PBS North Carolina

Background: UNC-TV (short for "University of North Carolina Television") is the statewide PBS network affiliate for North Carolina, owned by the University of North Carolina. It went on the air on January 8, 1955 via its flagship station WUNC-TV in Chapel Hill as an NET affiliate. In 1970, it became part of the PBS affiliation. Overtime since its launch it would sign on more transmitters to cover all of North Carolina. In the late 1970s it began calling itself North Carolina Public Television. It adopted the name UNC-TV in the 1990s, which was used until January 12, 2021.

1st Logo

(1955-Mid-1960s)

Nickname: "The Flags"

Logo: Just a gray background with four flags, arranged like a cross. On the flags are (and in all caps):

WOMAN'S COLLEGE

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

NORTH CAROLINA STATE COLLEGE

CHANNEL 4 TELEVISION

The 1st letters on each of the flags are much larger than the rest, resulting in the call letters "WUNC".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, though this logo had an announcer of some sort.

Availability: Extinct. Was only used as a local ID.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo

(1971-1979)

Nickname: "Patriotic UNC TV", "Eyesore UNC TV"

Logo: A giant blur zooms out on a black background, via a "rollercoaster" effect. When it gets to the center of the screen, it's revealed to be "unc tv" in a rather ugly font with extra pieces within most of the gaps, all of it conjoined,and colored dark blueand apple greenin the flash. "unc" slides upward and "tv", downward, at which point, "presents" fades in, which is in the same font.

Variant: A station ID exists. This features the logo to the left in two tinted shades of blue (due to being filmed), with "network" in a similar font and in white resting near it. There is no animation.

FX/SFX: Early Scanimation effects.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized harpsichord jingle, ending with a bassoon sounder. An announcer is heard for the station ID.

Availability: Ultra rare..Woodwright's Shop episodes of this era should still have this logo. The station ID is extinct, and was found only recently.

Editor's Note: The logo is.very.ugly, due to the poor choice of color scheme and font.

3rd Logo

(1979-1983)

Left: The words being formed.

Right: The NCPTV logo.

Nickname: "Bronze S", "UNC-TV of Doom", "S from Limbo", "The S that Isn't as Hellish"

Logo: On a black background, we see the words "North Carolina" in a white outlined Antique Olive font, surrounded by large trails of blue, zoom out and flash, turning into the words "The UNC Center for Public Television" surrounded by several blue outlined words written with the same message. The white on the central words dissolve away to reveal a transparent stylized "S", which contains two pairs of 2-tone tan lines arranged in an "S" shape similar to the Screen Gemslogo, and the outer words fade away to make room for some lights to make an S more visible. "Presents" flashes in below, and the "S" shines with some point lights.

FX/SFX: The Scanimate/chyron words, the model S, and the flashing; typical 70's effects.

Music/Sounds: It starts out with a rising synth sawtooth wave sound, ending with a 9-note synthesized harpsichord fanfare.

Availability: Rare. It's seen on episodes of Woodwright's Shop, which are still aired to this day on UNC-TV affiliates.

Editor's Note: The music and logo designs won't be too friendly for some.

4th Logo

(1983-1990)

Nickname: "Multi-Square Lights"

Logo: On a black background fading into a navy blue-black gradient background (opposite from the black-blue gradient backgrounds you see in the WTTW, KOCE, and WXXI logos; and much like the one in the Parade Video logo), a pink square shoots out to the right, and an orange square shoots out to the left, while many other squares, colored pink, blue, green, orange, etc, flash on screen to form the words "North Carolina Public Television" in the same font as before, arranged vertically to the left of the screen. Finally, a few more pink squares flash on the logo.

Variants:


 * A variant in 1988 on a "TV Worth Watching" promo shows the UNC symbol zooming out before a slower version of the logo forming and then the squares flash in a different pattern. The logo is cut halfway with clips of local shows. The station ID also had the logo played without the symbol zooming out or has the logo just flashing the squares, which also appeared on programs.
 * A variant exists where pink squares flash two times in between, and is darker.
 * An local variant existed where the text instead read "The University of North Carolina Center for Public Television", placed at the bottom of the screen with a smaller and different sized font fading in. A pink square then flashes in and the symbol fades in as well. It then flashes and the square disappears.

FX/SFX: The squares zooming out and flashing to form the words, again being typical effects for the time period.

Music/Sounds: A three-note xylophone tune, ending with three wooden drum beats.

Music/Sounds Variants:


 * The variant had a different theme in which there is a xylophone jingle, followed by a single "donk" sound, four xylophone notes, and two more deep string notes. Sometimes it might just cut out the beginning of the jingle. The promo has the "TV Worth Watching" theme.
 * The other variant had two extra beats.
 * The local variant had the theme, without the drum beats, occur when the logo appears.Availability: Rare. It can be found on old Woodwright's Shop episodes and was also used as a station ID.

Editor's Note: None. Much tamer than before.

5th Logo

(1990-1992)

Logo: Against a shady dark blue/sky blue wall background with a shiny reflective floor, the same "S" from the 4th logo, but surrounded by a circle, turns to face us. The words "NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC TELEVISION" fade in below, and "Presents" flashes in at the right.

Variant: A still variant used at the end of some shows had a yellow 2D UNC logo on a blue/black gradient background (very much like the one in the 3rd Simitar and Video Treasures logos) with "Produced by North Carolina Public Television" in the center and a copyright date below. After that, the copyright date would fade out and "in association with" would appear just below the name, followed by the next logo.

FX/SFX: The live-action model S turning, "Presents" flashing in.

Music/Sounds: A three-note synth tune with a "bling" as "Presents" flashes in.

Music/Sound Variant: A low-tone version of the music exists.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on NCPTV-produced programs from the period. '90s episodes of Woodwright's Shop would be the most likely episodes to find with this logo.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo

(1992-1995)

Logo: On a medium goldenrod/dark red/bluish-gray/orange ethereal BG with several streaking lines, panels, and ripples, we see "University of North Carolina" and "PRESENTS" below, all in silver. Then, a yellow rectangle streaks by from right to left, leaving behind another line below it "TELEVISION" fades in on it in black.

Variants:


 * There is a variant used at the end of shows. Against the same background as the opening variant (more or less), we see the text "Produced by University of North Carolina". Below that is "CENTER FOR PUBLIC TELEVISION" on a mango/orange gradient rectangle.
 * An earlier opening variant has the same concept, but one panel wipes in the words "North Carolina Public Television" with the NCPTV logo and "PRESENTS" below inside a black rectangle. The BG also changes to a old mauve/grass green gradient.
 * When used locally, the logo is at the low-bottom corner. Below fades in "(UNC-TV logo) Learning for a lifetime."
 * In 1995, the logo had a 40th anniversary banner.FX/SFX: The streaks and ripples.

Music/Sounds: A six note synthesized oboe fanfare.

Availability: Once again, seen on episodes of Woodwright's Shop of the period whenever reran.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo

(1995-2008)

Logo: On a blue background, we see a giant glass square with "University of North Carolina Television", stacked, over the UNC-TV logo, consisting of "UNC" and "TV" in a condensed sans-serif font (possibly Futura), and the UNC-TV symbol between them. There is also a line between the text and the logo, which shines all over.

Variants:


 * There exists a version with a mahogany/copper BG.
 * Sometimes, there is a brief bit which shows the square turning into place.FX/SFX: The turning and the shine.

Music/Sounds: Either a fanfare with drums, french horns, flutes & a harp, or the end theme of the show.

Availability: Was seen on various shows produced by UNC-TV, such as the first season of The Zula Patrol, as well as a local ID.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Logo

(1996-2005?)

Logo: On a teal-tinted background with a translucent image of a waving North Carolina flag, a lighthouse's light turning, and the UNC-TV logo, the words "UNC-TV Presents" fade in in blue-violet, along with a distorted white "Presents" in the background.

FX/SFX: The background images, "UNC-TV Presents" fading in.

Music/Sounds: Same music as the 7th logo.

Availability: Once again, seen on Woodwright's Shop episodes of the time.

Editor's Note: None.

9th Logo

(2000-2006)

Logo: On a black background with tiny white dots, some large dark teal & indigo UNC-TV logos slowly turning around, and the words "UNC-TV" in purple (teal for the logo in between), the words "UNC-TV" (white letters with a meadow green UNC-TV logo here) with "PRESENTS..." below fade in.

FX/SFX: The fading words, the images in the background.

Music/Sounds: Same music as the 8th and 9th logos.

Availability: Once again, seen on Woodwright's Shop episodes of the time.

Editor's Note: None.

10th Logo

(2002?-April 2018)

Logo: Against a black BG, a large capri UNC-TV logo surrounded by a rotating compass-like circle comes into view from the left, rippling constantly. Then, we see several telve robin egg blue rectangles containing the cities and station numbers which UNC-TV serves flying across the screen from the right. As the S reaches the center of the screen, it blurs away, causing the words "UNC TV" (with an turquoise-colored S shape in the middle), in violet, to fade in, along with the URL www.unctv.org below.

Variant: Prior to 2010, it showed eleven stations. It was changed when the Caton transmitter WUNW-TV went on the air on July 21, 2010. In addition, the ID was remastered in 16:9 high definition.

FX/SFX: The "S" coming into view, the stations flying by.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A march-like tune with strings (actually an excerpt from"Carolina On My Mind") with an announcer saying "You're watching the 11 stations of the University of North Carolina center for public television.". After a while, the announcer then says "Member supported UNC-TV."

Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variant: There are some announcer variants used over the years, such as "This is UNC-TV. Learning for a lifetime.", among others.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

11th Logo

(2007?-2018)

Logo: On a water background, we see two. giant, tilted, blue copies of the "S" from before with rays spinning clockwise. The one on the right overlaps the one on the left. "UNC-TV" (with a green circle "S" in the middle) zooms out to the top. Once it gets close enough,"ORIGINAL PRODUCTION" zooms in. If in 4:3,"A" appears on top of the logo. Otherwise, after that, once it stops, alight passes through the text.

Variants:


 * Sometimes, "PRESENTS" substitutes "ORIGINAL PRODUCTION".
 * Two shorter closing versions have "UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA TELEVISION" replacing "ORIGINAL PRODUCTION". One has the finished product, while the other has the logo fade in after a second of the animation. This is also seen during funding credits, opening and closing.
 * The logo may fade out earlier than normal.

FX/SFX: The zooming and the rays. Nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral fanfare with chimes.

Music/Sounds Variant: On at least one episode of The Zula Patrol, the previous logo's music is used.

Availability: Common. Seen on many 2007-2018 UNC-TV productions, such as the 2nd and 3rd seasons of The Zula Patrol.

Editor's Note: None.

12th Logo

(January 1, 2016)

Logo: We see a forest. "UNC-TV" in indigo (with a teal circle "S" between the words) slides from the trees. "ORIGINAL PRODUCTION" fades in.

FX/SFX: The sliding and the fading.

Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Only seen on a My Home NC episode titled "BILTMORE: OUR DOWNTON | Asheville, NC".

Editor's Note:.Not much effort put into this logo, which is possibly the reason why this logo only lasted.one day.

13th Logo

(2018-January 12, 2021)

Logo: On a white background with several sketchy lines, pieces of the UNC symbol in teal come from both sides, with the "UNC-TV" text being wiped in by the other pieces. The symbol then rotates and zooms out to its usual position.

Variants:


 * As a local ID, the logo is set beside a large teal square, which it rotates into position. On the square, the 12 station's callsigns, numbers, and locations slide in one by one.
 * For the opening of programs, the logo, already formed, zooms out and slides to the left, while "ORIGINAL Production" slides out to the right in teal.

FX/SFX: The pieces sliding together, the logo forming.

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Current.

Editor's Note: A boring downgrade compared to the previous logos (but not the 12th logo), due to the simple animation.