Detroit Public Television

Credits

Captures by
Chow Woon Gan

Video captures courtesy of
A Cheesepuff from Space, Myles Breton, Cesar Blanco, Broken Saw and retronewfoundland

Background

Detroit Public Television is the on-screen moniker of Detroit, Michigan-based PBS affiliate WTVS, which has used the name since 1998.

1st Logo (2001?-2003?)

Visuals: On a brown wooden background, there is a white piece of paper and a yellow crayon drawing on it, before zooming out to reveal a box containing a stylized version of part of an eclipse, drawn with a blue crayon appearing and “Detroit Public Television” underneath drawn in blue crayon and “WTVS Detroit” written in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Trivia: The "Eclipse" logo in this ident came from a public produced-organization company called Lark International, which is its parent original company next to PBS. The company had also formerly owned KUHT/Houston Public Television (now Houston Public Media) until 2001, and KCTS Seattle until 2006, both of which used the same "Eclipse" logo.

Variant: There is a longer version that consists of the blue crayon coming in first and drawing the logo before the yellow crayon joins it.

Technique: All CGI.

Audio: A lively instrumental theme with dialogue between a father and a son: "Hey, what are you doing?", "Watching Detroit Public Television.", "That's WTVS Detroit!", "I knew that."

Audio Variants: Two additional voiceover variations of the short version have surfaced and are detailed below:

• "Wanna take a break?", "Sure!", "I think you’re gonna like this next work."
• "I’m going to watch it.", "So am I!", "Detroit Public Television!"

Availability: It only appeared during PBS Kids programming in the WTVS viewing area. Only three recordings of the short version and its variations have been found to this day. VHS recordings are the only way to view it.

Legacy: This is a classic ID to those who viewed it back in the day.

2nd Logo (2001-2002?)

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Visuals: The eclipse logo is seen on a blurry animated background similar to WTVS's fifth logo. The texts "A Production Of" and "Detroit Public Television" are above and below the logo.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Three chime notes against a string background.

3rd Logo (2002?-)

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  Production version

• 

  Presentation version

Visuals: On a dark blue tinted action background, "A Production of", "Detroit Public Television" and the eclipse logo between them zoom out, leaving trails behind. In the background, there are the transparent letters of "Detroit Public Television". The eclipse in the square shines.

Variants:

• An enhanced version was introduced in the mid-late 2000's, where the background is lighter in color.
• On season 3 of In the Frame: Exploring the DIA, the enhanced logo (and the credits) is now played inside a photo frame laid on a red cloth.
• "Production" may be replaced with "Presentation".

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: The three notes from the 1998 logo on a piano, horn and string, followed by two more notes. For the enhanced version, there is no horn nor string, only the piano.

Availability: Seen on local WTVS productions like One Detroit and American Black Journal.

4th Logo (2002-2004)

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Visuals: On a filmstrip background, the eclipse logo zooms out from the center of the screen. As it zooms out, the words "Detroit Public TV" zoom out, with "Detroit" settling on top and "Public TV" settling below it. Suddenly, the background morphs into a film leader as the words "WTVS Detroit" and Detroit Public TV's web address scroll across the screen. The logo may be overlaid over the 2002 CPB background in 2:35:1. If not, it has "It's Worth Your Time" below.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The same three notes but in a lower pitch played on a piano mixed with drums and what sounds like an organ, and then the sound of an old film projector.

Availability: Was only used as a local ID.

◄ WTVS

Detroit Public Television