WNYC

Background

WNYC was a PBS affiliate located in New York City, New York. Borrowing its name from the radio station of the same name, the station went on the air on November 5, 1961 and served as an NET affiliate until 1970. In 1995, the city decided to sell the station; in 1996, the station became independent, now owned by the Dow Jones company and ITT; taking on a hybrid format of sporting events and business news under the name of "S+" (with a call letter change to WBIS-TV). This format failed, and the station was sold to Paxson Communications in 1998 (renaming it again as the current WPXN-TV); it became the flagship of the family-friendly PAX TV, which became i: Independent Television from 2005-2007 and Ion Television post-January 29, 2007.

1st Logo (1987-1996)

Nickname: "Moving Pink, Purple, and Blue Squares"

Logo: On a black background with many blue, pink, and purple squares and rectangles flying all over the screen, we see the gold letters "WNYC" rotating into place, while the camera also rotates. A purple rectangle with the word "NEW YORK" on it, in spaced-out white letters, pushes upward, and finally, a blue rectangle with "PRESENTS" on it flies in.

FX/SFX: Not too bad animation for the 1980s.

Music/Sounds: An orchestra tune accompanied by a downward synthesized xylophone.

Availability: Might turn up on some locally produced shows from the channel (now WPXN and affiliated with the ION Network, but still on channel 31) from this era, but it's very hard to find.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1990s-1996)

Nickname: "Golden WNYC Text"

Logo: The logo starts off with pictures of New York, with the text "WNYC/31" in gold and "New York" in blue on the bottom right corner. The text fades out and the images stop with an image of a staircase of an apartment complex. The golden text "WNYC" and "TV" with a diamond shape in between, slides in from the bottom left corner to the center.

FX/SFX: Fading animations, and the CGI text.

Music/Sounds: A jazzy tune.

Availability: Extinct. Search for VHS recordings from the early to mid 90s to find this logo.

Editor's Note: None.