Synthesized Network Idents

A small collection of Network Identifications from the 60’s-80’s. I always loved the synthesizer work on these and the mechanical video effects are something you just can’t fake. The second one down is the OEPBS (Oregon PBS) sign off from the 80’s. The beginning is just the standard PBS ident, but watch until 0:35 and you’ll seen their own amazing logo animation complete with warbling analog synth melody.

This has me feeling a bit dated, I remember vividly each of these (with the exception of the Oregon PBS Ident).

17 Comments

  1. greg says:

    Yeah, I remember most of these as well. I started saving these off YouTube sometime last year and have a nice little collection now. The graphics & sounds are just amazing.

  2. gustaf says:

    These are great. Makes me want to hunker down with a bowl of cereal and reruns of The Electric Company.

  3. Jeff Laity says:

    I believe these were mostly the work of Suzanne Ciani and her Buchla.

  4. Jon says:

    Wow. Those bring back memories. Great find Scott!

  5. James says:

    you may love this then!

    Justice – DVNO

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=iIVqIKbouY8

  6. Scott says:

    James, yeah, I linked to that in the text of this very post…did a post on it a while back: https://blog.iso50.com/?p=1311

  7. James says:

    o i fail 🙁

  8. texas says:

    wow. the last one is intense

  9. Scott says:

    yeah, definitely falls somewhere between intense and completely terrifying.

  10. neu says:

    Give a listen to Raymond Scott’s Manhattan Research, Inc. album if you haven’t already. First thing I thought of when listening to these clips. Ok, I was reaaaally thinking that the WGBH ident would make for a wicked ringtone… but check out Scott’s pioneering work nonetheless!

  11. PT says:

    Holy, those things rock my retro socks!

  12. NAVIS says:

    Warbling… what a great adjective.

  13. dots says:

    I remember as a child being petrified of those intros/outros. I always thought they were neat visually but I think it was the combination of the intensity of the colors/motion and the noise that would send me hiding behind the couch.

    Now when I look at them, I still think they are intense but I still want to look at them.

  14. Wayne says:

    These would make for the sickest ringtones for my iPhone. Anybody an audiophile that can ‘clean up’ those sounds?

    Love those idents.

  15. Wayne says:

    Sorry for the double comment here, but I think those interested in vintage station ID’s would love to see this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Et_LsxlX8Y&feature=related

    Behind the scenes of HBO’s station ID in the 80’s. The acutal logo was made out of chrome plated brass and rotated in a lit studio, captured frame by frame.

    Amazing.

  16. Jeff Archer says:

    Does anyone remember a CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) station ident from the ’70’s that used what sounded like an ARP 2500 or 2600 synthesizer? I looked at the station ident’s on youtube.com but wasn’t able to find the one that I was thinking of.

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