Jingles

Last year, I started a series of posts about jingle samplers, from the fantastic collection of Ken R. After a short break, I meant to get back to it – but in the meantime an excellent site has sprung up from Ted Tatman, archiving all the samplers I have, and rather more besides. Rather than duplicate the effort, especially as that site has a bit more context, I thought I’d finish my series by just giving the site a great big link:

JingleSamplers.com

As there really is much great stuff over there, I thought the following would be a a fitting end to this series of posts:

And that great song leaves me with a question – just what was it about 70s pop culture which made them constantly mention the year? I keep seeing it with material from that decade. Even the Carry On films were doing it with this poster for Carry On Behind – “…with the ’76 touch”. Why?

Another day, another entry in our Ken R jingle sampler series – and this time, we’re back to original PAMS jingles, all recorded between 1960 and 1977:

The Livin’ End (98MB ZIP, password: kenr)

As usual, this compilation has loads of great stuff – including some nice country jingles which often seem to get looked over when talking about the history of PAMS, and some extremely amusing session excerpts which pile on the nonsense noises with each take. But my favourite of the batch here is simply known as the WTVY (FM) Happy Day Song.

The perfect way to start your day.

Jingle compilation by Ken R. Deutsch. PAMS material © PAMS Productions, Inc. of Dallas.

As we return after a Christmas break to our Ken R. jingle sampler series, we have something slightly different than the last three. The previous samplers were all material from PAMS; this one takes us on a trip around other jingle production houses – material from Pepper Tanner, Heller, and Sande & Greene to name but three. A shame perhaps that there isn’t more context included, but this is still 55 minutes of awesomeness.

Not PAMS Sampler (85MB ZIP, password: kenr)

As for my favourites, it isn’t entire tracks this time, but just two jingles I want to single out. Firstly, Wonderful Town, Wonderful People from Richard Ullman and Associates – I thought this was a PAMS jingle for years, and I think it gives PAMS’s My Home Town a run for its money:

And secondly, from Heller – well, one of the most bizarre radio jingles I think I’ve ever heard…

Jingle compilation by Ken R. Deutsch.

Welcome to the second of our Ken R jingle sampler series – my mission to get these things listened to by a wider audience. This one is simply called PAMS Sampler 806; the name may be nondescript, but this is one of my favourites:

PAMS Sampler 806 (69MB ZIP, password: kenr)

All the tracks are brilliant, but here are a few of the best. It kicks off with a montage of Series 14-44 – for background, PAMS released numbered demo packages of jingles throughout its life, which stations would listen to and choose which cuts to be resung for their station. This montage is a great trawl through American radio between 1960 and 1973:

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“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.”

– Jonathan M. Wolfert, History of Jingles and 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.

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Immigration. Barely a day goes past without it hitting the news. I would link you to examples, but I’m presuming – if you’re the usual kind of wet liberal that I suspect visits this site – that you might wish to take a break from all of that for five minutes.

Take a listen, then, to the following jingle, from PAMS Series 28 – made for the radio station WABC in 1964:

PAMS Series 28, Cut #15

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