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Aircheck: Muzak "Foreground Music One"--13 February 2002
- Thread starter spiritof67
- Start date
Curious @crainbebo and others: Why did offices and the like subscribe to Muzak back in the day, especially with the "beautiful music" alternatives available and later soft AC available on commercial radio? Is it because they wanted commercial-free music, or was it because Muzak was licensed and rights fees paid so they'd have no problem with ASCAP/BMI, etc? (I recall a few years ago when someone got a burr up their butt and went around fining several (mostly smaller mom and pop operated) restaurants and businesses for playing unlicensed music, for example).
I think it was a bit of both. Before the 1990s, Muzak especially liked to play up the contrived "scientific" and psychological aspects of its music service, pitching it as specifically being programmed to get people hyped up to buy or work. Muzak were always really good at funding studies that proved the point their marketing heds had decided on ahead of time (e.g. see the rot about their "board of scientific advisors" in the liners of some of the earlier Stimulus Progresion albums). Starting in the 60s they had begun implementing quarter-hour blocks of silence, reportedly to maintain the positive stimulation listeners had received during a quarter-hour block of music that would increase in intensity throughout the course of the programme. This, naturally, had nothing to do with the fact that by splitting the programme into quarter-hour blocks, they could provide a lower-key programme for stores, offices and restaurants and a more upbeat, brassier programe for factories and upbeat restaurants without having to licence separate 67 kHz carriers in each market (92 had not been approved until the early 80s) -- an early attempt at multicasting. The receivers would incorporate a timer or listen for cue tones transmitted between programming blocks. Certain facilities, like hardware stores or pizza restaurants, could be set up to receive the full programme service by simply disabling the receiver's squelch outright.
Some smaller, primitive music services did exist in a few areas, which were simply conventional automated beautiful music or MOR FM stations that would transmit cue tones to mute the receiver during announcements and commercials, either in-band or on an SCA, but the music itself was just the station's regular audio that everybody else would listen to. During the Muscio era, Muzak used to love to sue these operations into oblivion, because competition is bad for consumers and the market in general. Portland had such an operation at one point in the 1970s, I think using KXL, but Craig Adams would know more about that than I do.
Nevertheless, in some places the local Muzak franchise would actually go tits-up and be replaced by a Seeburg 1000 or Canata-based outfit at the local CO or (by the early 60s, when SCA had completely replaced telephone distribution) on-site at the local FM station, replacing the Muzak reel-to-reel players. Seeburg even had a timer-controller mechanism (SABMC2) that would run a 2- or 3-gang rack of 1000s to imitate Stimulus Progression, keeping up the silliness that Muzak's marketing department had created.
Some smaller, primitive music services did exist in a few areas, which were simply conventional automated beautiful music or MOR FM stations that would transmit cue tones to mute the receiver during announcements and commercials, either in-band or on an SCA, but the music itself was just the station's regular audio that everybody else would listen to. During the Muscio era, Muzak used to love to sue these operations into oblivion, because competition is bad for consumers and the market in general. Portland had such an operation at one point in the 1970s, I think using KXL, but Craig Adams would know more about that than I do.
Nevertheless, in some places the local Muzak franchise would actually go tits-up and be replaced by a Seeburg 1000 or Canata-based outfit at the local CO or (by the early 60s, when SCA had completely replaced telephone distribution) on-site at the local FM station, replacing the Muzak reel-to-reel players. Seeburg even had a timer-controller mechanism (SABMC2) that would run a 2- or 3-gang rack of 1000s to imitate Stimulus Progression, keeping up the silliness that Muzak's marketing department had created.
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Ha! There's actually a Seeburg 1000 website, "Streaming the Best of the "Seeburg 1000 Background Music Library" Playing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."
seeburg1000.com
Seeburg 1000 Background Music Radio | seeburg1000.com
Streaming the Best of the Seeburg 1000 Background Music Library Playing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Official Seeburg 1000 Website | Internet Radio
seeburg1000.com
Denny Hankla's Seeburg 1000 website/stream has been around for a very long time. I was streamcapping it back in IIRC 2010 or 2011! Holy crap, that's been 10 years now....
(Audio stream: http://74.82.59.197:8351/)
There was also another unrelated project, "Radio Coast", which IIRC started out as an hobby smooth jazz programme but flipped to uninterrupted S1K record sides after ASsCAP tried to put the screws to them. Then about a year or so later they jumped the shark and started turning it into a "radio" format as loose S1K cuts with "station" idents, commercial propaganda reports and local weather forecasts, totally ruining the flow and concept and generally making it not worth listening to. Somewhere, somehow, I know I have some audio captured from the record sides era. Maybe it might appear on Archive someday.
(Audio stream: http://74.82.59.197:8351/)
There was also another unrelated project, "Radio Coast", which IIRC started out as an hobby smooth jazz programme but flipped to uninterrupted S1K record sides after ASsCAP tried to put the screws to them. Then about a year or so later they jumped the shark and started turning it into a "radio" format as loose S1K cuts with "station" idents, commercial propaganda reports and local weather forecasts, totally ruining the flow and concept and generally making it not worth listening to. Somewhere, somehow, I know I have some audio captured from the record sides era. Maybe it might appear on Archive someday.
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This is great. I've been listening for most of my time on the computer since I read the reply to this post yesterday. I don't know why I didn't try it earlier.Ha! There's actually a Seeburg 1000 website, "Streaming the Best of the "Seeburg 1000 Background Music Library" Playing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."
Seeburg 1000 Background Music Radio | seeburg1000.com
Streaming the Best of the Seeburg 1000 Background Music Library Playing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Official Seeburg 1000 Website | Internet Radio
Edit since this was liked: The drummer for KISS welcomed us for some odd reason.
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And the KISS drummer says he likes to listen to this music. Okay, that's weird.
To each his own. I mean, I used to race dirt bikes so while everybody elseon the track were a bunch of rockers and metalheads I was racing to tape (later disc) compilations of Mantovani, Frank Sinatra, Hollyridge etc. in my helmet. Okay, I guess I was the odd one out. (But then, most track meets I was one of maybe two or three dudes with navel piercings [because I'm a badass, that's why], so you know, it takes all kinds to make a world. But I digress.)
Anyways, he only started running those KISS spots maybe within the last few years. I think I first noticed them around 2018 or 2019.
Anyways, he only started running those KISS spots maybe within the last few years. I think I first noticed them around 2018 or 2019.
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