WGBH Boston

WGBH is a PBS affiliate located in Boston, MA. It is owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation and produces more than two-thirds of the national programs for PBS and NET, and it first went on the air in 1955 (though they did not have a logo until 1972, where it became PBS) as an NET affiliate.

Disclaimer
WARNING: If you hate the beep sounds of this logo, just click off!!



1st Logo (1972-1977)
Nickname: "Zoom of Doom", " WGBH of Hell"

The third (first animated) logo premiered in 1972. It began with a blue background, and the letters "WGBH" in a yellow Helvetica font zooming back away from the viewer to the vanishing point. Then the word "Boston", also in yellow, quickly zooms forward engulfing the screen and creating a yellow background, which at this point the word "Presents" zooms forward at a fast pace in blue.

Variants:
 * A black and white version appeared in 1974 on the first two seasons of NOVA (1974-1975).  In this version, "WGBH" and "Boston" are in black, and "Presents" is in white.


 * On Julia Child's The French Chef, the logo was superimposed over a slanted flag of France over a blue background, and the letters were in orange.


 * On early episodes of NOVA, WGBH and Boston are in brown, and Presents is in beige while superimposed into the opening cinematic.
 * On some prints, everything that is supposed to be in blue appears as dark-green most likely due to film quality.
 * The earliest known variant features the WGBH text against a burgundy background, which can be seen on early episodes of The Advocates.
 * There is a version in which a lighter shade of blue is used, which also can be seen on The Advocates.
 * On the first season of NOVA, the words are all in green and scanimated as part of the show's intro.On the Bicentennial edition of Evening at Pops, there is a black background with yellow confetti. The first two words are white and when "Boston" zooms in and takes the full screen, the background is white, and "Presents" is black.
 * On the Bicentennial edition of Evening at Pops, there is a black background with yellow confetti. The first two words are white and when "Boston" zooms in and takes the full screen, the background is white, and "Presents" is black.

Music: Composed by Gershon Kingsley, the music begins with a choppy, eerie UFO-like computer blips that ascend and descend several times. A rising synth violin stinger then plays over the blips, until said stinger settles on a high note. All elements were produced by a MOOG synthesizer.

Scare Factor
High to Nightmare for the 1971 version. The sudden appearance of it, the zooming, and the eerie synth music could scare a good number of viewers. However, many Bostoners love (and some fear) the next logo.

2nd Logo (1977-present)




Nickname: "Flash of Doom", "WGBH of Hell 2"

WGBH changed their logo to its current form in 1974 in-tandem with the previous logo, although they did NOT animate it until 1977. Here are the main versions of this logo:


 * 1977-1987 : The first version of the current logo featured begins with a black background, and then, we see two little lights forming 2 orange 2D "shadows" on the top and bottom. The lights then form an outline of "WGBH" in the center of the screen between the 2 "shadows". When the WGBH logo is completed, an orange flash starts behind it and changes it to "Boston Presents" in an orange Univers font.
 * 1986-1993 : Same as above, but shortened to when the WGBH logo begins to flash
 * 1993-2009 : Similar to the previous versions, but the WGBH logo is already formed as it fades in; the flash occurs, and "BOSTON" appears spaced out underneath the logo in an orange Art Deco font. Starting with this version, the logo began appearing at the end of shows.
 * 2001-2009 : Similar to the 1993 version but the WGBH logo forms at warp speed.
 * 2008-present : Same as above but the lighting and drawing effects are smoothed out and more refined, with stars surrounding the logo (like in space) when it flashes, the flash is brighter than usual, and no text appears.

Variants:
 * There is a version in which the glowing animation occurs but no text appears, which can be seen on episodes of Arthur before 2005.
 * There is a variant of the 2001 logo in which the logo zooms in a bit as its being drawn, which can be seen on some WGBH shows produced from the mid-2000s decade until 2009.
 * Another version of the 2001 logo features the WGBH logo being drawn, and the flash changes it into the PBS logo. This was used as a station ID and also appeared at the beginning of WGBH programming on the station itself.
 * There's a variant of the 2008 logo that is tinted blue, which can be seen on local programming such as Greater Boston. Another variant, also tinted in blue, has various PBS kids characters appearing during the flash, and "kids" appearing underneath the WGBH logo, which can be seen on kids programming produced by WGBH from 2009-2013.
 * On Evening at Pops, the 1986 logo is superimposed into the intro.
 * The 1993 logo was superimposed on The American Experience and Building Big: Domes.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1971 logo. There have been two versions - a long version and a short version. The long version is the entire seven-second jingle, and is in much better sound quality and plays at the correct speed. The short version features just the rising synth chord, and is much more common nowadays.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * Two versions can be heard whether it's long or short; one is the original pitch, while the other is a bit higher-pitched. The 1986 and 2008 logos have the former while the 1993 version has the latter; the 1977 logo has either.
 * The local version has two variants.
 * Before WGBH-produced shows on the station, an announcer says "(show's name) is a production of WGBH, produced in Boston, shared with the world, with the full music.
 * The regular station ID has the short music with an announcer saying "You're watching WGBH Boston".


 * Sometimes, the 1993 or 2001 logos have an announcer say "(show's name) is a production/presentation of WGBH Boston" or simply "A production/presentation of WGBH Boston".
 * On Masterpiece Theater and Mystery, the announcer has a British accent; this lasted until 2000 and 2002, respectively.
 * On the 1999 revival of Zoom, a kid from the show voices over; but starting in 2002, there would be just the music without an announcer.


 * The first kids logo has the sound of children laughing following the jingle.
 * On High School Quiz Show, the 2008 logo has an announcer saying "A production of WGBH".
 * On Neighborhoods, the 1977 logo has a female announcer say "The following program is a co-production of WGBH Boston and Cablevision of Boston"

Scare Factor
High to Nightmare for the original 1977 version, and Medium to High for the 1993, 2001, and 2008 variants. The eerie animation, forming of the logo, the flash, and the eerie synth music have frightened a few. For those who are used to it, it would probably be Minimal to Low. This was appearing in many kids shows associated with WGBH, and also other stations in the East Coast, like WNET, WQED, and WTTW.

Medium for the 2010-present.