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21 Cool Retro NYC Television Bumpers and Intros on You Tube

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A Fond Look Back at Vintage New York City Television

If you're a native New Yorker who grew up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, then you remember all too well the cool television show bumpers and intros that used to play on local New York City TV stations like WOR, PIX, NEW, WABC, WCBS, and WNBC. You may think that many of these motion graphics are gone for good. But believe it or not, nearly all of them have shown up on You Tube in all their retro glory. So for native New Yorkers who are feeling a little nostalgic, now is as any good a time as any to take a trip down memory lane by checking out this great compilation of some of the most memorable NYC TV bumpers and intros of the past 40 years.

WPIX-11 Bumpers and Intros
WNEW Bumpers and Intros
WABC, WNBC, and WCBS TV Bumpers and Intros

News Intros

WPIX-11 Bumpers and Intros

Many New Yorkers who came of age in the 1970s have fond memories of WPIX-11, because of its very imaginative and creative bumpers and intros, which often used state of the art computer graphics, great music, and cool imagery. Below you'll see and hear the classic music and graphics that for most children who grew up in the '70s and '80s will be instantly recognizable.

WPIX Sunday Morning Movie/ Sunday Afternoon Movie 1979 Channel 11 NY

Two classic intros from WPIX television in the '70s played back to back-- The Sunday Morning Movie and Sunday Afternoon Movie. In between the two bumpers is a promo for what was then the latest Rockford Files episode.

WPIX-TV Chiller Theater Intro

This is the infamous stop-motion intro to WPIX's "Chiller Theater", which scared the stuffing out of young viewers with its animation of a hand coming out of the ground against the backdrop of a creepy landscape.

WPIX- Sunday's Great Movie and Sunday Movie Special

Two more great examples of the glittery motion graphics and funky background music that was characteristic of WPIX's intros during the 70s and 80s.

WPIX- The Eight O' Clock Movie

When it comes to groovy intros, it doesn't get any groovier than this one for WPIX's "The Eight O'Clock Movie."

WPIX Holiday Movie Special- 1979

This is the classic intro to the Christmas day movie that used the instrumental, "Santa's Got a Brand New Bag."

WPIX-TV - 8:00 Movie 1982

In the 80s, WPIX dropped its funky intros for a more updated look. Although many people were probably sad to see those go, the changes were none too shabby. Here are the updated 1980s motion graphics for the Eight O'Clock Movie, which were later upgraded. Notice how the Twin Towers featured prominently.

WPIX Eight O'Clock Movie- 1986

This snazzy intro for the Eight O'Clock Movie-- which further updated WPIX's Manhattan skyline theme with better 3D graphics-- ran well into the 90s.

WNEW Bumpers and Intros

Before it was Fox-5, WNYW was WNEW, a locally owned TV station that ran vintage TV shows, animated programs, and B movies. Below are some of its bumpers and intros from the late '70s-80s.

WNEW Drive-In Movie intro, 1983

This is the intro to Drive In Movie, which ran every Saturday at 3PM for years during the 1980s. Although Drive In Movie played all kinds of B films, it was best known for its huge roster of badly dubbed Asian kung fu flicks.

WNEW- The Fun's On Channel 5 (1980)

You were clearly a child of the 70s and 80s if you remember this bumper from WNEW!

WNEW TV Movie Bumper

A pleasant-sounding, mellow intro to one of WNEW's movie bumpers. This version on You Tube is blank; at the very end you would've seen the title of the day's movie zooming out from the center.

WOR-9 TV Bumpers and Promos

Like WNEW, WOR today (now My9) is a far cry from its earlier days as an independent station. Below you'll see bumpers and intros from a time when it was still running classic movies and original programming.

WOR Channel 9 Million Dollar Movie

Using the theme from Gone with the Wind, this classic intro for the Million Dollar Movie had sweeping pans and fast moving clips of New York City nightlife and famous tourist attractions. These included Lincoln Center, The World Trade Center, Plaza Hotel, TKTS Booth, Park Avenue, and Radio City Music Hall.

WOR- 9 All Night (1981)

An early intro to "9 All Night", with zooming stars creating the logo, followed by the NYC skyline and the title sung in a robotic voice.

WOR "9 All Night" Movie Bumper 1987

Keeping up with the trend at the time, WOR in the 80s updated its movie intros and bumpers with the latest start of the art glossy computer graphics. Here is the new version it made for "9 All Night."

WABC, WNBC, and WCBS TV Bumpers and Intros

It wasn't just NY's indie stations that had cool bumpers and intros-- local NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates also had a few. Below is a small collection of the most memorable ones starting with NBC, since it has the earliest movie intros on record.

WNBC-4 "Movie 4" 1964

A charming collection of NBC-TV's "Movie 4" graphics from 1964, which used lush orchestral music and animation to introduce the movie.

ABC 4:30 Movie

This popular intro featured a silhouette of a spinning cameraman outlined by neon colors as upbeat music played in the background.

WCBS TV The Late Show

This is the memorable "The Late Show" intro that used "The Syncopated Clock" as the theme and showed an apartment building's lights slowly going out.

WCBS-TV 2 Late Late Show

A classic intro that animated the many types of genres shown on the Late Late Show, including romance, Westerns, and-- obvious by Charlie Chaplin-- comedies. It had "old timey" style piano music playing in the background, and the animation emulated electronic billboard signs.

News Intros

Quite a number of TV news intros and end credits appeared on both NYC's independent and local affiliate stations over the years. Although many of them are great, below are the most well known ones from the 1970s and 80s.

WNEW- (WNYW) TV - The 10 O' Clock News - 1977

This 1970s theme to WNEW's 10 O'Clock news is probably one of the wackiest intros of all time because of its unusual theme song, which had a blaring horn section, timpani, a clacking sound, and God knows what else going off in the background!

News 4 New York

The memorable 1980s intro for WNBC News with Sue Simmons and Chuck Scarborough at the helm.

WPIX Action News End Credits

This is the classic ending credits of WPIX's Action News, with the "Move Closer to Your World" theme. If you watch the footage carefull, you will see that it's images of "old" Times Square at least a decade before it was renovated.

Channel 7 Eyewitness News NYC 1977

The end credits for Eyewitness News that used the most famous and widely used news theme of all time, the "Tar Sequence" from Cool Hand Luke.

Your Thoughts

Are you a native New Yorker who remembers these TV intros and bumpers well? Then share your memories below!

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by AtomicGirl

I'm a young person with an old soul who has a passion for all things retro. When I'm not busy collecting vintage magazines, I'm either building pages... more »

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