WPBT/South Florida PBS

Background

WPBT is a PBS affiliate located in Miami, Florida, also serving Ft. Lauderdale and the Palm Beaches.

1st Logo (1976-1983)

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Visuals: On a blue background, the letters "WPBT" drop down, in a rounded font, "vibrating" as they do so. The letters are outlined at first, but are filled in white seconds later. "WPBT" flips up and disappears, and "MIAMI", in the same font, scrolls downward, copying itself. It then flips into place and "PRESENTS" appears below.

Variants:

• A rare Spanish variant exists, where "PRESENTS" is replaced with "PRESENTA" in Futura.
• An abridged version, for both the English and Spanish variants, has the logo start with the sliding "MIAMI"'s.
• An early variant has "MIAMI" appear in white on a black background, as well as in a thinner font. Below it, "WPBT" zooms in below in a lavender purple color. The opening theme is used here as well as an announcer saying "From Miami, a production of WPBT".

Technique: Scanimate.

Audio: A Moog synth tune that sounds like a telephone ringing, not like in the "Tri-Colored" PBS logo. Towards the end, a synth bass note is heard. This piece is actually a musical cut by Don Voegeli (who originally composed the theme from NPR's "All Things Considered"), from a record in his Instant Production Music series, "Volume 4: News and Public Affairs".

Availability: You'll find this on First Exhibit of Cintas Fellows, TV on Trial, and old ¿Que Pasa, USA? and Nightly Business Report tapes. The Spanish variant can be found in José Luis Rodríguez El Puma and the early variant was found on The Wellsprings.

2nd Logo (1982)

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Visuals: There is a sunset background, and the WPBT logo zooming from the center of the P. When the text stops, the word "Presents" in a brown Arial font, fades in below

Technique: Scanimate.

Audio: An orchestral trumpet fanfare.

Availability: Unknown.

3rd Logo (1983-1985)

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Visuals: The screen zooms into Earth, with a light sparkling where Miami is located. Then the screen fades to a grid with a huge wave of light coming straight to us. The screen cuts to a black background with "wpbt2" in a blue/pink late '70s esque font and a blue outline sparkle. The stacked words "Miami - Fort Lauderdale" fade in below.

Variant: There's a short version of this logo where the word "Miami" is the only one listed below the logo.

Technique: 2D animation, with some computer effects.

Audio: A dramatic synth and orchestral theme, with an excerpt of "Spring" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. An announcer says "WPBT, Miami-Fort Lauderdale."

Audio Variant: The short variant uses a shorter version of the music.

Availability: Unknown.

4th Logo (1985-1989)

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Visuals: Against a black background with rotating bars of light (the same background used in the show's intro at that time), "wpbt" in a silver late '70s-esque font and in between two lines, zoom in and flip downward to the bottom left of the screen. "from" and "miami" are shown on the top left and bottom right, respectively.

Variant: One variant has a blue tint with more polished flipping.

Technique: Scanimate.

Audio: A soothing bass sounder with a constant cymbal beat, and a "whoosh" when the logo comes in.

Availability: This can be found on old tapes of Nightly Business Report, one of which can be seen on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting online.

5th Logo (1985-1990)

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Visuals: In a space backdrop, a blue star flashes on screen, and the "from wpbt miami" logo from the previous logo appears and twirls around until it stops on the bottom left corner. It then flies back to the center.

Technique: Scanimate.

Audio: Only the theme tune to Star Gazer (then called Star Hustler), a synthesized version of Debussy's "Arabesque No. 1".

Availability: Unknown. Obviously, it's on old Star Hustler tapes.

6th Logo (1988-1991)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is "wpbt2", colored purple, and in the same font as the 2nd logo, over the word "m i a m i", in a different, smaller font, but in the same color. The logo zooms in quickly, and the camera travels through the "b".

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A single synth chime note, seguing into the opening theme of Nightly Business Report, which is a synth orchestra sounder.

Availability: Old tapes of Nightly Business Report are more than likely have this logo at the beginning. It might also be seen on StarGazer (then Star Hustler), and ¿Que Pasa, USA?.

7th Logo (1991-1997)

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Visuals: Against a black background with orange flares, the same WPBT logo from the 2nd and 5th logos zooms in, but tilted upward, and even more pink than in the previous logo. After the screen zooms through the "b", the background splits in two in circular form, and the screen cuts to a silhouetted shot of Miami at night. The screen then zooms to just one building with the lights on, and a sun rises from the bottom and zooms away, leading into the show's intro.

Variant: On some episodes of Star Hustlers, the WPBT2 logo does not appear. Instead, it moves directly to the skyline. The first part is replaced with the type of season this show aired (SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, or WINTER) on a tan background (as part of something from the show itself, or the show's main intro), but the sound plays as normal.

Technique: CGI with 2D effects.

Audio: A breathy rising synthesized wind jingle that sounds similar to Viacom's "V of Doom" music. We then hear a synth chime as the sun gets really close to the screen, which segues into the show's theme. This is actually a piece of music from Ascent, by Don Dorsey. This is also heard on a 1995 CBS ID.

Availability: Can be seen on older episodes of Star Hustler (now StarGazer), at least on VHS.

8th Logo (1997-2000)

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Visuals: On a sunset background, the words "Miami", "Fort Lauderdale" and "Palm Beaches" fade in as they zoom out, along with the logo consisting of a rectangular-shaped box with a "2" inside. When they stop, "WPBT" fades in, and the logo fades out shortly after.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Just the sounds of waves crashing to the shore and seagulls squawking.

Availability: Seen at the beginning of StarGazer.

9th Logo (2000-2008)

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Visuals: The screen fades in to a close-up of sand. Water passes over the sand and unveils the previous logo, tilted in a 20th Century Fox-like position. Some blue chyroned-in text saying "An Original Production of WPBT" fades in, along with "Miami", "Fort Lauderdale", and "Palm Beaches". Then the logo fades to black.

Technique: Live-action or CGI effects.

Audio: Just the sound of waves crashing.

Availability: StarGazer is one show that has this logo.

10th Logo (2008-2017)

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Visuals: On a black background with a blue/green-colored aurora, there is a streak of light skim from the left across the screen. Then the current WPBT logo in white fades in from the left. "A presentation of" appears above it.

Variants:

• Sometimes, "An original production of" appears in place of "A presentation of".
• Around 2011, a blue aurora variant was also introduced.
• A zoomed in variant of the blue aurora variant exists.
• A variant appeared on 2013-2014 episodes of Nightly Business Report with the byline "In honor of Charles E. and Dorothy F. Schmidt" sandwiched in between two blue lines.
• Starting in 2015, the blue aurora variant is used, the PBS logo is 3D with color, and "South Florida PBS" appears below.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A calm five-note string sounder. The blue aurora variants use a catchy theme. The byline variant is silent.

Availability: Can be seen on StarGazer and on 2008-2014 Nightly Business Report episodes before production was transferred to WETA. The 2011 blue aurora variant and its zoomed in variant was seen on StarGazer and Art Loft.

11th Logo (2017-)

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Visuals: On a black background, some aquamarine, purple, and blue waves cover the screen as they glow. After that, the new WPBT logo (the text "SOUTH FLORIDA", the PBS logo and a light blue wave with "WPBT" below it) and the text "ORIGINAL PRODUCTION" wipes in with the same effect and slowly zoom in.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as the previous logo.

Availability: Seen on On The Town.