National Public Affairs Center for Television

Credits

Descriptions by
lukesams, D.L. Chandell and Megadeth99

Video captures courtesy of
Megadeth99

Background

National Public Affairs Center for Television (commonly known as NPACT) was the former producing arm for Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association, founded in 1961. In 1972, NPACT was folded into WETA, and was fully closed by 1976.

Logo (1970-1976?)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a red "N" and the sky blue letters "P", "C", and "T" (all in a bold, blocky font) slide in place from different directions. After that, a sky blue triangle slides and locks in place between the "P" and the "C" to represent the letter "A". Then, arrows slide (towards each other) into the letters "P" (from the left, stemming from the red "N" as to create a hyphen/dash), "A" (from below) and "C" (from the right). Finally, when the lock-formation of the arrows is completed, the following words pop in below the triangle "A":

NATIONAL
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
CENTER
FOR TELEVISION

Variants:

• A still version is used at the end of programming, along with a copyright for Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association.
  • A rare closing variant has this logo projected in the background, and the camera zooms into it. The logo colors are more saturated here, with the sky blue more of a turquoise shade and the red a bright shade of pink.

Technique: Camera-controlled animation. None for the variant mentioned above.

Audio: A deep, dark three-chord synthesized tune led by a hard percussive instrument (sounding off and synchronizing each locked position) chord in synchronization with each of the three parts of the animated sequence), concluded by four soft, quick low-octave synth notes.

Audio Variant: An early variant has the tune replaced with a series of computer beeps that reverberate at the end. The clangs are kept intact.

Availability: It most famously appeared before the Watergate hearings, and it also appeared on Thirty Minutes With, Uncle Sam Requests the Pleasure of, and Chrome-Plated Nightmare. The early music appeared on early episodes of Thirty Minutes With.