NBC/pre-1979

1st ID (1943-1946)
Visuals: Just the letters "N", "B" and "C" in a vatical position on a microphone, surrounded by bolts of lightning on a black background. The logo sometimes fades into a radio tower pulsing electricity similar to the RKO Pictures logo and back to the logo again.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: An announcer says "This is N-B-C, the National Broadcasting Company", followed by the chime notes "G", "E", and "C" with an orchestral score that sounds like electrical buzzing in the background.

Availability: This was seen on the 1945 short documentary Tomorrow Television, but it may appear on kinescopes of the period.

2nd ID (1946-1947)
Visuals: On a dark background, we see "NBC" in an outlined circle.

Technique: None.

Audio: Just an announcer saying "This is the National Broadcasting Company."

Availability: Unknown.

3rd ID (1949-1952)
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Visuals: We see the words "NBC" surrounded by a square zoom up on a background. The letters light up one by one in sync with the NBC chimes.

Variant: A digitally colorized version is seen on Red Skelton's Christmas Classics. The background remains gray, the inside of the box is and the "NBC" text and the outline of the box is.

Technique: Camera-controlled animation.

Audio: An announcer saying "NBC Television.", followed by the famous "NBC chimes" as the letters light up.

Availability: Once again, check old kinescopes.

4th ID (1952-1966?)
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Visuals: On a gray background, we see "NBC" in large, black, 3D block letters. As the chimes play, the letters change to white, one-by-one.

Variants:
 * Most copies of this logo have a disclaimer in white under the letters: "THIS PROGRAM WAS REPRODUCED BY THE KINEPHOTO PROCESS." The "NBC" letters are shifted upwards to make room for the disclaimer.
 * One version does not have the letters light up. This was used on early episodes of Today.
 * Occasionally, a promotional slide for a program replaces the animation; the chimes remain.
 * When The Beatles' black-and-white movie A Hard Day's Night premiered on NBC in 1967, the network's "In Living Color" peacock intro was replaced with a "lively black and white" animated penguin. The penguin pulls out a set of animated Beatles from its chest, who briefly play their music before they run away from a mob of fans.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: Same as the last logo, minus the announcer.

Availability: Seen on period kinescopes. It is included on Mr. Wizard Studios' DVD and YouTube releases of Watch Mr. Wizard. This was seen on two NBC programs aired during Buzzr's 2021 "Lost & Found" marathon: one pilot of the unsold 1966 show It Had to Be You and a 1955 episode of Make the Connection. The latest known use of this was on the two known pilots of It Had to Be You, which were apparently taped on November 7, 1966.

5th ID (December 17, 1953-1956)
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Visuals: We see a xylophone with three keys. A mallet then hits all 3 keys, which makes the letters "NBC" appear on them.

Technique: Primitive 2D animation.

Audio: Same as the last logo.

6th ID (1956-1962)
Visuals: We see a white peacock facing left on a black BG. Its feathers, outlined in white and tipped with little diamond shapes, begin to fold up. As they meet in the center, they spread out in the opposite directions, becoming colored in the process. The feathers flash multiple colors and "bloom", becoming thicker, with the diamonds changing to teardrop shapes. The result is an 11-feathered peacock with its paper fan-shaped display feathers in various colors.

Variants:
 * The peacock was still in its earliest years. There is also a still version with the peacock appearing over the word "COLOR." On this, there is no music and just the spiel described below.
 * Another still variant has the words "AN NBC COLOR PRESENTATION" under the peacock. This was seen on the 1958 primetime version of the game show Tic-Tac-Dough.
 * B&W variants exist on prints of said colors.

Technique: The peacock spreading its feathers.

Audio: We first hear a gong crash, then announcer Ben Grauer says "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC.". This ends with a bombastic fanfare.

Audio Variants:
 * Sometimes, there is no music, and the announcement is provided by Bill Hanrahan instead.
 * A special variant was used on Howdy Doody. It starts out with the NBC chimes performed on a guitar with the characters singing "Everyone in Doodyville is shouting 'hooray'!/'cause we're in living color/we're in living color/we're in living color todaaaaay!".
 * On The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, a big band tune based on the NBC chimes is heard.

Availability: Extremely rare. Appears on the pilot of Bonanza on DVD. This ID was spotted recently in front of the Bonanza episode "The Frenchman" on MeTV, and may appear on other early episodes.

7th ID (1962-1975)
Visuals: We see a kaleidoscope of many colors rotating. It wipes away, leaving us with the peacock from before, but its feathers greatly enlarged, which shrink down and form its feathers, looking the same from before, albeit with different colors.

Variants:
 * On Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In', there is a variant where a man in white rolls a desk with a camera in from the left of the screen on a purplish-pink background. Another man in the same clothing floats down with a green rolled-up 16-millimeter screen. He unfolds it and walks around the movie screen as the movie starts with a countdown, then a blue "PICTURE START" screen, then this logo. The movie screen zooms in to fit the screen. After the music stops, the peacock sneezes, "Ah-CHOO!" and its feathers fly off as it looks around, wondering where its feathers went.
 * On The Dinah Shore Show, the peacock appears 3 times screaming "CAW!" during the opening of the show.
 * On the Star Trek: The Original Series gag reel, when the logo is about to finish, we see a hand holding a gun, shooting the peacock repeatedly, causing the peacock to flipped several times and screaming.
 * On a rare marketing reel for Nightmare: The Host and Rodney, the logo looks a lot more deformed. The colors of the feathers are different, faded, and 2 of the tips are sagging, while the peacock body looks crooked and there are 2 feathers under it. This variant is also still and the Vincent Price-like announcer has an very menacing feel to it, complete with an echo. The voice says "in livid color" instead of "living". (Livid is a blue-gray color)
 * B&W variants exist on prints of said colors.
 * On 70s episodes of "Today", the words "TODAY" will appear during the 2nd half of the logo.

Technique: The kaleidoscope effects.

Audio: A mellow flute and harp tune with a different (and much softer) announcer (Mel Brandt) saying the spiel from before. Sometimes, a different announcer is used, and adds "It just starts in black-and-white." at the end. This was seen on a promo for Get Smart.

Audio Variants: There are versions of the bumper with a shortened jingle. Also, the announcement can vary depending on the situation.

Availability: Rare; it was first used on the western series Laramie, hence the nickname. It can be seen on DVD's of classic NBC shows, such as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. The Get Smart variant can be found on the Get Smart complete series DVD. It made an appearance in front of the first episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 1, 2009. This can also be seen on at least one The Tonight Show tape from Buena Vista Home Video featuring Johnny Carson, as well as the VHS versions of Movin' With Nancy (starring Nancy Sinatra) and Petula Clark Spectacular. Some of the prime time episodes of Hollywood Squares that GSN aired retained the peacock as well, as well as episodes on Hulu. This logo is restored on the newest prints of Bonanza episodes (dubbed "The Lost Episodes") on Me-TV.

8th ID (1967)


Visuals: On a greenish background, we see multiple 1-digit numbers in white cover up the screen. We then see the NBC "Snake" logo made up in these numbers. We keep zooming out until the NBC logo can be entirely seen & is at the center of the screen. After that, the NBC logo turns white. We then see the text "IT ALL ADDS UP ON NBC" entirely made of dots appear.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: At first, we hear typing noises. Then we hear people making beeping noises for the rest of the logo.

9th ID (June 12, 1970)
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Visuals: On a white background, a black weird looking peacock with an beak and neck walks in from the right. The peacock's feathers fan out, starting from the right. The peacock looks around. The company name does not appear. The color scheme of the peacock's feathers are also different, with hues being more prominent and varied pastel colors on the other feathers.

Technique: Stop-motion paper cutout animation done at Yellow Ball Workshop, a children's filmmaking workshop based in Lexington, Massachusetts. This logo was likely filmed by studio founder and instructor Yvonne Andersen, while the animation was done by Jean Falcone (age 6). Three more logos were produced at the same workshop, animated by Carol Sones (age 16), Kathy Ahern (age 16), and Deirdre Cowden (age 15) respectively. Out of the 4 versions of this logo, only Jean's version is known to have actually aired on TV.

Audio: Same as the short version of the Laramie Peacock logo. The reel variant has the music being off-sync.

Availability: The only currently known appearance of this was before the June 12, 1970 airing of The New Communicators 2. It is not currently known whether this appeared before any other programs. It was recently discovered on a 16mm reel named Yellow Ball All Stars which can be viewed here.

10th ID (Late 1975-1976)
Visuals: Two vertical shining lights, one (left) and the other blue (right) slide the opposite direction, forming the NBC logo. The lights dim out once the logo is formed.

Technique: Scanimation.

Audio: An orchestrated 4-note fanfare, featuring the NBC chimes and with the last note drawn out.

11th ID (January 1, 1976-1977)
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Visuals: We have a white background, which zooms out, revealing an abstract "N" on a black background. The text "Dolphin Productions/New York" in white fades in on the bottom of the screen. The left section of the "N" fills with, and the right section fills with blue, becoming the NBC logo of the time. The text on the bottom of the screen fades to "NBC".

Variant: A still version exists.

Technique: Computer-controlled animation done at Dolphin Productions in New York; the footage here was taken from a watermarked Dolphin demo reel, which explains the "Dolphin Productions/New York" at the bottom of the screen at one part.

Audio: A loud jazzy fanfare with congas. The still version has no music and it has a voiceover.

Availability: This was seen as a network ID starting on January 1, 1976.

Legacy: This ID holds the distinction as the first completely computer-animated national television network ID.

12th ID (1976, 1977-1978)
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Visuals: On a black background, we see a closeup of a, rotating 3D glassy abstract "N", which then zooms out to show the full block. The "N" shines all throughout the logo, with overlays of the animation rippling out.

Variants:
 * For NBC's 1977-78 season promo, three different stacked overlays were used:
 * The beginning of the promo uses an "NBC 77" overlay, which then zooms (alongside the N) into the screen.
 * This is shortly followed by a yellow-tinted "NBC 78" overlay, in which the animation freezes and zooms in when the N is front-facing.
 * The end of the promo has the yellow-tinted N animation zoom out and freeze, with a "A BIG YEAR! 78" overlay flashing when the N freezes.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A majestic orchestrated fanfare.

Audio Variant: The 50th anniversary variant uses various beeping sounds.

Availability: Check old off-air recordings for this ID, if you can even locate tapes from this era at all. First appeared (as the 50th Anniversary variant) on the "NBC: The First 50 Years" special.