[ntcarver0Member]

Hi Folks,

Today I come to you with sad news. WCBSFM recently commissioned a brand new custom from RW, and they’re even more painful than the first batch they bought in 2017 if that’s even possible. Have a listen and see what you think.

http://reelworld.com/jingles/packages/wcbs-fm

[RadioboyMember]

Truly Gawd Awful jingles in my never to be humble opinion. Interesting how they try to spotlight how they work into songs, but don’t actually segue into the intro of the song, but rather the hook, maybe I’m just too old and don’t get today’s “branding” techniques, but if that’s what Jim Ryan was looking for to “successfully brand” the station, then that’s likely the reason I’ve not tuned them in for the last five years or so.

((RadioBoy))

[IainJohnston]

Interesting demo – all the cuts are set at a higher level than the music ?
– and does WCBS-FM do what the Global stations in the UK do of chopping off the intros and
outros so that the jingle goes straight into the first line of vocal, and the end fades never
get the slightest chance to ease out of the “record”?

Apart from that – could be for any USA format whatsoever – they sound the exact same in style
and production as just about everything RW-USA (I very carefully exclude RW Europe…) has done
for the past 20 years. Same reverb, same singers (?), same mixing, same 3 thump-thump-thumps
under the end of the call-letters, and so on.

And to think people used to criticise JAM for not evolving their sound…

Still, no doubt will be extremely successful – especially when one 25-year-old “network PD” will
no doubt “buy” the cuts in a huge batch for 40 corporate stations in one bulk order.

[glen]

Going bad to worse. If that is possible.

[ntcarver0MemberAuthor]

The jingles don’t even match the style of the songs. It’s a total train wreck.

[mjb1124Member]

WCBS-FM does generally play the intros of songs, but the last notes and ending echo of the jingles do tend to sound like they’re “stepping” on them. The transitions in the demo sound smoother than the ones on the air usually do. I have heard other stations cutting off intros as Iain mentions, though I’ve also heard the opposite happen – intros being added or extended so the jock can talk more over the beginning.

As for these cuts, they’re basically more of the same, though they do strike me as just a tad more musical/melodic than the K-Hits package, and also more pop/rhythm based (which runs contrary to people saying the switch to RW was necessitated by a more rock-based playlist). If you listen to the full ramp versions, you can hear how they’re based on songs that CBS-FM plays, and they’re actually kind of interesting to hear from the perspective of “yesterday’s hits filtered through today’s production techniques”. But that doesn’t make them effective as station ID’s, as those similarities are largely drowned out by the usual Reelworld sonic elements in the shorter mixes, and even moreso by aforementioned cluttered segues on CBS-FM and other similar stations. I guess if the objective is for them to overpower the music, they get the job done.

Still, my tastes clearly don’t align with those of major market Classic Hits PD’s today, so Reelworld must be doing something right. As Iain said, this package will undoubtedly be successful, and I’m sure some people will counter with statements about how we’re hopelessly stuck in the past.

[ntcarver0MemberAuthor]

WCBS-FM does generally play the intros of songs, but the last notes and ending echo of the jingles do tend to sound like they’re “stepping” on them. The transitions in the demo sound smoother than the ones on the air usually do. I have heard other stations cutting off intros as Iain mentions, though I’ve also heard the opposite happen – intros being added or extended so the jock can talk more over the beginning.

As for these cuts, they’re basically more of the same, though they do strike me as just a tad more musical/melodic than the K-Hits package, and also more pop/rhythm based (which runs contrary to people saying the switch to RW was necessitated by a more rock-based playlist). If you listen to the full ramp versions, you can hear how they’re based on songs that CBS-FM plays, and they’re actually kind of interesting to hear from the perspective of “yesterday’s hits filtered through today’s production techniques”. But that doesn’t make them effective as station ID’s, as those similarities are largely drowned out by the usual Reelworld sonic elements in the shorter mixes, and even moreso by aforementioned cluttered segues on CBS-FM and other similar stations. I guess if the objective is for them to overpower the music, they get the job done.

Still, my tastes clearly don’t align with those of major market Classic Hits PD’s today, so Reelworld must be doing something right. As Iain said, this package will undoubtedly be successful, and I’m sure some people will counter with statements about how we’re hopelessly stuck in the past.

I can’t hear anything older than 2018 in those cuts, other than Theme 5 (which does a pathetic job of trying to rip off Superstition by Stevie Wonder). I just can’t imagine how these fit with anything older than the last decade at most, let alone acts like Queen, Huey Lewis & The News, Michael Jackson and Billy Joel.

[nleibo]

O-M-G–got to go into FULL “subjective” mode–what a bunch of CRAP! What this symbolizes is that the station couldn’t give a Rat’s rear-end about “Baby Boomers” & is in FULL “skew younger” mode–time to bail from CBS-FM–plenty of Internet options, –some being distant terrestrial stations– Adios CBS-FM (and remember CBS-FM means “Crappy Bellicose Static”)…

[rakMember]

A direct dig at JAM there, too: “Instantly memorable Classic Hits jingles that capture the energy, excitement and emotional impact of the greatest hits of all time… without sounding like they’re living in the past.”

Working Late shifts, my drive home in the UK at 23:00 is NYC’s Drivetime, so I’ll listen to Broadway Bill on CBS in the car sometimes. The jingle segues can be dreadful, and the RW jingles just sound out of place with the music they’re playing. Having said that, I do quite like the Weather cut they’ve been playing up until now, and the Top of Hour cut. Anything would sound good after 6+ minutes of ads at 4 mins to the hour.

[jlehmann]

Makes me sick… I’m glad I don’t travel to NY on a regular basis anymore to be tempted to listen to them over the air. No wonder my interest in radio/jingles has been fading lately…

[ratnobMember]

I agree with all of the above. Carry on.

[PKMember]

The start of the second jingle slightly reminds me of the Pepper Tanner News Jingle that BBC Radio One used from 1968.

[IainJohnston]

Heck PK, I’d thought the synth-y bits sounded familiar!

Since every cut by every producer (except probably JAM) sounds the same with such a “bit” on the front, I get quite
zoned out listening to anything “new” nowadays…
But surely not THAT “without sounding like they’re living in the past” RW?

[ I don’t need to post the Odyssey 70 WWDC cut audio involved , as I’ve done it often enough on JM before :^) ]

[mbMember]

Yea a Classic Hits package that is custom and new and not resings from the time of the music they are playing is nice to have – TM and JAM (and RW) have done some amazing Classic Hits package that are contemporary in feel and execution on air.

This package……………………………………I’ll just say

oh

I love a lot of RW packages previously – this one – just not nice

[IainJohnston]

I note that a “Hyper ID” (!) is what used to be a “shot gun”, and a “shot gun” is just a shorter version of
a ramp, not a proper shot gun. And a “rapid fire” is just a chopped-up synth intro into an end-bit.

Now, where did I put my old paper copy of the JAM “Jingle Dictionary” ?

[martinlesterMember]

I don’t know what CBS plays nowadays but I assume it’s 80’s music only as I can’t imagine the jingles working within music from 60’s or 70’s

[martinlesterMember]

https://wcbsfm.radio.com

Strange even the website is having problems

[ratnobMember]

Even the robots hate those damn jingles

[rakMember]

https://wcbsfm.radio.com

Strange even the website is having problems

No, the website is fine. You just need a VPN app to access it from the UK.

[martinlesterMember]

I only wanted to check what the music they are playing now but I also noticed the tunein app blocks UK visiting

So we are not welcome I think I will leave it as don’t think I am missing much

[Anonymous]

I equate this to many of the poor jingle packages Pepper & Tanner produced. It really belongs on a EDM format.

[martinlesterMember]

Interesting demo – all the cuts are set at a higher level than the music ?
.

Well that’s another trend Global has copied not only on music stations even on Talk Stations LBC jingles for example always come blasting out at a much higher level than the rest of the station output

I am not the only one that has noticed this as several people have commented this on the forums and Facebook groups

[IainJohnston]

“jingles for example always come blasting out at a much higher level than the rest of the station output”

I don’t want to drift far off topic, but I had an aircheck cassette many years ago recorded for me by a
now-long-gone ILR, where ALL the “levels” as they came out of “the desk” into the air-feed that the cassette
recorder was tapped into were “all over the place”.

When I asked about that, they said “the processing takes care of all that before it goes out of the aerial”.

This was before the sophisticated computerised/digital processing Optimods and similar of today.
Analogue AGC or whatever?

Gone are the days of the “DJ” being competent at least trying to “engineer” their “levels” at a
self-drive desk; no doubt some on JM will remember things like “5 for music, 6 for voice”?

PS – listening to JMW’s Sunday output from Rewound New York, that DOES sound very well
“balanced” to me, even with so much mono input from the many 1960s/70s jingles.

[nleibo]

The comment you wrote about (“the processing takes care of all that before it goes (on the air)” is pretty much “spot on”. As someone with a background in Broadcasting (both Radio & TV), I can attest to that “philosophy”. In one of my first TV Master Control jobs, (after doing Radio for years), i noticed the audio levels “all over” the place & voiced my concern, to which i was told “”the processing takes care of all that before it goes out (on the air)” . I wasn’t particularly “comfortable” with that philosophy, but there’s only so much one can do..

[scotronMember]

I agree with Ratrob by agreeing with all of the above. Not impressed. I hate that phasing effect or whatever the technical name for it is…And I don’t like the way they sing ‘F.M.’ on most of the cuts. I just had a quick dip back onto the Jam website and played a couple from the ‘Do It Again’ package. I feel better now

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