[brobwymt]

Hey everyone,

My friend owns a radio station here where I live and we were needing a little help ID’ing these jingles. They sound like something from PAMS or Pepper Tanner, but we’re not sure. Can you all help? Thanks in advance!

[PKMember]

The vocal sound did make me wonder if this might be something recorded in the early 70s by SPOT Productions???

[IainJohnston]

The subject of “Fake Drake” jingles in that era has popped up a few times on JM, and those make me think
of some of those, including a sound-alike lot for WGOW Chatanooga.

These DO have the “pause/gap effect” between the “W” and the 3 other letters that was common a wee bit
later than the Drake era e.g. these are almost like TM Propellents clones?

Something with the vocalists does sound familiar though. Almost like some of the PAMS ones moonlighting.
Either that or the tracks were a VERY inexpensive PAMS custom?

[JAM / PAMSMember]

the tracks were a VERY inexpensive PAMS custom?

“Very inexpensive custom” is another way of describing a PAMS Custom Grid. These were popular in the very late 60s and early 70s. A station would get 2 or 3 simple custom tracks, and then have them sung many different ways to achieve dozens of mixouts… all of which sounded very similar, and therefore boring to listen to.

This is definitely part of a PAMS grid package. Jackie Dickson on lead, Jim Clancy on bass. I’d say it was 1970 or 71.

[IainJohnston]

Thanks for the explanation Jon.

Around that time (1971) I was sent 3 reels of a PAMS custom “grid” package from KFJZ Fort Worth Texas,
and it was indeed huge, and included moog sounders, sono etc. The tapes are unplayable now sadly,
although I have a hissy N-th generation dub that went “around the world from Scotland” via various
collectors until a digital dub made its way to me many years later.

I don’t have a copy, but I believe there is a KenR Collection CD of examples of PAMS grids that were
“constructed” using their unique-for-their-time 10-track tape machines?

[nleibo]

I have a copy of the WABC “Grid” circa 1969 on one of my Ken R compilations–and Jon’s description is “right on the money”–pretty bland…

[IainJohnston]

If anyone’s ears can stand it (its in “reference quality” I’m afraid). here’s a few examples from the
KFJZ grid, which also had masses of acapellas. Some cuts may possibly be “derived” from Series 40C ?

(If anyone “Out There” still has the KFJZ package in good quality (somehow…) please drop me a PM).

https://soundcloud.com/allthebestjingles/ij-kfjz-1971-pams

A slightly more “melodic” grid is the KYA San Francisco one.

[GrahamCollins]

I’ve heard this sort of thing before. The current Reelworld package for the Heart Network here in the UK comes to mind. Eleven dance themes, that are all pretty much the same and end with the same logo in the same pitch and at the same speed, so really only one jingle….

[Tracy CarmanMember]

These are cuts from PAMS WSLR package, as resung for WTCW in 1971. Jon hit the date right on the mark! Here are a few more examples:

[IainJohnston]

Graham, to be fair to the original PAMS concept compared with today’s “one tempo, one cut, 7 styles”
stuff, the KFJZ package was a good example of using e.g. a “core” rhytm bed backing track then using
the 10-track layers to produce separate “layers” of group vocals, male and female solos, brass instead
of voices, different “fronts”, different “ends” and so on. Then combining them up in many different ways
so that there were different textures and tempos. A pre-cursor of what JAM were doing a few years
later with their more sophisticated “we give you each basic “full” cut but then with lots of sub-mixes”

The TM Productions Phase II system was like a very simplyfied version of the PAMS grids- they of course
didn’t have PAMS custom 10-track rig (patented ?) – and it was all analogue tape, and long before even
early multi-track mixing desks or today’s sooper-dooper as-much-as-you-like digital track layers and
loss-free mixing.

[GrahamCollins]

I wasn’t knocking PAMS at all, rather lamenting the lack of variation at Heart. I suppose with only 80 songs to play with at any one time, they figure they only need one jingle !

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