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NBC News Radio is still alive…and becoming more aggressive to get more stations.

Gregg. said:
That is really interesting. For the last few years, iHeart didn't seem to want its 24/7 News associated with NBC News anymore. I even thought the licensing of the NBC News Radio name either lapsed or was about to. The company launched the service in 2016, very proud it could take audio clips from NBC and use well-known NBC correspondents, while anchored by iHeart employees. But the NBC connection later seemed to go by the wayside. However, things changed earlier this month with CBS's decision to end its radio network.

With no more CBS News Radio in a few weeks, iHeart is promoting its NBC brand again. The ad says you can have national newscasts on your station with either the NBC news sounder or with the cold opening and "white label" format. The anchors only tells us their names. They never say NBC or iHeart or 24/7.

The large majority of iHeart talk stations are Fox News Radio affliliates. But for some reason, the 24/7 white label newscasts are heard on a handful of iHeart talk stations:

KNRS-AM-FM Salt Lake City
WLAC Nashville
WKRC Cincinnati
KFBX Fairbanks

But I don't know any station, whether owned by iHeart or not, that takes the NBC News sounder to start the newscast. These are all white label affiliates.


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WDCB-FM 90.9 Glen Ellyn, IL takes it as NBC and the two-minute version, though not every hour. It’s Chicagoland’s leading jazz station.
 
ted chittenden said:
Which NBC news sounder. I know of at least two different news sounders that the network used during different periods of its existence.
Click to expand...

You can hear the radio sounder in the demo, which is in the top right of this page:


It's based on the traditional NBC chimes that have been used by the network since the 1920s.

It doesn't use the TV theme, which was written by John Williams. That is specific to TV news.
 
I believe I have here the first NBC NOTH sounder, here being used for a local WRC newscast during Monitor on 12/31/1961. (Someone once described this as a "whistling wirephoto modem with timpani;" I'll take his word for it.) I don't find a direct link to the audio, so search this page for WRC (I only got the one hit) and start listening at 24:40:

Sounds of NBC Monitor – 1955-1964 – The Monitor Tribute Pages
 
A ton of NBC television stations use news music with the 'NBC Chimes." WXIA at one time used "The Tower" from 615 Music, which featured the NBC chimes prominently at the start or end of each theme.

NBC O&O WMAQ commissioned that theme around 2000, and it was very popular among NBC stations for over 10 years.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:


Had no idea that was on radio too! I thought it was mainly for the local NBC TV O&O's like KNBC and WNBC.
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WMAQ-TV Chicago used it for its Newscenter 5 opening back around 1975 or '76, back in the Floyd Kalber/Jane Pauley days.
 
TheBigA said:
It doesn't use the TV theme, which was written by John Williams. That is specific to TV news.
Click to expand...
I've been hearing a bird that makes me think of the old music for news bulletins. I think they've replaced it with a classical work of some kind.

Is there audio of the various music for interrupting programming for breaking news?
 
TheBigA said:
Me too. I figured they were going to let the branding lapse and just focus on the unbranded news. We discussed this a bit in the CBS News Radio thread, and I said I couldn't find an offering for the NBC Radio service. I guess last week's announcement revived their interest in offering the branded news. As we've previously discussed, iHeart basically picked up the NBC Radio brand from the NBC Services division of NBC Universal. This is what Westwood One had a few years back after their 25 year deal with NBC ended. At the bottom of the offering linked above is this copyright info:



So that explains the relationship. iHeart has use of the name, the 'N-B-C jingle," and access to certain TV audio that it's offering to stations as part of its Total Traffic & Weather networks. Could someone do that with CBS News? It's up to them.
Click to expand...
NBCNews.png

Iheart has just updated their ads for their sales pitch to affiliate with 24/7 news and NBC News Radio. But yes I didn't think Comcast would allow Iheart to use the NBC News brand for radio given everything I saw about whenever Comcast is doing something it has to connect to protecting Peacock app one way or another on the TV side.
 


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