AVCO Broadcasting Corporation

Background: Avco Broadcasting Corporation was the broadcasting division of the Aviation Corporation, which was formerly known as the Crosley Broadcasting Company until 1945 (Crosley was an early operator of radio stations and a radio manufacturer). From 1945 up until 1968, the broadcasting division continued to operate under the Crosley name, even though the manufacturing division was already renamed "Avco". On March 1, 1976, the company was sold to Multimedia, Inc., renaming this unit to "Multimedia Program Productions". This division is often confused with Avco Embassy Television, which was formed to syndicate films from the Embassy library to television stations. Both companies were unaffiliated and were owned by Avco.

1st Logo

(1968-1973)

Nicknames: "Avco Slate", "The Empennage"

Logo: Against a black background, a thick maroon line with a small white right triangle slides in from the left. The triangle stretches into a much larger right triangle with a maroon box to the right, which shrinks into a rectangle, forming an empennage (the tail of an aircraft). The letters "AVCO" (in a black futuristic font) appear two-by-two inside the triangle. The words:

BROADCASTING

CORPORATION--PRODUCTION

in white, fade in below. A very small line of text (probably a copyright notice) can be seen near the bottom of the screen.

Trivia: This logo appeared as state of the art on design magazines the time it premiered.

Variants:


 * There is a superimposed logo that would appear on cartoon specials that reads "PRODUCED FOR AND DISTRIBUTED BY" with the Avco logo and "BROADCASTING CORPORATION" below.
 * Another variant has the text "SYNDICATION DIVISION" below the logo.
 * When The Paul Dixon Show was reran in 1998, a copyright notice reading "(C)1998 HEARST ARGYLE TELEVISION, INC." was added below the logo.

FX/SFX: The sliding and stretching, all done with cel animation.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show fixed with a horn's majestic fanfare. For the superimposed variant, it's the end-title theme from any program.

Availability: The original version is extinct and originally seen on The Paul Dixon Show during the 1960s and was last seen on a 1998 rerun of the show. If ever reran again, this should be intact. As for the superimposed variant, it is ultra rare and was seen on The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't every Thanksgiving and A Christmas Story every Christmas on Boomerang until 2014 (it is unknown if this is intact on the 2012 Warner Archive Collection DVD of the latter, as part of Hanna-Barbera Christmas Classics Collection).

2nd Logo

(1973-1976)

WARNING:THIS VIDEO IS LOUD, SO TURN DOWN THE VOLUME BEFORE WATCHING IT.

Nicknames: "Avco Slate II", "The Empennage of Doom", "The Trailing Empennage", "Empennage from the FUTURE!"

Logo: Multiple outlines of the Avco logo, colored blue, zoom in on a black background and disappear off-camera. Four multicolored Avco logos zooming in from their respective corners (red from the top left, yellow from the top right, green from the bottom left, and blue from the bottom right) merge into the center of the screen to form one single Avco logo. The finished product is the same as the previous logo, with the only difference being the words in a slightly different font, and "PRODUCTION" being in light gray. A copyright stamp appears below.

FX/SFX: Very well done Scanimation for the time.

Music/Sounds: A loud, high pitched laser sound accompanied by a droning keyboard note and a echoing laser at the end.

Availability: Extinct. Seen on episodes of The Phil Donahue Show and The Paul Dixon Show during this time period. They're most likely not going to be reran since lifestyle & variety programs from this time period don't get cleared for syndication.

Editor's Note: The quality of the animation doesn't excuse its being so in-your-face and the sound effects are just too much. Also, the "T"s looks like "Y"s and "PRODUCTION" is barely noticeable, though the latter is possibly from film deterioration.