WCVB's Channel 5 logo

[DougD]

Question that occurred to me the other day: Is WCVB's unique "5" logo, which the station has used since Metromedia took it over in 1972, a registered trade mark? I've never seen it used by any other station on Channel 5, including current-owner Hearst's WPTZ.

 

[taylorjsdad]

Question that occurred to me the other day: Is WCVB's unique "5" logo, which the station has used since Metromedia took it over in 1972, a registered trade mark? I've never seen it used by any other station on Channel 5, including current-owner Hearst's WPTZ.

I am not sure about the logo but the company who put WCVB on the air was Boston Broadcasters Inc.

 

[ssetta]

That's true with most Hearst stations. They tend not to use logos used by other stations, except WSYR channel 9 Syracuse recently adapted the logo from Hearst-owned KMBC in Kansas City.

 

[DougD]

I had forgotten about Boston Broadcasters, Inc. My bad. Metromedia bought the station quite early on, though, didn't it? I remember they paid an enormous amount of money for it . . . wasn't it $50 million (in 1970s bucks)?

 

[PaulRAnderson]

WCVB's "5" logo is the longest-running in Boston, isn't it, unless WGBH's "2" is older. I imagine there aren't many stations anywhere in the country that have used the same logo for forty years. The ABC O&Os have used the Circle-7 logo for longer, but are there any others?

 

[taylorjsdad]

That's true with most Hearst stations. They tend not to use logos used by other stations, except WSYR channel 9 Syracuse recently adapted the logo from Hearst-owned KMBC in Kansas City.

WSYR is not owned by Hearst.... they are owned by Newport Television (Providence Equity Partners) and has a sale pending to Nexstar.

 

[taylorjsdad]

I had forgotten about Boston Broadcasters, Inc. My bad. Metromedia bought the station quite early on, though, didn't it? I remember they paid an enormous amount of money for it . . . wasn't it $50 million (in 1970s bucks)?

1982 I think.

 

[ssetta]

That's true with most Hearst stations. They tend not to use logos used by other stations, except WSYR channel 9 Syracuse recently adapted the logo from Hearst-owned KMBC in Kansas City.

WSYR is not owned by Hearst.... they are owned by Newport Television (Providence Equity Partners) and has a sale pending to Nexstar.

WSYR isn't, but KMBC is, and that's where WSYR got their current "circle 9" logo.

Also, there is one station owned by Hearst, KOAT Albuquerque, that uses a "circle 7" logo. But I'm sure they had it long before the sale to Hearst.

 

[ShawnHill1]

That's true with most Hearst stations. They tend not to use logos used by other stations, except WSYR channel 9 Syracuse recently adapted the logo from Hearst-owned KMBC in Kansas City.

Yep...WISN in Milwaukee, another Hearst ABC station, has had the same "12" logo (albeit in various styles) since the mid-70s. KMBC's current "9" logo has been around since 1981, just sometime before Metromedia sold it to Hearst.

 

[upstate29651]

I've never seen it used by any other station on Channel 5, including current-owner Hearst's WPTZ.

Atlanta's WAGA used to have a "5" styled in the same fashion...or at least it was quite similar: http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4625478718260458&pid=15.1

G

 

[reelyreal]

I had forgotten about Boston Broadcasters, Inc. My bad. Metromedia bought the station quite early on, though, didn't it? I remember they paid an enormous amount of money for it . . . wasn't it $50 million (in 1970s bucks)?

1982 I think.

The WCVB sale to Metromedia in '82 was for $220 Million.

I'm pretty sure the current WGBH and "2" logo is newer than the WCVB 5 logo. The 'GBH logos used now came out in '76

 

[Marckd]

WCVB 5 was signed on in 1971 by local owners who won the license challenge for WHDH TV Channel 5's owners. Channel 5 was locally owned until 1982. Metromedia (who at the time owned 5 WNEW TV New York (Ind), 11 KTTV LA (Ind), 5 WTTG DC (Ind), 19 WXIX Cincinnati (Ind), 26 KRIV Houston (Ind), 9 KMBC Kansas City (ABC), and 11 WTCN Minneapolis (NBC - formerly an independent till 1979) ). When buying Channel 5, they sold 11 WTCN to Gannett (who renamed the station WUSA and eventually moved those calls to their acquired DC station and renamed 11 Minneapolis KARE) and then sold 9 KMBC Kansas City to Hearst. They also sold 19 WXIX Cincinnati to Malrite. In march of 1983, Metromedia then bought 32 WFLD from Field. They overhauled weekday mornings and prime time replacing some sitcoms and drama shows with first run Metromedia owned syndicated shows not on in Chicago. They also changed graphics, announcers, and overall presentation on that station. In 1983 they bought 33 KNBN and flipped that station in 1984 from Business News by day and Spanish programming by night to general entertainment including cartoons, game shows, first run Metromedia produced syndicated shows, drama shows, and eventually more cartoons and sitcoms. So Metromedia sold 3 stations in 82-83 to buy three other stations.

They narrowly outbid Hearst for Channel 5 Boston in 1982 and at the time sold Hearst KMBC with a promise that if Channel 5 Boston was ever put on the market - they would offer it to hearst first. When Metromedia sold the TV division to Fox in 1986, Channel 5 Boston was excluded and sold to hearst. Fox then bought Channel 25 Boston from Pat Robertson with most (not all) syndicated shows included. Fox overhauled Channel 25's presentation as well with new calls, graphics, and announcers. Fox likely regretted not buying WCVB in 1986 as they had become more news based over the years. But chances are Fox getting WCVB was not an option and Hearst had first dibs on WCVB. that is my guess

 

[azumanga]

Houston's KTRK has apparently used some variant of its "Circle 13" since the early '70s. However, the first versions of the logo had an elongated bottom portion of the "3"--so that the logo somewhat resembled a branding iron; the later versions just have a basic "13" within a circle.

WTVG Toledo (a former ABC O&O) and WHAM Rochester (which never was an O&O) uses the same logo as KTRK.

Back on the "Circle 9" used by KMBC and WSYR, WTVC in Chattanooga uses a similar logo, which they used since sometime in the 1980s.

 

[MCarney]

At the time Fox didn't want WCVB because they were already a network affiliate. The other Metromedia stations that went to Fox were independent and thus were easier to form into a new network.