization that Hearst-Argyle institutes (music, sets, graphics, web), they seem to leave branding to the local-level.
 
Well, when I said "Hearst-Argyle" I meant the managment of WCVB on the local level, I did not mean corporate. In any case, isn't WCVB the flagship anyway?

Good point about the Circle 7. However, the Circle 7 is a popular logo used by a lot of stations, even WHDH. I don't know of anybody who uses the same logo as WCVB. When you find them, let me know...
And perhaps that's a reason for WCVB to keep it. Whenever I see that logo in any kind of video, I know right away "that's Boston."

Am I right about this?
 
Garrett said:
Well, when I said "Hearst-Argyle" I meant the managment of WCVB on the local level, I did not mean corporate. In any case, isn't WCVB the flagship anyway?

Good point about the Circle 7. However, the Circle 7 is a popular logo used by a lot of stations, even WHDH. I don't know of anybody who uses the same logo as WCVB. When you find them, let me know...
And perhaps that's a reason for WCVB to keep it. Whenever I see that logo in any kind of video, I know right away "that's Boston."

Am I right about this?
Click to expand...

Your last sentence sums it up - the WCVB "5" is such a unique and elegant logo that it has become a brand of sorts. And, the trademark for Boston's longtime #1 news channel.

Also, about the circle 7, WHDH's version is 7 inside a circle, but it is not the ABC "circle 7". The ABC version is used on WABC, WLS, KABC, KGO and other ABC O&O stations in big markets. And, that version is pretty much the same as it was in the 1960's - a successful trademark for their local affiliate stations. I think they added even it more recently in Washington too (a more recent addition of a 1960's design).
 
Well, Ch.4 changed from TV-4 to CBS 4. I don't think that went over to well. I think what works well for WCVB is that they can bridge the younger reporters with the people that have been at the station for years. I think trying to overhaul the image by changing the big white 5 would be disastrous.
 
No, not really

"Futuristic 5" has signified WCVB-TV from the day it signed on in 1972. The one tweak is the ABC logo in the corner.

BRNout said:
Also, about the circle 7, WHDH's version is 7 inside a circle, but it is not the ABC "circle 7". The ABC version is used on WABC, WLS, KABC, KGO and other ABC O&O stations in big markets. And, that version is pretty much the same as it was in the 1960's - a successful trademark for their local affiliate stations. I think they added even it more recently in Washington too (a more recent addition of a 1960's design).
Click to expand...

The "circle 7" of WHDH-TV is the same as the "circle 7" of WSVN in South Florida. Both stations happen to have the same owner.

WJLA-7 in Washington DC uses the ABC Circle 7 but is not an ABC O&O.
 
Re: No, not really

chuckydoll said:
The "circle 7" of WHDH-TV is the same as the "circle 7" of WSVN in South Florida. Both stations happen to have the same owner.
Click to expand...
Yes, the two stations seem to buy a lot of things in bulk to get 'economies of scale'! They have the same '7' logo - but it is a different design than the ABC one.

chuckydoll said:
WJLA-7 in Washington DC uses the ABC Circle 7 but is not an ABC O&O.
Click to expand...

Now that is interesting and explains why it is more recent. The ABC affiliate in Little Rock, AR (KATV) also has the same logo and is not an ABC O&O. It would be good to know whether ABC has any rights to the logo and if the license it in some way. Because, I have yet to see a non-ABC affiliate use the "ABC Circle 7".
 
Garrett said:
Sure someone does: ABC 7 in El Paso: http://www.kvia.com/ with the difference being that their 7 is red like WHDH instead of blue. Otherwise, it's very much the same logo.
Click to expand...

KVIA is an ABC affiliate and - now that you've reminded me - the red circle is a relatively new development (past couple of years). They formerly used the standard ABC circle 7 logo.

Had they been with another network, you would have had a good point... ;D
 
Just as an FYI, I believe there's a Wikipedia page for this as well called "Circle 7," (just as there is for the Eyewitness News tag, see other thread).
 
KML-224 said:
I think WVII-TV (ABC) channel 7 in Bangor, ME also has a "Circle 7" logo. :eek:
Click to expand...

Yes... they do have the circle 7 logo.
 
The WCVB-5 logo is similar in concept to the one RKO General's WOR-TV (channel 9, New York) used in the '70s and '80s. Since then, WOR-TV was sold, moved, and had its calls changed. Several logos later, however, none has been quite so good as the Futuristic-9. I imagine WCVB would have similar difficulties in finding a suitable replacement logo.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom