Circle 7 logo


The Circle 7 logo is an often-used television station logo in the United States. Designed in the early 1960s for the American Broadcasting Company's five owned-and-operated stations, the logo, or a version of it, is currently being used not only by ABC stations and affiliates, but also by a number of television broadcasters around the world.

History and information

The Circle 7 logo was created by G. Dean Smith, a San Francisco graphic designer, and was first used in 1962 by ABC as the logo for its five owned-and-operated television stations: WABC-TV in New York City; KABC-TV in Los Angeles; WBKB in Chicago; KGO-TV in San Francisco; and WXYZ-TV in Detroit. When ABC applied for television station licenses in the late 1940s, it was thought that the low-band channel frequencies would be removed from use for television broadcasting, thus making these five stations broadcasting on VHF channel 7 the lowest on the television dial. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, ABC's then-corporate parent, registered the Circle 7 logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1962.
When WABC-TV adopted the Eyewitness News format in 1968, all reporters and anchors were required to wear a blazer with a Circle 7 patch when they appeared on the air – a marketing practice that spread to the other ABC O&Os, and eventually to other ABC affiliates. Stations commonly used the logo on microphone flags, newscaster clothing and design of sets, as well as on-air graphics for locally originated programming. Circle 7 Animation, a short-lived Disney division that was working on sequels to Disney-owned Pixar's films, was named after the street it was located in.

U.S. stations currently using the Circle 7 logo or a variant

1WZVN is operated through an LMA by Waterman Broadcasting Corporation.

Non-U.S. use