104.3 K-Hits JAM Montage

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  • #11525
    Jeffrey T. Mason
    Member

      As many of you know, I’m a longtime jingle collector. (Read: GEEK!) One of my first tasks when starting a new job (just after signing the contract and getting my keycard) is to make copies of the station’s jingle masters. This has never been a problem…until 2013, that is!

      When I arrived at 104.3 K-Hits in Chicago, I asked our imaging director and was immediately turned down. “We don’t want to see these being traded online.” I assured that they were for my own collection and would be kept private. The answer was still “no” and remained that way any time I asked until the station signed off last November and we were all released. Recently, I made one final request. What could it hurt now that we’ve been off the air for 3 months? No reply.

      This is the FIRST time I have ever had that happen in my entire career! Hopefully, it’s the last.

      Now that the body is cold, I’ll let you in on a little secret: I dubbed nearly all of the main cuts from our AudioVault system and put them into a montage anyway. What are they gonna do…fire me?

      From the 2011 master, Flame Thrower and Warp Factor (wx).
      From the 2014 master, Turbo Z, Warp Factor, and Skywave.

      #102577
      UKJingles
      Member

        Well Done Jeffrey…Those “Boners” in the suits need to be eradicated from this planet…
        But a great montage nevertheless! ;-)

        #102578
        LenGroat

          An electrified JAM Paradise !

          Thank you

          #102579
          rak
          Member

            Ha! Great story, and glad that you managed to dub the Jingles off anyway. Good stuff. That reminds me, I have a task to do at work…

            #102580
            PK
            Member

              I used to hear Jeffro playing these fab jingles everyday on K Hits! I grew up listening to the Turbo Z cuts on Wolverhampton’s Beacon Radio who were the first British station to have Turbo Z jingles in 1989.
              Superb montage!!! Well done Jeffro….

              #102582
              IainJohnston

                The “art” of the breathlessly-paced jingle montage is alive and well! TQs Jeffrey!

                “on Wolverhampton’s Beacon Radio”

                And here in Scotland on Glasgow / West Central Scotland’s Clyde One FM too :^)

                #102584
                ratnob
                Member

                  Jeffro
                  Thank you – not only for these jingles, but also for your absolute understanding of how great jingles define the ethos of great radio stations, and how great DJs use great jingles to achieve that. You are a master of the art. Radio needs people like you, if it’s to survive as something intrinsically human. Oh, yes, and I love the montage!
                  GB

                  #102586
                  Jeffrey T. Mason
                  Member
                  Author

                    I’m sure none of you will mind that I didn’t include the Reelworld cuts. Hell, I never bothered recording…or even asking for them! LOL

                    #102587
                    mjb1124
                    Member

                      Thanks so much for posting this Jeffro! Absolutely love the variety of cuts and lyrics. This was great radio.

                      Wouldn’t have minded hearing some of the non-demo cuts and alternate lyrics from the Reelworld package, but not losing sleep over it. :D

                      #102588
                      glen

                        Jeffrey_T_Mason 6:32PM Permalink Quote
                        I’m sure none of you will mind that I didn’t include the Reelworld cuts. Hell, I never bothered recording…or even asking for them! LOL

                        OH DANG!!!! LOL

                        #102589
                        Jeffrey T. Mason
                        Member
                        Author

                          Wouldn’t have minded hearing some of the non-demo cuts and alternate lyrics from the Reelworld package, but not losing sleep over it. :D

                          There weren’t any! You heard it all.

                          #102591
                          LenGroat

                            “I’m sure none of you will mind that I didn’t include the Reelworld cuts.”

                            Do ‘Reelworld’ make jingles ? :-)

                            #102593
                            Jeffrey T. Mason
                            Member
                            Author

                              Len, I’ll say this: Hated it at first, but the package grew on me over time. Then again, so does fungus…

                              I’m actually a fan of a few of their early packages from the mid-late 90s. Lately, everything sounds exactly the same to my ears.

                              #102598
                              MorganOCTL
                              Member

                                BEAUTIFUL JAM jingles…thanks for sharing. – MC

                                #102608
                                jlehmann

                                  Simply awesome! Why did Jim Ryan have to ruin this for all of us…

                                  #102610
                                  Jeffrey T. Mason
                                  Member
                                  Author

                                    Don’t blame Jim! As I understand it, Reelworld first approached CBS-FM about doing the custom. Jim declined and the project was ultimately brought to K-Hits. They may also have offered it to K-Earth, but I don’t know that for certain.

                                    It’s rather odd that CBS-FM actually bought the package in 2017. They could have gotten it for free just a few months earlier! Oh yeah, did I mention that was the deal? “Be our pilot station and get the package at zero charge.”

                                    #102611
                                    glen

                                      Going after all JAM Stations.

                                      #102612
                                      DuncanNewmarch
                                      Member

                                        A pal of mine works in commercial radio in the UK. Their cuts are recorded for free but the jingle company makes money when they’re played during a PRS sample period. The station doesn’t have to pay a large sum of money to have them recorded but they get an inferior product (in my opinion) and they wonder why their audience isn’t singing along with the jingles anymore. “Er, they’re not memorable!”.

                                        I remember doing a roadshow event in the mid 90s, we played music and JAM jingles through the loud speakers during the warm up and it was amazing how many people sang along- we didn’t ask them to. They knew the lyrics, they enjoyed the melodies and remembered our station name. Isn’t that worth paying for??

                                        #102613
                                        IainJohnston

                                          ” was amazing how many people sang along- we didn’t ask them to.
                                          They knew the lyrics, they enjoyed the melodies and remembered our station name”

                                          Cue audio of the Piccadilly JAM “The Beat” (?) cut being sung by the audience at a Take That (?)
                                          concert in Manchester a few years ago?
                                          :^)

                                          #102614
                                          LenGroat

                                            Jeffro: “Be our pilot station and get the package at zero charge”

                                            That reminded me of the 80s – when I was one of the first customers of Alfasound. With a ton of hard work and creativity we created Trent ‘1’ to ’14’ (though in truth some were track re-sings and I think the last one was more like ’12’ !?

                                            Alfasound developed into what was to be THE dominant British company for many years (though they always acknowledged exactly WHO was their inspiration!) Various other companies sprang-up and sent me demos – some custom, but none had a writer as good as Alan Fawkes, or a true ‘jingle man’ like Steve England. I think the worst demo I was sent was by Airforce, the best the Sue Manning Viking Radio package, the strength of which was some very well produced and played tracks, and the fact they ‘borrowed’ Alfasound’s Steve and Sheila as main singers in their vocal group.

                                            At one stage the MD at Trent (NOT a ‘jingle man’) suggested it would help keep the costs down if we used another company (he’d been approached by one of the other companies) – but I said if they did I would not be involved with it – the MD changed his mind, but goodness knows how we would have sounded if he had not !

                                            Here’s a theoretical one : if ‘Big L 266’ had not closed in 1966, might they have eventually used a British jingle company? Or would it have been glorious in the 70s with cuts from Priority 1, Dimension Two et al !? :-)

                                            #102616
                                            IanF

                                              Len, It was Cath Baxter who did Viking in 1984. A great package though. I agree about Airforce though. ‘Some’ of what they did were awful. As for jingle dominance, definately Alfasound with Sue Manning and David Arnold in second. David, along with AJ, also had the best singers and achieving the Dallas vocal sound at times too :)

                                              #102617
                                              tyty21

                                                Jeff, now you know me, if I were the PD, and we signed the contract, the jingles are the first thing we’re going for! We got one Chicago station down outta my list, now for that ever so Illusive Kix Country resings. speaking of Jam in Illinois, the 2 border areas are big on that! near the Illinois WI border, and Rockford. WEKZ, WBGR, WFPS, WQLF, WDKB, all jam clients!

                                                #102618
                                                LenGroat

                                                  IanF:

                                                  Yes – of course – Cath Baxter!

                                                  My 68 year old memory :-(

                                                  #102619
                                                  IainJohnston

                                                    “if ‘Big L 266’ had not closed in 1966, might they have eventually used a British jingle company”

                                                    They actually did once – I think its been posted here before at one time – fortunately they scrapped them
                                                    before coming on air, and the legendary PAMS Series 18 sonovox / composite was the result.
                                                    :^)

                                                    #102620
                                                    mjb1124
                                                    Member

                                                      Interesting to hear this inside story from Jeffro. Between these comments and the ones Jon made in the KLUV thread, it does sound like there was some rather shrewd business going on here to say the least.

                                                      I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the CBS/Entercom stations got the RW jingles for free, or at least got a significant bargain out of it.

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