WTTW

Background: WTTW is a PBS affiliate located in Chicago, Illinois. It's one of the three PBS stations served in the Chicago area. The other two stations are: WYCC and WYIN.


1st Logo
(1978-1988)

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Nickname: “Flared WTTW”, "The Chicago Skylines"

Logo: We back away from a drawing of the Chicago skylines. Then, pale purple-blue gradient flares shoot out, and the drawing turns to a black background. “WTTW” and “Chicago” zoom out in separate parts and connect, with “WTTW” seemingly “jumping” away from the viewer and shrinking, while “Chicago” is still bigger and just “zooming” away.

Variants:

• A shorter version starts at the logo zooming out.
• On a 1982 episode of Sneak Previews, the tape went out temporarily, causing a portion of the logo to be in a greenish tint.
• Another version has "presents" omitted.

FX/SFX: The logo parts zooming out. Good Scanimation for the time.

Music/Sounds: A Moog synth background and a somber 5-note synth-violin theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: A rearranged variant of the short version exists.

Availability: Extremely rare. Originally appeared on The Frugal Gourmet, The McLaughlin Group, and Sneak Previews. One specific tape that has the shorter version is a 1990 videocassette of The Frugal Gourmet: A Colonial Christmas with Friends (one of the last programs to use this) from Pacific Arts and PBS Home Video.The version without "presents" appeared on the first season of The Paper Chase.

Editor's Note: None.




2nd Logo
(September 28, 1987-2006)

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Nickname: “The Sphere”

Logo: On a black-blue gradient background, we see a close-up of a ball, which has the buildings of Chicago (you might spot WLS’ old Sears Tower studio in the ball as well) in it. As it starts to zoom away from the viewer, “WTTW” and “Chicago”, in Century Schoolbook font, also zoom out, both tilted on their sides at first, but rotating while they zoom out. When the letters stop zooming out, the ball zooms out for a few more seconds before it dots the “i” in “Chicago”.

FX/SFX: Stupendous 1980s CGI graphics; the logo even holds up for today.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized chime tune. However, on Paragon Entertainment videos of Lamb Chop’s Play-Along!, the music from the Paragon Entertainment Group logo can be heard after the PEG “Star P” logo is seen.

Music/Sounds Variants: Sometimes the first note is shorter and the last note is longer.

Availability: Common. Can be seen on Lamb Chop’s Play-Along! on PBS Kids. Also appeared on other shows produced by WTTW such as Handyma'am and The McLaughlin Group (which used this logo until 2006). Obviously, this logo can also be seen on old Sneak Previews episodes as well. Also seen on The Frugal Gourmet. Debuted on America by Design.

Editor's Note: None.




3rd Logo
(1991-1993)

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Logo: On a black-blue gradient background (much like in the second logo), the text "A PRESENTATION OF" (in Futura font) and "WTTW/Chicago" (in a Bodoni font) slide in from opposite sides of the screen.

FX/SFX: Simple animation.

Music/Sounds: A two-note synth tune that sounds similar to the 80s WFSU jingle.

Availability: Hard to find. Only known to be seen as an alternate logo on early 90s episodes of The McLaughlin Group.

Editor's Note: None.




4th Logo
(1998-2000)

Nickname: “Planet Earth” "Gaia"

Logo: On a background of the Earth, we see “WTTW Chicago” in a Helvetica font.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The finishing of the end-title theme of The Kidsongs Television Show.

Availability: Rare; only used as an alternate logo for The Kidsongs Television Show.

Editor's Note: None.




5th Logo
(1999-2006)

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Nickname: “Swimming Pool”

Logo: On a water background, “WTTW” turns to face the viewer with a sun shining over the letters, which dies down by the time “Chicago” fades in.

FX/SFX: Simple, but nice animation.

Music/Sounds: A piano tune. A male announcer says "Produced in Chicago by WTTW."Handymaa'm with Beverly DeJulio has its closing theme playing over it.

Availability: TBA.

Editor's Note: None.




6th Logo
(2006- )

Nickname: "The Boring Logo"

Logo: Nothing more than the current WTTW logo, which is just "wttw multimedia" in a thin Helvetica font against a white background.

FX/SFX: None, it's still.

Music/Sounds: Just the closing theme playing over it.

Availability: Currently in use. Word World is one of the shows that has this logo.

Editor's Note: None. It's just boring.




7th Logo
(2000s- )

Logo: A blue background opens up to show a white-tinted picture of Chicago's skyline, bordered by golden lines. "wttwN" zooms out and settles itself in front of the skyline. "national" appears below the "N".

FX/SFX: Not much, just the opening of the BG and the zooming out of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Four piano notes, backed up by guitar strumming.

Availability: Can be seen at the end of new McLaughlin Group episodes.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo

(201?-)

TBA

9th Logo
(2015-)

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Logo: On a transparent white background, we see some people standing around the "Cloud Gate" Sculpture. We also see a transparent rainbow bar. "WTTW" swings into place. Below "WTTW" is "Chicago".

FX/SFX: The swinging.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Only seen on Nature Cat.

Editor's Note: None.