VPRO

Background
Founded in 1926 as the Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep (Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Corporation), the organization started broadcasting radio programs comissioned to Protestantism themes. By the 1960's, however, a new generation of program creators managed to get a statute modification, which resulted in the "flower power generation" getting the leadership of the company. VPRO started to get in charge of airing culturally relevant programs, documentaries and films, as they started airing through the public Dutch TV stations. Today, VPRO aims for a demographic oriented at highly creative and educated people.

1st Logo (1971-1981)
Logo: The VPRO logo, which is the text "Times New Roman" with several of the letters having extensions made on them, is seen in various depictions, see below.

Trivia: All of these idents were created by Jaap Drupsteen using a hybrid of early analog computer and hand-drawn graphics (sometimes with live-action).

Variants: There are several variants for this logo:

and while stars can be seen flashing around the logo on a  background with the logo having a shadow.
 * Normal Variant: We see the VPRO logo on a cloudy and white background. The clouds move by and the logo remains static.
 * Stars: We see the VPRO logo in while shifting colors to purple
 * Gong: We see a man walking up to a gong to strike it. But when he does, he accidentally breaks the gong. The screen then goes black as we can hear the gong break.
 * Gong 2: We see the same man walking up to the same gong, and commences striking it. However, he puts the mallet down and smiles awkwardly towards the viewer as the music slows down.
 * Gong 3: We see the man walking up to the gong, but striking it fully this time.
 * Gong 4/Hand: We see the same man but without his mallet and walks up to the same logo but the gong is missing. The man walks up to the middle of the logo and poses, while a hand is seen coming out of the hole on top where the gong was and hits the man which quickly falls out of the screen and the hand comes back in the hole.
 * Sun: We see the same VPRO logo and setting as the gong variants expect there is no gong similar to the "Gong 3" variant and instead there is an sun placed in the hole which has rays that extended in and out of the VPRO logo. Also there is no gong man in this variant.
 * Dots: The VPRO logo is shown in white, on a background with various disappearing and appearing dots, with a  circle in the center of the backdrop along a yellow star that rapidly extends its rays in and out of the VPRO logo.
 * Melting VPRO: We see the VPRO logo made of some sort of semisolid substance. The sides of the logo become, and the logo slowly falls apart.
 * Blurry VPRO: The VPRO is shown in and blurred, shaking throughout the logo.
 * Flashing VPRO: We see the VPRO logo, but with flashing black and white swirling lines filling in the logomark.
 * Indian VPRO: We see an Indian statue head rocking its head back and forth. The VPRO logo is seen below on a yellow background, as well as having fast-paced and white stripes in the border of the wordmark.
 * Flashing Stars: The VPRO logo is shown in beige on a black background with flashing stars.
 * Kissing Mouth: We see the drawn lips of a mouth on the circle, seen straight. A female voiceover then says "And I'll give you a kiss...", and then the lips fade into them kissing the viewers, as it moves into a closeup. The word "einde" (which means "end" in Dutch) then fades the lips away. Another version has live action lips and a space background.
 * Pulley: The VPRO logo is, on a black background with stars, above it in a circle is a pulley, which is pulled, and the screen fades to black and the text "einde" appears.

Technique: Whatever is going on in the logo, which is almost too ahead of its time (if the date is listed correctly, more evidence is required).

Music/Sounds: Depending on the variant.


 * Normal Variant: A triumphant sounding fanfare that calms down in the second half.
 * Stars/Sun: None.
 * Gong: A bombastic fanfare similar to the normal variant, which gets interrupted by the sound of the gong breaking.
 * Gong 2: The same fanfare from before, but it slows down when the man is about to strike the gong.
 * Gong 3: The same fanfare from the previous 2, but now complete. The sound of a striking gong is heard as well.
 * Gong 4/Hand: A theme that seems to be played with flutes and some other instrument while a gong can barely be heard. When the hand hits the man, a low-toned gong is used.
 * Dots: A weird synth whirring sound.
 * Melting VPRO: A guitar strum is heard at first. After this, sounds of what almost seems to be constipated groaning are heard. Deep droning, echoing synths are heard throughout and become more harsh as the logo moves on. The music itself is actually "Hornblast" by Desmond Leslie.
 * Blurry VPRO: A bizarre synth tune. This is actually a part of "Lonesome Electric Turkey" by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention off of their live album Live At Fillmore East, June 1971.
 * Flashing VPRO: A strange rock theme that goes up in down in clarity and volume. This is actually a part of "Song from the Bottom of a Well" by Kevin Ayers.
 * Indian VPRO: A different rock theme from before, but slightly distorted. A warbled, indistinguishable shouting is heard at the end. This is actually part of the song "Here Come the Fleas" by The White Noise.
 * Flashing Stars: Another bombastic fanfare, more upbeat and light in tone.
 * Kissing Mouth: Some sort of a jazz-funk ditty at first, the female voice, and a male vocal group holding a note as the lips get close to us. (Again, part of the song "Here Come the Fleas" by The White Noise.).
 * Pulley: A slow fanfare from "La chanson de jeejeeboy" by Pierre Dac & Francis Blanche, ending with a click.

Availability: Extinct.

2nd Logo (1972-1981)
Logo: The concept is similar to the previous logo although with different idents.

Trivia: Like the previous ID, all the idents were created by Jaap Drupsteen.

Variants: There were numerous variants, and here are the most notable ones:


 * Twentieth Century VPRO: We see the VPRO logo atop a 20th Century Fox tower-like structure, with searchlights in the background. During the Christmas season, there are no searchlights, the logo is covered in snow. and the background is covered in stars, with a large star over the logo.
 * Waves: We see the VPRO logo in with rays spinning around it (resembling a sun). There are many  waves going up and down at the bottom.
 * Piano Hands: We see hands playing on a piano, but reversed horizontally so that the fingers extend both ways if they reach out.
 * Electric Hammer: We see a ragged-looking man sitting atop an, blurry version of the logo with streaks on the extensions, on a stormy cloud background. He is holding a large hammer, and strikes the "Times New Roman" in the logo, causing "electricity" to strike out of it.
 * Sunglasses: We see different types of sunglasses moving around, facing the viewer on a background. The camera zooms into one of the pairs of sunglasses, and one of the lenses breaks as an eye appears. A stylized cutout then appears around this, which then fades to a screen with telephone numbers and a circle with the VPRO logo in it, flashing  and white stripes.
 * Singing Mouths: We see many chroma-keyed mouths singing melodies of some sort. The melodies overlap in a fashion so that they echo over each other. The camera stops as one of the mouths remains open, and the same cutout from before appears, except it's just the logo in and clouds appear in the background.
 * Something's Wrong: We see many glitchy lines inside of a zig-zag like cutout. The VPRO is above the cutout and is colored beige. After a few seconds, some text saying "Er is iets mis" ("Something's wrong" in Dutch) appears at the bottom of the cutout.
 * Parakeets: We see five parakeets standing on a round rectangular border with the "Times New Roman" logo on top while all of it is on a yellow background. The parakeet in the middle jumps off the border but then comes back up at the end.
 * Aquarium: We see a live-action video of a aquarium. A yellow VPRO logo with a border "swims" across the screen twice, at different times.
 * Marching Band: Several instruments are seen above the VPRO logo, which is golden and appears to be made of trimming and felt, along with the border around it. The instruments move around on their own, with the drum being beaten.

Technique: Same as before.

Music/Sounds: Depending on the variant:


 * Twentieth Century VPRO: A moderate fanfare slightly based off of the TCF fanfare. Bells and a choir are heard on the Christmas version.
 * Waves: A relaxing guitar theme with bongos, and sounds of water flowing near the end.
 * Piano Hands: A soothing piano tune.
 * Electric Hammer: A loud rumbling, complete with a banging sound (reminiscent of thunder).
 * Sunglasses: A theme sounding like it came out of a horror movie, ending with a glass-shattering sound.
 * Singing Mouths: A melody that would be soothing if it weren't for the unpleasant echoing that it produces.
 * Something's Wrong: None.
 * Parakeets: A calming and beautiful flute theme.
 * Aquarium: A soothing string theme.
 * Marching Band: A marching band theme.

Availability: Extinct.

3rd Logo (1974-1981)
Generic Idents=

Nighttime Idents=

Triangle Idents=

Other Idents=

Logo: Same as the 1st and 2nd logos, but with, once again, different concepts.

Trivia: Once again, all the variants were created by Jaap Drupsteen.

Variants: There were numerous variants, but a lot less strange than those of its predecessors:


 * Wheat Field: We see the VPRO logo in a circle above a wheat field. There are also sunbursts rotating around the circle.
 * Generic: On a different background (like moving clouds or even the UK and US flags), the VPRO logo is seen in a circle.
 * Ripples: We see the VPRO logo with a bunch of black ripples shaking and waving behind it.
 * Stripes: We see some and white stripes zooming in and out. The VPRO logo in  is in the middle with a ring around it. There are more stripes inside the ring.
 * Nighttime: Similar to the Generic, but the logo is on a nighttime sky, with the actual logo on a black-blue gradient circle with an logo. The logo zooms out and a triangle grows under it. "Times New Roman" ("LATE" in Dutch) then appears in giant letters over the space background in the logo. Another version has a lighthouse in the triangle, with an  background and black logo. Here, the text zooms up in a ghostly white. The closing variant has the backgrounds reversed and the word zooming out, revealing "Einde".
 * Triangle: Similar to the Generic and Nighttime variants combined, but the triangle is upside down or unchanged. Sometimes, "Einde" will appear.
 * Sheet: We see a sheet get pulled and dragged. The cutout from the Generic ident is used in this one. The background has the same footage.
 * Dots 2: Similar to the Dots variant, but the background is black and the rays spin with the same speed through the entire logo.
 * Tears: A VPRO logo is seen on a light blue gradient circle which is on a space background. Tears start to appear from the hole in the logo as "Einde" flashes in near the end.
 * Balloon/Crow: Another VPRO logo, this time on a yellow circle, appears and rocks back and forth, before the "Times New Roman" unravels and blows out air, like a balloon. The logo then spins and flies out of control before popping and "Einde" appearing. Another version has the logo turning into a crow instead and flying away into the background.
 * Thinking: We see the man from the Gong variants sitting in a thinking position on the VPRO logo, which is also from the Gong variants. Yellow rays are emitting from the man.
 * Clouds: Same as the Generic variant from the first set, but the clouds are now white and the VPRO logo is now dark blue.
 * Red Wave: We see the VPRO logo slowly getting covered up by black water and a wave. When most of the logo is covered by the water, multiple black lines appear in front of it.
 * Bowing: Curtains open up to reveal a VPRO logo, which bows a few times and the curtains close.
 * Bounce: In front of the same curtains from the Bowing variant, this time colored blue, we see the VPRO logo slide in from the left. The logo then stops in the middle. During the entire variant, the logo bounces up and down.
 * Stairs: Here, the triangle is set up as stairs, with junking pouring down from it. Some even go out of the triangle! Once again, "Einde" appears. Another one has a women coming down the stairs, but falls off at the bottom.
 * Lines: We see 2 lines going up and down on a black background. The VPRO logo is above the lines and has a ring around it. The ring unravels and becomes a line. As it does, the VPRO logo glides off-screen. The lines stop moving and then disappear.

Technique: It depends on the variant.

Music/Sounds: Depending on the variant:
 * Wheat Field: A somewhat dramatic fanfare.
 * Generic: A trumpet fanfare.
 * Ripples: A bunch of weird electronic sounds. This is actually part of the song "The Electric Flag" by Hobbit.
 * Stripes: A calming string theme.
 * Nighttime/Triangle: A fanfare that gets more bombastic as the logo goes on.
 * Sheet: A funk tune that sounds like it comes from the 70s.
 * Dots 2: A fast jazz theme.
 * Tears: A long deep echoing synth drone, with sobbing sounds.
 * Balloon: A calm theme, followed by the sound of the balloon deflating.
 * Crow: A soothing guitar theme, followed by the sounds by the crow which sound more like someone having a bad cough.
 * Thinking: A synth theme that increases in pitch.
 * Clouds: The same fanfare from Generic, but pitched 1 semitone down.
 * Red Wave: An odd guitar theme, coupled with some strange synth noises.
 * Bounce: A bouncy synth theme.
 * Stairs: The sounds of the items breaking and falling. The other version has a slow calm theme, with the woman singing for a short amount of time before falling off. When she falls, a disturbing theme plays with 2 loud echoing womanly screams.
 * Lines: A calm violin theme with whistling sounds.

Availability: Extinct, but all 3 sets of logos air at around the same time.

4th Logo (1981)
Logo: We see a video feedback version of multiple colored dots while electricity sizzles. It then fades out, fades back in and the ball becomes smaller again. Then on the sidelines we see the word "EINDE".

Technique: The colored dots combined with the video feedback effects, the logo fading-in, and "EINDE" appearing.

Music/Sounds: A proud synthesizer theme.

Availability: Extinct.

5th Logo (1981-1983)
Logo: On a black background, various and  lights scroll across the screen. They then recede, revealing a blurred object over blurred lines. Another row of glass moves out, clearing the picture. Here, the logo is completely different, being a glowing triangle with "VPRO" in white with  borders in front of the logo.

Technique: The lights forming the logo.

Music/Sounds: A overly saturated synthesizer theme with beeps at the beginning. The synthesizer theme comes from the first 24 seconds of "Here Is The News" from Electric Light Orchestra's 1981 album Time.

Availability: Extinct.

6th Logo (1983-1985)
Logo: On a black background, a yellow line is drawn in, made to shape the bottom of the logo. Shadows of the triangle and text scroll up before copies then wipe in and form the logo.

Technique: Similar animation techniques to the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo, but with an announcer at the end.

Availability: Extinct.

7th Logo (1985-1987)
Logo: On a black background, various shapes in various colors fly across the screen. Then,, , and yellow shapes scroll across the screen as a flashing VPRO logo fades in. The shapes also change and the top row also says "nederland 1/2" in various colors and fonts, flashing at random times.

Technique: The flashing shapes.

Music/Sounds: A hard jazz tune.

Availability: Extinct.

8th Logo (1987)
Logo: On a background, a white triangle scrolls along, with a yellow outline and black outlines to separate them. A outline of the logo zooms out, followed by a smaller black outline as the text in  scrolls along. A man with an antenna scrolls in and fires a ball of static at the logo, making it static as well as h scrolls off screen. Later on, a white background with a yellow stripe is added in.

Technique: The scrolling, the logo turning to static.

Music/Sounds: A horn or synth remix of the 4th logo theme.

Availability: Extinct.

9th Logo (1987-1989)
Logo: On a white background, several painted objects and pieces of art rotate and flashe in sync with the beeps. A square with stuff in it choppily rotates and reverses with the rings. A eye appears and the rings appear again, rotating jerkily, with the cardboard side appearing again. A brown spot then appears with the VPRO logo flipping up. A yellow circle with a cameraman flies across the screen and the spot fades out.

Technique: Jerky 3D animation, but that was probably intentional.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 4th and 5th logos.

Availability: Extinct.

10th Logo (1989-1992)
Logo: On a white background, several paint strokes move and rotate around the screen. We then cut to more rotating black and paint strokes with static. More paint strokes appear, with the VPRO logo flipping up and being filled with static as a yellow ball passes over it.

Technique: Same as the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logos, but abridged.

Availability: Extinct.

11th Logo (1992-1999)
Logo: Similar to the 8th logo, but the animation is more cluttered and the logo flips in with no brown spot.

Technique: Same as the previous logos.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logos.

Availability: Extinct.

12th Logo (2010-)
Logo: Like the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd logos, various concepts are used, but with a new logo. This logo now has 2 triangles and the text in lowercase and in a new font.

Technique: The animations of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo, but usually shortened.

Availability: Current