WBZ-TV 4 rebranding

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:45:02 -0500, "Bill O'Neill" <me@billoneill.us> said:

> Unfortunately, boilerplate approaches to imaging or marketing is par
> for the course when local control over such matters is diminished.
> Multi-market corporations can still choose to strike the local
> branding balance but it's harder to do.

Hearst-Argyle has certainly done it very successfully, but with logos
and channel numbers rather than names.  Even though they have slapped
down the same national graphics and music packages pretty much
everywhere (to say nothing of those horrible IBS[1] Web sites), they
have been sufficiently smart to leave the stations' heritage
identities alone.  WCVB has had that "5" logo though four owners and
thirty-four years.  A kelly-green box with a white 3 in it is
immediately recognizable as KCRA.  WBAL is always and reassuringly
WBAL, whether "radio 11" or channel 11.

-GAWollman

[1] IBS here officially stands for "Internet Broadcasting System" but
"Irritable Bowel Syndrome" seems no less accurate to me.