Avco Broadcasting Corporation

Logo descriptions by Jason Jones and Stephen Cezar Logo captures by Eric S., TrickyMario7654, V of Doom, snelfu, Shadeed A. Kelly, and Derrick Anderson Editions by Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom, Michael Bass, mr3urious, and Lee Cremeans Video captures courtesy of Eric S. and ENunn

Background: Avco Broadcasting Corporation was the broadcasting division of the Aviation Corporation, which was formerly known as the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation until 1945 (Crosley was an early operator of radio stations and a radio manufacturer). From 1945 up until 1968, the broadcasting division continued to operate under the Crosley name, even though the manufacturing division was already renamed "Avco". On March 1, 1976, the company was sold to Multimedia, Inc., renaming this unit to "Multimedia Program Productions". This division is often confused with Avco Embassy Television, which was formed to syndicate films from the Embassy library to television stations. Both companies were unaffiliated and were owned by Avco.

1st Logo (1968-1973) Avco Broadcasting Corporation (1969)Avco Broadcasting Corporation (1968)Avco Broadcasting Corporation (1972)Avco Broadcasting Corporation Distribution

Nicknames: "Avco Slate", "The Empennage"

Logo: Against a black background, a thick maroon line with a small white right triangle slides in from the left. The triangle stretches into a much larger right triangle with a maroon box to the right, which shrinks into a rectangle, forming an empennage (the tail of an aircraft). The letters "AVCO" (in a black Microgramma font) appear two-by-two inside the triangle. The words:

BROADCASTING- CORPORATION--PRODUCTION

in white (with "PRODUCTION" in a yellow color), fade in below. A very small copyright notice saying "© (YEAR) AVCO BROADCASTING CORPORATION" can be seen near the bottom of the screen.

Trivia: This logo appeared as state of the art on design magazines the time it premiered.

Variants: When The Paul Dixon Show was reran in 1998, a copyright notice reading "(C)1998 HEARST ARGYLE TELEVISION, INC." was added below the logo. There is a superimposed logo that would appear on cartoon specials that reads "PRODUCED FOR AND DISTRIBUTED BY" with the Avco logo (all in black with white text) and "BROADCASTING CORPORATION" below, all in the Microgramma font. Another variant has the superimposed logo with the text "SYNDICATION DIVISION" below the logo.

FX/SFX: The sliding and stretching, all done with cel animation.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show fixed with a horn's majestic fanfare. For the superimposed variant, it's the end-title theme from any program.

Availability: The original version is extinct and originally seen on The Paul Dixon Show during the 1960s and was last seen on a 1998 rerun of the show. If ever reran again, this should be intact. As for the superimposed variant, it is ultra rare and was seen on The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't every Thanksgiving and A Christmas Story every Christmas on Boomerang until 2014.

Editor's Note: One of the rarest logos ever. Programs that were broadcast during this era might have been erased.

2nd Logo (1973-1976) Avco Broadcasting Corporation (1973)



WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS LOUD, SO TURN DOWN THE VOLUME BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO.

Nicknames: "Avco Slate II", "The Trailing Empennage", "Empennage from the FUTURE!"

Logo: There's multiple outlines of the Avco logo, colored in RGB colors, zoom in on a black background and disappear off-camera. Four multicolored Avco logos zooming in from their respective corners (red from the top left, yellow from the top right, green from the bottom left, and blue from the bottom right) merge into the center of the screen to form one single Avco logo, which is white and blank at first before the dark red stripe and "AVCO" text fade in on it. The finished product is the same as the previous logo, with the only difference being the words in the Microgramma font, and "PRODUCTION" being in light gray. A copyright stamp appears below reading "© (YEAR) AVCO BROADCASTING CORPORATION".

FX/SFX: Very well done Scanimation for the time.

Music/Sounds: A loud, high pitched laser sound accompanied by a droning keyboard note and a echoing laser at the end.

Availability: Extinct. Discovered on a Phil Donahue episode that was rescued from the tape trading circuit, in which it was uploaded on YouTube in 2017. It's seen on episodes of The Phil Donahue Show and The Paul Dixon Show during this time period. They're most likely not going to be reran since lifestyle & variety programs from this time period were most likely wiped from existence.

Editor's Note: This logo is noted to be too startling to viewers, due to the in-your-face animation and the loud SFX.