This subject is on television networks local stations and logos. You might ask: what does a logo of a local TV station needs merit of a blog post?  Well what if you lived in some of the big markets in the country and wondered the history of that Channel 7 bug on the lower right side of your TV screen?
Well then, 50 years ago on August 27th, the owned-and-operated station of the American Broadcasting Companies* in San Francisco, California introduced a new logo that soon would become iconic quickly. ABC took an advantage with pending approval of the Federal Communications Commission moving commercial TV stations from Channel 2 to Channel 7 (being first on the dial) due to expand the airwaves for radio and other telecommunication mediums. The move did not happen and later in 1962, the other sister O&Os would soon get the logo, including WABC-TV in New York, WKBK-TV (later WLS-TV) in Chicago, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and WXYZ-TV in Detroit (later becoming a Scripps O&O.) It was believed to be made by Paul Rand, who designed the current ABC logo, but it was actually designed by a Bay Area design firm G. Dean Smith (which would explain the reason why KGO was the first station in the group to get the logo.)
* The corporate name prior to 1985 was in plural sense – don’t blame me for a typo! Its one of those “What does your station’s copyright say?” kinda thing.

This logo was actually patented, and the ABC affiliated stations were the only stations not owned by ABC were privied to use the logo. Part of this was ABC capitalizing on owning 5 stations on Channel 7. The FCC had strict laws on ownership of mass media properties, as such ABC had to rely on affiliates that happened expand the franchise of having ABC on Channel 7, because the network was attempting to synergize the Paul Rand logo with the Circle 7 logo. They wanted the layman viewer to understand the Circle 7 was the local brand of the network. (Kinda, sorta like how “ABC7” or “CBS 4” or “NBC [City name]” is of the modern day.)  ABC in fact tried legal action with lawsuits or threats thereof to happen, in one example Boston’s Channel 7 (then WNAC-TV), which had to convert to a Times Serif logo from a Circle-7 like logo in the late 1970s, since they weren’t an ABC affiliate since 1972, and a potential lawsuit was likely to occur at that time. (In the fall of 1987, the same station came up with another Circle-7 esque arraigned with 7 dots over a blue circle.) ABC  had to give up on protecting the logo.

The logo had made various changes, and had seen various companies buying ABC, from Capital Cities in 1985, to The Walt Disney Company, a decade later, and seen changes such as incorporating the ABC into the Circle 7 logo (and branding changes from Channel 7 Eyewitness News to ABC 7 Eyewitness News) and making the logo more 3D looking, among such changes.
This logo is one of the few oldest that is still in current use. This logo is the second longest running logo behind the CBS “Eye” which made its debut in 1951. There’s something about how sticking to one thing instead of constantly changing ones logo, it is a sign that about consistency and consistency shows that your brand, that when I turn to that station I know what I am getting.
One example is the network CBS EyeID hasn’t changed, but their owned affiliates in some of their markets have changed their look and feel well over a dozen times including the local channel logo, while ratings really haven’t been the best for their O&Os. The ABC O&Os, have been number one for most of their markets since the late 1980s and have beat every Neilsen books since – and their identity has been consistent.   As lame as it is, a look and feel of a TV station, does matter to viewers and can effect ratings, profit margins and revenue to a local station!
ABC was and is lucky to have such of the world’s most iconic logos. They lucked out of having being the number 1 most watched network for decades and being number 1 on their local O&O newscasts for at least a quarter of a century in modern history.