1970s era WGOE 1590 AM Progressive Radio Richmond, VA 4-inch "adhesion circle"

I’m not sure who nicknamed my WGOE logo the “WGOE Adhesion Circle” but after I designed it in the mid 1970s, it quickly took on a life of its own—exactly what you hope for when you design a logo.

I don’t recall exactly why I chose the subject matter, but I do recall that visual elements such as palm trees, neon, flamingos, and art deco era objects (the radio) were, at the time (believe it or not), trendy (and tacky). 

I do remember the origin of the typeface: When I was working as the designer of the Ten O’Clock News at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C. in 1973, I designed a letterhead for a coworker’s music sideline (Larry Bryant’s Capitol Boogie) using a crude, neon-like typeface I designed for that purpose. I guess it stuck with me because it showed up a year or two later as the call letters “WGOE”.

Though the station is long gone, WGOE’s reputation as one of Richmond, Virginia’s first AOR stations (album-oriented rock), made it a symbol of that time and its young listeners. So when I found the original negatives for the art in my files, I had some WGOE Adhesion Circles printed up. Now, when someone sees it on the the back window of my car and asks me about it, I can pull one from the glove compartment and hand it over, in every case, to a laugh and a smile.

Haha... so track me down around town, or, if you don’t have time for that, you can buy a couple here.

Can only ship these in the United States.