[RobinBlamires]

I hope whoever's involved doesn't mind me posting this but Chris Moyles this morning made a reference to one of our fellow site members on the show.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tkwzmzanzcl

And the said member says he's rubbish at writing jingles…

Enjoy.

[LenGroat]

As Radio Today reports:

'Radio 1 deputy controller Ben Cooper has praised breakfast host Chris Moyles – but has refused to confirm whether he will still be presenting the show in a year's time'

…but at least Jon at JAM will enjoy the $3.50 PRS the old deejay name intro track will earn him ..

[ratnobMember]

Ah well, Nicky, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Nice to see your influence spreading.

It also reminds me why I can't bear listening to the witless Moyles.

[DevawebMember]

You'd be surprised how many Nicky Schiller pens there are around the top floor of TM Towers… in fact I can see two from where I'm sitting right now. And a reusable shopping bag and a calculator too!

[RobinBlamires]

Witless is all down to opinion, but there's no denying that he's keeping the JAM jingles alive by playing them on Radio 1.

Long may they continue to be used.

[LenGroat]

… a good point Robin.. and any time he does play a JAM jingle it… 'jumps out of the radio' …

It's a pity that whereas the BBC are prepared to pay their few deejays (and many 'personalities') such huge amounts, they do not LISTEN to what Chris Moyles seems to hint at overandover again…

…. that radio needs Fun and some 'jingle magic'… the 'cheesey song' is a complete tribute to JAM and Dallas style jingles despite its wording.. Digging out the old JAM jingles he seems desperate to get Nostalgic?

A second point is that JAM was the core of Radio 1's sound when they only has deejays, 90% of whom had 'classic' radio VOICES

…. Edmonds, Freeman, Walker, Blackburn, BATES..

Nowadays the currently popular 'Thamespeak' accents would clash with rather 'classier' JAM jingles, and the sloppy (fake), unrehearsed 'team' approach to some shows?

If all of Radio 1 could 'getback' to concise DEEJAYS, great newsreaders, and a great jingle package, THAT is all that is needed…. not endless 'in' and 'kiddy yap'?

[RobinBlamires]

I always thought the “Cheesy Song” was initially meant to be a send up of The 5th Dimension.
hen again, that band were quite a big influence for jingle producers at the time.

[Barras]

Chris Stevens wrote:
You'd be surprised how many Nicky Schiller pens there are around the top floor of TM Towers… in fact I can see two from where I'm sitting right now. And a reusable shopping bag and a calculator too!

In front of me, apart from the Schiller pens, calenda and CDs, I can also see a supermarket key-ring with a coin attached (shaped like a £1/1 euro coin) to let me get our shopping trolley !

Thanks for posting the audio Robin – always good to hear jingles (and fellow Jinglemadders) getting a mention on the radio…

[IainJohnstonMember]

“apart from the Schiller pens, calendar and CDs… coin keyring…”

I'm pleased to say I still have one of Nicky's “gonk” digital clocks, which “still shows the right time twice a day” as they say…! But all much appreciated Nicky!

As for Len's comments – just how did “real” Radio One etc DJs ever manage to pad out all that old “needletime days” airtime without today's Web-Waffle sites, celebrity p*sh, syndicated “who was born this day…”, cross-plugging of TV shows such as “Britain's (not) Got Talent/X/Idol/Sweary Chef”, plus endless regurgitated “show prep” – or did they and others of Len's heyday simply have that old-fashioned radio “talent” – simply “the gift of the gab“?

[barrydavidallanbda]

Len ..I go along with what you said….
“If all of Radio 1 could 'getback' to concise DEEJAYS, great newsreaders, and a great jingle package, THAT is all that is needed…. not endless 'in' and 'kiddy yap'?”

But I get told radio has changed …but moyles style is very much from the glory days of radio,,,, ok his voice isnt great but he can sound good for voice overs when he is close to the mic…

Bring back quality to radio …most of todays radio 1 jocks have poor voices on air..

[LenGroat]

Thanks for all the various thoughts. I do think it's good to occasionally discuss more than just 'I like' , or 'I dont like' of various packages. The British commercial radio industry is in the most terrible state and it's syndicated repetitive output is putting no pressure whatsover on Radio 1 or Radio 2 to improve …

But picking up on Robin's comment:

'I always thought the “Cheesy Song” was initially meant to be a send up of the 5th Dimension. Then again, that band were quite a big influence for jingle producers at the time.'

… by complete co-incidence I had just watched this on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JpeQU3yE4Y

It makes me ask 'where does music end and a jingle start!?

They were of course superb vocalists and the classic Dallas 5 part vocal group in composition.

Whoever did the arrangment deserved a Grammy ~ maybe their producer Bones Howe, but it also reminds me of Tom Merriman's writing?

[ratnobMember]

Well-spotted, Len: they don't do award shows like that any more (in fact they didn't often do them like that then!)

[IainJohnstonMember]

Since the Thread is sliding sideways anyway…!

The 5th Dimension had a strong influence on jingle companies around that era; here's a couple of examples by Heller and TM Productions (…and for Robin Blamires Ref the “COUNTRY/Heart” thread, the “Saving Grace” bit too for good measure!)

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1241085595_75_FT71079_notthe5thdimension.mp3 filename:notthe5thdimension.mp3

[RobinBlamires]

Very well observed! Interesting to hear a slightly different WNBC tune.

[LenGroat]

Good stuff Iain !

It's good to learn and hear something new after all these (jingle) years..

I knew the instrumental tag of the WNBC cut and used it (naughty!) on Metro and Piccadilly but I did not realise it had a vocal open! It's what I call 'perfect Bank Holiday Monday voice over' it has a great positive feel of anticipation..

Sorry to take the topic off track, but it shows how nebulous this whole jingle business is…

[IainJohnstonMember]

When TM won the WNBC jingle contract away from Heller, they came up with the new & very strong logo, which appears through the “Design 70” and “Design 72” TM customs, and there were a lot of good re-sings of those (original station-recorded dubs still here from CJAD Montreal, WKBN Youngstown, and WNBC itself).

Heller then did a neat package for WHN 1050 New York (my station tape is knackered (Ampex…) – wonder if TC still holds any of these “goodies”?)

(Len – if you want a dub of the WNBC ones…???)

[barrydavidallanbda]

Anyone remember Noel Edmonds on radio one on sundays ..he used a british band called design .. and they had a track with the words … “when the weekends over”… it sounded like a jingle he used it to open or close the show ..but I found it on an old album in a junk shop some years back (lost it now)… well that track sounded like the WNBC track on this …notthe5thdimension.mp3

[ratnobMember]

We all love that WNBC track. It was used as the opening on Hospital Radio Stafford when I was but a lad with ambitions to be a boss jock. Ahhh, memories

[NickySMember]

Whatever people say about Chris he certainly has listeners – I didn't hear the mention but a lot of people I know did! And I have to say he was very quick at finding the old JAM DJ stab knowing that I would appreciate it more than a lot of people. As to the Cheesy song I did get asked to dig out some old station songs from the collection – I seem to remember it included Red Dragon Radio – we're coming at you from the hills and valleys … the original Radio WM stuff – wake up you sleepy heads … and a few others “driving on the M1” which Len probably wrote. I certainly didn't write any of the cheesy lyrics – just gave the inspiration via some 80s songs.
And as to Len's wider point – Radio One is not about just playing music – the average 16 year old has an MP3 player to do that these days – Radio One has to fit with that profile now so the days of JAM (which I am sure Chris loves as much as I do) are just not going to fit in in the same way as they did in the 80s when I was growing up.

[ratnobMember]

Great comment, Nicky – dead right.

[LenGroat]

Hello Nicky

Thanks for taking the time to make some logical / topical points. My one concern about this site is that some purists seem to spend hours listening to jingles OUT of context of the station they are on. NOT a criticism, an observation…

In Chris Moyle's favour he clearly does listen to various points of view so your 'work' on this was a positive thing. As for him 'finding' the stab quickly, I suspect digital systems are full of things the deejay used in the past/ wants to hear – rather than what is going out on air! Playing a few great jingles while an average record goes out makes you do a better link afterwards (believe me!)

As regards the “driving down the M1” Metro song I did write the lyric – my first 'professional' attempt at 'lyric transposition'. Yes it is 'cheesey' now, but it made people in the north east stand up and listen in 1974. So that 'mechanism' is the same as the interest in the 'cheesey song'.

ANY station song is better than NO song…?

You say, 'Radio One is not about just playing music – the average 16 year old has an MP3 player' ~ I would agree and observe that the younger people I know have TONS of 60s-80s oldies on their players (look at comments on You Tube) This suggests that Radio 2 is the station more and more of them will use (if any) and Radio 1, limited to being a 'new' music station, has little prospect of being 'glossy' as it was in the 'JAM years'.

I believe the death of the 'single' meant the public's loss of regular interest in 'new' music, that this greatly affected listening patterns, and listener loyalty to any station is about 80% less than it was pre 1995. The DEATH of 'local' commercial radio tends to prove this; listeners no longer CARE about their 'local' station, or WHERE it comes from.

The SAD conclusion from all this is that the listeners probably really don't CARE about which jingles a station plays, so 'fads and fashions' in the programming departments are what dictate which jingle companies are used (or in commercial radio's case lack of money) So our discussions here about jingle quality/ use/ maker are in essence NOT going to change anything.

So why do I bother writing all this ?

[IainJohnstonMember]

“…average 16 year old has an MP3 player'…Radio 2 is the station more and more of them will use …”

Maybe not too far off the mark – couple of weeks ago my daughter's boyfriend burst out loud into singing along with the main logo on a Radio 2 jingle when it came up on the car radio – and he's just 21 (and doesn't know I'm a jingle collector…)!

“So why do I bother writing all this ?”

a) because its something you do care about, both professionally and as a hobby
b) your observations of the state of the UK radio industry very frequently do hit the nail on the head (and visitors to US websites such as the New York Radio Message Board will see very similar comments there from former radio professionals who've also been saddened by the destruction of the quality & breadth of their country's radio by excessive de-regulation, vast corporate “rationalisation”, etc)
c) its got to be more interesting & entertaining than watching 21st century UK “groundhog day” TV!

More power to your elbow Len :<)

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