APT was founded in 1961 as the Eastern Educational Television Network (EEN), distributing public TV shows such as The French Chef, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Washington Week to public television stations on a regional basis, and then nationwide when NET (now PBS) was formed. They changed their name to Interregional Program Service in the 1980s (though it still used the old name on some shows, such as Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, until 1992), became American Program Service (APS) in 1992, and changed to their current name, American Public Television in 1999. It didn't appear to use a logo until 1970, and then stopped using its own logo for nearly two decades after that.
Logo: On a black background, we see three squares—one in the distance zooming out, one with a white outline that flips, and one with red outlining. Each one is blue with transparent lines and watermarks of the name, close-up and in a Helvetica font. As the watermarks scroll to the right and zoom in, a red outline forms another square, which appears like a CRT-TV being turned on as "American Public Television" fades in; it is in the same color and has another watermark of the name with the camera panning on it.
Variants:
Starting in 2000, the URL text "aptonline.org" appeared under the company's name. The first few seconds of the animation are also cut off. In more recent years, it reads "APTonline.org".
On The Organ Wise Guys shorts, the logo appears at the bottom of the screen with the text: "Copyright (C) (Year) American Public Television" to the left of the logo.
Availability: Uncommon, but when it was in use, it was basically the PBS equivalent to Sony Pictures Television. It was tacked onto the end of practically every program APT distributed during the period, such as The Saddle Club and A Place of Our Own, as well as shows on independent public TV stations such as 2010-2019 KCET and on the digital broadcast network Create (which APT partially owns). With the logo ending in 2008 and being replaced by the 5th logo, its presence has dipped down, but it can still be found on older prints of APT programs. It made an appearance on the 2010 documentary Greece: Quest For the Gods. Though APT normally doesn't show its logos at the end of The McLaughlin Group, this made a surprise appearance on a 2009 episode thereof. The original 1999 variant strangely appears before the 1993 Connecticut Public Television logo on a 2014 episode of Scully: The World Show.
2nd Logo (2008-February 5, 2011)
Logo: A new-and-improved version of the previous logo, with notable differences:
The logo is darker and seemingly quicker in pace.
The company name is stretched.
The square with "American Public Television" appears via a "wipe-in" effect.
"American Public Television" is in a different font.
There are spotlights shining over the logo.
Variant: Originally, there was no URL in the logo, but starting in late-2009, the URL text "APTonline.org" appears under the company's name.
Technique: Same as the last logo.
Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo.
Availability: Scarce. Appeared on WORLDFOCUS episodes from the era. Due to its short life, it wasn't nearly as common as the previous logo. It still appears on old episodes of Doc Martin.
3rd Logo (February 6, 2011-)
Logo: On a shady steel gray/blue gradient background, we see the words "American Public Television" appear in the Times New Roman font. Then, several blue/aqua/white-textured squares zoom out from the sides of the screen and the URL "aptonline.org" appears below.
Trivia: This logo was made by Zydeco Design as part of a rebrand of APT coinciding with the latter's 50th anniversary.
Variants:
A still version exists, where the background is white, the squares' colors are altered and the company's initials with the words "American Public Television" underneath it.
On Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie and The Whole Truth with David Eisenhower, the 4:3 version of the logo is stretched to fill the 16:9 image.
Sometimes, as seen on Nightly Business Report and Rough Cut: Woodworking with Tommy Mac, the logo fades in and out.
Technique: Modern computer animation.
Music/Sounds: A re-arranged version of the last 3 notes of the 1996 American Program Service logo's music. Otherwise, the actual 1996 theme or the closing theme is used.
Availability: Current and common. Seen on current prints of APT's archival programming such as Mr. Bean and The Joy of Painting, and newer (episodes of) APT shows such as WORLDFOCUS and Nightly Business Report, among others. The version with the normal fanfare can be seen at the end of Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Royalty Close-Up, A Daring Journey: From Immigration to Education, The Reformation: This Changed Everything, Free to Rock, the fifth season of Fit 2 Stitch, and a series of 78 movies licensed from 20th Century Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Sony Pictures Television (though the telefilm Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie uses the later fanfare).
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