A Wetpaint Site

WGBH

Logo descriptions by AsdfTheRevival and others
Logo captures courtesy of MSTS1 and others
Editions by Hoa and others

1st Logo
(1972-1978)

Boston, Massachusetts
WGBH - CLG Wiki

Nicknames: "Zooming WGBH", "WGBH of Doom", "Zooming Letters"

Logo: Against a dark green background, the letters WGBH in yellow in a generic Helvetica font quickly zoom back, away from the viewer to the vanishing point. Then the word "Boston," also in yellow, zooms forward really fast, taking up the whole screen and creating a yellow background. And finally, the word "Presents" zooms forward at a fast pace, in dark green.

Variants:

A black-and-white version appeared in 1974. In this one, "WGBH" and "Boston" are both black, and "Presents" is white. This can be seen on very early episodes of NOVA.

On early episodes of NOVA, sometimes "Presents" would zoom forward as always, but superimposed against the opening cinematic.

On The French Chef, the logo is superimposed over a slanted flag of France against a blue BG, animation and all.

FX/SFX: The zooming of the words.

Cheesy Factor: Simple animation. The 'French Chef'' variant with the transition from ''Boston'' to ''Presents'' looks awkward though.

Music/Sounds: The long, full version of the jingle, with a choppy, futuristic synth, followed by a rising synth violin stinger. Most likely produced on a Moog synthesizer.

Availability: Extinct on TV; tape-trading is the only way to see it.

Scare Factor: High to nightmare; the high-contrast colors, extreme "V of Doom"-style zoom-ins, and the eerie synth music would have been sure to unnerve many people. Especially those who aren't used to it.

2nd Logo
(1978- )

Nicknames: "Flash of Doom", "Circle Outline"

Logo: Here are the main variants of t

his logo:

Variant 1: On a black background, two orange lines of "electricity" form two, orange, 2D "shadows", one on top and one on bottom.Then the lines form an orange outline of "WGBH" in between the "shadows". The lines stop, and an orange flash starts behind the outline. The flash clears out "WGBH" as "Boston Presents" appears in an orange Helvetica font. The "Boston Presents" logo was a bumper used at the beginning of the show.
Variant 2: Similar to the other logo, but usually with the "WGBH" logo already formed as it fades in, and then the flash occurs and the word "B O S T O N" appears below the logo in an orange Art Deco font.

Variants: There are many variants in terms of the music and the announcer:

(1978-1993) Long music, no announcer, complete animation, has "Boston Presents".
(1986-1993) Short music, no announcer, abridged animation, has "Boston Presents".
(1993- ) Short music, logo already formed, no announcer.
(1993- ) Short music, logo already formed, with announcer.
(1993- ) On NOVA, the announcer says "NOVA is a production of WGBH Boston.".
(1993?- ) Short music, complete (sped-up) animation, and no announcer, but the logo itself has been digitally enhanced. The version used as a station ID has the logo zooming in a bit, and another version had the PBS logo appearing in its place and shining with an announcer saying "You're watching WGBH Boston.".
(1998- ) On Mystery! and Masterpiece Theatre, the announcer has a British accent.
(1999-2002) On the new Zoom, a kid on the show voices over, w/ short music. Starting in 2002, there would be no announcer and it would just have the music.
(2002- ) Short music, complete (sped-up) animation, with announcer.
Sometimes, the closing theme of the show will play over this logo. This can be seen on Arthur and Between the Lions.
In 2002, a completely computer-generated logo featuring neon-style tubes connecting and lighting up to form the WGBH logo, with an announcer saying "WGBH Boston", was introduced. As of now, this only plays as a station ident in Boston, not a closing logo.
Another variation is like the one above, but after that a 2, in the same style as the WGBH logo, flashes, and it's in light blue.
(1993- ) A version can occasionally be spotted in which the "glowing" animation is played, but no text appears.
A version has been seen with abridged animation, no voiceover, and slightly lower-pitched music.
On later episodes of Arthur, the byline "WGBH is a trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation" in shown below written in the Arthur font.
An in-credit version of the logo has been spotted on Antiques Roadshow, which simply shows the orange WGBH logo at the bottom of the screen.
Another in-credit version had the WGBH logo in white, sometimes with "A presentation of" "Boston" above and below the logo, respectively. Others just show "Boston" or not at all, and it may or may not contain copyright info below.
Yet another in-credit variant was spotted on some early '90s episodes of Masterpiece Theatre, which shows the logo (in gold) inscribed on a book used in the end credits in gold with "Boston" and some copyright info below.
(2007- ) On some episodes of Postcards With Buster, it features the red phrase "B O S T O N" fading in and zooming in slowly until the flash dies down. Other episodes have a shortened version of the textless WGBH logo.
There is a still blue print version of the logo with "BOSTON" in white on Curious George (the 2006 series).
Another local version used in the 1980s begins with a blue flash, followed by an orange 2 written in the same style as the WGBH logo zooming up. No music or sounds play here.
Appearing at the end of newer PBS Kids' programs since early 2009, a new variant is used featuring the complete sped-up animation tinted blue, and when the WGBH logo is formed, semi-animated pictures of PBS Kids characters such as Curious George, Arthur and Buster, Leona (from Between the Lions), Ruff Ruffman and Martha Dog (from Martha Speaks) popping up as "KIDS" appears under the glowing WGBH logo.

FX/SFX: The lines of electricity, the flash.

Cheesy Factor: The flash and light effects are typical of CGI in the Scanimate era of the '70s and early '80s.

Music/Sounds: The original 1972 music, used to this day. There have been two versions, a long version and a short version. The entire seven-second jingle is used as the long version, and is in much better sound quality. The short version features only the rising synth chord, and is much more common nowadays. Sometimes, an announcer will say "A production of WGBH Boston." or "(show's name) is a production of WGBH Boston.".

Availability: Common; can be seen in its various versions on many PBS shows. The 1993 version with the short music and no announcer has recently been sighted on early episodes of Fetch with Ruff Ruffman. The "Boston Presents" version can be found on video and may also show up on WGBH shows produced from 1978-93 if your station has older prints. It also appears on new PBS shows like Martha Speaks (the 2008 series). The still version can be seen on Curious George (the 2006 series).

Scare Factor: High to nightmare for the early variant, medium to high for the 1993 variants, medium for the later neon variant, and none for the in-credit variants and the Kids variant. This logo has scared many with its dark colors, eerie animation, and that dated synth music (though it may be less scary for those who are used to seeing it). None for the still variant.

3rd Logo
(1991-1996)

Logo: We see a small Earth globe against a starry sky quickly rotate around counterclockwise, and the words "WQED" (in yellow) with "PITTSBURGH" (in white) below slowly rotate around clockwise, followed by "WGBH" (in yellow) with "BOSTON" (in white) below.

FX/SFX: The rotating globe and letters.

Music/Sounds:

1991-1993: The introduction to the theme playing repeatedly throughout coupled with Lynne Thigpen saying "Today's caper is presented by WQED Pittsburgh and WGBH Boston.".

1993-1996: The end theme of the show with Lynne Thigpen saying "This program is presented by WQED Pittsburgh and WGBH Boston.".

Availability: Only seen on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, which is hardly, if ever, re-ran.

Scare Factor: None.

curiousgeorge60	Latest page update: made by curiousgeorge60 , Oct 27 2009, 10:32 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by curiousgeorge60 3 words added 3 words deleted view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: pbs wgbh boston More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

Wolfie13

WTH?

Jul 5 2009, 2:26 PM EDT by THELOGOfactory1.12

Thread started: Feb 23 2009, 7:04 PM EST Watch

When watching one episode of Curious George one day, a variant of the program's WGBH logo came on. Instead of being blue, it was green! Is that a rare variant or just a mistake?

1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?

Keyword tags: