The lost art of TV Guide movie advertising on full display from WOR-TV Channel 9. These ads are from 1970, 1971 and 1975. Enjoy!
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About Me
- NYTVFan
- Basically a regular guy who happens to love the TV he was exposed to as a kid growing up in the NY Metro area during the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. Just my little way of celebrating and remembering those times with the hope that these movie showcase programs get the respect and attention they deserve.
The "new york 9" logo shown on the two 1970 ads was first unveiled, per the station's advertising in both The New York Times and the Daily News, on Feb. 21, 1969. In the first days of that logo, the call letters were right below the bottom tip of the 9 instead of positioned above the "new york" part and slanted rightward, to the immediate left of the top of the "k" (a layout whose earliest use, again per Times ads, was Feb. 26, 1969). This seemed a precursor to the 9 logo in use from 1987 to c.1995.
ReplyDeleteThe earliest that the logo which replaced it (as seen in the 1971 and 1975 ads) was seen in newspaper advertising was Sept. 4, 1970, for an ad promoting an uninterrupted-by-commercials screening of the 1948 Laurence Olivier version of "Hamlet." This "dotted (or stylized) 9" logo may have been in use as early as Sept. 1 of that year. Its use (albeit with modifications to city of license reference after 1983) lasted until the end of RKO's ownership of the station in 1987.
From what I've been apprised, all these logos were designed by the station's longtime art director, Jerry Miller.
These days are important because often TV Guide was anywhere from several weeks to at least a month behind in reflecting the new logos of a TV station. I've seen TV Guide ads from March 1969, for example, with the "9" logo as had been in use from summer 1964 (by contrast, the last time that logo was used in New York Times advertising was Feb. 19, 1969).
As an aside, prior to "All My Sons" coming to Channel 9, it had aired in the early 1960's on WCBS-TV's "Early" and "Late Shows," and in the late 1960's on WABC-TV's movie umbrellas including but not limited to "The Best of Broadway" and, on Aug. 28, 1968, on what would later become "The 4:30 Movie" but, up to early 1969, still bore the ancient 1963-era title "The Big Show" it had been stuck with since moving to that time slot in January 1968.
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DeleteActually, WOR-TV's original circular-like "Dotted 9" logo made its debut in August, 1970/it first appeared in August 23, 1970 (Sun.) edition, "N.Y. Daily News"
DeleteInteresting. What was being promoted?
DeleteBut then, August did seem a month for unveiling new logos for TV stations. It was on Aug. 27, 1962, for example, that ABC's San Francisco O&O, KGO-TV, first unveiled the "circle 7" logo that, beginning in December, would be applied to the other ABC-owned stations (New York's WABC-TV included); and in August 1967 was when WNEW-TV, for their logo and showing channel number, began using a proprietary font called "Metromedia Television Alphabet" (as did the other stations they owned at the time).
The "dotted 9" logo's designers were actually Mike Shenon and Richard Luppi.
P.S. As Aug. 23, 1970 was a Sunday, wouldn't that have been the "Sunday News"?
DeleteWow. That is more fantastic information then I could have hoped to learn. I really appreciate the input and the sharing of your knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing: "Trouble Along the Way" was one of a group of post-1948 Warner Bros. films that, from 1961 to 1965, aired on WNBC-TV's "Movie 4" and for a few years from 1965 were on WNEW-TV, airing on "Movie Greats" prior to Merv Griffin's first syndicated talk show moving to 8:30 PM in 1967. WOR was the third station to run these pics.
ReplyDeleteLet me also correct something: The film shown by WOR on Sept. 4, 1970 without any commercial interruptions, was actually the 1950 José Ferrer flick "Cyrano de Bergerac" (once a WNBC "Movie 4" staple).
ReplyDeleteWbst would you happen to be William Brown. who ive enjoyed seeing on youtube
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to publish this information very useful! solarmovies
ReplyDeleteAs well, the "Underground Movie" heading in the 1971 ad was reference to the plot, not the movie show title which, in fact, was "The Magnificent Movie" (a short-lived skein before Channel 9 brought back "The Big Preview" about a year later, after an absence dating back to the onset of the "new york 9" branding in '69).
ReplyDelete