WPBT/South Florida PBS

Background: WPBT is a PBS affiliate located in Miami, Florida, also serving Ft. Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches.

1st Logo
(1979-1983)

Logo: On a blue background, the letters "WPBT" drop down, in a computer font, "vibrating" as they do so. The letters are outlined at first, but are filled in white seconds later. "WPBT" flips up and disappears, and "MIAMI", in the same font, scrolls downward, copying itself. It then flips into place and "PRESENTS" appears below.

FX/SFX: Early Scanimation effects.

Music/Sounds: A Moog synth tune that sounds like a telephone ringing, not like in the "Tri-Colored" PBS logo. Towards the end, a synth bass note is heard. This piece is actually a musical cut by Don Voegeli (who originally composed the theme from NPR's "All Things Considered"), from a record in his Instant Production Music series, "Volume 4: News and Public Affairs".

Availability: Rare. You'll find this on old ¿Que Pasa, USA? and Nightly Business Report tapes.

Editor's Note: The Scanimation doesn't look nice, and the music isn't friendly, especially to children. This shouldn't be a major problem, however.

2nd Logo

(1983-1985)

Logo: We zoom into Earth, with a light sparkling where Miami is located. Then we fade to a grid with a huge wave of light coming straight to us. We cut to a black background with "wpbt2" in a blue/pink late '70s esque font and a blue outline sparkle. Below fade the stacked words "Miami - Fort Lauderdale".

FX/SFX: The zooming in and the sparkling, all good Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic synth and orchestral theme. An announcer says "WPBT, Miami-Fort Lauderdale."

Availability: Ultra rare.

Editor's Note: Typical '80's elements are abound here, like grids and flashing lights.

3rd Logo
(1985-1989)

Logo: Against a black background with rotating bars of light (the same background used in the show's intro at that time), "wpbt" in a silver late '70s-esque font and in between two lines, zoom in and flip downward to the bottom left of the screen. "from" and "miami" are shown on the top left and bottom right, respectively.

Variant: One variant has a blue tint with less cheesy flipping.

FX/SFX: The lights, and the flipping.

Music/Sounds: A soothing bass sounder with a constant cymbal beat, and a "whoosh" when the logo comes in.

Availability: Ultra rare. This can be found on old tapes of Nightly Business Report, one of which can be seen on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting online.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo
(1985-1990)

Logo: In a space backdrop, a blue star flashes on screen, and the same "from wpbt miami" logo appears and twirls around until it stops on the bottom left corner. It then flies back to the center.

FX/SFX: The star flashing and logo twirling.

Music/Sounds: Only the theme tune to Star Gazer (then called Star Hustler).

Availability: Ultra rare. Obviously, it's on old Star Hustler tapes.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo
(1988-1991)

Logo: On a black background, we see "wpbt2", colored purple, and in the same font as the 2nd logo, over the word "m i a m i", in a different, smaller font, but in the same color. The logo zooms in quickly, and we travel through the "b".

FX/SFX: The logo zooming in quickly.

Music/Sounds: A single synth chime note, seguing into the opening theme of Nightly Business Report, which is a synth orchestra sounder.

Availability: Rare. Old tapes of Nightly Business Report are more than likely have this logo at the beginning. It might also be seen on StarGazer (then Star Hustler), and ¿Que Pasa, USA?.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo
(1990-1998)

Nicknames: "Silhouetted City"

Logo: Against a black background with orange flares, the same WPBT logo from the 2nd and 5th logos zooms in, but tilted upward, and even more pink than in the previous logo. After we zoom through the "b", the background splits in two in circular form, and we cut to a silhouetted shot of Miami at night. We then zoom to just one building with lights on, and a sun rises from the bottom and zooms away, leading into the show's intro.

Variant: On some episodes of Star Hustlers, the WPBT2 logo does not appear. Instead, it moves directly to the skyline. The first part is replaced with the type of season this show aired (SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, or WINTER) on a tan background (as part of something from the show itself, or the show's main intro), but the sound plays as normal.

FX/SFX: Excellent animation for its time.

Music/Sounds: A breathy rising synthesized wind jingle that sounds similar to Viacom's "V of Doom" music. We then hear a synth chime as the sun gets really close to the screen, which segues into the show's theme. This is actually a piece of music from Ascent, by Don Dorsey. This is also heard on a 1995 CBS ID.

Availability: Ultra rare, bordering on extinct, despite it living for eight years. Can be seen on older episodes of Star Hustler (now StarGazer), at least on VHS.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo

(1998-2008)

Nicknames: "The Seashore"

Logo: We fade in to a close-up of sand. Water passes over the sand and unveils a rectangular-shaped box with a "2" inside, tilted in a 20th Century Fox-like position. Some blue chyroned-in text "An Original Production of WPBT" fades in, along with "Miami", "Fort Lauderdale", and "Palm Beaches". Then the logo fades to black.

FX/SFX: The waves passing over the sand to unveil the "2", the chyron text fading in.

Music/Sounds: Just waves crashing to shore.

Availability: Uncommon. StarGazer is one example that has this logo.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo
(????-200?)

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

9th Logo
(2008- )

Logo: On a black background with a blue/green-colored aurora, we see a streak of light skim from the left across the screen. Then the current WPBT logo in white fades in from the left. "A presentation of" appears above it.

Variants:

Sometimes, "An original production of" appears in place of "A presentation of".
Around 2011, a blue aurora was also introduced.
A zoomed in variant of the blue aurora variant exists.
A variant appeared on 2013-2014 episodes of Nightly Business Report with the byline "In honor of Charles E. and Dorothy F. Schmidt" sandwiched in between two blue lines.
Starting in 2015, the blue aurora is used, the PBS logo is 3D with color, and "South Florida PBS" appears below.

FX/SFX: All 3D effects.

Music/Sounds: A calm 5-note string sounder. The blue aurora variants use a catchy theme. The byline variant is silent.

Availability: Common. Can be seen on StarGazer and on 2008-2014 Nightly Business Report episodes before production was transferred to WETA. The 2011 blue aurora variant and its zoomed in variant was seen on StarGazer and Art Loft.

Editor's Note: None.

10th Logo

(2017-)