Connecticut Public Television

Credits

Descriptions by
mr3urious and GoAnimateFan199Pro

Captures by
EnormousRat and DaffyDuckScrewball

Editions by
MariluHennerArtist45, Lizz Tetlow, InuYashafan01, KirbyGuy2001, GETENT, Unnepad, Edc4

Video captures courtesy of
MacBookPro1990, Skyoneer2007, Bci Teens, Tlogos, and EnormousRat

Background

Connecticut Public Television is the statewide PBS affiliate which serves Connecticut via its stations WEDH Hartford (its flagship station), WEDW Bridgeport, WEDN Norwich, and WEDY New Haven.

1st ID (October 30, 1978-December 4, 1984)

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Visuals: On a black background, a blue rectangle appears and grows on the screen as it begins to spin outward, trailing as does so, at one point getting really close to the screen. As it continues to spin counterclockwise, it begins to form a circle around it, which draws in from two opposite ends. Once the line is in the vertical position and the circle is fully formed, it stops spinning and the trail disappears. The result is a blue circle with a line going down the middle, forming the "CP" part of the logo. Then the "CP" moves to the left as the words "Connecticut Public Broadcasting", in white and stacked on top of each other, slide in from the right, as if bumping the "CP". As that happens, a blue dot appears within the "CP" to form the "T", completing "CPT". When all the moving stops, the word "Connecticut" then flashes brightly.

Technique: Motion-controlled cel animation.

Audio: A downward-arpeggio keyboard and bongo combo as the CP logo forms and the words slide in, and a final piano note for the "Connecticut" flash.

Availability: Seen on whatever programs it had at the time, like In Performance.

2nd ID (December 5, 1984-1990)

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Visuals: On a black background is the CPTV circle in chrome, which swings up. The bottom right part of the circle is barely disconnected from the line, and a dot is in the inside of the circle on the top left side. Once the circle is finished swinging up, the metallic words:

Connecticut
Public Television

fade in below in Bauhaus font. The circle sparkles, and then glows blue behind it. The background then lights up with faded blue at the bottom.

Variants:

• On local programs, the circle shines blue as a spotlight passes through. After that, the logo fades before it completes.
• Sometimes, a blue glass circle zooms from the top instead.
• There is a variant where the text "25th Year" is next to the logo. It was used for their 25th anniversary.
• Sometimes on the glass variant, the Praxis Media Inc. logo trails in below.

Technique: Most likely motion-controlled animation made with models.

Audio: A dreamy new age-style synth note (which is sampled from the song "Look What You Find" by George Duke).

Audio Variant: Sometimes, on the 25th anniversary variant, a female announcer says "The following is a special CPTV 25th anniversary presentation."

Availability: It can be seen at the start of the 1984 documentary Black Magic. It was also seen on Connecticut Newsweek, Fairfield County Business Report, and Showdown on Tobacco Road. The 25th anniversary version with the announcer appears on a 1988 documentary about the UConn Health Center.

3rd ID (1989)

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Visuals: On a black background, the CPTV circle is seen in bronze, and sparkles for a while. The text:

Connecticut
Public Television

are seen under the logo in a Helvetica font, also in bronze.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A shortened version of the previous logo's theme.

Availability: This appeared on a 1989 PBS demo VHS tape; it's unknown which programs used this logo, or if it was used as a station ID.

4th ID (May 25, 1990-1993)

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Visuals: Against a dark gray background, a side-facing circle folds to the left, leaving behind a residue trail of circles, which fades into the CPTV circle, which sets itself in the center and turns silver. Twelve spectral lines wipe across the bottom of the screen to reveal the words Connecticut
Public Television
in a Times New Roman font shown below, which are similar to the previous logo. The circle and the text are viewed at a straight angle with a bit of drop shadow and shine a bit as a spotlight shines upon the whole thing.

Variant:

• Usually, the logo was cut short to the shining.
  • Sometimes, the spectral lines portion is shown over this variant.
• A still, superimposed variant with "Presented by" above it appears on episodes of Scientific American Frontiers.
  • On Season 4 episodes, the logo looks mostly the same as the on-screen logo.
  • On Season 5 episodes and the first Season 6 episode, the logo is more blue, and the "'Connecticut" is slightly smaller than the Season 4 logo.
• When used locally, the station info wipes in first.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A majestic fanfare (the first half being slightly reminiscent of the 1986 Golden Book Video logo). It's often abridged to the last part of the tune (the last note is shorter), or one single note.

Audio Variant: The Scientific American Frontiers variants use the closing theme.

Availability: The original long variant first appeared on a May 25, 1990 episode of On the Record, and appears both on On the Record and Scientific American Frontiers (the Woodie Flowers era) episodes of this era; the short variant (the one without just one note) appears on the prints viewable on the Chedd-Angier website. The shorter variant with one note appeared on pre-1995 airings of Barney & Friends season 1, and is retained on the season's VHS releases from Time-Life and select prints of the "Barney's Birthday" VHS tape (released by The Lyons Group; other prints use the 1992 Barney Home Video logo). The slightly extended short variant (with the multicolored lines intact) has been seen on an episode of Trailside.

5th ID (February 21, 1992-January 23, 1994)

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Visuals: Against a background with blue marble squares is the text "CPTV" in silver on a gray square. On the top and bottom of "CPTV" we see purple and blue streaks. The blue squares zoom toward the camera and the gray square zooms to the right, a la Paramount Home Video's Feature Presentation bumper.

Technique: Computerized 2D animation.

Audio: A synth bell with an announcer saying "The following is a CPTV original."

Availability: Seen on On the Record.

6th ID (February 13, 1994-2004)

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Visuals: The sequence starts with an extreme closeup of a translucent C, shining in pink. When gradually zooming away, a moving dark cloudy background is revealed, with many multicolored stylized "C"s and glass dots scattered around the background, merging into each other. When the "C"s and dots gradually come together, the stylized "C"s shine in multiple colors, and when the logo pans to the lower left, the "C" and the dot turns red, with the dot exploding with a light streak explosion-like effect, and "CONNECTICUT PUBLIC TELEVISION" in a pale blue italicized font fades in at the right of the "C", and shines afterwards.

Trivia: On Scientific American Frontiers episodes including the superimposed logo, the "Presented By" text is actually not apart of the logo itself. Episodes with the 4th logo contain the "Presented by" text, but it was separate from the logo itself. In other words, the superimposed logo they used contained the "Presented By" text. Episodes that include this logo don't have the logo itself, but rather its on-screen text. This means that each episode has a slightly different version (rather it would be the tone of the logo, the text's position, etc).

Variants:

• Three variants of this logo exist, a long version, a medium length version, and a short version, the latter being the most common:
  • The long version is the one described above, with slower animation. Unlike the other two variants, this one remains on-screen for a few seconds, and cuts to black instead of fading out.
  • The medium length version reuses the C animation from the long version, but the glass dots animate similarly to the short version.
  • The short version starts with a different animation, where the "C"s and dots quickly merge together, and the text flies in to the right before the dot explodes.
• When used locally, the long version is used, and the channel names and their respective channel numbers are below the logo in the same font as "CONNECTICUT PUBLIC TELEVISION".
• The logo is still and superimposed with "Presented by" above it on episodes of Scientific American Frontiers from this era, when Alan Alda hosted.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A news-like twinkling theme is used, with a 4-note dreamy synth tune playing twice in different keys, building up to a longer "ding". Droning synths are heard at the end, with a six note chime that repeats until the logo ends.

Audio Variants:

• The short version has the four notes played once, with a short "ding" at the end.
• On Angelina Ballerina and the Scientific American Frontiers variant, the show's closing theme plays over it.

Availability:

• Seen on seasons 3-8 of Barney & Friends (as well as reruns of episodes from seasons 1-2 from 1995 to 1998/1999), Angelina Ballerina, and Scientific American Frontiers episodes of the era. The logo has also strangely been spotted on an episode of Scully: The World Show which was produced on April Fool's Day 2014 and first aired on July 25 of that year.
• The original version never appeared on TV programs in general, as it was used as a station ID, but the medium ID byline variant appeared on local programs from the era, one being at the beginning of the documentary Rob the Drummer, with the usual byline-less logo at the end, and a broadcast airing of Amistad Connecticut: A Legacy Reborn.
• The superimposed variant appears on Scientific American Frontiers, and is left intact on episodes that used it when viewed on the Chedd-Angier website.

7th ID (September 6, 2004-2009)

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Visuals: On a multicolored (purple, white, and blue) background, there is a red stylized "C" with the dot which is seen in the 6th logo, and is close up where we see several characters and celebrities (Alan Alda being licked by a seal on Scientific American Frontiers, Angelina from Angelina Ballerina dancing, and Barney smiling) chroma-keyed in the "C". The "C" with the dot pans out as the characters disappear. The text "CPTV" (acronym for Connecticut Public Television) appears next to it in a similar font for the text in the 6th logo. Then a purple, white and blue line is drawn and "CONNECTICUT" is seen above the line.

Variant: There are two still, superimposed variants with "Presented by" above the logo. These were used on the final season of Scientific American Frontiers.

Technique: CGI combined with live-action and traditionally animated clips of the characters and celebrities.

Audio: 3 bell/triangle notes, followed by a 4-note fanfare (E, C, A, D). On other shows, a female announcer says "A production of CPTV Connecticut." This is also heard on The Saddle Club.

Audio Variants:

• Some shows, like with the Scientific American Frontiers variants, use the ending theme.
• On PBS prints of kids' shows (save for The Saddle Club and Angelina Ballerina), an alternate version of the fanfare is heard; the opening is different and has a harp/piano section alongside a cymbal crash, and the 4-note fanfare is a bit shriller.

Availability: Appears on episodes of the era from shows like the final season of Scientific American Frontiers. It was also shown at the end of PBS airings of three HIT Entertainment series, namely seasons 9-10 of Barney and Friends, seasons 7-14 of Bob the Builder, and seasons 8-11 of Thomas & Friends; 2008-2009 prints use the WNET logo. It also appeared on PBS prints of The Saddle Club and Angelina Ballerina. It was found recently on season 1 of Seemore's Playhouse.

8th ID (2009-2013)

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Visuals: On a room-esque background with a floor and a spotlight is stylized glass "C"s with dots merge into each other from the left. Once they finish, while light bursts into us the same C-Dot logo from the 2 previous logos becomes embedded in what looks like a cut off square or half of a trapezoid, colored red. The words "Connecticut Public Television" fly in one by one (a la the 1984 KLRU logo).

Variant: For their 50th anniversary, the animation is different. There is red chips flying around to unveil the logo. The "C" seems to be carved out rather than plastered onto the shape. Below the logo is a big "30" in yellow in front of a few red chips. Below the "50" is "CELEBRATING FIFTY YEARS" in a thin font. Below that is "OF TELEVISION EXCELLENCE" in a much less thin and smaller font.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The last note of the 2009 PBS logo. For the local variant, a violin piece or a female announcer saying the funding provided for the program.

Availability: It was seen at the end of programs until 2013. ^[Examples?]

9th ID (July 1, 2013-2018)

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Visuals: Over a light gray background, the logo starts with the text "CPTV" wipe in from the bottom left to the top right of the screen. The text slowly zooms in towards the viewer then halts.

Technique: 2D CGI.

Audio: A guitar and hand clap drum tune that sounds like the closing to a country song.

Availability: Seen on current CPTV programming, including Infinity Hall Live and The Kate.