RKO Television was the identity used by RKO General in its television assets, most notably WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in Secaucus, New Jersey (also serving New York City) and KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV) in Los Angeles. RKO General became infamous for dishonest practices and corporate misconduct, causing them to be in near constant investigation starting in the 1960s. In 1987, the FCC ruled that RKO General was unfit to be a broadcast licensee, forcing the company to divest all of its broadcasting assets. The final television station to be sold was Memphis, Tennessee-based WHBQ-TV in 1990, with the remaining radio assets being sold by 1991.
This logo contains flashing images at 0:02. |
Visuals: On a black background, a glowing orb leading a segmented white-lined rectangle slides in from the left of the screen. A bolt of lightning strikes the rectangle and reveals the RKO logo at the time (a red equilateral triangle pointing down with a "thunderbolt" drawn 3/4 through it). An RKO General copyright notice appears below, and the words "RKO TELEVISION" are drawn in by red laser beams on the left and right of the triangle, which pulsates twice at the end. The logo of either WOR-TV or KHJ-TV slides in from the left with several multicolored lines, stopping above the logo.
Trivia:
Variants:
Technique: 2D cel animation.
Audio: Same as the 1981 movie logo. On rare occasions (such as on local newscasts), a generic or stock theme will play over this logo instead.
Audio Variants: On School Beat, the ending theme of the show transitions into the logo's theme.
Availability: This was only known to appear on programming supplied from the RKO General TV stations such as Romper Room, School Beat, Straight Talk, sports games and various newscasts. The WHBQ-TV variants are increasingly rare and were only known to have appeared on the channels newscasts.