WETA
Background
WETA is a PBS affiliate located in Washington D.C.
1st Logo (1976-1983)
Visuals: On a black background, several "pieces" of the WETA logo at the time (a white italic "W", a red "E" that's made of three lines, a non-italic "T", and a blue trapezoidal "A" with a white star in the center) appear in sync with the music. When the logo is complete, "WASHINGTON D.C." appears below in Avant Garde font.
Variants:
- A filmed variant exists.
- A still variant exists.
- When it was used as a station ID, the logo is still and has a white "26" in the same "font" as the WETA logo, along with having the text "PUBLIC TELEVISION IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL" below the "A" in one single stack.
- A version of the logo seen on local programming exists, where the WETA logo, the "26" from the station ID, and "WASHINGTON D.C." appear via a "strobe" fade effect in that order. Then, the "26" grows to a much larger size than before, causing the WETA logo to shrink and the "WASHINGTON D.C." font to fade out.
Technique: Camera-controlled animation.
Audio: A patriotic fife/drum sounder that is synced to the animation. The still and station ID variants have only an announcer, while the alternate animated variant has a series of binaural synth tunes.
Availability: It can be seen on most WETA programming of the time, such as Washington Week, and Agronsky At Large. Kultur's release of Baryshnikov at Wolf Trap preserves this as well. The filmed variant has been seen on a 16mm dupe print of Music Is Melody. The station ID is Extinct. The local version has only been found once.
2nd Logo (1983-June 30, 1988)
Visuals: Over a black background, a blue-black gradient star with yellow lines trailing behind it slides along the screen to revealing the WETA logo from the previous logo, but thinner and all in a blue-black gradient. It's also in 3D. The logo shines as a blue haze emerges from below and the text "WASHINGTON, D.C." appears in yellow.
Variant: A local ID had the number 26 next to "WETA".
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A synthesized "swish" sound, followed by a 6-note orchestra fanfare.
Availability: Appeared on Washington Week in Review. It appeared on the 1997 Turner Home Entertainment release of the WETA/WYES co-production Spaceflight, an exception to the general rule that station logos don't appear on co-productions between PBS stations.
3rd Logo (July 1, 1988-September 28, 1991)
Visuals: There are three colorful ribbons. The text "WETA" zooms out over a black background with blue, gold, purple
, and pink ribbons and squares with blue stars in them (looking a little bit like the background in King World's "Spotlights" logo). "WETA" settles itself in front of a pink-colored ribbon, and "WASHINGTON, D.C." fades in below.
Variant: There is at least two local ID variants with their channel number 26, one animated and one that is still.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A 5-note synthesized violin sounder.
Audio Variants: In the local ID variant, an orchestral piece plays after the sounder. An announcer says, "This is WETA 26, Washington, D.C. Broadacsting in stereo to your community in suburban Maryland, Virginia, and the District."
Availability: This logo has appeared on many Ken Burns documentaries, such as The Civil War, but it has been plastered on 2015 and 2016 airings of the latter. You'll probably find this on tapes of Washington Week in Review (where it debuted on the weekly edition broadcast on July 1, 1988), as well earlier DVD editions of The Civil War from Warner Home Video. Retained on the Turner Home Entertainment release of The Congress.
4th ID (September 29, 1991-July 31, 1994)
Visuals: On a white marble background, three blue stars form a triangle, with red stripes next to it. Below the symbol is a gold "WETA" in the same font as the 3rd logo, with "WASHINGTON, D.C." below it. Two lines shine, one going across at the top, and the other going down on the left.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A violin stinger culminating into an orchestral note.
Availability: Appeared on WETA programs from the era, including Empire of the Air, National Audubon Society Special, and Washington Week in Review. This appears on the Pacific Arts and Turner Home Entertainment VHS releases of the former, and also on the Turner Home Entertainment releases of Brooklyn Bridge, The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God, The Statue of Liberty, and Huey Long.
5th ID (August 1, 1994-August 31, 1997)
Visuals: Over a purple
-tinted video of the exterior of the White House, a white "W" draws itself on the top center of the screen. The letters "W", "E", "T" and "A" appear one by one below, and grow as they do. A white square appears via a strange "wipe" effect over the "W" logo, turning it black. Simultaneously, the text "WASHINGTON, D.C." appears below.
Variant: A version with an inverted color scheme against a moving orange and green background was also been spotted.
Technique: 2D animation.
Audio: Four orchestral hits playing against a percussion beat in the background the whole time. When the square draws itself, an elevator-like "ding" is heard.
Availability: Appeared on Ken Burns' The West and Washington Week in Review. The former program preserves this on DVD. This also appeared on Baseball, but not on Turner's VHS release or MLB Network broadcasts. One of the last new programs on which this appeared was Thomas Jefferson.
6th ID (September 1, 1997-October 2, 2009; April 25-30, 2016; June 11-September 3, 2020)
Visuals: Over a shady cobalt blue background, the text "WETA", in yellow, spreads out. It is at an angle and turns to face the screen. After that happens, two red ribbons draw themselves around the text. When the animation finishes, "WASHINGTON DC" appears below. When used as a station ID, the background shimmers for a few.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A four-note wind sounder. When used as a local ID, it used a piece of new-age music. A female announcer says, "You're watching WETA Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia."
Availability: Appears on Washington Week in Review and Globe Trekker/Pilot Guides episodes from 1997-2008. However, the show's title has been shortened to Washington Week since 2001. It also appears on many Ken Burns documentaries, such as Jazz (most episodes of which preserve this on the streaming version) and The War (which preserves this on 2020 rebroadcast). Its last known appearance was on The National Parks: America's Best Idea, and it still appears on rebroadcasts of the series today even on newer prints.
7th ID (2006-)
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Visuals: On a stylized white/silver background with bright lights, we see the WETA logo appear in the same manner as the previous logo, but with "WETA" in black, and only the left ribbon drawing in. "WASHINGTON D.C." is shown below, spreading apart.
Variants:
- The program Sara's Weeknight Meals has this in open matte, squeezed to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio.
- After PBS and WETA took over the American distribution of BBC World News beginning on June 3, 2019, a copyright notice for the BBC started appearing on this logo at the end of the program.
- In a rare instance of a production logo appearing anywhere other than the start or end of the program, PBS NewsHour and PBS News Weekend have an in-credit variation that appears following each edition's News Wrap during the first half.
- PBS NewsHour has a shot inside the studio with the WETA print logo below that of the program and text reading "Stream PBS NewsHour and more on the PBS Video app" at the bottom of the screen, followed by an exterior shot of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism where the WETA print logo is replaced with that of Arizona State University. Bob Hurley says, "This is the PBS NewsHour, from WETA Studios in Washington, and in the West from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University."
- PBS News Weekend has a similar variant, except only the WETA print logo and the text at the bottom of the screen appears, and the transition is to a white background with the PBS NewsHour logo on it. Bob Hurley says, "This is PBS News Weekend, from WETA Studios in Washington, home of the PBS NewsHour, weeknights on PBS."
Technique: 2D animation.
Audio: A short piano jingle. Sometimes, the program's ending theme plays instead.
Audio Variant: On the second episode of The Vietnam War, "Riding the Tiger", the first two notes are cut off.
Availability: Found on PBS NewsHour, Nightly Business Report, Washington Week, and newer Ken Burns documentaries, as well as newer prints of older Ken Burns documentaries, such as The Civil War and Jazz (the first episode of which plasters the previous logo on the streaming version). Despite the new logo's debut, it is still in use appearing on episode 2 of La Flonteira with Pachi Jinich and various programs on Create.
8th ID (January 15, 2022-)
Visuals: On a white background is the word "WETA" slowly zooms in to the center. Then a CGI red ribbon flies from the above and formed under the "WETA" word.
Variants:
- On BBC World News and Ken Burns documentaries, an abstract rendition of the capital is used as the background instead.
- PBS NewsHour and PBS News Weekend continue to use their respective mid-show in-credit variants, but with this logo's print version in place of that of the previous logo.
Technique: A mix of 2D and 3D animation.
Audio: A soft six-note piano jingle. The variant pitches it one tone higher.
Availability: Seen on many shows currently produced by WETA.
