Video captures courtesy of ArchiveWNED, Cesar Blanco, Life in Analog, Retrontario, zyber9, WNED17, Alden's Vintage PBS Archive, LogicSmash, ClosingLogosHD and TheIridiumic138
From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum
It is possible that this company may introduce a new on-screen logo.
Details: WNED has updated their logo.
Please do not add ending dates to existing logos or attempt to add a new description until a new logo has debuted. Any premature changes should be reverted immediately.
WNED (also known as Buffalo-Toronto Public Media) is a PBS affiliate located in Buffalo, New York, which also serves Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was first known as WBUF when it went on the air in 1953 when it was later sold to NBC, which later donated its license to the New York Public Broadcasting Association and renamed the station to WNED on March 30, 1959.
Visuals: On a black background, there is a giant "17" with the "1" in green and "7" in blue. Between the "1" and the "7" is "WNED Buffalo."
Variant: There's a variant with a ribbon saying "Our 25th Season!" and with "WNED Buffalo" next to and at the bottom of the "7".
Technique: A still computer graphic.
Audio: Just a male announcer saying "This is WNED Buffalo."
Audio Variant: The announcer may give a viewer discretion warning instead. This is possibly because PBS, according to Wikipedia, was the first TV network to show programs that involved nudity.
2nd ID (March 1978)
Visuals: On a black background, two street-like lines wipe in and compress to reveal a giant "17". Text that says "WNED Buffalo" (each word stacked vertically) appears in the gap inside the 17.
Trivia: This ID was erroneously credited as being animated in 1966 by its lone uploader. For years, it was touted as one of the first logos/idents to use Scanimate, an animation medium that was heavily used by companies in the seventies and eighties. However, this claim has been debunked by the discovery of a PBS insider magazine dating to March 1978 outlining the actual story of the ID. The "17" symbol itself didn't even debut until 1973, and the logo wasn't even animated by a Scanimate machine.[1]
Technique: Analog computer animation by Steina and Woody Vasulka under the direction of Dave Gerber, with assistance from WNED's art director Bryon Young and a few other staffers.
Audio: None.
3rd ID (1987-1989)
Visuals: On a black background, there is a blue version of the logo from the third logo/ident with "WNED" in the top of the "7" and "Buffalo" below it.
Technique: A still computer graphic.
Audio: Usually it's the announcer saying what's coming up next. Before or after that, one of the following tunes plays:
A jazzy '60s-like clavinet tune.
An instrumental version of the PBS "TV Worth Watching" jingle, played on a synclavier, violins, drums, and a saxophone.
Visuals: The screen pans over a live-action view of Buffalo, New York, with the words "WNED BUFFALO", with "WNED" in an outlined font, in the center of the screen. "BUFFALO" then fades to "PRESENTS".
Variant: There is an extended version that just starts with the camera panning of the Buffalo skyline. Seconds later, the logo fades in.
Technique: Live-action with fading effects.
Audio: None on the short version.
Audio Variant: The long version uses "Minuet from the Water Music Suite in F Major". Composed by George Frideric Handel, conducted and played by Yehudi Menhuin and the Bath Festival Orchestra respectively.
Visuals: Against a blue background, a rainbow quickly forms, then slowly fades away, as the words "WNED", in gold, appear from the left and stop at the top of the screen, followed by the Great Plains National Television logo (the gold letters "GPN" in a futuristic font with a stylized red "N" (the same as the Nebraska ETV logo) in the middle of the "P" and several small lines below the whole thing) coming in from the left and arranging itself in the center. "present", in spaced-out white letters, appears below via a "glowing" effect.
Variants:
Subsequent uses of this logo from 1990 to 1993, begin after the rainbow is formed and ends four seconds early.
There is an alternate variant that exists on several 1990-1993 episodes of Reading Rainbow, in which "GPN" is at the top and "WNED" is at the bottom.
Technique: 2D animation.
Audio: A nine-note synth fanfare with some "dinging" sounds.
Visuals: There is a glass rectangle on the left on a dark night sky background filled with many shades of blue, maroon and pink. The word "WNED" in a glowing, fluorescent pink Helvetica font zooms out as the words "BUFFALO" and "TORONTO" appear in the glass rectangle.
Variant: On the first episode of Reading Rainbow season 18, the GPN logo appears above the logo, and "Buffalo-Toronto" appears below "WNED".
Visuals: The logo starts with shots of the American and Canadian flags with the word "WNED" and "Buffalo · Toronto" below it, with a white glow around it, zooming towards the camera.
Variant: On some programs, an alternate variant has the WNED text in a metallic, different font and next to the PBS logo. Also, the network's website is below the "Buffalo · Toronto" text.
Technique: Live-action and 2D animation.
Audio: "You're The Very Best Fanfare III" from the Network Music album "You're The Very Best!". Composed by S. Beard and R. Strader.
Visuals: Similar to the previous logo/ident, but it's darker, it has a reflection, and the text reads "An Original Production of" or "A Presentation of" above a big, white "WNED-TV" to the left of a sphere containing half of the US and Canadian flags, each in order. Below "WNED-TV" is "Buffalo-Toronto" with a white dot between the words.
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