In 1979, Turner began branding the station as "SuperStation WTBS" – the prefix word was re-rendered in mixed case in October 1980, with both "S"s capitalized – with occasional references within the logo to the channel 17 frequency in Atlanta. However, the national feed continued to occasionally use the same on-air branding as the Atlanta area signal (which was referred to on-air at the time as "WTBS Channel 17") until October 1980.
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USAGE Official
By 1981, the Atlanta station would be branded as "SuperStation 17"; on the national feed available outside of the Atlanta area, though, references to the station's over-the-air channel number were completely removed (outside of minor technical issues where local ads and promos aired erroneously on the national feed).
1984–1987
DESIGNER Digital Productions
TYPOGRAPHY Garamond Bold Italic
USAGE Official
SuperStation TBS
1987–1989
DESIGNER Studio Productions
TYPOGRAPHY Garamond Bold Italic
USAGE Official
On September 7, 1987, the "W" from the "WTBS" callsign was dropped from the superstation's on-air branding – changing its name to SuperStation TBS – in order to emphasize the channel's national programming prominence, with the WTBS Atlanta signal continuing to use the separate "SuperStation 17" branding.
TBS SuperStation
1989–1990
DESIGNER Studio Productions
TYPOGRAPHY Garamond Bold Italic
USAGE Official
On September 28, 1989, the channel's name was changed to TBS SuperStation to reflect the strong national standing of the channel.
TBS (first era)
1990–1994
DESIGNER Studio Productions
TYPOGRAPHY Garamond Bold Italic
USAGE Official
On September 10, 1990, the word "Superstation" was removed from the cable channel's on-air branding and promotions, rebranding it as simply "TBS," which had been used verbally in on-air promotions since the beginning of that year.
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USAGE Official
On December 17, 1996, when TBS celebrated its 20th anniversary as a national service, the channel reincorporated the "Superstation" moniker into its name, rebranding as "TBS Superstation" (this time with the second "s" rendered in lower case).
2003–February 2004
DESIGNER Unknown
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USAGE Official
TBS (second era)
February–June 2004
DESIGNER Unknown
TYPOGRAPHY Myriad Pro Bold Italic
USAGE Official
In February 2004, the "Superstation" sub-brand was once again dropped, with the channel reverting to being branded as simply TBS; as such, this logo was modified to only include the "TBS" wordmark from the previous logo in Myriad Bold Italic type; this logo was used only for a short time before its next logo debuted.
2004–2015
DESIGNER Publicis NY
TYPOGRAPHY Coolvetica
USAGE Official
On June 4, 2004, to signify the channel's new comedy programming focus, TBS introduced a new logo (designed by Publicis New York) that rendered the channel's name in lowercase and incorporated a half-circle made to resemble a mouth open as if it were laughing and adopted the slogan "veryfunny". The half-circle element took on a motif with half a baseball or basketball rendered within it for Turner Sports programming. This new look emphasized TBS's new focus on comedy, following TBS's parent company WarnerMedia's sale of its half of Comedy Central to Viacom.
On September 16, 2015, TBS's official Facebook page unveiled a new logo on their profile pic, and on their cover photo while promoting their upcoming original series, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. The logo was first used on the air on October 31, 2015, though it had appeared on TBS's website before then.
See also
WPCH-TV – an independent station in Atlanta that operated TBS as a national superstation feed of the Atlanta-area station until 2007.
