WUSA-TV Branding

Washington’s Channel 9 has been known by many names. Until 1978 it was WTOP… then it was WDVM… and in 1986, it became known as WUSA. For years, it was the number one news operation in town, with its popular team of Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyan. Unfortunately, it has recently fallen on hard times, placing fifth in many news slots, and Gordon and Maureen are now anchors at rival WJLA…

WTOP-TV

WDVM-TV

WUSA

In 1986, WDVM was acquired by Gannett, which promptly moved the WUSA calls from its Minneapolis station (now KARE) over to its Washington station. It kept the WDVM 9 logo, supplementing it with the text “W*USA” (note the asterisk – for some reason the USA was always set off from the W. It was a fancy star in 1986 – now they cleverly use the CBS eye). In 1986, WUSA replaced the “And You” opens with a new music package and new custom opens from Pacific Data Images. Known as the “Death Star” opens due to a clever use of the Gannett corporate logo, this effort undoubtedly ranks with the best graphic opens EVER created for television. These two opens are must-downloads… and web captures do not do these justice.