TV NETWORK AND LOCAL STATION PROMOS AND JINGLES

[alg2468]

I noticed that on You Tube there are hundreds of clips of TV Network and Local station promos from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Jingles like CBS' "We've Got the Touch"; ABC's Still the One; and NBC's "Let's all be there" are quite prominent; and many are also tailored to local TV stations. I found these quite interesting and nostalgic (but sometimes a bit tacky). What are some of the major reasons the networks and local stations have not been putting out these jingles for about the past 10 years or so? I would think tight budgets would be a major reason. Any thoughts?

 

[jal41]

I noticed that on You Tube there are hundreds of clips of TV Network and Local station promos from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Jingles like CBS' "We've Got the Touch"; ABC's Still the One; and NBC's "Let's all be there" are quite prominent; and many are also tailored to local TV stations. I found these quite interesting and nostalgic (but sometimes a bit tacky). What are some of the major reasons the networks and local stations have not been putting out these jingles for about the past 10 years or so? I would think tight budgets would be a major reason. Any thoughts?

Many local TV singing imaging campaigns (known to some as jingles) were part of Frank Gari news music packages (most notably WSB-TV/Atlanta with "NewsChannel" in 1983, and WBAL/Baltimore and WXIA/Atlanta with "Hello News").

I suspect the fast paced action of local TV nowadays (and the fast paced life of people watching local TV) is why these types of imaging campaigns are extinct.

One notable exception is WMAZ/Macon (WXIA's sister). Their "Straight From The Heart" campaign is still going strong. (Of course, it is market #120, right next to market #9/Atlanta).

As for the networks, it seems to follow the trend of local stations with the fast paced thing. However, a singing imaging campaign is something #4 in primetime NBC might want to consider bringing back.

 

[toby]

WNBC recently brought back the classic 1990s We're 4 New York done up by Edd Kalehoff.
http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=101502

 

[formeraa]

CBS also had their "Looking Good" campaign -- looking good here, looking good there, looking good everywhere...you and CBS (or insert local station) are looking good!! One of the reasons that I remember the campaign so well is that KIRO in Seattle had their local news talent jumping around with UMBRELLAS emblazed with the CBS eye logo and the KIRO logo. Get it -- umbrellas and Seattle's rain?!?

 

[sdwulfdawg]

WNBC recently brought back the classic 1990s We're 4 New York done up by Edd Kalehoff.
http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=101502

If the imaging gets good results in NYC you can be sure that every other TV station will starting to do the same!

 

[bpatrick]

WMAZ isn't the only station doing "Straight From
The Heart." AFAIK, WBIR Knoxville, TN (also
Gannett-owned) uses it.

One of the cheesiest, yet catchiest, jingles is
WJLA's 1982 "7 So Good To Turn To," which I
think was another Frank Gari composition.

I'd be willing to bet that "Hello News" was used
by more stations than any other campaign, with
the possible exception of "Move Closer To Your
World" in the '70s.

 

[BRNout]

I'd be willing to bet that "Hello News" was used
by more stations than any other campaign, with
the possible exception of "Move Closer To Your
World" in the '70s.

Unbelievably, "Move Closer to Your World" is STILL used by WPVI Philadelphia - all the time! So is the (quite out of date) Action News moniker. Look up You Tube clips of Action News from the early 1980's and you will see basically the same thing as you'd see today! And, the exact same music.

The station's newscast is like something from a museum of broadcast history - only no one else here seems to realize it. Very strange. :

 

[ssetta]

I remember WBZ's "The One 4 All" was also used by WESH (Channel 2) in Orlando. The difference was, since WESH isn't channel 4, they just referred to themselves as "The One For All" without the number. And I know there was one that WCSH in Portland used "The one and only, the one you come to trust, 6 Alive, count on us." Surprisingly enough, I heard that jingle was used up until about 1996 or so. I know most stations had done away with those jingles by that point.

 

[pabsungenis]

I remember WBZ's "The One 4 All" was also used by WESH (Channel 2) in Orlando. The difference was, since WESH isn't channel 4, they just referred to themselves as "The One For All" without the number. And I know there was one that WCSH in Portland used "The one and only, the one you come to trust, 6 Alive, count on us." Surprisingly enough, I heard that jingle was used up until about 1996 or so. I know most stations had done away with those jingles by that point.

Around the same time, KYW in Philadelphia was doing "3 For All" (obvious play on "free for all") as their theme. "The pretzels soft, the pizza hot, the tales are tall...we're 3 For All!"

 

[bpatrick]

I seem to recall WFSB Hartford/New Haven using
"The Land of the 3."

I've mentioned this before, but while the most
famous promo connected with an affiliation switch
is probably WCCO's "You know where to find US,"
with pictures of the CBS stars, a reminder that
in Minneapolis/St. Paul Channel 4 was staying put
when in March 1979:

KSTP/5 was moving from NBC to ABC
KMSP/9 was going from ABC to independent (it's now Fox)
WTCN (KARE)/11 was going from independent to NBC

At the time of the WSB/WXIA switch in Atlanta (September
1980), WAGA considered using WCCO's campaign but settled
on "Right where we belong" for the unaffected CBS shows
(the station was billing itself as "5 Belongs" at the time).

But my favorite such promo is from WTHR/13 Indianapolis,
losing ABC to WRTV/6 and getting NBC around the same
time as the switch in Minneapolis. It went:

We've graduated.
We've mastered our ABCs.
Now we're graduating to NBC.

Turns out NBC was the best thing to happen to Channel 13.

 

[KML0224]

WFSB did indeed use that campaign. I know they've been with CBS the entire time under their WFSB call letters, which date back to 1974 and CBS affiliation even further back. CBS was once on, of all channels, 18! Looking at that Univision affiliate today, you would never know it!

WVIT-TV channel 30 of New Britain/Hartford sets a record in this market. They are the only station in the market who has been with the same network since its inception in 1953.

Channel 8 of New Haven has been on since 1948, if you count their start as WNHC-TV channel 6. They cherry-picked CBS and Dumont at one time. Remember, channel 3 didn't sign on until 1957.

Channel 18 has a checkered past to say the least: CBS, pay-tv, indy, Gene Scott, informercials, off the air and now Spanish.

Channel 20 of Waterbury was WATR-TV and a secondary NBC affiliate until 1982. Channel 30 increased their signal making the secondary NBC affiliation unnecessary. They then became independent WTXX-TV. Today, they are our CW affiliate, WB before that. They picked up UPN about a year after the network's 1995 sign on. They would switch networks with channel 59 of New Haven who, at the end of 2000 going into 2001, went from WBNE-TV (WB) to WCTX-TV (UPN).

WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 of Hartford started out as an independent in 1984 and became a charter FOX affiliate in 1986-87 with Joan Rivers's talk show, etc.

 

[bpatrick]

Steve Sohmer (not to be confused with sportscaster
Steve Somers) was head of promotions at all three
networks in the '70s and '80s. In Christensen and
Stauth's "The Sweeps," Sohmer lists the three best
network promo campaigns of all time as ABC's "Still
The One," CBS's "Looking Good Together," and NBC's
"Be There." Naturally, he created all three.

Indeed, the book says he came mighty close to getting
Brandon Tartikoff's job as NBC's head of programming in
1983 when the Peacock Network's fall schedule went
belly-up. What saved Tartikoff was a promotional
campaign Sohmer cooked up for the 1983 Emmy telecast:
at various points the network cut away to individual
affiliates holding celebrations as NBC racked up a final
total of 33 Emmies. Everyone in the auditorium began
booing when one of these bragfests appeared on screen.
Then, over the closing credits, announcer Danny Dark
went through the entire NBC fall schedule and finished
with, "Thirty-three Emmies! Wow! I'LL be there!" That
was laying it on just a bit too thick for Grant Tinker's
taste, and Tartikoff bought himself another year at NBC
that night.