The Making of WABC  

Too bad these big jingles seem to be fading away. More and more stations are NOT using them. Not sure why as they add a certain comforting element to a depressing news/talk format of late. Some music stations still are buyers, but even they seem to be fewer and fewer. Could be budget issues, but sad for radio in general.

As WABC’s Senior Production Engineer at this time, I was the first one who got to process this jingle, after Johnny Donovan had taken care of our local production on it. My job was to check for quality, time it, and load it into WABC’s ENCO digital storage system for air play. I truly have to say that your WABC #121 (or as we called the finished production, the Top Of The Hour ID) combined with the ABC Network News Sounder was the most memorable lead into ABC news that I remember in my 40 years at WABC Radio! Bravo to you and to the one and only Johnny Donovan!

I think this must be THE best news jingle ever made by JAM - we bought it for our internet station Solid Gold Gem AM in November 2012 and the re-sing is SUPERB.

People just don't realize how much work goes into what we hear on the radio. This is absolutely AWESOME. Thanks for this!📻🎤🎧🎙🎶

Hey Jon. This is brilliant and very insightful. A next step up from your 20 Years of JAM CD when you explained the method of jingle making on there. I think though the "dislike" was probably someone from Reelworld :)

I remember this jingle from about 07/08 when Imus moved over. When they played it before the noon hour (I think)... They plugged the big names of the station over the beginning of the jingle. It was something like "Your home for Sliwa, Harvey, Gambling, Rush, Hannity and now... Imus in the morning..." And then the singing part of the jingle, followed by the news.

I have been in radio for 35 years, and i am still amazed at the work and detail it takes to put these together, this vedio is fantastic, thanks for posting this. Michael Burns - Boston, MA

Wow it’s so amazing how talented these musicians are. Jobs like this have to be so far and few between nowadays

Love this! How the sausage is made. JAM, PAMS, all gems of the trade. I could watch videos like this ("the making of ____'s jingles") all night. This one is exceptionally well put together, telling the story. Great job, JAM!

JAM / PAMS makes the best jingles. European radios have been trying to copy them for decades, always failing to get the sleek awesomeness that you guys make! Making radio awesome for over 50 years! Only Radio London and Radio England had em, but this was in the 60's.

Thanks for an amazing behind-the-scenes look at an easy sounding, but extremely difficult procedure with something that turned out absolutely perfect!

Gotta agree -- JAM and PAMS -- fantastic. That WABC "signature" has been around since the rocker days of Dan Ingram and Cousin' Brucie. "77, WABC" Go Go.

Hah! I forgot about Chaney shooting that dude

WABC has brought back this jingle at the top of the hour, but it's a resing that says just "New York" instead of "New York City" at the end. Not sure why they made that change, but great to hear it anyhow.

ALWAYS a first rate production.......Too bad AM radio lost the music battle to FM.

I rather hear jingles like this all throughout the hour than to hear the phrase DOT COM 6 times in 15 seconds on a commercial or even better yet, the phrase DOT COM over 100 times in less than 60 minutes. I stopped listening to radio all together for that reason and just listen to old radio shows.

wow! What a discovery!!! Hi Jon!!! You used to do all our music beds for Air Force Recruiting...would love to hear a few if you ever have a minute --- an amazing work of wizardry -- blending popular songs of the 80's when I was there -- Axel F, Whitney Houston et al, with the Air Force theme song!!! I'm still amazed 38 years later on how you did it!!! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!!!

this is why jam is top class when you want jingles, done right!

Fantastic behind-the-scenes at how a 23-second bit of music is made. Incredible attention to detail. To me, it's marred by the voice-over when its actually aired (FROM New York... etc) but I suppose they have to have that. The lassie at 2:02 on the right though - it looks like someone's just poked her in the bum when she sings "C"! And the vocalist with the wobbly hair makes it sound so much better. hair

I love this, simply amazing 👍👍👍!!! Since I was a child I used to pay attention to the radio and this beautiful little songs that identify the radio station from USA, greetings from Tabasco México.

My little dream was.. I wanna be one of the singers.... Always want more and more and more for JAM's jingles!

You guys ARE radio jingles!

At 1:53, I’m pretty sure that the male section of the singers from left to right: The Bass is Jeff Oxley, The tenor is Bruce Wermuth, and the baritone is Steve Haas.

great stuff. Was a big ABC listener in their Top 40 days. Actually got to sit in on Cousin Brucie show 2x as a 14 and 15 year old.

Nothing like back in the Music radio days. But I am a boomer and love the reverb and processed sound by JAM for Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Ron Lundy and all the others, way back.

It's 2AM and, as usual, I am up in the middle of the night. I refreshed my RU-vid home page and there is Jon staring at me. I thought of 1969 and one day when I wandered into WNTC at Clarkson and Rick Glasby introduced me to Johnny Jingle as we got to know him, a soft-spoken student from Long Island. A few weeks later, I figured out why his nickname was Johnny Jingle when I saw him behind a Revox B-77 and listened to the jingles that he put together in his spare time while still going to class and doing all the things that Freshmen at Clarkson did. It was great to see your face again--it was just like meeting you for the first time all those years ago!!!

There are earlier WABC jingle making sessions that used to be on YT, maybe still are. WABC used PAMS of Dallas first then JAM later.

Best jingle Best JAM,from Brazil.

3:54 - "RADYO NATIN, NATIONWIDE!"

What a Masterpiece !!!! And completely hooked on on the Solid Gold Gem AM version

This must have been done in late 2005 or early 2006. Dick Cheney shot that guy (4:11) in February 2006.

Please bring music back to your WABC,, That is what you all need more than just good jingles!! Used to be the greatest!

that was great

Amazing!

Did JAM evolve from PAMS. Or is it just a name change? What happened? Are they both still around?

They are the best at what maximum jingles ...

very nice! But I still think some of the trickiest, but most enjoyable productions were the slow, painful, yet inevitable transformation to all talk. That would be the "Listen to New York......excitement in the air, you can hear it everywhere....." Damn, I can still hum that with the best of Bachrach or Holland-Dozier-Holland.(even though I know it was signaling the end to an era.). Wish you had some of the backstory and history for this moment

So glad they brought a modified version of this back. Feels right for 77 wabc

The Best In The World. JAM.

What a difference stereo/mono makes for this jingle.

Quality... Jam should be used more in the UK .. the bbc should be forced to give Jam a chance and not always use WISE B on most projects

ジングルの制作過程が映像で見られるのはかなり貴重かも。Good Job!

Oops! Meant to ask why there's a burp at 0:44! Does JAM own all the instruments or do the performers bring their own on hire, I wonder?

Thank you, Jon Wolfert, for writing my "Remembering the 70s" jingle for my Saturday night 70s show. My listeners LOVE it, and so do we!! Rick Thomas, PD 95.7 KAPM-FM Carmichael, CA

Nice video! But, can you please upload too the condesed version of "Consistently Coast" video documentary which was included in "Jingles with Vision"?

0:24 Even by 2005 that logo looks a bit out of date, if you know what I mean. Unless it's two completely different buildings to the ones I'm thinking of.

Were these jingles recorded in the 50s?)))

every time i watch this, i see/hear more. a brilliant little documentary, as good as the jingle it profiles!

There is so much work that goes in to these jingles.... ❤️

That was excellent. A Dallas jingle company called PAMS did the first ones.

Beatiful and great Jingles, I like you work ; congratulations, greetings from Guadalajara

Sensacional 😃

Thanks for all the WFAN66 jingles you guys had created

This is my favorite video on the whole internet, ever....!

Wow , Amazing work.

So awesome. The musicians and vocalists look like a bunch of squares, but they DEFINED what was popular and cool for an entire generation.

very good

I really enjoyed this interesting video 👍

Wow that’s totally cool and awesome. They’ve always had the greatest sounding jingles with the most talented musicians and any station that has used jingles from them always made the right choice. These teams for jingles are simply the best and there’s clearly no one or nothing else like them. I’m from the New York area so I clearly know all about the station that’s being demonstrated in this video and am also aware of them using these jingles along with other local stations that I’ve heard playing and using them too.

0:54 Is that a Yamaha Motif?

I got some WIKY 7” reels on ebay years ago with the JAM label from 1979-1984. Not much info but love the format and would like to know more

I love this sort of thing… It is so cool! My daughter plays the violin in that school orchestra it has been full for two years now… Next year my son will be old enough and he wants to play the viola… I like showing them different things where instruments are featured and how things like this are mode so they can see all the different ways that music touches everything

Stellar

I like this sound so much...thanx for posting..greetings from The netherlands

It sounds fantastic, except for the New York City piece at the end sounds like it drops down a little bit almost could use some more boost like the beginning, overall a great Jam though

Just WOW

Wow! Great video. Great jingle company. Takes a lot more work and bodies than I ever imagined. Awesome! God Bless! :-)

Loved it ... The Jam is the best producer in the world jingle. I am a hardcore fan. Congratulations to all. We Brazilians admire you.

How is it done with more slick, synth-oriented jingles like on "Z World" or "Breakthru"?

Do you guys employ full time musicians or are they freelancers?

this is great. Jonathan is a master at jingles. Great to see the process.

Jam = Perfection ;-)

Is the 'chime' in the final jingle added in Dallas, or at WABC?

JAM,the biggest and best in the world is not for anyone

c'mon lets go go go with cuzin bruce

Absolutely amazing ! More like this please :)

How much can a total jingle package cost for a client?

Fabulous and fascinating!

Amazing! Love it. Greetings from London :)

Newstalk Radio 77 WABC

Happy Birthday JAM!

Amazeing story

You got a ten-second version of that?

WABC = chimes !!!

Love this.

GREAT work!!

3:42 Here’s where I dream about being in the audio booth at this moment. WABC is iconic!!

WOW!!!

It's Amazing How JAM Puts Jingles Together Layer one (rock band), layer two (strings), layer three (percussion), layer four (vocals), layer five (brass); Mix it all together to make one awesome sound (I would use Adobe Audition) I would make my news themes the same way, but with Adobe Audition helping me

PAMS

Anybody know the name of the board-op @3:32?

Cubase..i love it!

From 2006

Love that CELLO & violins!

Amazing!!!!

cool

Skillfully done, but - you will never hear this on college radio, thank God.

it's a sick bastardization of music for commercial purposes. I hate how I love as it sounds so good and is so effective. 60 musicians and vocalists all synchronized in perfect harmony for a 10-second orgasm of aural stimulation. It's not fair, musically. It's an assault on the senses. We are mere moths attracted to a flame in its awesome brilliance, musically. Jam Creative Productions is the Pied Piper of the Radio world. Show less. Please show less. "Alexa, Show less." Oh, I see, I'm the one writing the comment.

Just nothing like the old days, PAMS jingles on 77 WABC are legend. Those types need to be brought back on oldies stations, they really made it enjoyable.

why such complications. cant they just play it once or twice all together geeez . how hard could it possibly be for professional musicians to make a 15 second song