Draft:ABS-CBN

Credits

Descriptions by
RichYong

Editions by
DatuDimatablan

Background

ABS-CBN is a television network in the Philippines and also a major media and entertainment conglomerate, founded on June 13, 1946 as Bolinao Electronics Corporation (BEC) by an American engineer, James Lindenberg. Judge Antonio Quirino bought stocks from BEC and later gained the controlling stock and later renamed the company from BEC to Alto Broadcasting System (ABS). Their first telecast was on October 23, 1953, on channel 3 (using the callsign DZAQ-TV). After the premiere telecast, DZAQ-TV followed a four-hour-a-day schedule from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

On September 24, 1956, brothers Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and former Vice President Fernando Lopez established the Chronicle Broadcasting Network (named after the Manila Chronicle newspaper which Eugenio owned at the time), which was initially focused on radio; they bought Alto Broadcasting System on February 24, 1957 (also reverting the corporate name to its previous one) and established another TV station (DZXL-TV 9) under the CBN brand in 1958. Broadcasts of selected shows in color began in 1966, a first for a Philippine television network, and on February 1, 1967, the company was renamed ABS–CBN Broadcasting Corporation. ABS-CBN opened its Broadcast Center along Bohol Avenue, Quezon City on December 18, 1968, and on November 14, 1969, DZAQ-TV was transferred to channel 2, where it remained the positioning frequency of the station for more than 50 years, while DZXL-TV transferred to channel 4 (and later became the state-run People's Television Network).

On September 23, 1972, ABS-CBN was forced to shut down, due to then-President Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of martial law. It was later relaunched as "The Star Network" on September 14, 1986, a few months after the People Power Revolution, even keeping its DWWX-TV callsign for the Metro Manila TV station. However, on May 5, 2020, the National Telecommunications Commission issued a cease-and-desist order to temporarily stop the network's broadcast, including its radio stations, MOR 101.9 and DZMM TeleRadyo.

Alto Broadcasting System

1st Logo (October 23, 1953-1969)

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Logo: On a white background, the callsign "DZAQ-TV" is stacked on top of a box that reads "Channel 3", and the Alto Broadcasting System logo is displayed below the box.

FX/SFX: None

Music/Sounds: None

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1966?)

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Logo: The words, "TODAY! SEE..: Channel 3 IN COLOR 1:00-3:00 P.M." stacked on top of each other, against a color bar background zooming in. When it fully zoomed in, the text fades out.

FX/SFX: The color bars zooming in, and the text fading out.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extinct. It can be found here.

Editor's Note: None.

ABS-CBN (1967-1972)

Only (known) logo (1967-1972)

Nickname(s): "The Transmitter", "The Lollipop"

Logo: On a black background, inside a square outline is a vertical line (which represents a transmitter), and three circles surrounding it (which represents Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao).

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A flute(?) playing ABS-CBN's famous corporate jingle.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation/City2 Television

Background

Roberto Benedicto (who owned the Kanlaon Broadcasting System at the time) acquired ABS-CBN's corporate assets (including its Broadcast Center) and established a new network called Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (not to be confused with the British Broadcasting Corporation) on November 4, 1973. DZAQ-TV became the network's flagship station (serving Metro Manila) and had its callsign changed to DWWX-TV. In 1978, BBC-2 (along with KBS, which used channel 9 since 1969) transferred its operations to Broadcast City in Capitol Hills, Quezon City. For a limited time from 1980 to 1984, BBC-2 was rebranded as City2 Television, where its well-known Scanimate ident became the first computer-generated ident from a Philippine television station. On March 20, 1986, the network ceased its operations and its assets (including radio and television frequencies) were returned to ABS-CBN in July of that year.

1st (known) Logo (1978-1980, 1984-1986)

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Logo: On a blue background, we see a large three-dimensional 2, next to a red square/rectangle, with the letters, BBC.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral fanfare, with an announcer saying, "Broadcast City 2."

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: Probably, one of the oldest known found Philippine TV idents to surface on YouTube.

2nd Logo (1980-1984)

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  "Delivers Entertainment!" variant

Nickname(s): "Scanimate City2"

Logo: On a black background, a sparkle traces out an outline. Then, we see 3D letters sliding and flipping from the right to the formed outline. The two number 2s flies into the outline, Then the logo glows. The word "TELEVISION" slides down from the bottom of the stylized "2" and stretches. The slogan "...we're here just for you." flies into the bottom of the logo.

Trivia:

• This was made by Ed Kramer, who is well-known for the Prism Entertainment logo.
• This is the first scanimated ident in Philippine Television, followed by IBC-13.

Variant(s): There is a variant in which the City2 Television logo is placed on a space background with a planet (possibly Earth) in the corner, with the words "DELIVERS ENTERTAINMENT!" (in a "computerized" font). Only a picture exists.

FX/SFX: All Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized, bombastic music, with vocals singing, "City 2 Television" and "City 2"

Availability: Extinct, but the original ident can be found on Ed Kramer's YouTube channel. A video can be seen here.

Editor's Note: One of the most remembered and loved logos by most of the Filipinos.

ABS-CBN (1986-2020)

1st Logo (September 14-November 30, 1986)

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Nickname(s): "Watch Us... Do It Again!"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: The video footage has been found, but it got deleted causing it to be lost again. There is an existing image.

2nd Logo (December 1, 1986-February 28, 1987)

Nickname(s): "Sharing a New Life with You"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Unknown.

Editor's Note: The logo is completely lost, unknown if there is a recording of it.

3rd Logo (March 1, 1987-1989)

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Nickname(s): "The Star Network"

Logo: In a space background with moving grids, the ABS-CBN corporate logo flies into the center, along with the stylized 2 with a rhomboidal star, and the slogan flies into the screen saying, "The Star Network"

FX/SFX: The space background, the grids, and the flying ABS-CBN corporate logos.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic fanfare, with Peter Musñgi's voice saying, "This is ABS-CBN. You're on channel 2, DWWX-TV in Metro Manila, The Star Network.". A popular version, which is often used in their anniversary logos at the time, is a dreamy fanfare along with the ABS-CBN theme in the end.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: The logo seems fine, but the graphics are dated.

4th Logo (1988-1991)

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  Part 1

• Part 2

  Part 2

Nickname(s): "The Star Network II"

Logo: On a cyan background, we see a light green Philippine map flying towards the screen. Once it fully zoomed in, it cuts into a black background with the 3D rings, flips around the center of the screen along with a box with a transmitter, until it stops at the middle, one by one. Then, the 3D letters "ABS" and "CBN" flies into their positions, revealing the whole logo, then it flips out to reveal three golden number 2's forming a bigger stylized "2". A shine traces, and colors the stylized "2" and a rhomboidal star zooms in at the tip of the "2".

FX/SFX: All CGI.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Ultra rare.

• The only footage of this ident is seen on the 3rd PMPC Star Awards, which disappointingly, in a very poor recording, with no color whatsoever.
• The ABS-CBN animation was reused in their sign-off and the other fragment was found in a Palibhasa, Lalake promo in 1988.

Editor's Note: This ident, along with the other main television network idents were found on the same video, but only two of them (PTV-4, RPN-9) are found in full-color and high-quality recordings. The other two (ABS-CBN and GMA) also have high-quality recordings, but no full-color footage. Links here and here.

5th Logo (1989)

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  Part 1

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  Part 2

Nickname(s): "The Philippines' Largest Network"

Logo: In a black background, the words, "Presenting...." fades in at the top, then "The World's First Ever Jingle Sung By A Thousand Voices." fades in at the bottom. Then, we fade into a large crowd singing the jingle while the camera is zooming out to reveal even more people. The crowd started clapping after the jingle, then the ABS-CBN wordmark in 3D, zooms out from the bottom of the screen, with a white ring rolls over the wordmark before splitting into three. The rings later changed into its corresponding colors, red, green, and blue, when two metal lines slide over and under the rings. The square, along with the wordmark, slides into the center to form the logo. After the animation, the sentence "THE PHILIPPINES' LARGEST NETWORK" fades in.

FX/SFX: Live-action and CGI.

Music/Sounds: The crowd singing the jingle, "ABS-CBN, The Philippines' Largest Network", The clapping at the end, with the ABS-CBN theme playing at the end.

Availability: Extinct.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (1989-1992)

Nickname(s): "In the Service of the Filipino"

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Later Variant: By 1992, the slogan now reads "In the Service of the Filipino Worldwide".

Special Message Variants: The finished ident zooms out to the lower right (and gains a white border), uncovering a special message.

• 1989: On a lavender-navy blue gradient background are the words "Be clean in everything you do." in a white, bold, Futura-like font in uppercase.
• 1992: On a background resembling many green leaves are the words "Borrowing trouble from the future does not deplete the supply." in a white, Century Gothic-like font in uppercase. To the left of the ABS-CBN ident is the logo of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) in white, but without the "KBP" lettering. Below that are the stacked words "KBP MEMBER" (indicating ABS-CBN's membership in that broadcasting association) in a white sans-serif font in uppercase.

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: None.