The Circle 7 logo is an often-used

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

in the

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. Designed in the early 1960s for the

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's five

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...

s (all of which broadcast on VHF channel 7), the logo, or a version of it, is being used not only by several ABC stations and affiliates, but also by a number of television broadcasters around the world.

History and information

The Circle 7 logo was created by G. Dean Smith, a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

graphic designer, and was first used in 1962 by ABC as the logo for its (then) five owned-and-operated television stations:

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

;

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

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; WBKB in

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;

KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network through its ABC Owne ...

in San Francisco; and

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

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. When ABC applied for television station licenses in the late 1940s, it was thought that the low-band channel frequencies (2 through 6) would be removed from use for television broadcasting, thus making these five stations broadcasting on VHF channel 7 the lowest on the television dial; those plans never came to pass.

American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres American Broadcasting Companies (originally United Paramount Theatres, and American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc.) was the post-merger parent company of the American Broadcasting Company and United Paramount Theatres. History United Par ...

, ABC's then-corporate parent, registered the Circle 7 logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1962. When WABC-TV adopted the '' Eyewitness News'' format in January 1968, all reporters and anchors were required to wear a

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with a ''Circle 7'' patch (a lapel pin in later years) when they appeared on the air – a marketing practice that spread to the other ABC O&Os, and eventually to other ABC affiliates. Stations commonly used the logo on microphone flags, newscaster clothing and design of sets, as well as on-air graphics for locally originated programming. Circle Seven Animation, a short-lived (2005-2006) division of ABC parent company

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that was working on sequels to Disney-owned

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films, was indirectly named after the logo, as its studios were located on Circle Seven Drive in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, a street which was renamed for the logo when KABC-TV moved its studios there.

U.S. stations using the Circle 7 logo or a variant

Non-U.S. use

* In Australia,

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

affiliate ATN-7 used the "Circle 7" logo from 1968 to 1969 with customized versions across the network from 1970 to 2000. * In Malaysia, this logo was adopted by

NTV7 Natseven TV Sdn Bhd, operating as NTV7 is a Malaysian free-to-air television channel owned by Media Prima, Media Prima Berhad. The third private commercial TV station in Malaysia, the network focused on the urban area with various types of ...

from 2001 until March 5, 2018. * In Peru, RTP (now TV Perú) adopted this logo in 1989 and used it until 1991. * In the Philippines, GMA (also known as

DZBB-TV DZBB-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Metro Manila, Philippines, serving as the flagship of the GMA television network. The digital service is known as DZBB-DTV by only a few people. It is owned and operated by the network's namesa ...

) used the logo from 1961 until 1974 when it was dropped due to Marcos' martial law and the handover to new owners. The logo stayed until the latter part of the decade. * In Indonesia, TV7 used the stylized Circle 7 logo from its launch in November 2001 until its relaunch as

Trans7 PT Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh (previously PT Duta Visual Nusantara), operating as Trans7 or TRANS7 in all caps (stylized TRɅNS, 7, pronounced ''Trans Tujuh'' in Indonesian, formerly known as TV7) is an Indonesian free-to-air television b ...

in December 2006. * In Brazil,

RecordTV Record (stylized in uppercase; ), formerly known as Rede Record and RecordTV, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In ...

adopted the logo in 1962 and used it until 1982. Band Minas (formerly known as TV Vila Rica) also used the same symbol in 1970 and used it until 1976. * In Bermuda, ABC affiliate

ZFB-TV ZFB-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Hamilton, Bermuda, serving the British territory as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the Bermuda Broadcasting Company alongside CBS affiliate ZBM-TV (channel 9). The two stations share studio ...

uses the Circle 7 logo, although the station refers to being branded by cable channel 7 rather than actual virtual channel (station is on Channel 19). * In Turkey, Kanal 7 used the Circle 7 logo since 2002. The circle in the logo is slightly oval and leg of digit 7 through the circle.

References

Sources

New '7' logo designed for KGO-TV (ch.7)
(PDF file), ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

'', August 27, 1962, p. 72.
"Designed Symbols for AT&T, ABC Stations Dean Smith; Corporate Logo Creator"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', March 28, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Circle 7 Logo American Broadcasting Company Local television programming in the United States Commercial logos Symbols introduced in 1962

History and information

U.S. stations using the Circle 7 logo or a variant

Non-U.S. use

See also

References

Sources