KERA-TV

Background

KERA is a PBS affiliate located in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

1st Logo (1974-1977)

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Logo: On a black background, many oscillating bandwidth shapes gradually converge into a thin light purple line near the bottom of the screen. “KERA” in a red Eurostile Extended font slowly slides up from behind the line, followed by “PRESENTS” in white sliding out under the line.

Variant: In its final year, the beginning animation is much cleaner, "KERA" is now green, the line is white, “PRESENTS”is replaced with “PRODUCTIONS”and the pacing is quicker.

FX/SFX: The shapes oscillating and letters sliding, clearly achieved with Scanimate.

Music/Sounds: A somewhat queasy sounding synthesized fanfare.

Availability: Extinct. The original variant appears on Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy. The PRODUCTIONS variant appears on A Thirst in the Garden.

Editor's Note: An advanced logo in its time. However, the logo suffers from age tremendously, especially the original variant.

2nd Logo (1977-1985)

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Nickname: "Blue and White KERA"

Logo: On a blue background, a series of white lines rapidly fly downward from the top of the screen. It then zooms out to reveal the outline of the letters "KERA", which fade in with a flash. The word "DALLAS/FORT WORTH" flashes just below it as the first flash happens. After a while, the bottom caption fades out as the word "PRESENTS" flashes in its place.

FX/SFX: The lines forming the outlines, and the words flashing.

Music/Sounds: An electronic synth increasing in volume, followed by another synth scaling up a few octaves with a rising note in the background.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1985-2000)

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Logo: On a brownish-orange textured background that scrolls upward, the letters "KERA" (in blue, with downward-scrolling textures) zoom out from the left to the center of the screen, and fade to brownish-orange. The background fades to blue, and then white. Below this, "Dallas Fort Worth Denton" appears, and then, "PRESENTS" fades in (both of which are in a yellow Times font).

Variants:

• A longer variant has the "K" zoomed in taking almost the entire screen, which zooms out into place.
• A closing variant has a copyright stamp below, saying "© (YEAR) North Texas Public Broadcasting, Inc.", and replacing "Dallas Fort Worth Denton" and "PRESENTS".

FX/SFX: The background changing colors, "KERA" zooming out, and the text changing.

Music/Sounds: A synthpop tune which sounds like the beginning of "Invisible Touch" by Genesis.

Availability: Rare, unless your PBS station still airs KERA-TV programs of this era, which are mainly imported kids' shows from Canada and the UK. Series like Tots TV, Groundling Marsh, and Katie & Orbie had this logo at the beginning or even end of their shows (odd, considering the "Dallas Fort Worth Denton" fading into "Presents" is part of the logo's animation).

Editor's Note: This logo is a favorite among many thanks to its very catchy music.

4th Logo (1995-2000)

Logo: On a blue background with a white strip on the left side of the screen, a sculpture of a man is seen spinning in the blue background. The sculpture disappears and appears in the white strip, spinning along with other objects that are spinning as well (such as a bronze key, and a wicker basket). The respective logos for the stations KERA and KDTN appear next to the strip, while a painting frame pans on the blue background, and a window frame pans on the white strip.

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Just an announcer saying, with no musical accompaniment, "The following is a local production of KERA 13 and KDTN 2."

Availability: Shows up on programs of the era whenever shown on your local PBS station.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (2000-2005)

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Logo: On a water background, we see "KERA" in a stylized font, with "ERA" connected, shining. The "A" has a pyramid shining inside and it emits signals. On top of that is a bunch of scrambled letters, which eventually read "A PRODUCTION OF".

Variant: TBA

FX/SFX: The shining, the signals, and the scrambling.

Music/Sounds: A rap-like beat, with a bass tone held through out, with a synthesized flute warble, and four synthesizer notes play one beat later.

Availability: Very rare.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (2005-January 2016)

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Logo: On a black background, we see a spinning pyramid zoom out, revealing the same design from the previous logo. The pyramid places itself under the "A" in "KERA" and flashes. "A PRODUCTION OF" gets wiped in by small rectangles above and "DALLAS / FT. WORTH" fades in below.

Variant: One variant has the animation superimposed into the closing credits.

FX/SFX: The pyramid spinning, zooming, and flashing.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme, silence, or on occasion, the music from the previous logo.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on the 2006 PBS rebroadcast of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Editor's Note: None.

7th Logo (2016-)

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: Typical 21st century simplicity.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Current. Seen on APT-distributed episodes of Fit 2 Stitch.

Editor's Note: None.