KDKA – on screen TV Channel Identity is no more
March 21, 2023KDKA changed their graphics and news music package today, just a few weeks after revealing their newly remodeled news room. The CBS O&O station is focusing more on its online identity – “CBS News Pittsburgh”, with the callsign KDKA still included in the graphics. To be fair, this is happening at CBS stations across the country, but if you’ve read this site for a few years, you know such changes don’t really go over very well in Pittsburgh. Particularly for the heritage “KD” call letters…! Almost since the day Westinghouse took their name out of the broadcast world, viewers feared the TV station would lose its identity as KDKA.
Surprise… the call letters remain. In fact, for what it’s worth, CBS retains whatever rights they hold to the heritage calls and gave their blessing to Entercom, now Audacy, to retain use of them for the radio station where the callsign was first used. Even the big corporations know the importance of those letters and I have no doubt they will remain in place for some time to come.
What IS missing from the TV station’s new graphics is the number “2”. Of course, KDKA hasn’t been “Channel 2” since 2009 when the FCC ordered all analog TV signals to be turned off in favor of the digital allocations. After 13 years, it really doesn’t make sense for TV stations to identify by the channel number anyway. Ironically while KDKA has maintained 1 digital frequency since channel 25 was licensed, several other local stations have been “repacked” at least once and as new technologies roll out for broadcast TV, I suspect repacks will happen again and again until all of the outlets are stuffed in a much smaller tier of frequencies.
Additionally, one is able to get most local programming in other outlets. The internet…. social media… on screens small enough to fit in your pocket to as large as they come using technology that doesn’t require a broadcast tower. Therefore it would not surprise me if “KDKA-TV” is only the top of the hour legal ID graphic one of these days. But even then, most Pittsburgh viewers will call it KDKA… I’m “Acrisure” of it!
The one side effect of this is that–though KDKA-TV itself retired it 20 years ago–it puts the last nail in the coffin for Group W heritage stations still using the distinctive Westinghouse font. KPIX retired it in December and WJZ is expected to retire it in the near future. Some radio stations still use it in their logos like WINS, but KDKA Radio itself retired it at the end of 2020.
The new branding is leading to some interesting changes such as CBS’s duopoly on Los Angeles having their news branded under the KCAL callsigns, and KTVT in Dallas & WFOR in Miami still using their channel numbers with their online branding. Right now, WCBS, WBBM, WBZ, KYW, WJZ, KOVR, & WCCO are still using their old brandings–for now. And KDKA-TV is the 2nd legacy Westinghouse station to change.
Change is inevitable. The Westinghouse font was, in fact, distinctive and I am sure at some point they will all change. But when you get right down to it, your logos, your graphics, and your fonts have little to do with the product you offer. The number of companies who have significantly changed their logos over the last few years is astounding. Look at Giant Eagle for instance. It likely does very little for the consumer over time given they still overcharge, but it *DOES* “make you look” at the ads when you see something different!
I’m glad that KDKA changed their news “bumpers” They were obnoxiously LOUD! I can’t believe that they continued to use them that long.
But…are they still the Hometown Advantage? And what was that advantage, anyway?
They have not used that slogan in years. The “advantage” was that most of the anchors and reporters were either from here or they had lived here a considerable amount of time.