Matthew Rutledge » promo

Direct connection

Matthew Rutledge — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:44:25 +0000

While the previous video was more of an internal self-promotion video for WFAA in Dallas, this video was a major ad campaign used during junctions and station breaks for Philadelphia’s KYW-TV. It is simply stunning — these promos have a futuristic, whimsical, avant-garde tenor paired with a bit of psychedelia. It might be the closest TV ever came to producing something obviously influenced by cocaine.

Trudy Haynes is my favorite. “I’m your direct connection… to the grapevine.” But I love it all — the weird sunny/rainy/lightning bolts over Philadelphia City Hall, the dramatic electronics from the stock ticker and meterological equipment, the “Whoo!‘s” from the electro-disco sound track, it’s all fantastic.

PS: I have written a blog post about this before, but the clip keeps on disappearing from Youtube. This time, I snagged a copy of my own so that it won’t happen again. (All copyrights respective of their owners, this is for educational purposes only.)

Back when leotards told the story

Matthew Rutledge — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:41:28 +0000

Thanks to my inimitable friend Joseph, who has a penchant for finding all the weirdest crap that youtube has to offer, I have now watched this 1980 WFAA-TV (Dallas/Fort Worth) promo video eleventy times.

It is nuts how in 1980, mustachioed men in leotards were simply “court jesters” that told the story of TV ratings success, and not big flaming homosexuals doing pirouettes.

This is really worth a watch — for a number of reasons. It offers a glimpse into a world of broadcast television that used to spend lots of money to develop strong brand images, and it also offers a glimpse into the world of leotard-wearing fancy men circa 1980 in The Metroplex.

Channel Oh – A Whole World of People

Matthew Rutledge — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:39:11 +0000

One of my softest of soft spots, as soft as a baby’s skull, is for overwrought, extended television jingles that serve to connect a TV station with some kind of greater cultural meaning. Australia has the best ones, because it has that Commonwealth aesthetic, but tends to involve really folksy, silly montages of people hugging, drinking beer, running around in speedos, etc. This one for “Channel 0″ in 1980 is a real classic; the first time I saw it, I simply consumed it as a hunk of processed cheese, but upon further viewings it’s actually given me quite a warm feeling inside, a shiny piece of unbridled optimism that’s absent in today’s aesthetics.