[ratnobMember]

There’s always something special about coming across a jingle we hadn’t heard before.

So it was yesterday. Sean Martin has sent me a CD of his many JAM personal cuts. They are mesmerising and, as with all personal cuts, we listen with a mix of admiration and simmering envy.

But Sean’s jingles were preceded by a JAM “levels” track I hadn’t heard before. And predictably I’ve spent hours listening to its compelling harmonies.
https://soundcloud.com/ratnob/jam-levels-song

Sean: thank you!

Ratnob

[radiocitybillMember]

I don’t know why, but the harmony sort of reminded me of something the late Karen Carpenter would have done.

In the few JAM tapes I’ve ever used at radio stations I don’t recall ever hearing that nugget before.

[IanF]

One word……Wonderful!

[Sean MartinMember]

Geoff: I always wonder if we haven’t heard everything already, so it’s nice that this “oldie” has reached fresh ears

The actual tone was omitted as I’m sure you’ve heard it often enough.

I don’t know exactly from which era it originates, but I’ll hazard a guess at the late 70’s.

[gameswizardMember]

The tones where omitted from the level track or just edit out?

Also, does anyone have a copy of something which I think JAM called the “comment”(?).
I was an accapella around 30 seconds long that started ‘Where have all the jingles gone…’.
I heard it on a short jingle demo back in the 80s.

[radio_blokeMember]

Here You Go Mike

Vinyl clicks ‘n all!

[Jeffrey T. MasonMember]

LOVE that! I’d also love to hear more of Sean’s personal cuts. We’re both addicted

[PKMember]

When Dublin’s Radio Nova played the JAM song on air in its 80s pirate days on high rotation in it’s playlist, Another Comment was edited onto the start and sounded great on air too, it’s where I first heard the JAM Song.

[bland75Member]

Superb – thanks for posting ratnob! Perhaps JAM should also include this track when ordering personal cuts from now on.

[GrahamCollins]

The JAM ‘Stereo Aware’ dittie was tagged onto the front of the 1978 Radio 2 package demo, dated June of that year.

[Tracy CarmanMember]

Let’s add a couple of mono components… some of which go back to 1974…

[rakMember]

Metro FM played the JAM Song on air, as well. I did record the end of it (once I’d got over the shock of hearing it on Metro!), but haven’t been able to locate the cassette :o(

[gameswizardMember]

Here You Go Mike

That’s the one. Many thanks

[radiocitybillMember]

Also, does anyone have a copy of something which I think JAM called the “comment”(?).
I was an accapella around 30 seconds long that started ‘Where have all the jingles gone…’.
I heard it on a short jingle demo back in the 80s.

It was the flip side of “The JAM Song” which I believe was a sonosheet record (I can’t find mine but I know somewhere I still have the sleeve). It’s great to hear that again.

[gameswizardMember]

It was the flip side of “The JAM Song”

I didn’t know that.

After the comment, there was a voice over from Jon then around 5 jingles.
If I remember correctly:
KIIS FM, Z100(?), WPLJ, Magic 103 and BBC Radio 1. A bit more from Jon then concluding with “You bet we give a damn at JAM”.

[Tracy CarmanMember]

It was the flip side of “The JAM Song”

I didn’t know that.

After the comment, there was a voice over from Jon then around 5 jingles.
If I remember correctly:
KIIS FM, Z100(?), WPLJ, Magic 103 and BBC Radio 1. A bit more from Jon then concluding with “You bet we give a damn at JAM”.

https://soundcloud.com/radio-jingles-usa/jam-mid-80s-presentation-and-comment

[gameswizardMember]

https://soundcloud.com/radio-jingles-usa/jam-mid-80s-presentation-and-comment

Awesome. Thank you so much

(I cant believe I forgot the KIMN jingle).

[radiocitybillMember]

Thanks for posting the entire thing. I still remember listening to that in to production studio. Great, gerat memory flogger there.

[IainJohnston]

I think the “Where Have All the Jingles Gone?” was “influenced” (*cough*) by the 1960s Protest Song
“Where Have all the Flowers Gone?” by Judy Collins or someone similar, back in the Vietnam era?
Perhaps TC or JMW himself might be able to provide the history on that one?

[JAM / PAMSMember]

I think the “Where Have All the Jingles Gone?” was “influenced” (*cough*) by the 1960s Protest Song
“Where Have all the Flowers Gone?” by Judy Collins or someone similar

It wasn’t “influenced” by that song, it WAS that song. With altered lyrics. Today you might call it a “parody version”.

The original song was written in 1955 by Pete Seeger, and other verses were added later. It was recorded by him and dozens of others in the 1960s, including well known versions by Peter Paul & Mary and The Kingston Trio.

The JAM version is called “A Comment”, and was recorded in May 1974. At the time it was still fashionable for some stations to only use a handful of fast shotgun jingles (or just one!) and in our view it was taking the creativity out of jingles and, by extension, out of radio. The anti-war sentiment of the original song seemed to be a good fit for our new lyric line “imagination on the air, killed by shotguns everywhere”. We made it for fun. We sent out a few copies on 5″ reels to sympathetic friends and clients.

When the The JAM Song was released in 1985, we sent it out on a vinyl record. Desperate for something to put on the “B” side, we remixed “A Comment” in stereo with some added synth at the end, and tried to communicate that things were better now (in the mid-80s) than they had been. That side of the record was labeled “Another Comment”.

[JAM / PAMSMember]

Sean’s jingles were preceded by a JAM “levels” track I hadn’t heard before.

For those who may not have seen the explanation we posted on the Bob Dinan Facebook page:

“In the 70s the norm was to send out JAM jingle demos on reel-to-reel tape. But I knew from experience that very few radio stations could play back a stereo tape correctly, so most demos were made in mono. On the rare occasions that we did send out a stereo demo, I wanted to at least put a level tone on the front to improve the odds that both channels would be balanced. But we didn’t want the first sound heard to be a tone, which could be annoying if the listener has his volume cranked up expecting jingles. So this acappella seemed like a creative way to announce that this was a stereo tape, and give people a warning that a tone was about to be heard. To my knowledge, no other company ever considered stuff like that!” -jmw

[IainJohnston]

“…it WAS that song”

Thanks for coming in with the “background story” to this one (and indeed all the other ones today!) :^)

[LenGroat]

… and it’s moments of creative genius – in this case using just singers and a very strong concept, beautifully and memorably fulfilled – that separate JAM from from the “whoawhoawhoahoa/ScReEcHy vocals” jingle companies…..

[glen]

Otherwise known as fingernails on a chalkboard vocals

[Author]

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