WQED

Background

WQED is a PBS affiliate located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1st Logo (1967-1975)

Logo: On a black background, a strange-looking symbol in school bus yellow is seen, resembling a tulip of sorts. Above the logo is "A Production of" in a white Arial font, and "WQED, Pittsburgh" is seen below the logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extinct. Seen on Drink, Drank, Drunk.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1975-1985)

Logo: Filmed live in 16mm from a helicopter-camera monitor, various aerial shots of Pittsburgh are seen several times, including the Mellon Arena, the Cathedral of Learning, the Pittsburgh skyline, Point State Park, and the U.S. Steel tower. On the last shot (which is in a wide-angle lens), "from WQED Pittsburgh" in a yellow Univers font flips in from the bottom of the screen.

Variant: Starting in 1985, the logo was re-shot using 35mm film with different footage, as well as the logo replaced with the next logo. The "FROM" and "PITTSBURGH" text is in a Avant Grade font, with the latter's 2 T's "connected" together.

FX/SFX: The flipping.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic French horn and kettledrum fanfare accompanied by violins and flutes. As a local ID, it uses either the 1985 "TV Worth Watching" jingle or the 1988 "TV Worth Watching" jingle. The later variant has a shortened rearrangement of the fanfare.

Availability: Probably extinct. Seen on PBS broadcasts of The Nutcracker with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland in the '80s. It could also be seen on Mass, Kennedy Center Tonight, and possibly a few more programs. The latter has been seen on Great Moments from National Geographic.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (January 29?, 1986-Early 2003)

Logo: A shot of the the Pittsburgh skyline at dusk is seen, fading into night after a second. The text "FROM WQED PITTSBURGH" is seen in a white set of fonts. The WQED logo is in a bold font that glows and has a conjoined "WQ". "FROM" and "PITTSBURGH" are in a different, plainer font, with the latter stretched across the screen, and a line divides it and the WQED logo between each other.

Variants:

• Later on, the footage was reshot. A few notable differences include an additional skyscraper (the Fifth Avenue Place), a more zoomed-out image, and a darker night sky.
• A 1-second short variant of the original logo that appeared around 1990 exists.
• For local IDs, the logo is presented similarly to the 2nd logo, although the text is changed to the WQED logo at the time, and it comes in from all sorts of places. Other times, it is a wide shot of Point State Park.

FX/SFX: Just the fading and flashing. It is a good effect to pass as "time-lapse".

Music/Sounds: A 5-note synth-horn fanfare with drumbeats at the end. Creatures Of The Mangrove has a prototype version of the fanfare, with louder instruments.

Availability: Rare; was seen on many shows during this period, such as Infinite Voyage and '90s broadcasts of The Nutcracker with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland.

Editor's Note: This is a favorite logo of many.

4th Logo (September 30, 1991-October 4, 1996)

See the WGBH page for more info.

5th Logo (2003-2006)

Logo: On a green striped background, a white lens flare glares brightly on screen as a grey ring is seen and a red sphere zooms out. The lens flare then consumes the entire ring, causing a blue beveled ring to draw in counterclockwise, leaving a small indention for the ball, and "WQED" spreads in below in a much much plainer sans font, colored blue with a bevel effect. As the light dies down, the sphere duplicates itself and draws a small curved slope to connect with the ring, creating a large "Q". As this happens, "Multimedia" blurs in colored red below the text. The logo brightly shines all over as the background zooms in and repeats itself. "Multimedia" changes itself to "Pittsburgh" after a second.

Variants:

• A local variant has the red orb zooming out and moving on a white background, as multicolored rings wipe in all over the place. As the ball settles into position, a single ring zooms out and meets up with the orb, continuing the logo as usual. The text, however, now includes a slash with "WQEX" attached to it.
• An opening variant exists, where the logo fades in to a white background with the Q zooming out, "WQED" fading in, and "Multimedia" wiping in. They're horizontally arranged at the top portion of the screen, above a row of differently colored rectangles flipping in. They quickly lose their borders and meld into a single line as the logo gains a slight 3D effect. "Multimedia" wipes to "Pittsburgh" from right to left, and the motto "STAY CONNECTED" in spaced out black letters, wipes in below the colored line.
• Starting in 2006, the logo is now has "PITTSBURGH" in white underneath the text, and "produced by" in spaced out white letters brandish the top of the screen. The logo is also now above a night shot of the Pittsburgh skyline. The logo and background zoom in slightly as a lens flare moves a bit. This logo is also presented in HD widescreen as well.
• A variant of the above version (used earlier, though, as a produciton logo) has the logo vertically arranged, with smaller text, bigger logo, and "Multimedia" in white. The background is also set at a different angle and scrolls from left to right, brandishing a white fuzzy bar with "produced by" inside it colored blue.

FX/SFX: Just the fading and flashing. It's a good effect to pass as "time-lapse".

Music/Sounds: A 5-note piano tune that sounds a lot like the 3rd logo's music but sped up, as well as an delayed extra note on the end. Sometimes, the end theme of the program is played over it. The 2006 variant has the tune played as a quicker horn fanfare.

Availability: Uncommon. It has been seen on Pittsburgh's Historic Statues and Josey Carey & Fred Rogers, as well as other programs during the time.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (2006-)

Logo: Fading into a black and dark blue area with transparent clouds, several glowing white "waves" can be seen drawing in. The camera then pans to the right, revealing a brighter area colored yellow and white. The camera then stops as the waves stop glowing turning metallic and a blue ring zooms out to capture them. The camera then zooms out and rotates itself to face straight upwards, revealing more of a orange tint on the right and the ring rotates around, revealing humps and a single one curves out to form the current Q logo. "WQED" then fades in below it, in a dark blue font similar to the 2nd logo, along with "changes lives" in a black typewriter font, fading in the bottom right of the screen.

Variants:

• The short version just has the text fading in usually.
• A longer version has the ring flipping in, with "An HD production of" fading in on the left and "PITTSBURGH" underneath the logo.
• A 60th anniversary version has a "6" zoom out as well to pair with the Q, creating a "60". The "WQED" text also is shifted to the left.

FX/SFX: Modern chroma key effects.

Music/Sounds: A triumphant orchestral fanfare, with an announcer saying "You're watching WQED Pittsburgh." The short version of this has the last 3 notes.

Availability: Current. It can be seen on current programming from WQED. The full version is just a local ID, however.

Editor's Note: None.