KONG

Background

The station's former branding, "KONG 6/16", refers to its carriage on channel 6 on local cable systems in the Seattle area and its over-the-air digital/virtual PSIP channel 16. It signed on the air on July 8, 1997. It was locally owned, but managed by KING-TV (which had just been acquired by Belo alongside the rest of King Broadcasting) through a local marketing agreement. The KONG call letters were retained as a tongue-in-cheek reference to King Kong, which made both stations easily marketable together. Belo bought channel 16 outright in 2000, when the FCC began to permit television station duopolies.

1st ID (1998-1999)

Visuals: On a moving green & white checkerboard background, there's an image of a hand-drawn baby crying while holding his arms and legs together. A tear puddle is shown below him, and the image swings side to side. White cursive words "Not for crybabies!" are also shown below, and there are white words "EVERETT-SEATTLE-TACOMA" in an arc above. A blue spiral zooms in while spinning, along with the golden "KONG TV16". The logo soon forms.

Technique: CGI with computer animation.

Audio: A dramatic violin stinger accompained by a baby crying and a burp.

2nd ID (2021)

Visuals: Over a mountain landscape with a floating hot-air balloon, a golden polygon zooms out, and a golden letter "K" wipes in. Three golden dots zoom in above it, and the letter slides to the left to make room for the golden "KONG" sliding in letter by letter. Two blue lines then wipe in, and the logo shines.

Technique: Live-action and flash animation.

Audio: A new-age woodwind tune.