Local TV station logos

[leopard88 2,464]

14 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

I grew up with rabbit ears and separate dials for UHF, so I guess I'm an oldtimer too.  "That's the way it's always been" is usually not a good reason to keep doing something.  Of course the affiliates refer to themselves using the numbers - at least for now, that's part of their brand.  I guess they're stlil broadcast on those numbers on OTA HD, so the FCC probably assigns them.

 

It's reasonable to assume that there's a time in the near future where they'll be obsolete, and they'll just go by "NBC Baltimore" or something like that.

 

Both true statements . . . with one caveat.

 

In the event of any future affiliate switches, not having the numbers may cause more confusion.  Suddenly, NBC Baltimore is at a different place on the dial with a different local news team and ABC Baltimore is in the old NBC Baltimore spot.

[BringBackTheVet 12,086]

Right, but here's how it is now (I'm just making up the numbers)

 

NBC Baltimore

OTA = Channel 11

Comcast SD = 403

Comcast HD = 803

Dish = 1325

Streaming Services (Sling, VUE, YouTube TV, etc.) = no channel at all, just an icon to click on.

 

So even updating the number from NBC11 to NBC15 won't really help.

 

[the admiral 20,954]

On 7/13/2017 at 4:40 PM, BringBackTheVet said:

It's reasonable to assume that there's a time in the near future where they'll be obsolete, and they'll just go by "NBC Baltimore" or something like that.

I believe this is happening with the new "NBC Boston" that lives on a low-power subchannel or something because NBC dropped their original affiliate.

 

Chicagoans seem pretty set in their ways in referring to over-the-air stations by channel number. WGN and "channel 9" are used interchangeably. Channel 32 went by "Fox Chicago" for years but finally went back to "Fox 32" which everyone had been calling it anyway.

[BringBackTheVet 12,086]

Yeah Fox here tried "My Fox Philly" for a while, breaking away from most references to the number, then threw up the white flag and went back to Fox 29.

 

For my generation, and maybe the next, it seems normal and we understand why it's like that, but to the generations after that, it must make no sense since those numbers have no meaning.

 

I'm not sure what the branding solution is here, but it'll be really interesting to see how these stations refer to themselves in 10-20 years.

[the admiral 20,954]

3 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

For my generation, and maybe the next, it seems normal and we understand why it's like that, but to the generations after that, it must make no sense since those numbers have no meaning.

Is it possible that cord-cutting will have the opposite effect? If you have a digital antenna to supplement your streaming, channel 5 goes back to being channel 5 -- or 5.1, whatever. 

 

If anything is facing down meaninglessness in local television, it's local newscasts. Even now they mostly seem to exist for certain meteorologists to remind men of a certain age what boners feel like.

[Sodboy13 4,544]

Patrick Sharp is 35 years old.

 

Anyway, looking to the past, whether by coincidence or by planning, WPWR-TV 50 in Gary/Chicago ended up being Channel 8 on basically every provider in the city and suburbs. For several years, their print ads had "CABLE 8" printed under the station logo. If that was planning on their part, hats off to them on being as forward-thinking as they were when they sold the station to Fox for an obscene amount of money (EDIT: $425 million!) so Fox could have an O&O for its "myNetwork" failure.

 

Since all the network stations here are O&O, the logos are pretty standard. So instead, let me take you to WSAW-TV out of Wausau, Wisconsin. The station originally operated out of a mansion that was very castle-like in appearance. So they used an Old English "7" for their logo, often accompanied by a knight named Sir Seven. He's made some scattered reappearances here and there in the past few years.

 

[Sportscenter 69]

KTVQ in Billings Montana the area CBS station

 

First id used on Sept. 5, 1972 after the switch from the KOOK-TV name

Mid 70's

1980's/1990's

Mid 2000's/Current

In 2016 they got a new graphics package and they brought back the MTN logo

 

[ChicagoOakland 1,191]

On 7/16/2017 at 0:49 AM, Sodboy13 said:

Patrick Sharp is 35 years old.

 

Anyway, looking to the past, whether by coincidence or by planning, WPWR-TV 50 in Gary/Chicago ended up being Channel 8 on basically every provider in the city and suburbs. For several years, their print ads had "CABLE 8" printed under the station logo. If that was planning on their part, hats off to them on being as forward-thinking as they were when they sold the station to Fox for an obscene amount of money (EDIT: $425 million!) so Fox could have an O&O for its "myNetwork" failure.

 

Since all the network stations here are O&O, the logos are pretty standard. So instead, let me take you to WSAW-TV out of Wausau, Wisconsin. The station originally operated out of a mansion that was very castle-like in appearance. So they used an Old English "7" for their logo, often accompanied by a knight named Sir Seven. He's made some scattered reappearances here and there in the past few years.

 

What in the world did WSAW do to him in the update?? He looks like a medieval version of Alpha from Power Rangers.

[leopard88 2,464]

On 7/31/2017 at 1:20 AM, Sportscenter said:

KTVQ in Billings Montana the area CBS station

 

First id used on Sept. 5, 1972 after the switch from the KOOK-TV name

 

Really?  Did someone think about this before selecting/assigning the letters?

 

On 7/31/2017 at 1:20 AM, Sportscenter said:

 

This one looks like it was drawn in 7th grade art class.

[RyanB06 78]

It was the early '70s. That was the style.

[logodawg 42]

On 7/3/2017 at 2:44 PM, CMUBrent said:

The TV station logos in Mid-Michigan (Bay City, Saginaw, Midland, Flint):

 

WNEM TV 5, the CBS affiliate

 

 

My dad hates that logo. When they came out with it about 15 years he said "it looks like a woman pregnant with the CBS logo"

[MadmanLA 153]

Fox has been starting to do away with the "My (channel number)" branding for their MyNetworkTV stations.  KICU, Fox's independent in the Bay Area was the first to go with this type of branding:

 

Old:

 

New/current:

 

Among the Fox-owned MyTV stations, WDCA in Washington, D.C. was the first to do away with their "My 20" branding:

 

 

They've since followed suit in Phoenix, the Twin Cities, and Dallas:

 

 

Fox also own MyNetworkTV stations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago (as mentioned earlier, is now the CW affiliate there also), Houston, Charlotte, and Orlando.  I believe eventually the smaller-market stations will re-brand with the "Fox xx Xtra/Plus/More" in due time, although the Charlotte station (WMYT) actually already brands with their cable channel (12) as opposed to their over-the-air channel (55).  WWOR and KCOP are legacy stations, and are very much strongly identified with their channel numbers in their respective cities; you'll see go them with something more generic ("New York/New Jersey 9", "L.A. 13", or just "Channel 9/13") before you would ever see them brand as "Fox 5 (or 11, in L.A.'s case) Whatever".

 

 

 

[MadmanLA 153]

St. Louis' NBC affiliate, KSDK, just updated their logo...

 

Old vs. New:

 

 

They're celebrating their 70th anniversary this year; they're also the oldest NBC-affiliated station in the country, pre-dating all but of four of the five original NBC O&Os (NYC, DC, Cleveland, Chicago, LA).

[kroywen 2,241]

1 hour ago, MadmanLA said:

St. Louis' NBC affiliate, KSDK, just updated their logo...

 

Old vs. New:

 

 

They're celebrating their 70th anniversary this year; they're also the oldest NBC-affiliated station in the country, pre-dating all but of four of the five original NBC O&Os (NYC, DC, Cleveland, Chicago, LA).

 

Really like that new logo.

[JH42XCC 192]

New York City/Tri-State Area Local TV Networks

 

WCBS-TV

 

WNBC

 

WNYW

 

WABC-TV

 

WWOR-TV

 

WPIX

 

WNET

 

WLIW

 

WNYE (Channel 25)

 

WXTV-DT

 

WNJU

 

WNJN (Channel 50)

 

WLNY-TV

[TheBigFiz21 128]

Looks like WJZ in Baltimore may be in the midst of a transition...or at least, more than what I thought of what it was.

 

Two pieces of evidence says new logo, and in this case, new logo means big changes coming for the local news and likewise. There's a commercial out there with the new logo (can't find a video of it at the moment). In the mean time, here's exhibit B: the station entrance with the new logo.

Here's my predictions for what's to come:

1. It's a slow rollout; by New Year's Day, all the changes will come full circle (Old logo is still on the website, pops up as TV bug, etc.)
2. Graphics-wise, they'll start to look more like other CBS-owned stations on the news. Just a look at this video of stations with the news looking like this gives me the idea (similar logo design). 

[panthers_2012 1,173]

1 hour ago, TheBigFiz21 said:

Looks like WJZ in Baltimore may be in the midst of a transition...or at least, more than what I thought of what it was.

 

Two pieces of evidence says new logo, and in this case, new logo means big changes coming for the local news and likewise. There's a commercial out there with the new logo (can't find a video of it at the moment). In the mean time, here's exhibit B: the station entrance with the new logo.

Here's my predictions for what's to come:

1. It's a slow rollout; by New Year's Day, all the changes will come full circle (Old logo is still on the website, pops up as TV bug, etc.)
2. Graphics-wise, they'll start to look more like other CBS-owned stations on the news. Just a look at this video of stations with the news looking like this gives me the idea (similar logo design). 

What's up with that 3?

[TheBigFiz21 128]

4 hours ago, panthers_2012 said:

What's up with that 3?

It's part of the font type. For about as long as the station has been around, that "13" has been the same and still is.

 

The same was true for KYW in Philly with their "3" until the early 2000's. 

[GuitarPunk2512 3]

Being that I’m from Long Island/ nyc metro.... I grew up and used to each affiliate being at their respective channel (cbs2, ion3, nbc4, fox5, abc7, upn/my9, wlny 10/55, wb/cw/wpix11, News12 Long Island, pbs13, and wliw21.   We always just referred to them by the channel esp cbs, nbc, Fox, and abc have always been 2,4,5,7 as long as I been alive back on regular cable days and now digital cable. But now I’m seeing that fish network and direct tv also have local affiliates placed on their OTA spots of 2,4,5,7 through low 50s before switching to their standard 200+ for regular channels. When I travel I can’t get used to seeing networks on other channels or news stations with weird numbers like 22,38,64, etc cuz those have always been paid packaged cable channels not news. For example, I’m probably moving to Charlotte and the examples given feel weird to me cuz the big network affiliates are not in the usual 2,4,5,7,9,11,13 spots that were used to here in nyc area. Another weird one is mid jersey... they get both nyc and Philadelphia feeds so it’s like cbs2ny, cbs3phila and so on. Idk, I can see stations eventually dropping numbers and just going with affiliate and city / region name. Obvious exclusions would be stuff like cablevisons News12 networks or fios1, or ny1 news that if I had to guess, never switch from their channel slots. 

[kmccarthy27 177]

18 hours ago, TheBigFiz21 said:

Looks like WJZ in Baltimore may be in the midst of a transition...or at least, more than what I thought of what it was.

 

Two pieces of evidence says new logo, and in this case, new logo means big changes coming for the local news and likewise. There's a commercial out there with the new logo (can't find a video of it at the moment). In the mean time, here's exhibit B: the station entrance with the new logo.

Here's my predictions for what's to come:

1. It's a slow rollout; by New Year's Day, all the changes will come full circle (Old logo is still on the website, pops up as TV bug, etc.)
2. Graphics-wise, they'll start to look more like other CBS-owned stations on the news. Just a look at this video of stations with the news looking like this gives me the idea (similar logo design). 

This was on wikipedia:
 As of late-2017, the station has been phasing in a silver and gold-colored logo similar to other CBS O&Os, but with the WJZ calls featured in a similar manner to sister station WBZ-TV.

 

Looking at WBZ: