[martinlesterMemberAuthor]

Thanks for posting Geoff

You can definitely hear the Barry Manilow vibe in the tracks !

Regards

Martin

[AndyWMember]

I found this interesting anecdote too regarding Beacon’s first jingle package:

“The original TM version of “You” was made in 1975. There’s a much more interesting story of Jon Wolfert (he of “Jam” fame) coming to the UK to plan the launch jingle package of Beacon Radio.

The Musicians’ Union vetoed it as Jon was not a UK citizen. Jon, still in the UK, had to cut his losses. He took a chance and went to London where he blagged a meeting with a young Johnny Beerling and ultimately came away with the accounts for BBC Radios 1 & 2.

Who knows what would have happened if he’d not been invited by Jay and Allen to work on that first Beacon package.”

Yes, I said that. It was confirmed in an interview Stephanie Hirst did with Jon Wolfert a couple of years ago.
The original package is definitely sung by all UK vocalists. I have the session tapes and the talking between the cuts is all very English. I wouldn’t be surprised if the You Package bent the rules a bit. Standard Sound did much the same in subsequent years.

[martinlesterMemberAuthor]

While it was great that JAM Jingles did end up on the BBC I still don’t understand how Jon was Vetoed for Beacon but Ok’d For BBC

[PKMember]

As far as I’m aware it was the strange rulings of the Musicians Union that were the problem, same as the Musicians Union and the Needletime rules!

[mbMember]

While it was great that JAM Jingles did end up on the BBC I still don’t understand how Jon was Vetoed for Beacon but Ok’d For BBC

The rules that came in after the BBC had been using Dallas for a number of years and they were somehow exempted

[IainJohnston]

Not just Dallas, but Memphis (P-T) and Los Angeles (Audio Producers)

[enerjee]

The original package is definitely sung by all UK vocalists. I have the session tapes and the talking between the cuts is all very English. I wouldn’t be surprised if the You Package bent the rules a bit. Standard Sound did much the same in subsequent years.

Yes, the “Sunshine Sound” package was, as you must know, based on US station WMGK and some of the cuts were complete rip offs. Produced by JAM the same package was used on BBC Radio 2.

Here you can hear that some of the cuts are identical to Beacon’s first package, especially the cut at 2 minutes and 10 seconds in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfGA1_HBKXg

[IainJohnston]

Sadly the “format” really no longer exists for the Magic packages, so I don’t think they’d “work” on radio today. Too laid back.

But By Gawd, MUSICALLY they’re still GREAT to listen to in their own right!

[IainJohnston]

A quick refresher of the Beacon You cuts

The first is a 19 and 24 hours comparison I posted 9 years ago, from mushy MP3 sources.

The second a very good quality compared with some dubs selection, but unfortunately
isn’t in-the-clear. Sorry I don’t know where I got it from to give the person a “credit”.

https://soundcloud.com/allthebestjingles03/beacon-tm-you-19and24hours/s-0TcoN

https://soundcloud.com/allthebestjingles03/beacon-you-yamco-tm-2/s-rhblW

Whoever the UK musicians & sound engineers were on the Yamco/whatever were, they
did a very good job – as discussed before, possibly did a cleaner, sharper version &
mix than the US original in my view. The brass particularly is very sharp and full of presence.
Shame other Yamco “clones” weren’t up to this standard.

And, the singers must surely be US, even if they either weren’t allowed to “stack” (ref Len G) or
DID stack but at extra cost under MU Rules.

PS – if anyone still has the Beacon package in full, in good quality, and in-the-clear, I’m sure many
of us would much like a dub! Please check those old boxes-in-attics!

[mbMember]

Are these by YAMCO as well for Orwell – There are what sounds like reworks of some TM jingles in there – one fron the TM Gneric Disco LP but a couple of others I recognise from Demos.

https://soundcloud.com/user-664168539/radio-orwell-jam-1978-package

If anyone has a copy I’d love a trade

[ratnobMember]

PS – if anyone still has the Beacon package in full, in good quality, and in-the-clear, I’m sure many
of us would much like a dub! Please check those old boxes-in-attics!

You mean the ‘You’ package or ‘Sunshine Sound’?

[enerjee]

These are some I have:

[IainJohnston]

“You mean the ‘You’ package or ‘Sunshine Sound’?”

Mainly the You package Geoff, although listening to enerjee’s audio confirms the Beacon You items seem to be scattered
around and not in a concise all-inclusive dub!

I’ve got some Emison Sunshine Sound partially for both Beacon & Metro on a 7.5 IPS reel I mooched from Emison
away back in 1976! It also has some Tees and Pennine.

Also the Beacon Sunshine Sound on a much fuller dub that I think is probably “Embargoed” ;^)

MB:-
The Orwell ones are “new to me” – I recognise one cut as definatily TM from a couple of ones I have for CHML Hamilton Ontario circa 1978.
The track on that one sounds more “authentic TM” than a UK re-record to me.

[ratnobMember]

This is the Beacon ‘You’ package that I have:
http://www.geoffbarton.co.uk//files/_IDs/Beacon%20_You_.mp3

And this – among various other bits and pieces – is the main Beacon ‘Sunshine Sound’ compilation I have – straight from the studio carts (I’m told):
http://www.geoffbarton.co.uk//files/_IDs/Beacon-Sunshine.WAV

I can’t vouch for quality as I’m deaf in one ear.

I think these are the two packages that transformed UK independent radio. But I’m happy to be corrected.

Geoff

[rakMember]

This is the Beacon ‘You’ package that I have:
http://www.geoffbarton.co.uk//files/_IDs/Beacon%20_You_.mp3

And this – among various other bits and pieces – is the main Beacon ‘Sunshine Sound’ compilation I have – straight from the studio carts (I’m told):
http://www.geoffbarton.co.uk//files/_IDs/Beacon-Sunshine.WAV

I can’t vouch for quality as I’m deaf in one ear.

I think these are the two packages that transformed UK independent radio. But I’m happy to be corrected.

Geoff

I think the Metro Radio versions of the Sunshine Sound work much better, 261 scans better than 303, The North East Sound works well. Likewise The Music in the North East fits well. Which came first, or was it a joint project from the outset? They’re 12 minutes into this montage I made a few years ago

[ratnobMember]

Wow. I can’t believe that after all these years I hadn’t heard those Metro versions of a jingle package that resonated so much with me via Beacon as a teenager.

It’s fascinating – and a reminder of why this website can be so brilliant.

Any chance of getting those Emison cuts as an MP3 so that I can add them to my iPod playlist?

Geoff

[rakMember]

Wow. I can’t believe that after all these years I hadn’t heard those Metro versions of a jingle package that resonated so much with me via Beacon as a teenager.

It’s fascinating – and a reminder of why this website can be so brilliant.

Any chance of getting those Emison cuts as an MP3 so that I can add them to my iPod playlist?

Geoff

Amazed you’ve never heard the Metro versions. I’ll drop you a PM.

[enerjee]

I think the Metro Radio versions of the Sunshine Sound work much better, 261 scans better than 303, The North East Sound works well. Likewise The Music in the North East fits well. Which came first, or was it a joint project from the outset? They’re 12 minutes into this montage I made a few years ago
https://soundcloud.com/metro40/metro-radio-40-years-in-48-minutes

As far as I understand it the Metro “Music in the North East” were resings of the Beacon Sunshine Sound package. It was Beacon’s first package in 1976 and went through to the end of 1977 before it was slowly replaced by “You” in the first couple of months of 1978 when they integrated to the two packages during their 9-week 24 hour experiment from February to April.

I disagree strongly that they’re superior as I think the Beacon cuts were better.

These are the cuts I have from Beacon’s “Sunshine Sound”:

https://soundcloud.com/user-320722229/beacon-jingles1976-jingle-package-emison/s-EnER6

There’s also the 1 minute “Sunshine Sound” theme donut, but I no longer have a copy of it.

[UKJinglesMember]

The Original Dallas (PAMS/TM) sings were far superior to the UK (Yamco) re-sings for Beacon, Orwell, etc…. bought about by the IBA (via the Poxy MU)

[mbMember]

“You mean the ‘You’ package or ‘Sunshine Sound’?”

MB:-
The Orwell ones are “new to me” – I recognise one cut as definatily TM from a couple of ones I have for CHML Hamilton Ontario circa 1978.
The track on that one sounds more “authentic TM” than a UK re-record to me.

Ahhhh they sound quite interesting and I’ve never heard them or heard them discussed before.

[enerjee]

Wow. I can’t believe that after all these years I hadn’t heard those Metro versions of a jingle package that resonated so much with me via Beacon as a teenager. Geoff

There are more of the Metro cuts on the Metro Radio nostalgia website also including the “Shaft”-style news jingle used on Beacon with the same package: http://metroradio261.blogspot.com/p/metros-history-1970s.html

Here’s a direct link to them: https://www.mediafire.com/file/nadv4vck0jobpi3/Metro+Radio+Jingle+Montage+-%2CEMISON%2C+YAMCO%2C+North+East+Sound+Package%2C+1976.mp3

[enerjee]

The Original Dallas (PAMS/TM) sings were far superior to the UK (Yamco) re-sings for Beacon, Orwell, etc…. bought about by the IBA (via the Poxy MU)

That’s evidently a matter of opinion, but a lot of us experience a much tighter, brassier and beefier sound on the Beacon “You” resings.

[enerjee]

I think the Metro Radio versions of the Sunshine Sound work much better, 261 scans better than 303, The North East Sound works well. Likewise The Music in the North East fits well. Which came first, or was it a joint project from the outset? They’re 12 minutes into this montage I made a few years ago
https://soundcloud.com/metro40/metro-radio-40-years-in-48-minutes

One of those cuts rhymes “everyone” with the “one” in 261, so of course it scans well as does “you and me” with the “three” in 303 The comments below your upload on Soundcloud largely disagree that they sound better than Beacon’s.

[ratnobMember]

There’s also the 1 minute “Sunshine Sound” theme donut, but I no longer have a copy of it.

Ah, yes – always did love this, often used by Mike Baker as a filler into the news – a special track complete with jazz flute.

[IainJohnston]

I have that long cut on my 1976 sampler reel from EMISON – but was there a Metro re-sing of that cut?

Saw a remark on the Metro website above that many EMISON cuts were based upon songs /records that
EMI had the rights/distribution in the UK. Hence easier to use the copyrighted material / scores I guess.

E,g, the “Shaft” movie theme done as a news jingle.
Radio Clyde in Scotland had at least two “Shaft” derived news instrumentals in their 1973 launch package
from EMIson.

[Author]

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