Art Anderson. His work was his name. He was an artist who creatively put an exclamation point on every visual element representing Capitol Broadcasting Company. Many of CBC's divisions still carry the logos created by Art.
Art was the lead artist and assistant promotion director at WRAL-TV from February 16, 1960 to January 4, 1993. In 1960, the station was still in its infancy. The broadcasts were in B&W and local programming was either live or taped live. Each show needed a set and Art designed it. Each show needed a logo and Art, or his team of artists, designed it. Every graphic that appeared during the newscast, including courtroom artist's renderings of high profile trials, would be made during the day and ready for air during the evening newscast. Don't forget promotion, where print ads were created for newspapers and the TV Guide. On-air promos carried graphic branding of WRAL. Keep in mind, this was before the age of computers. So much was created by hand and typeset.
The Charlie Gaddy Show set
Art's sets were legendary. His ability to create depth and space along with a stunning array of color made his sets look like something straight out of Hollywood. Take a look at the set (left) for the 1971 entertainment special The Charlie Gaddy Show, which easily could have been used for CBS' Sonny and Cher Show.
Good Morning Charlie show opening
The opening sequence for the live program Good Morning Charlie is another example of Art using 3D elements and then creating motion by placing the objects on a turntable. In 1970, Art was ahead of his time.
Back in the day, the art department was located on the second floor of the broadcast building where engineering is currently located. The promotion department was the next door down the hallway. During my era (1981-87) Art oversaw three creative people; Doug Peedin, John Hardee, and Roxanne Hicklin. Roxanne became the first Dubner operator for the station, and WRAL was one of the first television stations in the country to have a one. ABC network had the first one. The arrival of the Dubner marked the beginning of computer generated animation for WRAL. Art totally embraced the technology.
Art was a collaborator. He always consulted with directors and producers before making a graphic. He and his staff did not want to create a visual element that would cause logistical problems during a live production, especially a newscast. As a director, I appreciated his consideration in thinking about the logistical impact further down the production path. He used the same approach whenever he designed a set. Art would talk with each director to make sure the set and camera angles complemented each other. A perfect example is the set he designed for Live at Noon.
Live at Noon set: (l to r) Meteorologist Bill Schmidt,
Ray Wilkinson, Denece Boyer, John Hudson.
Kevin Shand served as the producer of Live at Noon. He recalls the phrase warm and fuzzy being bantered about by management in regards to what the set should impart to the viewer. As Kevin recalls, Art pushed back to the use of that phrase. To Art, warm and fuzzy' dulled the images and softened the set to the point of being too subtle. Art staged sets with strategic placement of items to lead the eye to the hosts and guests, yet provide a visually inviting background. The foreground was to be seen, and the background was used to enhance and complement the foreground. It was a visual balancing act.
The set of Live at Noon was a perfect example of Art's design aesthetic. It was visually appealing, not only due to the d cor, but due to the layers of depth he created with space and see through areas that tricked the viewer's eye to draw them into the room. We all said, We want that room in our home!
Art was a dapper dresser. He always looked like he just stepped off the cover of GQ Magazine. However, he was not above rolling up his French cuffs and sleeves for some hands on-work. Art's continuity of graphic branding was seen on WRAL News ranging from SKY 5 to LIVESTAR 5, news cars, news microphone flags, and strategically positioned logos in the newsroom, on caps, newscast graphics and the list goes on. To this day, WRAL branding reflects some of the key basic elements Art established years ago.
Art Anderson working on the first SKY 5
Above and Beyond print ad featuring SKY 5 and LIVESTAR 5: SKY 5 #2 and LIVESTAR 5 sporting the WRAL graphic scheme.
Art had a sharp wit. I recall him talking about how he relieved stress at the end of the day. He said that after a hectic day he would go home and prune his Bonsai (miniature) trees by twisting their little branches. It was the way he said twisting that you knew Art had experienced a frustrating day. Note: No Bonsai trees were injured during the twisting. Art was a man of peace.
Phyllis Parish, Director of WRAL Local Production, shares her fond memories of Art:
Art was a wonderful mentor and friend. When I came to work at WRAL in 1982, I was the new kid on the block, a recent college grad with just a year's worth of Promotion experience from the local NBC affiliate. Art took me under his wing and made me feel welcome right from the start. The Promotion and Art Department offices were side by side, so I was lucky to see and work with Art and his talented team of artists, Doug Peedin, Roxanne Hicklin and John Hardee, every day. They had decades of broadcasting experience between them, so I learned about the big 5 and soaked up advertising and design tips from the best.
Whale ornament
But what I remember most about Art Anderson was his big heart. He was genuinely kind. Early on, he learned about my interest in whales. I had seen my first humpback whale during my family's trip to Hawaii. I had a big collection of whales - wooden, glass, marble, you name it. Art surprised me with a
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Art Anderson. His work was his name. He was an artist who creatively put an exclamation point on every visual element representing Capitol Broadcasting Company. Many of CBC's divisions still carry the logos created by Art.
