Wow, I have never ever seen a station ident like this, the animation and fanfare are so perfect together, I wonder why we can 't have such good station identifications, both American and Canadian, like with WNBC in the past.
Possible guesses: 1. The NYC market was the only one for which the station ownership (NBC) could afford such a station ID. 2. These animations suggest location. Animation might have been more costly than photography 3 For cities much smaller than NYC a skyline shot would be enough to establish a location.
1 - Central Park 2 - East River 3 - Radio City Music Hall (Rockettes) 4 - Coney Island 5 - Rockefeller Center (where WNBC still has its studios and offices) 6 - Times Square.
@@stevevasta When I was a kid(60s, 70s)there were four VHS stations(for PBS, NBC, ABC, and CBS)in Boston, and two UHF stations, and we could get in a few out-of-town signals, but we didn't have as many as New York!
I'm diggin' how the logo will just sort of come from out of nowhere and just ZOOM into view. Very, very creative! The music is fantastic, a little fanfare to open and then the sustained horns swell to a grand finish.
At this time (1964) most TV stations were still using slides with voiceover as IDs. This being the New York flagship NBC station, it looked like they pulled out all the stops. VERY cool.
And notice that, because NBC was based in Rockefeller Center, the animations are all iconic New York scenes: the Empire State Building, the Rockettes, the old Coney Island Cyclone, etc.
Be reminded that 1964 was the opening of the New York World's Fair, and people from across the country and the world flocked to NY for that event. No doubt WNBC pulled out all the stops to put the best face on the city.
I can just imagine the boys having the telly on in their suite at the Plaza - just to see - and then these promos come on and it sinks in that they're *actually* in New York City!
I remembered the big 4 with the NBC logo inside the 4. What I don't remember was the animated IDs that went with it, since it was done before I was born. It's nice to bring back some nostalgia.
This collection of station I Ds is really ahead of its time. Most local network affiliates of that day would just use a still slide with a local place of prominence or perhaps a photo of the studio's building exterior. This collection is a keeper.
Such seems not to have been done in such other giant cities as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit (it was a giant city back then!), Washington, or Houston.
There were some shows that aired in color during the 1964-65 television season, but many shows aired in black-and-white until the 1966-67 television season. Batman...In Color!
It is a terrific city. Its skyline greets you from afar, its landmarks are numerous and come in every price range, and the shopping is astounding. This is definitely one place where you should go before you die - there is no place like it on earth!
This is terrific! For years, I thought that station IDs from that era was a still with call letters and kitschy elevator music. Perhaps it was up in Canada and many places in the States, but not in New York. Thanks for sharing these IDs - they were something else. (And I mean this in a good way.)
Great station breaks! The music seems a bit on the loud side, but I'm guessing these originally aired with the music cranked down and a "live" announcer's voice-over. (R.I.P. to the great NBC announcers like Mel Brandt, Howard Reig, Fred Facey, and of course, Donnn Parrrdo!)
rockvilleraven Actually, the other announcers I mentioned; Reig, Facey, and probably Brandt, also had lifetime NBC contracts; Don Pardo was the last surviving member of that group.
On WNBC, they probably had a V/O over these animated I.D.'s either in the middle or towards the end, some of which V/O's are among the better-known names within that group.
The music cue was similar to the theme used during the 1965 NBC fall preview special, "A Secret Agent's Dilemma" (and the network used variations of this music in some of their promos in the late '60s)...
WNBC-TV was probably one of the first U.S. TV stations to broadcast their station ID's in color. In most other markets at that time, it was considered impractical/uneconomical to invest in color broadcast equipment, as most television programming was not in color and the majority of people still had black-and-white TV sets.
Yet, it was the only station in NYC to broadcast in color in 1964 while the others were still in B&W (WCBS, WNEW (now WNYW-TV), WABC, WOR (now WWOR-TV) and WPIX).
I can attest to that font for the station logo. I'm a DC native, and remember the large '4' with the NBC snake logo embedded in its arm quite a lot for WRC-TV 4 back in the 60's-70's. That logo would flash with a lot of other animation at the network sign-off at the conclusion of programming at night while the announcer gave the station I.D...We also had an afternoon movie in DC- also called 'Movie 4'- but its opening credits were different.
I have seen some old monitor slides for Washington's WRC-TV 4 with the notable NBC snake logo embedded inside the four, with staff announcer Lee Dayton's "Full color four" as the voiceover.
Over the last few seconds of the first ID, an announcer would say something like "Frank McGee with The Eleventh Hour News, tonight at 11" during the station identification break.
OK, these were actually used between 1963-1968. YCMS was used behind the stills. This was primarily used for announcements - "Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show @ 11:30" for example. Most annoying one was "Jim Hartz @ 11."
Ah, so all NBC O&O's at one time or another with the dial position of 4 (66-72 MHz) used this logo. Thanks for the confirmation. Then again, WNBC, WRC and KNBC also used the same type of '4' as used in the '4N' era of 1976-79.
From what I've seen in pictures of Times Square billboards, WNBC-TV had one on (I think) the east block between 43rd and 44th Streets during c.1965-66 where the "Your Community Minded Station" motto was in view. I think it may've replaced the billboard for Kleenex tissues, and was south of the iconic "Camel" billboard. From c.1960 to about 1964, Channel 4 used a slogan, "The Station of Varied Viewing," for their sign-offs.
An excellent set of animated station IDs depicting New York City at its post World War II zenith. How cool would it be if WNBC resurrected these to show at the top of the hour?
Maybe such owned-and-operated NBC stations could do this. The animation would be costlier, but I can imagine how one does this with the NBC affilliates of Chicago and Dallas.
Adding to your previous comments about the ID quality then & now; I wonder if these were meant to give WNBC some showbiz polish since they're the Peacock's flagship station. Most of the other NBC affiliates around the country at this time usually went with just a static image of their station ID, a logo & a voice announcer, right?
if they had a old specifically for nbc holiday special being re aired and it wasn't edited out fast enough, I remember spotting them very quick. It used to be attached to the mary martin peter pan special which usually came on either durring easter or thanksgiving week. The last time it aired was in about 1992-93 and they remastered it so these don't "leak" anymore.
Based on related film I'd seen at the time of transferring this, I figured the parachute drop connected this with the WF '64. But if the p-d was also part of Coney Is. at that time, the ID could be a reference to that.
I'm not sure (after all, I am a New Yorker), but from what I could tell News Gothic Condensed was used for the calls and city in WRC-TV's case, as opposed to Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed (a.k.a. Standard Condensed) for WNBC-TV.
Interesting that the same opening as on the first file, originated in color. Were the "Movie 4" openings available in a color version, or just B&W? Meanwhile, the "4" logo with the snake-logo box inside was also in use by WRC-TV in Washington, DC; don't know about KNBC in Los Angeles, though.
Who was the Newscaster on the 11Pm new before Jim Hartz on WNBC. I think Hartz took over the aching job in 1966 or 1964. Att the time Lou Boda was doing sports and Frank Field was doing weather.
NBC was once owned by RCA who had the "compatible color" tv system approved by the FCC, so they were first with Color Television and the "NBC Peacock", if you had a black and white set, you could still watch the shows but not in color.
Mr. Hartz first came to WNBC in 1964 and handled the 11 P.M. newscasts for, what, ten years? So if, as you say, these animated top-of-hour ID's were first put into service in 1963, that means they were already in place at the point of Mr. Hartz' arrrival. Wonder what replaced these ID's as of '68 - similar to what WRC-TV in Washington had at that time (black background and light orange "4" that got formed from a straight line that moved)?
It does today . . . that I.D. #5 showed the angle of 30 Rock as it looked west from 49th-50th Streets. And in 1964, "RCA" would have been emblazoned on top.
I presume the "Movie 4" open and close (as on the clip marked "WNBC-4 New York - Movie 4 - 1964") likewise debuted in 1963. If so, it would make sense . . . the closing bumper used Grotesque No. 9, which was used on newspaper ads for "Movie 4" screenings in that year. I likewise presume there could've been a color version for when color films aired, though no color prints have been shown here.
But, of course, not on that night in early 1967 when a slide still of the Peacock was used and then-WMAQ announcer Del Clark (later of WFLD) announced that "the next two hours and one half" would be in "living color."
JHollowayNetwork: Do you have evidence that "these WNBC station Ids were first put into service in 1963"? These films were not labeled 1963, but were labeled 1964.
Does the "Saturday Night At the Movies" bumper of the '60's exist now stlll? I loved that bumper! Also,the WNET Owl who'd ate the "13",then burped,was also a fav of mine! Anyone here have these?
How very nice. My former friend from Troy, New York would have liked seeing this since he is in love with New York City-He even watched and loved the tv channels from NYC in upstate Troy.
Could very well have debuted in '63. The reel was marked 1964; these may have been extra prints made later, etc. I didn't have any Movie-4s in color, however that doesn't mean none ever existed, only that I've never seen any.
Wow, I have never ever seen a station ident like this, the animation and fanfare are so perfect together, I wonder why we can 't have such good station identifications, both American and Canadian, like with WNBC in the past.
We barely have station IDs at all now. The owners would rather sell more commercial time.
Possible guesses:
1. The NYC market was the only one for which the station ownership (NBC) could afford such a station ID.
2. These animations suggest location. Animation might have been more costly than photography
3 For cities much smaller than NYC a skyline shot would be enough to establish a location.
1 - Central Park
2 - East River
3 - Radio City Music Hall (Rockettes)
4 - Coney Island
5 - Rockefeller Center (where WNBC still has its studios and offices)
6 - Times Square.
Thanks
These bring me back to my childhood dreams of living in New York and watching New York TV!
Did you grow up somewhere with, say, three TV stations? I was so surprised that there weren't seven stations everywhere....
@@stevevasta When I was a kid(60s, 70s)there were four VHS stations(for PBS, NBC, ABC, and CBS)in Boston, and two UHF stations, and we could get in a few out-of-town signals, but we didn't have as many as New York!
I'm diggin' how the logo will just sort of come from out of nowhere and just ZOOM into view. Very, very creative! The music is fantastic, a little fanfare to open and then the sustained horns swell to a grand finish.
At this time (1964) most TV stations were still using slides with voiceover as IDs. This being the New York flagship NBC station, it looked like they pulled out all the stops.
VERY cool.
And notice that, because NBC was based in Rockefeller Center, the animations are all iconic New York scenes: the Empire State Building, the Rockettes, the old Coney Island Cyclone, etc.
Be reminded that 1964 was the opening of the New York World's Fair, and people from across the country and the world flocked to NY for that event. No doubt WNBC pulled out all the stops to put the best face on the city.
Ron Burgundy started his new career as Anchorman at WNBC New York back in 1964!
What unique and rare station id's! Thanks for posting!
I can just imagine the boys having the telly on in their suite at the Plaza - just to see - and then these promos come on and it sinks in that they're *actually* in New York City!
Do you mean... The Beatles? Ha! I'll bet they didn't turn on the TV once!
@@omnibus4157 Actually they did and listened to our radio also.
It was always my understanding that the 'Ferris Wheel' cut was in reference to the World's Fair of 1964, held in New York.
I remembered the big 4 with the NBC logo inside the 4. What I don't remember was the animated IDs that went with it, since it was done before I was born. It's nice to bring back some nostalgia.
This collection of station I Ds is really ahead of its time. Most local network affiliates of that day would just use a still slide with a local place of prominence or perhaps a photo of the studio's building exterior. This collection is a keeper.
Such seems not to have been done in such other giant cities as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit (it was a giant city back then!), Washington, or Houston.
HOLY COW! I cannot BELIEVE these were saved...amazing!
That's a cool looking 4 with the NBC logo inside!
Washington's WRC and Los Angeles's KNBC also had the NBC "snake" motif inside the four during that same period of time.
Rede globo rio de janeiro used that too
There were some shows that aired in color during the 1964-65 television season, but many shows aired in black-and-white until the 1966-67 television season. Batman...In Color!
The music was originally heard on NBC's fall 1961 promos.
Another Chicagoan here offering kudos to this video.Just simply awesome.
Thanks for putting these up.
It is a terrific city. Its skyline greets you from afar, its landmarks are numerous and come in every price range, and the shopping is astounding. This is definitely one place where you should go before you die - there is no place like it on earth!
This is terrific! For years, I thought that station IDs from that era was a still with call letters and kitschy elevator music. Perhaps it was up in Canada and many places in the States, but not in New York. Thanks for sharing these IDs - they were something else. (And I mean this in a good way.)
Imagine the GOAT President, JFK watching these promos at his apartment at the Carlyle Hotel in NYC. He must've loved it
0:00 - Central Park
0:13 - East River
0:28 - Radio City Music Hall (Rockettes)
0:41 - Coney Island
0:55 - Rockefeller Center
1:10 - Times Square
My grandma told me she remembers a WKYC varient of this I'd after I showed her this. Imagine what it would of looked like
The 4 looks like Rede Globo's 1966 logo.
and also Monte Carlo TV (Uruguay)'s 1973 logo
Great station breaks! The music seems a bit on the loud side, but I'm guessing these originally aired with the music cranked down and a "live" announcer's voice-over. (R.I.P. to the great NBC announcers like Mel Brandt, Howard Reig, Fred Facey, and of course, Donnn Parrrdo!)
Jeff Missinne Don Pardo and Bob Hope were the only two people to have a lifetime contract with NBC.
rockvilleraven Actually, the other announcers I mentioned; Reig, Facey, and probably Brandt, also had lifetime NBC contracts; Don Pardo was the last surviving member of that group.
Jeff Missinne Thanks for correcting me.
Jeff Missinn
RIP Headphone Users.
I recall them doing so a few times, just as you described below. Also, Washington's WRC-TV did the same thing for some of their local color shows.
I have heard Mel Brandt do at least one Peacock ID for WMAQ-TV Chicago, so It would make perfect sense that he did it for all the NBC O&O's
It was known as WNBQ-TV, before the station changed its call letters to present-day WMAQ-TV on August 31st that year.
its amazing how they use the same music as in the cartoons!
On WNBC, they probably had a V/O over these animated I.D.'s either in the middle or towards the end, some of which V/O's are among the better-known names within that group.
These WNBC Station IDs were first put into service in 1963.
This video made me endless replay it
The NBC "snake" has been one of my favorite logos/icons for as long as I can remember ... which goes back to the era it was used
Interesting that WNBC-TV was still involved with the Radio City Music Hall and RCA in the 1960s.
The music cue was similar to the theme used during the 1965 NBC fall preview special, "A Secret Agent's Dilemma" (and the network used variations of this music in some of their promos in the late '60s)...
WNBC-TV was probably one of the first U.S. TV stations to broadcast their station ID's in color. In most other markets at that time, it was considered impractical/uneconomical to invest in color broadcast equipment, as most television programming was not in color and the majority of people still had black-and-white TV sets.
Yet, it was the only station in NYC to broadcast in color in 1964 while the others were still in B&W (WCBS, WNEW (now WNYW-TV), WABC, WOR (now WWOR-TV) and WPIX).
Beautiful miniature portraits of New York City! Impressive AF!!
Channel 4 used to say "Your Community-minded Station." These ID's must've been before that.
The one for Los Angeles, as I remember it had no colorful background and no music. Just a solid light blue background.
Just an announcer saying "This is KNBC-TV Los Angeles?"
@@JHollowayNetwork Yes, that's about it.
@@gidzmobug2323 Virtually few people had recorders back then, which explains why not much stuff from the 1960s can be found.
Oooohhh, I like that!! Sounds like the intro music for "The Magnificent 6 1/2" British comedy shorts! ❤❤❤❤
thanks so much for this!
I can attest to that font for the station logo. I'm a DC native, and remember the large '4' with the NBC snake logo embedded in its arm quite a lot for WRC-TV 4 back in the 60's-70's. That logo would flash with a lot of other animation at the network sign-off at the conclusion of programming at night while the announcer gave the station I.D...We also had an afternoon movie in DC- also called 'Movie 4'- but its opening credits were different.
I have seen some old monitor slides for Washington's WRC-TV 4 with the notable NBC snake logo embedded inside the four, with staff announcer Lee Dayton's "Full color four" as the voiceover.
The "Movie 4" credits are up elsewhere on the site.
KNBC in LA, did use the same “4” logo as well. But it was mostly a station ID slide with a voiceover (“KNBC 4 Los Angeles”).
I could swear I've seen these used well past 1964, mainly because I was born in 1965.
Over the last few seconds of the first ID, an announcer would say something like "Frank McGee with The Eleventh Hour News, tonight at 11" during the station identification break.
most likely , Rede Globo´s 4 looks like WNBC 4 =)
OK, these were actually used between 1963-1968. YCMS was used behind the stills. This was primarily used for announcements - "Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show @ 11:30" for example. Most annoying one was "Jim Hartz @ 11."
Ah, so all NBC O&O's at one time or another with the dial position of 4 (66-72 MHz) used this logo. Thanks for the confirmation. Then again, WNBC, WRC and KNBC also used the same type of '4' as used in the '4N' era of 1976-79.
The WNBC Ch 4 logo often leads to the NBC Peacock whenever a show is in color
From what I've seen in pictures of Times Square billboards, WNBC-TV had one on (I think) the east block between 43rd and 44th Streets during c.1965-66 where the "Your Community Minded Station" motto was in view. I think it may've replaced the billboard for Kleenex tissues, and was south of the iconic "Camel" billboard. From c.1960 to about 1964, Channel 4 used a slogan, "The Station of Varied Viewing," for their sign-offs.
An excellent set of animated station IDs depicting New York City at its post World War II zenith. How cool would it be if WNBC resurrected these to show at the top of the hour?
Maybe such owned-and-operated NBC stations could do this. The animation would be costlier, but I can imagine how one does this with the NBC affilliates of Chicago and Dallas.
Yes, all the images are NYC locations.
Adding to your previous comments about the ID quality then & now; I wonder if these were meant to give WNBC some showbiz polish since they're the Peacock's flagship station.
Most of the other NBC affiliates around the country at this time usually went with just a static image of their station ID, a logo & a voice announcer, right?
It was the only station in NYC to broadcast in color in 1964.
if they had a old specifically for nbc holiday special being re aired and it wasn't edited out fast enough, I remember spotting them very quick. It used to be attached to the mary martin peter pan special which usually came on either durring easter or thanksgiving week. The last time it aired was in about 1992-93 and they remastered it so these don't "leak" anymore.
Based on related film I'd seen at the time of transferring this, I figured the parachute drop connected this with the WF '64. But if the p-d was also part of Coney Is. at that time, the ID could be a reference to that.
In This Clip, From 0:41 To 0:54, It Was WNBC-TV's The Coney Island Ferris Wheel Video ID From 1964.
I'm not sure (after all, I am a New Yorker), but from what I could tell News Gothic Condensed was used for the calls and city in WRC-TV's case, as opposed to Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed (a.k.a. Standard Condensed) for WNBC-TV.
Tremendous!
I have a clip on here from WKYC-TV Cleveland's 50th anniversary that shows a localized version of the NBC Peacock from the around 1965-66
You must visit NYC some day sir, its got some thing for every one and its diversity is second to none.
Fantastic! Please post anything else you have from WNBC in the 1960s!
Personally, I've long preferred the "snake" and the 1956-75 Peacock to those logos which came both before and after.
"The following program is brought to you in living color on WNBC-TV".
Warning: Contains FLASHING IMAGES!
Interesting that the same opening as on the first file, originated in color. Were the "Movie 4" openings available in a color version, or just B&W?
Meanwhile, the "4" logo with the snake-logo box inside was also in use by WRC-TV in Washington, DC; don't know about KNBC in Los Angeles, though.
+wmbrown6 yes, KNBC in Los Angeles used the same logo as well.
Oh my lord what in the world. looks like a cartoon lol but everyone had to start from somewhere. awsome video.
I remember the peacock & tag "This program is coming to you in living color on NBC ".
This is class. This is New York.
thats is the ultimate throwback lol
Just fantastic! Thank you!
My family visited the L.A. area back in 1969, and KNBC used that same "4" logo at the time.
True . . . it seemed the station actually commissioned these opens.
A station's attempt to promote NYC and its ability to broadcast to its residents in colour.
Who was the Newscaster on the 11Pm new before Jim Hartz on WNBC. I think Hartz took over the aching job in 1966 or 1964. Att the time Lou Boda was doing sports and Frank Field was doing weather.
NBC was once owned by RCA who had the "compatible color" tv system approved by the FCC, so they were first with Color Television and the "NBC Peacock", if you had a black and white set, you could still watch the shows but not in color.
Nice animation for that time.
I saw that. With Mel Brandt's voice yet. Did he do "localized" Peacock bumpers for the other NBC O&O's (including WNBC-TV)?
Do you remember the WNBC-TV slogan version of the NBC slogan? ''It's All Adds Up on Channel 4''(1968-1969) Find that one!
This is too cute! Thanks for uploading!
In This Clip, From 0:00 To 0:12, It Was WNBC-TV's Horse Carriage Video ID From 1964.
Today we call them bumpers.
Mr. Hartz first came to WNBC in 1964 and handled the 11 P.M. newscasts for, what, ten years? So if, as you say, these animated top-of-hour ID's were first put into service in 1963, that means they were already in place at the point of Mr. Hartz' arrrival. Wonder what replaced these ID's as of '68 - similar to what WRC-TV in Washington had at that time (black background and light orange "4" that got formed from a straight line that moved)?
It does today . . . that I.D. #5 showed the angle of 30 Rock as it looked west from 49th-50th Streets. And in 1964, "RCA" would have been emblazoned on top.
I would think it depends on the affiliate in which city. Remember, the animation represents NY City and there was so much of it to represent.
I wonder what the KNBC one looked like at the time?, though it was mostly a still slide with a voiceover (“KNBC 4 Los Angeles”).
I wonder if the rest of the IDs were in color, as was the first one?
I'll agree with you on the 1954-59 "xylophone" logo . . .
There was a roller coaster in the background on that clip . . .
I like that retro nbc logo they should go back to that
I presume the "Movie 4" open and close (as on the clip marked "WNBC-4 New York - Movie 4 - 1964") likewise debuted in 1963. If so, it would make sense . . . the closing bumper used Grotesque No. 9, which was used on newspaper ads for "Movie 4" screenings in that year. I likewise presume there could've been a color version for when color films aired, though no color prints have been shown here.
1964, the year The Beatles came to America.
Would you know if this particular 4 logo was used (I presume it was), and if so, was it white or orange?
WNBC-4 1964-1971
"STOP YELLING AT ME!!"
~Alfred Asparagus
What I mean is, The music... The goddamn loud as hecc music.
But, of course, not on that night in early 1967 when a slide still of the Peacock was used and then-WMAQ announcer Del Clark (later of WFLD) announced that "the next two hours and one half" would be in "living color."
JHollowayNetwork: Do you have evidence that "these WNBC station Ids were first put into service in 1963"? These films were not labeled 1963, but were labeled 1964.
Seems this and the "Movie 4" opening and closing are the only things WNBC vintage 1960's that 'MSTS1' would have.
You're thinking of CBS' "Season's Greetings" bumper from 1966, 'bamack', animated by R.O. Blechman...
Does the "Saturday Night At the Movies" bumper of the '60's exist now stlll? I loved that bumper! Also,the WNET Owl who'd ate the "13",then burped,was also a fav of mine! Anyone here have these?
Did any of the other four NBC O+O's use the same music with their own animation for ID's in their areas?
WNBQ in Chicago may have had a variation of these IDs (Before the call letter change to WMAQ-TV on August 31, 1964).
Hi- No, I don't have any material at all for WNEW-NY, and no other channels from '64 either..
COOL!!
How very nice. My former friend from Troy, New York would have liked seeing this since he is in love with New York City-He even watched and loved the tv channels from NYC in upstate Troy.
This is before my time. WEre there many shows being aired in color during 1964, my birth year?
Could very well have debuted in '63. The reel was marked 1964; these may have been extra prints made later, etc.
I didn't have any Movie-4s in color, however that doesn't mean none ever existed, only that I've never seen any.