WFAA

Background
WFAA, a television station in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, had a production company in the early seventies.

1st Logo (Early 1970s)
Visuals: We see text moving in a "spiral" fashion towards the viewer. The text reads "WFAA-TV DALLAS/FORT WORTH". Larger text is seen at the top, and smaller text is seen below it. This continues on and creates a rainbow path of this text. On the side is a black "8" inside of a white circle with a red outline, looking like the non-US maximum speed limit sign. At the end, when the text stops moving, "A WFAA-TV Production" appears at the bottom.

Technique: Scanimation.

Audio: A repetitive synthesized arpeggio that goes up in pitch as it continues.

Availability: Unknown.

2nd Logo (Mid-1970s-1980?)
Visuals: On a blue background with a wall of blue-outlined "8" objects, we see the same 8 object from the previous logo fill in one of the blue 8s. This different-colored 8 jumps around the background a few times, before settling in the lower-middle left of the screen. A few seconds later, the text "WFAA-TV" appears, before the logo fades out.

Technique: Some still frames, for the most part.

Audio: Another synthesizer slowly chiming up in pitch with the movements of the 8, until it stops. A soft tuba is heard, and then a triangle dings once the text fades in.

Availability: Seen on sign-offs and station IDs for the channel throughout the 1970s. When WFAA retired their analog signal in 2009, this was briefly brought back to pay tribute as part of their final analog transmission broadcast, and makes it the last thing shown on the analog feed for WFAA (as well as on the digital transmission's feed as an "analog" comparison on the same day as the shutdown was under progress).

3rd Logo (1984-1988)
Visuals: On a cloudy sky background, The red word "Spirit" in stylized cursive writes itself. During that the rest of the WFAA "The Spirit of Texas" logo zooms out to form the completed logo. They flash and shine.

Technique: Top notch mid 80s computer animation resembling camera controlled camera stand logos. This was created by Teresa Breaver at ACME Graphics in Dallas, TX on a DEC PDP-11/60, a DeAnza IP-5532 framebuffer and an Ampex ESS-2 stillstore using custom software written in FORTRAN.

Audio: The image campaign's song "The Spirit of Texas", segueing into the news theme. This was composed by Jim Kirk at the former subsidiary of TM Communications in Dallas, TX (now Corporate Magic). It's possible that Jim Kirk is also one of many vocalists in the group.

Availability: Seen on newscasts for the channel throughout the mid 80s. Extinct.