“Radio jingles: they’re those short, catchy songs that tell you the name of the station you’re listening to. Listeners often think that the jingles are made right at the station, or by a local band. But broadcast professionals know that creating effective jingles requires the services of a unique kind of production company. Today, artfully crafted pieces of music which sing the praises of a station’s “call letters” are an accepted part of most radio formats. These jingles are heard throughout the world, but there are only a small number of companies responsible for making them. Most of the work is done in Dallas, Texas, where the radio jingle industry began with a company called PAMS.”
Some day, I will write a long and tedious article as to why I love jingles so much. Today is not that day. This is the fun stuff.
Last year, jingle guru Ken R. Deutsch posted a bunch of jingle samplers on jingle forum JingleMad – montages of different jingles from his vast collection. He also gave permission for anyone to distribute them, with the appropriate notices attached.
This month I’ll be sharing these samplers, and picking out a few of my favourites. This one accompanied Ken R’s excellent tome The Jingle Book, but you don’t need to read that to give this a listen:
The Jingle Book Audio Companion (111MB ZIP, password: kenr)
As a taster, the you can also listen to the first track of the six here – a lovely compilation of PAMS material from the 60s. An ideal first dip into the world of radio jingles, in fact, and a glorious piece of Americana.
“That’s right, girls…”
Jingle compilation by Ken R. Deutsch. PAMS material © PAMS Productions, Inc. of Dallas.
One comment
Chris on 11 December 2011 @ 4pm
Loving those 60s-era jingles. They remind me of Man From U.N.C.L.E. though, for some reason.
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