Board Ops on WABC

[wadio]

While the video is six years old, this YouTube video from JAM showing The Making of WABC #121 (top of hour jingle) shows what I assume is/was the master control room and, yes, there is a microphone at the board operator's position (3 mins, 30 secs in on the video).

It would only make sense to have a mic in the control room for emergencies, etc.

Fascinating piece! 

Did it occur to anyone that this "work of art" jingle would ultimately be heard by listeners over AM RADIO where all the nuance would be lost?  It's like buying a Maserati to drive solely on the LIE.  More focus on the talk shows and less on the music would be helpful when programming a talk station. 

Despite the number of French horns, WABC's ratings have declined since this gem was produced. 

[ai4i]

The Making of WABC #121 (top of hour jingle)

Wow, a lot of effing work, but the thing aired gazillions of times.
Climbing into our WABAC machine (for those of you old enough to remember)...
Good morning, good morning, everything looks great when you open your eyes with WABC.
Your whole weekend radiates around Saturday Sunday, WABC.

[SonoSational18]

... and don't forget "Saturday Sunday W-A-B-C" from Pams Series 27.

[wadio]

Back in those days AM receivers were relatively wide-band, WABC meticulously maintained its antennas and ground system, LEDs & CFLs weren't in widespread use, etc., etc. -- and WABC was a MUSIC STATION, so that level of jingle production probably made a difference.

 

[Bill DeFelice]

Prior to the NRSC bandwidth limiting on AM in the late 1980's, I heard many stations sound absolutely gorgeous when listening off their in-studio modulation monitors. Wideband AM radio from the deep and not so distant past like the Sony SRF-A100 and SRF-A1 could have given FM a run for its money.

@wadio: While it may be deemed "wasteful" to put that sort of attention to producing a jingle, Jon and his crew put out a quality product and it doesn't matter if it's for an AM, FM or TV station - the same care and attention to detail is performed for every jingle they produced. They did some work for my high school project station and even though I barely had enough to get a few things produced it was evident the quality was 100 percent.

[badjef]

Prior to the NRSC bandwidth limiting on AM in the late 1980's, I heard many stations sound absolutely gorgeous when listening off their in-studio modulation monitors. Wideband AM radio from the deep and not so distant past like the Sony SRF-A100 and SRF-A1 could have given FM a run for its money.

@wadio: While it may be deemed "wasteful" to put that sort of attention to producing a jingle, Jon and his crew put out a quality product and it doesn't matter if it's for an AM, FM or TV station - the same care and attention to detail is performed for every jingle they produced. They did some work for my high school project station and even though I barely had enough to get a few things produced it was evident the quality was 100 percent.

You are correct. The sound from those radios and the "Fujitsu 10" I had in my 1987 Toyota Corolla FX was incredible riding around Ocean County in Kahn Stereo from WNBC in the wideband mode. And even 1560 WQXR was nice and tight.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

[OC3]

Back in those days AM receivers were relatively wide-band, WABC meticulously maintained its antennas and ground system, LEDs & CFLs weren't in widespread use, etc., etc. -- and WABC was a MUSIC STATION, so that level of jingle production probably made a difference.

 

If you remember the jingle sing it was "Newstalk radio 77 WABC"...that top of the hour ID was created probably less than 10 years ago.