NET

Background: NET (National Educational Television) was a former major educational and public TV network, founded in early 1952 and incorporated in November of that year. Among their original affiliates were WNET New York, KCET Los Angeles, WGBH Boston, WQED Pittsburgh, WETA Washington D.C., and various others. Originating from The Educational Television and Radio Center from 1952-1959, and later The National Educational Television and Radio Center from 1959 to 1962, when the radio portion was dropped. It was succeeded by PBS in 1970, due to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and the Ford Foundation pulling its funding. It merged with WNDT to become the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, the parent company of WNET, in 1972.

1st Logo (November 21, 1952-1955)
Nickname: "NET Map of America" Logo: This consists of the typewriter letters "NET", each in a segmented rounded square, on a white map of the U.S. inside a black circle on a white background, with what looks like an antenna on the map. "NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION" and "EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION AND RADIO CENTER" are shown above and below, respectively, in really small print.

FX/SFX: None.

Cheesy Factor: Most likely another placeholder.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Not sure if any old film prints at the Museum of Broadcast Communications have this logo, but it did show up three times on Because of You: 50 Years of Channel 9.

Editor's Note: This logo, despite being basic, is an interesting peek at the very early years of what would become PBS, back when it was a limited service for distributing educational films produced by local stations nationally.

2nd Logo (November 21, 1952-September 30, 1962)
 Nickname:  "The NET Circle"

 Logo:  On a gray background, we see a white circle with "NET" written in black.

FX/SFX: None.

 Music/Sounds:  Just an announcer saying "This is National Educational Television."

 Availability:  This logo appears on Discovery at the Brookfield Zoo, Search for America, and The Exceptional Child.

 Editor's Note:  None.

===3rd Logo (1958)=== Nicknames: "ETVNETETV"

Logo: On a black background, we see gray text that reads "ETV". In the middle, we see white letters that say "NET".

Variant: The logo plays out as normal, however, it's inverted.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the program.

Availability: Seen on Ten For Survival. The inverted variant appears on The Subject is Jazz episode, "Swing".

Editor's Note: This logo appears to be used for NBC co-productions, since all of it's appearances (so far) have been on such

4th Logo (1958-1959)
Nicknames : "Boxes" "Unearthed Obscure Treasure" "Epitome of 50's" "Deco Carpet Design"

Logo : On a carpet like background, the words NET appear in multicolored boxes across on a white line. Photo TBA

FX/SFX : None.

Music/Sounds : The ending theme of the program.

Availability : This was recently unsurfaced on The Subject is Jazz. It is currently unknown if this logo appeared on any other program.

Editor's Note : Quite an odd rarity given how this logo was just rediscovered.

===5th Logo (1956-1959)=== Nickname: "NET Map of America II"

Logo: We see a close-up of the letters "N", "E", and "T", each in a black box, positioned along the coast of California on a gray background. The camera zooms away from the letters, revealing the whole map of America, with a white line along the West Coast and Northernmost states. The boxes shoot to the right, revealing "National", "Educational", and "Television". Then, the text fades into the words "EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION AND RADIO CENTER".

Variant: There is a still variant.

FX/SFX: The animation of the map and the letters

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Just an announcer saying "This is National Educational Television." The still variant uses a different announcer.

Availability: Much like the second logo, it is unknown if film prints at the Museum of Broadcast Communications have this logo, however it did show up once on the 50th anniversary special for KVIE in Sacramento. A still variant can be found on The Born Criminal. The animated variant appears on Channelizing Aggresion; The Impact of Personalities.

Editor's Note: (One) of the first NET logos to feature animation (albeit limited).

===5th Logo (1959)=== Nickname: "NET in a House"

Logo: On a grey background, we see a black house with the words "NET" inside. Unlike other logos which use the "Roof" logo, the "T" isn't connected to the roof.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: An announcer said "This is National Educational Television".

Availability: Extremely rare. The only known appearance is from That Free Men May Live: Martin Luther King, Jr., available for viewing on PBS.org. The logo can be seen on Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Editor's Note: This is most likely a prototype/placeholder logo. The design of the logo looks very rough.

===6th Logo (1959-1961)===

National Educational Television (1961) Nicknames: "NET in a House", " The NET House"

Logo: On a grey background, we see an early version of the NET House logo, which is a blackhouse with the words "NET" inside and an antenna in the roof.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: An announcer says either "This is National Educational Television" or "This is N-E-T, National Educational Television."

Availability: Extremely rare. It appears onThat Free Men May Live: Martin Luther King, Jr., which is available for viewing on PBS.org. The logo can also be seen on Prospects of Mankind with Eleanor Roosevelt,available for viewing on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website.

Editor's Note: This is most likely a prototype/placeholder logo. The design of the logo looks very rough.

===7th Logo (1959-October 2, 1966)===

Nicknames: "The Carpet", "The NET House II", "The House on TV Static"

Logo: On a dark background with little white "stars" (kinda looks like carpet, but is actually supposed to represent TV static), we see the "House" logo in white (The words "NET" with the "T" connecting to a roof that hangs over the "N" and "E", with an antenna sticking out of the roof. This makes the N look pretty squished). The style of this logo would be used later on.

Variant: The logo was inverted as it was seen in Perspectives.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over:
 * Until October 1962, an announcer (Edward R. Murrow) said "This is National Educational Television."
 * An alternate version of the logo featured the announcer saying, "This is N-E-T, National Educational Television." This began in 19?? and outlived its predecessor, being used until 1966.
 * Another variant has a V/O which says "This is N-E-T, the National Educational Television network."

Availability: Rare. One surviving source is a 1960 episode of the WTTW Chicago series Beginnings, which was formerly available for viewing on the Museum of Broadcast Communications Archives website. This can now be seen on over 50+ programs on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website.

Editor's Note: The background looks like they just aimed the camera at the floor.

8th Logo (1961-1962; 1970)
Nicknames: "Smooth NET House" "Generic NET House" "Plain NET House"

Logo: Same as the previous logo, but the background is completely gray, and has a smooth texture.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Same as last logo.

Availability: First appeared on Conversation with Dean Rusk and last appeared onOf Broccoli and Pelicans and Celery and Seals. This logo also appears on Pathfinders.

Editor's Note: Another oddity, this time, in terms of how and when it was used.

===9th Logo (Perspectives variant) (1962)=== Nicknames: "The Animated NET House Globe" "NET Map Sort of Returns!" "A New Perspective of the NET House" "NET House On a Globe" "Foldable Earth Diagram"

Logo: After the closing titles of the show, the globe that is spinning around suddenly folds out to an 2D model of the globe, and then 3 letters: "N", "E", "T", appear vertically at the left side of the globe, then rearrange to appear horizontally, slides to the middle, and then the roof is drawn over the NET text, with the N slightly shrinking to make room for the roof.

FX/SFX: Typical 60's 2-D Animation.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Appears on Perspectives.

Editor's Note: A unique and wonderful logo, one of the few animated custom logos NET ever had.

===10th Logo (1963-June 1967)===

Nickname: "NET Fire Cage", "The Dancing Birdcage", "Buffering YouTube Dots"

Logo: On a black screen, several dots flash near the center of the screen (a la Screen Gems “Dancing Sticks” logo, or like YouTube dots while a video is buffering), and then we see a circle being drawn in the counterclockwise direction. A line is drawn through the circle going downwards, which quickly vanishes. A small fire can be seen starting within the circle. Another line is drawn through the center of the circle from left to right. Two lines like that on a Worldvision-like globe are drawn. Another pair, closer to the circle are drawn, like that of the first lines, and then two horizontal lines above the first horizontal line. The camera zooms backwards and we see a thick line (the top of the "T") being drawn under the ball of fire, which later connects to the ball of fire. A vertical line (the beginning of the "N") is then formed. The "T" then finishes, and then the diagonal part of the "N" appears. Lastly, the "E" is formed. The fire continues blazing until we fade out.

FX/SFX: The dots, the live-action fire, and the lines being drawn.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Pinball-like dings to start, which turns into a bombastic but brief brass piece. Almost immediately afterward, an announcer can be heard saying "The following program is from N-E-T, the National Educational Television network." (opening) or "This is N-E-T, the National Educational Television network.". (closing)

Availability: Extremely rare. Can be seen on the 1965 program Changing the World: Southeast Asia, the Other War, the 1967 program Aphasia, the road back, both formerly available for viewing on the Museum of Broadcast Communications Archives website, and on the 1965 James Baldwin vs. William F. Buckley debates, available for watching on YouTube and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. It has also been preserved on the VHS and DVD of Ten Blocks on the Camino Real. This can also be seen on over 45+ programs available for viewing on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website.

Editor's Note: While it is not as widely remembered as the 1968 logo and future PBS logos, this is one of the first to be recognized more widely compared to the previous logos.

11th Logo (April 1967-October 4 1970)
Nicknames: "The Roof", "The Most Iconic NETLogo", "The NET House III"

Logo: First, the left section of the screen fills with red from the bottom, the middle section fills with yellow from the top, and the right section fills with blue from the bottom. One by one, each colored section flips to form the letters "N E T " on a black background. Then either one of two things would happen: Variants:
 * 1967-1968: The text "NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION" appears above the NET logo and morph into a line, which bends to form a gable roof with an aerial antenna on top, which is connected to the T. You can see 4th logo for see about the style of this logo.
 * 1968-1970: A blue line is drawn above the letters, which bends to form the aforementioned gable roof with the aerial antenna on top (still connected to the T) from the 1968 variant.
 * The 1968 version came in both black and white and color versions.
 * In early shows, the logo had more lighter colors (N E T), likely to due film/tape deterioration.
 * On the first 3 seasons (1968-1970) of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, the NET logo was built into the apartment building that was part of the toy neighborhood in the show’s opening and closing (it was in black on B&W broadcasts to stand out better). This feature remained in reruns until 1989. A copyright notice to “National Educational Television and Radio Center” continued to be used on the show through 1971.
 * The closing variant in Black Journal has the animation for the logo (during the part when the right section of the screen fills up with blue) fade in a few seconds after the music begins.
 * At the end of Black Journal, an alternative closing variant can be seen after the regular closing logo. It's just the text "NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION" in gray stacked on top of each other on a black background. The end result is quite similar to the first PBS logo.
 * In The Warren Years, a black version of the logo appear in a white background with a copyright notice below.
 * An still variant, was used for special programming that preempted regularly scheduled shows.

FX/SFX: The flipping effects.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A low-tone mellotron fanfare edited from "Plenipoteniary" by Eric Siday, similar in style to his Screen Gems “S from Hell” and CBS “In Color” jingles, and an announcer saying his part below depending on the variant:
 * July 2, 1967-Fall 1968: The announcer says “The following program is from NET, the National Educational Television network.” (opening), “The following program is distributed by NET, the National Educational Television network.” (alternative opening), or “This is NET, the National Educational Television network.” (closing). A Rare Closing Variant Has An Additional Voice Over Saying, "So I was one of the... First... To Start WQED."
 * Fall 1968-Summer 1970: The announcer says “The following program is from N-E-T, the public television network.” (opening) or “This is N-E-T, the public television network.” (closing).
 * Summer-Fall 1970: The announcer says "This is N-E-T, National Educational Television." This variant is rare than the others.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variants:
 * On The Assessment of Cambodia, the announcer says " The program scheduled for this time will not be seen so that we may bring you the following N-E-T special program." This is a still variant and no music plays during this variant.

Availability: Extremely rare. The B&W 1967 logo made an appearance on the VHS release of Our Neighbor, Fred Rogers, but was cut from TV rebroadcasts of the documentary since 2003. It can be seen on several shows available for viewing at The Paley Center for Media, including the series premiere episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1967 version, B&W), Black Journal (1967 version, color), and Sesame Street (1968 version, color). Though the videocassette release of the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood episode "Death of a Goldfish" plasters the standard version of the 1968 logo with the 1971 PBS logo, the show's in-credit variant remains. The 1968 opening and closing versions can also be seen on the Sesame Street: Old School Volume 2 DVD set on the test pilot episode, and the 1968 closing version can be found on a handful of 1969-70 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood episodes on Twitch (most plaster it with the 1971 PBS logo). The 1967 closing version can be found on all 1968 black and white episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, including episodes streaming on Twitch as well as episodes 1-5 on Amazon. The 1968 alternative closing logo is quite rare, it can be seen on Black Journal (1967 version, color). Its last confirmed new appearance was on Realities; the 1970 PBS logo plasters it on repeats, as seen on the series premiere (this logo can be found on a film print of the same show). The special program variant appears on Assessment of Cambodia. This logo first appeared on Conversations 1967. All variants, color and B&W, can be seen on 100+ programs available for viewing on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting website.

Editor's Note: The most well known NET logo. With its mellotron fanfare, the announcer, the dark background, and the poor audio and grainy film quality gaining a reputation of frightening children who grew up with Mister Rogers Neighborhood or Sesame Street. It's one of the more fascinating logos in the history of NET/PBS.

12th Logo (What's New? Variant) (1970-1971)
Nicknames: "What's New? The Discovery Of This Logo Obviously!" "Animated 3 Kids" "Marching Band Children" "Backwards Musical Trio" "Sparkles on Jeans"

Opening Logo: On a blue cloth like background, NET appears in big bold letters, with "presents" underneath and sparkles appear.

Closing Logo: On an rough sepia background, 3 children appear marching backwards forming the words "National Educational Television", all stacked on top of each other.

FX/SFX: 2D Animation.

Music/Sounds: An announcer saying "This is National Educational Television" with the closing theme playing in the background.

Availability: Appears on What's New?.

Editor's Note: Unusual logo, given that this doesn't use the house design from previous logos (and drastic overall compared to the logo it was used in tandem with), and this is one of the last animated custom variants that came late in NET's lifespan before it merged with WNET.

===13th Logo (October 2, 1970-1972)===

Nicknames: "Scanimate Letters" "Whose Logo Is This Really?" "Contender for Best Scanimated Logo" "Isn't this WNET's?" "NET still existed?" "The EBC NET" "NET/WNDT's Post-Merge"

Logo: On a purple background, we see several lines swirl around each other and loop around in the form of letters, eventually spreading from the center, and flatten out to form "net" in a Bauhaus 93 font.

Variants: Some programs carry a custom variant for their respective shows, in which the logo leads out to program's intro. This was seen on Fanfare and Realities (with the latter also carrying a "News Special" variant). A "Special Events" variant was seen on an NET special. A B&W variant also exists.

Trivia: This logo was reused and retooled for WNET. This was also the first non-custom NET logo to not use the house motif since the 5th logo.

FX/SFX: Advanced Scanimation for its time. This would be further improved for WNET's logo.

Music/Sounds/Voice-overs: Early years used two different warbling synth themes, used in tandem with each other with one of the them being more common than the other. Later, a four-note keyboard tune which is repeated four times, the last over a synthesized drone, is used instead. The announcer says "The following program is from NET." Sometimes there's no announcer, this is more common on the variants with the early themes.

Availability:The initial variant additionally appeared on Civilization (and may be preserved on the MacArthur Library VHS release), Realities, and Fanfare, being retained on a 1987 rebroadcast of the series premiere of the latter, "Welcome to the Fillmore East", and the official DVD release of "Go Ride the Music". The black and white variant appears on the Realities episode "Soldiers Who Search and Dissent". This logo also appears on Black Journal, The Great American Dream Machine and President's Report on Indochina.

Editor's Note: This is highly one of the most advanced logos of it's time, and is even more advanced than some of the later Scanimate logos. This logo was extremely unique, and the later was reused and improved upon for its use on WNET as it's logo. This logo was also highly debated if it was the original NET's logo or WNET's logo due to its confusing usage on both of the station's shows and their relationship and interactions with each other. However, this logo first appeared few days before PBS when into broadcast, and the show the logo appeared on did not actually feature WNET's involvement, instead it was WETA. Plus, WNET carried an entirely different logo around the same time even though it was known as WDNT at the time (but it was retooled with the WNET name as an in-credit notice in 1971.) When NET merged with WNET, it was known as EBC, a division of NET. NET was also actually still around when PBS started as PBS didn't fully take over the schedule actually, NET dissolved in 1972 completely. Regardless, this is an interesting logo.