• 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

Ugly TV station logos

Jonathan7157 said:
What about the Hearst statons?! All of them call themselves by their call letters, WPBF, WESH, WYFF, WCVB, you get it, even the newly Hearst-owned WJCL in Savannah!:cool::eek: Except for, KHBS/KHOG in NW Arkansas (that would be a mouthfull to say on air as a name for the station), WKCF (CW affiliate), and KQCA in Sacramento (it's a MyTV affiliate).
Click to expand...

The two Hearst stations I get (WGAL in Lancaster and WBAL in Baltimore) both include their channel number with it. Although I'm partial to the old "8" that WGAL used to use years ago.
 
unclehonkey said:
like this? ;)
250px-Kttc_2011.png
Click to expand...

Ack!! No!! Make it stop! LOL
 
anotherguy said:
Here's a "classic" that has been brought back in recent years: WREG CBS 3 in Memphis had this logo for most of the 60's and 70's: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...EG_1979.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110907212607

It was replaced in the 80's, but it has been brought back and is being used as the corner bug for Antenna TV on 3.3. So now you can see TWO of those ugly threes all the time! :p
Click to expand...

I remember that one from my time in the area in the late '80s. My favorite Memphis logo was WMC-TV's, which has incorporated a riverboat forever. And it still does:
http://www.rickgevers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/WMC-TV-Logo.jpg
 
harrisburgpatv2 said:
Ack!! No!! Make it stop! LOL
Click to expand...

Quincy is interesting as only their NBC affiliates use that style logo. Their ABC & CBS stations have the number in the logo

But here are some more Quincy station logos
WVVA_logo_June%2C_2012.png

Wgemlogo.png

135px-WEEKTV.png


This one gets a pass in my mind
WGEM10-Fox.png


Mainly because its has never been on an analog OTA station (to get numbers). It was cable only from 1993 until 2007 when WGEM started carrying it on OTA on their -3
 
anotherguy said:
Here's a "classic" that has been brought back in recent years: WREG CBS 3 in Memphis had this logo for most of the 60's and 70's: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...EG_1979.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110907212607

It was replaced in the 80's, but it has been brought back and is being used as the corner bug for Antenna TV on 3.3. So now you can see TWO of those ugly threes all the time! :p
Click to expand...

That is one ugly three!

Below is a continuum of logos, some better than others, from the infamous Birthday station (think Bart calling Moe's Tavern but worse), KTVO channel 3 Kirksville MO

3 ktvo dingdong school lg.jpg ktvo72 lg.jpg ktvo78 lg.jpgktvo90 lg.jpg

The first from the late 50's looks much like a "3" that one could buy as a house number. Could be worse. The second was fairly decent design for the late 60's. It was replaced about 1975 by "Your Friend 3" which seemed clever enough at the time but didn't wear well. By 1990, the flat-top "3" returned, but frankly the late 50's version is better.
 

Attachments

  • 3 ktvo dingdong school.jpg
    3 ktvo dingdong school.jpg
    32.8 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:
OK, more "3's"..
ktvo55 lg.jpgktvo59 lg.jpg3 ktvo dt lg.jpg

the first is the original flat-top 3 from KTVO's first sign-on in late 1955, the second is a larger version of the late 50s, and the last is pretty close to what the station uses today on-air (I think). But the current website logo...ugh, look for yourself..http://ktvo.com/ Of all these in this post and the post above, I like the late 50's flat-top, the late 60's "heart" 3 and the current logo the best.
 

Attachments

  • 3 ktvo dingdong school lg.jpg
    3 ktvo dingdong school lg.jpg
    61.2 KB · Views: 6
joebtsflk1 said:
That is one ugly three!

Below is a continuum of logos, some better than others, from the infamous Birthday station (think Bart calling Moe's Tavern but worse), KTVO channel 3 Kirksville MO

View attachment 836 View attachment 837 View attachment 838View attachment 839

The first from the late 50's looks much like a "3" that one could buy as a house number. Could be worse. The second was fairly decent design for the late 60's. It was replaced about 1975 by "Your Friend 3" which seemed clever enough at the time but didn't wear well. By 1990, the flat-top "3" returned, but frankly the late 50's version is better.
Click to expand...

joebtsflk1 said:
OK, more "3's"..
View attachment 842View attachment 843View attachment 841

the first is the original flat-top 3 from KTVO's first sign-on in late 1955, the second is a larger version of the late 50s, and the last is pretty close to what the station uses today on-air (I think). But the current website logo...ugh, look for yourself..http://ktvo.com/ Of all these in this post and the post above, I like the late 50's flat-top, the late 60's "heart" 3 and the current logo the best.
Click to expand...

KTVO's immediate co-channel to the east, WCIA-3 Champaign, IL, had their share of not just ugly, but SCARY 3's when the station first signed on in November 1953. It's possible they might have been used only in newspaper ads promoting the station's sign-on, and perhaps not on the air themselves. All logos are linked from the Doug Quick central Illinois TV history website (http://www.dougquick.com/index.html).

http://www.dougquick.com/wcia1953ad.jpg

http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_idgrfx_newspaper1953.jpg

Here's an ugly 3 in a 1961 newspaper ad for the station promoting longtime WCIA weatherman Wyndham J. Roberts (aka "Mr. Roberts"--and he always went by "Mr. Roberts" on the air). Mr. Roberts was channel 3's chief weatherman until his passing in March 1985: http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_tvguide_mrroberts1961a.jpg

Thankfully, by the mid-60s the familiar and legendary "3" parallelogram had debuted on WCIA and remained the station logo until about 2000, shortly after Nexstar arrived on the scene and bought the station: http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_pic_studiomid60s.jpg

However, IMO Nexstar's first "3" in the early 2000s was ugly--but maybe just because it wasn't the 3 parallelogram that was a central Illinois tradition: http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_logoid00s.jpg
 
CTListener said:
Agree. But there are the spotlights, so there goes my theory about non-O&O's. I'm still looking for logo from a market around Boston's size that is demonstrably superior to WFXT's, so superior that you'd look at the Boston logo afterward and think "How cheesy and small market!" Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

To each his own. It bugs me that the FOX is in plain text and not the official logo/font (even without the spotlights) that nearly every other affiliate uses. It looks like they just typed FOX 25 in Arial Bold Italic and called it a day.

KOKH in Oklahoma City is also a Fox 25 and looks much better, IMHO...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KOKH-TV_Logo.png

Incidentally, WHBQ in Memphis, which Cox acquired from Fox at the same time as WFXT, still uses a true Fox logo...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WHBQ_2015_Logo.png
 
Tim from Springfield said:
KTVO's immediate co-channel to the east, WCIA-3 Champaign, IL, had their share of not just ugly, but SCARY 3's when the station first signed on in November 1953. It's possible they might have been used only in newspaper ads promoting the station's sign-on, and perhaps not on the air themselves. All logos are linked from the Doug Quick central Illinois TV history website (http://www.dougquick.com/index.html).

http://www.dougquick.com/wcia1953ad.jpg

http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_idgrfx_newspaper1953.jpg

Here's an ugly 3 in a 1961 newspaper ad for the station promoting longtime WCIA weatherman Wyndham J. Roberts (aka "Mr. Roberts"--and he always went by "Mr. Roberts" on the air). Mr. Roberts was channel 3's chief weatherman until his passing in March 1985: http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_tvguide_mrroberts1961a.jpg

Thankfully, by the mid-60s the familiar and legendary "3" parallelogram had debuted on WCIA and remained the station logo until about 2000, shortly after Nexstar arrived on the scene and bought the station: http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_pic_studiomid60s.jpg

However, IMO Nexstar's first "3" in the early 2000s was ugly--but maybe just because it wasn't the 3 parallelogram that was a central Illinois tradition: http://www.dougquick.com/wcia_logoid00s.jpg
Click to expand...

WCIA's parallelogram 3 was a big improvement over everything they had earlier. The parallelogram 11 serves KKTV here in CO well..http://www.kktv.com/news

Maybe KTVO is what I knew growing up in IA, but they seem like they had some decent logos over the years (NOT the 1990 edition...that was bad!)

An interesting take on a FOX logo is KKTV's competitor ...
fox-21-news.jpg
the italic 21 fits in nicely next to the X
 
Now to another ugly logo, that's KCCI-TV's iteration of it's "8" back in the 70s, which actually started with their former KRNT calls...
View attachment 845
courtesy http://www.desmoinesbroadcasting.com/kcci/krnt-70s-logo/krnt-tv-3d-logo.html

The 3D model was a nice touch, however

Off topic, here's how channel 8 generally looked in the boonies back in the day, courtesy qsl.net
KRNT.jpg

Now for about 200 edits in 60 seconds, here's a TV 8 news promo from the early 70s. Can anyone name the instrumental music that was used?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXiwhxMdkLA
 
Last edited:
seatownmedia said:
What about those stylistic logos from the 70's that still exist today?

Here is an example from KSTP Minneapolis/St. Paul from today: http://kstp.com/index.shtml

KTLA in LA also had a similar "5" logo, but is is more modern today: http://ktla.com/
Click to expand...
And don't forget WCVB's "5" logo. It too hasn't changed in decades despite its owner (Hearst)

As for WMAZ's "13" logo, I don't see anything wrong with it (As pointed out by all the "5" logos, WMAZ's logo could be worse

In any case, this logo discussion is pretty interesting :)

Cheers & 73 :)
 
joebtsflk1 said:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. The KSTP "5" has a stylized shape that has an iconic feel. But it does have a throwback feel that not everyone may like.
Click to expand...
Ditto with WCVB's "5" logo

Cheers & 73 :)
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom