RadioActive wrote:

And just before colour was allowed (I never did figure out why it wasn't before) the CBC used to distinguish itself with a black and white penguin before its TV shows, telling viewers the program they were about to see wasn't in colour. 

I can't seem to find any trace of this, but I distinctly remember them doing it. Does anyone else recall it?

I do remember that animated bit with the penguin, but I thought it was used at the beginning of Wayne and Shuster specials or when they had their weekly show. 

I've told this story before but I'll never forget it. As most here know, CBLT was on Channel 9 when the Toronto station first signed on Sept. 8, 1952. (CBC in Montreal was first two days earlier.)

It's not a myth - the CBC I.D. slide was, indeed, upside down when that first sign-on happened, not exactly foreshadowing of what was to come but a hilarious bit of history. 



Fast forward four years, and CBLT Moved to Channel 6 to make room for CFTO and then more than a decade later, to Channel 5 to facilitate other stations (including Global) putting their signal on Channel 6. 

I got up very early that Sept. 11, 1972 pre-dawn day just to watch the switch from 6 to 5. And in a move that I'm sure was an homage to that first mistake, they briefly (it probably didn't last more than about 2-3 secs.) showed the modern day CBC slide upside down, too, before it flipped over to show Channel 5. 

I remember laughing out loud when I saw it and I wish they'd had VCRs in those days, so I could have a record of it. I'm not sure how many got the inside joke, but it was not lost on me. 

I've been critical of the CBC, but I thought that was a nice touch and kudos to whoever thought of it. 

Evuguy wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

And just before colour was allowed (I never did figure out why it wasn't before) the CBC used to distinguish itself with a black and white penguin before its TV shows, telling viewers the program they were about to see wasn't in colour. 

I can't seem to find any trace of this, but I distinctly remember them doing it. Does anyone else recall it?

I'm too young to remember CBC doing this, however NBC apparently had their "The following program is brought to you in lively black & white" penguin. Lively? Hmm.. I do like the humour though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ldwKlYuFOo

That's hilarious! I have never seen that penguin before. As for the Peacock, it made its first appearance on May 22,1956 as a still frame. The animated version was first shown on Your Hit Parade in the summer of 1957. An updated version was introduced in September 1962 on Laramie. Once NBC's primetime schedule was completely in colour, the Peacock was only used as an introduction to programs produced by the network and was retired in 1975. During this time the Peacock was only a promotional device for NBC. The actual logo was known as the "Snake" from 1959-75.