Background: APT was founded in 1961 as the Eastern Educational Television Network (EEN), distributing public TV shows such as The French Chef, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and Washington Week to public television stations on a regional basis, and then nationwide when NET (now PBS) was formed. They changed their name to Interregional Program Service in the 1980s, became American Program Service (APS) in 1992, and changed to their current name, American Public Television in 1999.
1st Logo (1992-1996)[]
.png "American Program Service (1992).png (28 KB)")
Nickname: "A Production of..."
Logo: On a maroon-colored background, we see the text:
A PRODUCTION OF
AMERICAN PROGRAM
SERVICE
in Copperplate, which zooms in slightly. There is a shining wipe on the text.
Variants:
- There is a variant which has "BOSTON" under the text.
- Another variant has the text "DISTRIBUTED BY" in place of "A PRODUCTION OF."
- Yet another variant says "A PRESENTATION OF."
FX/SFX: The name zooming in, the "shimmer".
Music/Sounds: None. In other cases, it uses the end theme of the show. Bloopy's Buddies, however, used their own generic theme over the logo (as well as the show's two other logos).
Availability: Extinct on television, but preserved on VHS tapes of Bloopy's Buddies and the "Cyber Cafes" and "Macworld" episodes of Computer Chronicles on the Internet Archive. It also appeared on American PBS airings of The Big Comfy Couch episodes from the era. On Nightly Business Report, in-credit notices were used instead of a proper logo until 1999. It appeared on 1992-95 public television airings of Passover at Bubbe's.
2nd Logo (1996-1999)[]
Nickname: "APS", "Programs For Public Television"
Logo: On a black background with 2 orange/brown squares, we the letters "aps" in orange/brown with the words "American Program Service" below the letters zooming out from us, with the "p" slightly on top of the "a", a white bracket revealing the "p", and a black bracket revealing the "s". Once the letters shift into place, the words:
_________
Programs
For Public
Television
appear below the letters "ps", while a small flash appears above the "a" in the top left hand corner. Also, one of the squares disappears, leaving one square in the background, which rotates.
FX/SFX: The animation in the logo.
Music/Sounds: A somewhat patriotic 7-note synth tune with a drum crescending throughout. It's rumored (and also possible) this fanfare was sometimes used for the 1st logo.
Availability: Rare. Was seen on 1996-98 episodes of Computer Chronicles; a few episodes from the era on the Internet Archive retain this. Can also be seen on 1997-98 episodes of The Kidsongs Television Show on iTunes.
3rd Logo (1999-2010)[]
Nickname: "The Squares"
Logo: On a black background, we see two squares, one with white outlining and the other with red outlining, shifting throughout, and each one is blue with watermarks of the name on them. Then a red outline forms another square, which appears in the same color also with watermarks of the name as it finishes, with the text "American Public Television" on it.
Variants:
- From 2000-07, the URL text "aptonline.org" appeared under the company's name. Starting in 2007, it appeared as "APTonline.org".
- On The Organ Wise Guys shorts, the logo appears at the bottom of the screen with the text: "Copyright (C) (Year) American Public Television" to the left of the logo.
FX/SFX: The squares forming.
Music/Sounds: Same as the 2nd logo.
Music/Sounds Variant: A silent version exists.
Availability: At one point, it was considered to be the Sony Pictures Television of public television, but it is now mostly uncommon. It can be seen on older programs that they distribute to PBS stations, as well as independent Public TV stations such as KCET and shows on the digital broadcast network Create (which APT partially owns). This made a surprise appearance on the April 12, 2009 episode of The McLaughlin Group. Rick Steves Europe and Linda's Italy episodes from the era have this logo as well. Also seen on Smile airings of The Zula Patrol episodes aired during the timeframe, and on DVD, it can be seen on Monarch's release of Seemore's Playhouse: Fire Safety, on the episode "Sweet and Sour." In addition, this appears at the end of movies syndicated to PBS stations by APT, such as a 1999 KQED airing of Call Northside 777. The silent variant appears on the DVD release of The Face: Jesus in Art.
4th Logo (2009-2011)[]
Nickname: "The Squares II"
Logo: Nearly the same as before, but animated for HD, darker and seemingly quicker in pace. The company name is in Gotham instead of Helvetica, and is stretched.
Variant: On all shows with this logo except for 2008-early 2009 episodes of WORLDFOCUS, the URL text "APTonline.org" appears under the company's name.
FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo.
Music/Sounds: Same as the previous two logos.
Availability: Appeared on WORLDFOCUS episodes from the era. Due to its short life, it wasn't nearly as common as the previous logo. It still appears on old episodes of Doc Martin.
5th Logo
(2011-)[]
Nickname: "Shady Squares"
Logo: On a shady steel gray/blue gradient background, we see the words "American Public Television" in a Garamond font appear. Then, several blue/aqua/white-textured squares zoom out from out of nowhere and the URL "aptonline.org" appears below.
Variant: On a white background, the shady squares and "AMERICAN PUBLIC TELEVISION" are stills.
FX/SFX: The zooming, done with modern computer animation.
Music/Sounds: Four notes from the 1996 fanfare, played in a relaxing tone on a guitar. Otherwise, the actual 1996 theme is used, thanks to sloppy plastering.
Availability: Current. Seen on WORLDFOCUS, Mr. Bean, The Joy of Painting, and Nightly Business Report, among others. The second season of Wild Baby Animal Explorers also has this logo.