Lexington Broadcast Services Company/LBS
Communications Inc.
Compiled by Jason Jones, Jeffrey Gray and James
Fabiano
1st Logo
(1976-1984)
Nickname: "Pan-Out"
Logo: On a black screen, a white
beam of light with several twinkles on it "scans"
across the screen, leaving a large blue fused "LBS,"
consisting of an L and an S fused together and a B in the gap
between them, in its trail, in the center of the screen. The
"LBS" zooms out and stops slightly above the direct
center of the screen. Under it, a small white flash appears,
leaving behind the words "LEXINGTON BROADCAST SERVICES
COMPANY" in white, aligned like this:
LEXINGTON BROADCAST
SERVICES COMPANY
FX: The beam of light, and the
flash revealing the company name.
Cheesy Factor: As cheesy as you
would expect a mid-to-late-70s logo to be.
Music: A rising synth sound, a
bizarre synth tune which accompanies the rising synth sound, and
a synthesized "zap" accompanying the flash. All three
elements of the soundtrack sound like they were made on a Moog
synthesizer.
Availability: Extinct. Appeared
on the first season of "Inspector Gadget" (1983-84),
and syndicated reruns of "Superfriends," but now no
longer seen on TV.
Scare Factor: High, the synth
music and light effects make this a very scary logo.
2nd Logo
(1984-1987)
Logo: On a background consisting
of a light-to-dark violet gradient, a light blue, curved
"LBS" (exactly like the "LBS" in logo 1, but
a darker shade of blue) zooms out while "unfolding." It
stops in the center of the screen. "LBS COMMUNICATIONS,
INC." "shines" in under the logo.
FX: The "LBS"
unfolding, the company name "shining" in.
Cheesy Factor: The background
looks primitive, the logo looks like it's plastered onto the
background, and the "shine" effect is only slightly
less cheesy than the rest of the logo.
Music: A generic synth tune,
ending in a single drumbeat.
Availability: Extinct, appeared
on the second season of "Inspector Gadget" (1984-85),
"Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats," and 1984-87
episodes of "Tales from the Darkside," but none of
those shows are currently seen on TV.
Scare Factor: Low, the effects
are no longer scary like in the first logo, and the music is also
not as scary.
3rd Logo
(1987-1992)
Nickname: "Slide-In",
"Comets and Dots"
Logo: A group of round balls pan
to the left of the screen. The "LBS" slides in from the
right of the screen, during which two groups of lights streak
through. The logo makes a stop at the front of the screen, the
company name fades in.
15 Years of LBS: To celebrate
LBS’ 15th Anniversary in 1991, a smaller variant
of the logo was seen, with a red ribbon reading “15 Years of
LBS” appearing under the logo.
FX: The panning out and sliding
in of the logo and background.
Music: From 1987-89 had a remix
of the music from Logo #2; starting in 1989 it was changed to a
mystical fanfare.
Availability: More common than
previous logos, but still extremely rare. The first music
variation made a surprise appearance on the series finale of
“Hazel” on TV Land, the second variation was last seen
on early 90s prints of “Heathcliff and the Catillac
Cats” and “The New Adventures of He-Man,” and the
15 Years logo was last seen on the first syndicated season of
“Baywatch” (1991-92). However, LBS went bankrupt in
early 1992, with most of its assets sold to Syd Vinnedge’s
All American Television. With the exception of the DiC cartoons,
Tribune Entertainment shows, and some 1980s Colex/CPT prints,
expect to see a Pearson Television or FremantleMedia logo replace
all LBS logos on future reruns.
Scare Factor: Median for the 1st
music (the remix may surprise some), and Minimal for the 2nd
music (a bit eerie, but tame compared to the “Pan-Out”
music).
Colex Enterprises
(1980s)
(Note: Colex was a partnership between
LEXington Broadcast Services and COLumbia to distribute classic
Columbia shows)
Logo: On a blue background two
sets of three red lines come from either side and merge into one
set of three. A blue "Colex" written in cursive drops
down onto the lines and at the bottom a four-pointed star passes,
leaving behind the word "ENTERPRISES."
FX/Cheesy Factor: Logo seems to
be totally made of '80s computer effects. The star has a
"shadow" effect.
Music: A oversynthesized 9-note
tune, two pairs of four ascending notes (second higher than the
last) ends with one last high note and a "ping" when
the star finishes writing out "Enterprises." Sounds
like MIDI music, or something out of an 8-bit Nintendo
Entertainment System game.
Availability: Is extinct as it
would most likely be replaced by other syndicators or later
Columbia logos. However, on Encore's Mystery Channel's print of
"The Canterville Ghost" (80s) this was retained, even
after the '92 Columbia.
Scare Factor: Non-fans of
oversynthesized jingles (like the people who dislike the Screen
Gems logo of 1965-74) may not like this much.