Almost nothing makes me so nostalgic as the bumpers and “idents” (network identification spots) of the media of my childhood. That got me thinking about the PBS logo through the years — which is a very personal anchor for a lot of our memories of learning while watching our favorite shows through the years.
Independent Lens wasn’t around until that later generations of the PBS idents, but we all remember the ones from way, way back. Here are a few videos tracing the evolution of the PBS logo. My personal favorite was the 70s version, with left-facing blue P-head and the super groovy jingle.
A montage of every ident from early NET through PBS circa 2007:
The birth of Mr. “P-head”:
The making of the mid-1990s logo:
the National Endowment for the Arts