Maryland Public Television

Background: Maryland Public Television is the statewide PBS affiliate for Maryland.

1st Logo

(1969?-1972)

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: TBA

2nd Logo

(1971?-1976)

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Nickname: "The Heptagon"

Logo: On a black background, seven blue multi-lined heptagons zoom out, then one zooms in. As one stops in the center of the screen, the words:

The Maryland Center

for Public Broadcasting

appear below. The heptagon glows different colors.

FX/SFX: The heptagons zooming out; the heptagon glowing various colors; very early Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A French horn that plays seven notes followed by an announcer's voice saying "Pre-recorded at the studios of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting."

Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variants:


 * On Hodgepodge Lodge, a child announces the tag.
 * In the 1972 documentary Artist of Savitria, the seven notes are played by a harp, followed by announcer (and MPT mainstay) Alec Webb saying, "A production of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting."
 * On Wall $treet Week, the notes are now played on a Moog synthesizer piano, and echo throughout while ascending. The announcer also now says "From the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.

Availability: Extremely rare. It can be seen several old shows of there's, thanks to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo

(1976-1980) JEZlfK-D3ZU

Nickname: "Heptagon II"

Logo: On a black background, a light-flare trail of a heptagon much like before, only with a different pattern, zooms and spins out to the center of the screen. When it stops, it comes into focus, and the text, arranged like this:

maryland center

for public broadcasting

appears below via a flash. The heptagon starts out blue, but then it fades to red, and finally pink.

FX/SFX: The heptagon trail zooming out.

Music/Sounds: A Moog synth jingle with an announcer saying "From the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.".

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on shows from this period, such as Wall $treet Week.

Editor's Note: The announcer's voice, darkness, and slightly creepy synth tune may catch you off-guard.

4th Logo

(1977-1986)

Logo: On a black, dark green, or lime green background, several lines appear one by one to form a abstract map of Maryland. It cuts out, then cuts back in to reveal some lines inside. The text "MARYLAND" appear by a flickering effect and start to fill in with tan, orange, and red respectively with the same effect. "MARYLAND" zooms out as the map morphs into the text "iTV", with it in the same colors of the map. Below, "State Department of Education" and "Division of Instructional Television" appear below stacked on each other, before appearing right under the logo.

Variant: A extremely rare version exists where the logo is in a pinkish tint and surrounded by a grey trail.

FX/SFX: The zooming in of the map, the map morphing.

Music/Sounds: A frenetic orchestral theme, sometimes with an announcer.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo

(1980-1984, A)

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Nickname: "Heptagon III"

Logo: On a black background, two red lines merge from the bottom and top of the screen in the center, which flips into a gold heptagon that spins around a few times, flashing many rainbow colors before stopping in the very middle, emitting trails of light from either side. Then the text from the previous logo appears below, in a much smaller flash. The background then turns blue afterwards.

FX/SFX: The converging lines, the spinning heptagon, the light trails, and the text appearing.

Music/Sounds: A jaunty jingle, featuring a piccolo and xylophone. The lower brass notes in the jingle are actually an extended version of the music from the third logo.

Availability: Seen on programs at the time, notably A.M. Weather and MotorWeek.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo

(1980-1988, B)

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Nicknames: "M TV" (Not the network), "The M in the TV Set"

Logo: On a black background, a glass model of a rectangle with a roundish "M" inside zooms outs from the right, flipping into place. The text "maryland itv" wipes in below.

Variant: On Consumer Connection, there is an in-credit version in which the logo in white fades in and "MARYLAND ITV" and a copyright date slide up from below.

FX/SFX: The logo zooming out and flipping.

Music/Sounds: A mellow horn tune described as "elevator music".

Availability: Seen on many shows of this period, like W$W, MotorWeek, Consumer Connection, and Hodgepodge Lodge.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo

(1984-1986)

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Logo: On a teal background with the MPT logo of the time printed diagonally, we see the new (at the time) MPT logo, with "MPT" in a futuristic font (called "Stop"), and colored green, over the text "Maryland Public Television" in pale green-yellow. They both zoom in slowly, and when they stop, the MPT logo shines.

Variant: A local version has the logo zoom out via a chyron trail as the background rotates and shines at the end.

FX/SFX: The zooming of the logo and the shine.

Music/Sounds: A horn fanfare, or a generic chime fanfare, ending in a flourish.

Availability: Rare, but extinct on TV. This was the most short-lived of MPT logos, so it's kind of a hard find. It can be seen on The Secret City, MotorWeek, Wall $treet Week, and A.M. Weather.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo

(1986-1994?)

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Nicknames: "MPT in Space", "My Public TV", "Gold MPT", "The Wand", "Spark Stick"

Logo: The letters "MPT", in the same font as before, but colored gold, zoom out and flip around on a purple/black space BG with stars brightly shining. It settles in front of a medium navy blue globe with several light streaks shooting across it at an angle. Then, "Maryland Public Television" (also in gold) is wiped in by a pink-colored laser beam.

Variants:


 * A long variant, which was used for local promos, showed the channel numbers and areas in which MPT served zooming across a close-up of the globe before the camera zoomed out and the usual logo animation continued as usual, with "Capture the World", in gold script, appearing above. An announcer (Alec Webb) says, "This is Maryland Public Television, serving Maryland, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia. TV worth watching.". This was shown locally.
 * During the early '90s, the announcer says "This is member-supported MPT. My public television.", and "My Public TV" would appear above the textless MPT logo, shining a bit. This was only shown locally.
 * There is another variant in which "Maryland Public Television" is shown above and "Production" is shown below.
 * There is another local variant used late in the logo's life in which some lines streak across the bottom of the screen and the station listings flip up on the lines after the network name fades in above. An announcer says "This is member-supported Maryland Public TV, serving Maryland, Washington D.C., and northern Virginia."
 * A rare version exists where the globe is instead larger, but mostly obscured by the bottom edge of the screen. "Maryland Public Television" then fades to "Production".

FX/SFX: Top-notch CGI for 1986, especially for a public broadcasting network!

Music/Sounds: A 4-note synth-piano fanfare, ending with a timpani hit. The "long" version used a series of synth whooshes ending with three synth chimes and a weird synth flourish. The 4th variant uses a much more mellow synth theme that still contains the "MPT chimes". Sometimes, as a program outro tag, the closing theme would play over.

Availability: Pretty much extinct. Seen on episodes of Wall $treet Week, MotorWeek, AM Weather, and Julia Child: Cooking with Master Chefs from the era. Also, was spotted on After the Warming, which can be viewed on American Archive of Public Broadcasting. It still appears on current prints of the latter if your station is broadcasting them.

Editor's Note: None.

9th Logo

(1992-1999)

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Nicknames: "The Globe", "Tons of Images"

Logo: We see a spinning globe against a globe against a sea at sunset between a flag of Maryland and the U.S., among other images. The globe brings forth a silver version of the MPT logo, coming from the right, while at the same time, bringing forth "Maryland Public Television" in the same font as the 1984 logo, but all in caps. When they settle in place, the globe zooms away. "P R O D U C T I O N" fades in below. Often times, a closed caption (CC) bug appears in the lower left corner.

Variants:


 * There is an extended version only used locally. Against the same BG, we see a square with a pattern of the Earth on it, which morphs into a globe, playing the animation from the regular variant. This time, "Putting Maryland First" in Brush Script MT slides in from the top right in gold script, and a list of the stations it serves flashes in below. The MPT logo shines a bit.
 * Another local version has an announcer saying "This is member-supported MPT.". At the end, "Fulfilling the Promise" in yellow Vivaldi Script font flashes in above in yellow script, and at the same time, the station list flashes in below. The MPT logo shines a bit.
 * Sometimes, this logo will appear superimposed.

FX/SFX: The globe forming & bringing forth the logo, and the background images.

Music/Sounds: A three-note synth-chime fanfare, which was also used by RTL in Germany. The local version used an extended version of the music with an announcer saying "This is Maryland Public Television, member-supported TV serving Maryland, Washington D.C., and northern Virginia.". However, it tends to have the closing theme of a show over it (as spotted on Kratt's Creatures, Zoboomafoo, and Wimzie's House, just to name a few).

Availability: Uncommon. It might be seen if your local PBS station runs older tapes. It still appears on current prints of In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs and Baking with Julia.

Editor's Note: None.

10th Logo

(1999-2004)

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Nickname: "Another Cursive M"

Logo: A cursive gold "M" is seen turning into place on the left against a black background, with the flag of Maryland and a model globe spinning. Once it's in place, those images fade out as "A Production of Maryland Public Television" fades in below, along with a black map of Maryland with gold outlines. The M shines.

Variants:


 * The background may be of a spinning blue wireframe globe located in the bottom right corner instead.
 * Sometimes, on Zoboomafoo, this logo can be seen as a static image.FX/SFX: The turning M and other images, and the M shining.

Music/Sounds: A three-note piano theme, or the end theme of the show.

Availability: Uncommon. Can be found on Zoboomafoo, Wall $treet Week, and MotorWeek.

Editor's Note: None

11th Logo

(1999-2002)

Nickname: "Cursive M"

Logo: We see shots of several images relating to Maryland, ending with a Maryland state flag waving. Throughout the logo, you can see a shadow of the cursive "M" from before. Then, it fades to a black background, where we see the same gold colored "M" in a cursive font dropping down from the upper-left portion of the screen as a spark flickers below. Once it's in place, "Maryland Public Television" fades in below, and two flares, colored pink and gold, slide in and spin around the logo. As a local station ID, station information fades in below.

Variant: There is a shorter variant of this logo. It also has "A Production of" below the "M" and "Maryland Public Television"

FX/SFX: The "M" flying into place.

Music/Sounds: Usually has the closing theme playing over, but on Bloomberg Morning News, it has a synth-guitar tune. For local use, the latter is coupled with announcer saying "This is member-supported MPT, serving Maryland, northern Virginia, and Washington D.C.".

Availability: Only used locally, and can be found as an alternate for the previous logo. BMN and Wimzie's House both had this logo.

Editor's Note: None.

12th Logo

(2004-2008)

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Logo: On the same background as the 2002CPBlogo, albeit with a red tint, we see a bright ball of light in the center. Many light lines reveal "mpt". Beside it is the PBS logo. As it finishes, the logo flashes bright light streaks as well as an outline of itself. While it happens, you can see a snippet of the 2002 PBS logo. Behind it is a transparent spotlight. Later, the logo just get revealed without a flash, and the tint has also changed to red-blue.

Variants:


 * In 2004, an earlier variant has the same animation as before and all, but instead of "mpt" is the same M from the previous logo. Also the background is red-blue tinted. When the light flashes, it reveals "Maryland Public Television" below.
 * For the beginning of some shows, either the show's title/logo or the MPT logo fades in, followed by "Made by mpt", already spread out, joining into the center. It then fades out and "Members of mpt" fades in and spreads out. It also fades out and "Thank you" fades in. It exists in two colors: red-blue and green (for Outdoors Maryland).

FX/SFX: The lights. The spreading effects and fading for the "Made by mpt" variants.

Music/Sounds: A short arrangement of the 2002 PBS music.

Availability: Seen on programming of the era.

Editor's Note: None.

13th Logo

(2008-)

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Nicknames: "PBS Coin", "Glass P-Head", "The Revival of TV Worth Watching"

Logo: On a blue/black gradient background, a blue transparent Circle PBS P-Head logo spins around and the MPT logo unscrambles itself and "Maryland Public Television" fades in below. On the background, we see "maryland public television" in blue and "tv worth watching" in white (albeit the latter is in front of the PBS).

Variants:


 * On some programs, the show's title may appear before the P-Head Circle appears and "maryland public television" is absent and instead "made by" appears aside the MPT logo either on a red or blue background. "made by" fades out and "members of" slides in from behind "mpt". After that, the whole thing fades out and "thank you" fades in and glows.
 * A standalone version of the previously mentioned variant exists which is sometimes shortened.
 * Occasionally, the background is replaced with a different, wavy background and the text "national productions" appears below. Sometimes the text "Maryland Public Television" is shown below "national productions", italicized, either black or white. A shorter version also exists.
 * On Chesapeake Collectibles, the background is orange.
 * Sometimes, the text "maryland public television" is missing, and the logo is brighter.
 * Occasionally, "National Presentation" appears between the MPT logo and "maryland public television".
 * An HD version has "HD" slide from the right.

FX/SFX: The text and the circle, which is all CGI.

Music/Sounds: Usually a synth chime/French horn fanfare. For the textless variants, a piano tune. On the "made by" variants, the latter is extended with drums with a female or male announcer saying "This program (or the show's name) is made by MPT to serve all of our diverse communities, and is made possible by the generous support of our members. Thank you." The announcement may be cut only showing the first half.

Music/Sounds Variant: A Spanish dub of the "made by MPT" audio variant exists, oddly with the English text in the logo.

Availability: Current. Seen on Primal Grill, State Circle, and Your Money and Business, among others. Don't expect to see this on MotorWeek, however.

Editor's Note: None.