#1- Drake double A package on KGW
#2- 91derful package on Kisn 64-65-66
#3- Sounds of the city-KEX

WORST:
Have a Happy Day on Kisn -69
Final pagage that aired on original KPOJ

The ones that KISN had from 59 untill 64 were my favorite, especially the "yours truly" ones.
the "Have a happy day" were also my least favorite and I never could understand why those were used.

Besides "yours truly", I really liked the KYTE jingles. The current KISN jingles are actually similar.

The "Have a happy day" jingles were actually run from June 1970 until late fall/winter that same year (it may have ran into January but I'm not exactly sure -- perhaps someone else can pinpoint it).

Prior to that, from 69 to Spring 1970 KISN was doing the "Maximum Music" thing (what was this package offically called?) -- IMO that was the best jingle package ever. I did like the "Have a happy day" package too, but clearly others were better.

I have had my own personal jingles that I liked. But that's my ego talking.

The KING/KGW jingles in the early to mid 70's were really cool. But I had always heard these were "fake drake", re-creations from another company. Can somebody set me straight?

KJR in Seattle also had a very nice package about 1976-77...maybe the last of the great AM jingles...although I agree with Semoochie, KYTE had a wonderful package in the late 70's!

Or is the "fake drake" expression, a description of a station trying to do the Drake format, but not doing it the way Drake had envisioned? (sounds trivial, but I've always wondered!)

On the topic of jingles, one of the greatest Top40s of all time, WLS Chicago, also known for their memorable jingles, still uses many of the same jingles from their music days some 25 years after dropping music and going news/talk. Now that is "branding" to the extreme. A nice touch in today's radio world! (Warms my radio heart!).

Always liked the (KYTE) TM Synergy jingle package and the Jam (KMJK) Flamethrower package. Here's a link to the KYTE jingles (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page).

http://www.pdxradiospots.com/archives/2005_01_01_archive.html

Steve.....I LOVED the Jam Flamthrower package! If I remember correctly, it was the same package that KIIS used? GREAT top o' the hour!!

"Fake Drake" usually refers to the execution of the format. I'm almost certain KGW used the real Drake/Chenault package.

Scott,

I believe WHTZ had them made & KIIS bought the package too. I remember WHTZ was on the Jam Flamethrower demo.

kgw did use the originals....Johnny Mann Singers for cryin out loud!

Didn't the Johnny Mann Singers do the KISN jingles too?

I have a record (LP) of Johnny Mann singers somewhere here in my mess of a house.......stuff sounds kind of similar to Ray Conniff's fare.

It has a version of "Up, Up And Away" included on there too.........

And if this makes me sound "dated" let me mention now that I am 22. Not someone older trying to make himself sound younger, I *am* 22.

It makes me feel kind of odd mentioning stuff like this to the guys I ride/race with (all are my age, or very close to) but their blank stares when I mention "Easy Listening", "Reel to reel tapes" or "Boss Radio" do crack me up............

Kisn used Pams-Tm Century & Merriman

When Hal Widsten first changed KGW to Top 40, he used a "fake drake" jingle package. Then, on miraculous day in 1971, they started airing the authentic Drake A package. That pretty much capped it for me. The first day I heard it aired was the day I made KGW my goal. Very cool!

I know KISN used Pams, but who were the singers?

The PAMS website has info about the long-time singers, mostly freelancers who sing for all the Dallas jingle companies.

CRC Series 11, "Kissin' the bright exciting sounds of tomorrow!" package was a good one from around '64. Robin Mitchell has a couple of CRC 11 items, one from KISN and one from KJR on his jingle page. Look for "Bright Exciting," and "KJR BRight Ex," as well as the many others, mostly PAMS material.

As Tom mentioned, KGW eventually started using the true Drake package marketed by American Independent Radio using the Johnny Mann singers. From the time they first went top 40 in, what was it--1968??, they used a PAMS custom package (the fake-Drake package). KASH in Eugene used a fake Drake package that imitated the Double A Image package marketed by AIR back around 1971 or 1972. Some of us tried to figure out who marketed the KASH package but were never successful. I generally listened to KASH (along with KGAL) during my college days at Moo U in Corvallis.

I remember the KASH 'fake Drake' package in the spring of '72. They were painful to hear.
It was hard for me to forget, since I lived in Hamilton hall, right across the river from the KASH towers. I had that station in my radio, my iron, my tooth brush (and it was a manaul toothbrush!)...
RJ

How many different jingles did KISN use in total? 100?
How many different ones could be used by DJ at any one day?
Same question for KGW or other stations.
Did someone at the station write the slogans/lyrics, or was that done by the jingle production companies?

I would estimate that the total jingle figure of 100 is way low for a station like KISN.

KGW's jingles discussed above, but perhaps a little tighter rotation than KISN during the 70's.

For many born after 1970, this discussion might seem a bit trivial, but remember, jingles were the primary identification for AM stations in the the 60's and 70's.

"how many jingles could be used by DJ?" Varies.
Some stations had a strict policy about which one to play, others gave the jocks the choice to choose the appropriate jingle. (And that empowered the jock, making him/her feel important, and greatly improving morale and the "fun" that certain jocks had while on the air. (I remember those days!)

Oh, and as to your final question...

Some big market stations wrote the lyrics, but the basic melodies were almost always produced by the jingle companies. Exceptions, of course, (WABC, WLS), but generally that is the way it worked then, and the way it works today.

Check out this link if you want the classic KHJ jingles in MP3 format.

http://www.bossradioforever.com/html/jingles.html

Steve N.: Nice!

Sounds like you have the original "for client" package. Rare!

Funny how one of the shotguns survived on KING-AM well into the 70's (perhaps, KGW too, after the other cuts had been dropped!) Don't know the cut #, but it is one the shortest on this demo, about 2/3 way through. (duh-du-da KHJ), not more than 2.5 seconds!) Memories!
(Yes, I am a jingle geek!!!)

Here's the link to the KGW mid 70's jingles.

http://www.pdxradiospots.com/archives/2005_03_01_archive.html

Yes, jingles packages generally changed quite frequently in the '60s on Top 40 stations. It still seems strange today to hear some (AC and Oldies) stations keep the same jingles for more than 5 years.

Rich, at least you survived listening to those singers for the KASH package. Sounded like a very amateur production.

As for KGW, I believe they moved from the Drake Series 1 into the Drake Double A Image package. The KING and KGW "shotguns" you mention, Paul, were likely from the TM Productions "Propellants" package which was used, I think, until they picked up the TM "You" package. I believe KISN used the real TM "Shotgun" package following the PAMS "Solid Rock" package.

I distinctly remember the "You" package coming on board in early '76, (or was it '77...my memory is starting to fail me!)...either way, the old classic drake sounding jingles were gone!
TM's "You" was new and different, but kind of ended an era for the classic Top40 jingle sound.

I don't remember KPAM 97.1 ever using jingles. Did they?

I worked at 97.1 back in 74-75 and don't remember any jingles. There was a period when management dropped using KPAM (except on the legal ID) and went by K97.

KPAM absolutely used jingles. If I didn't remember otherwise, there was an aircheck from the station that was on 104.1 during their test, before they sold to Salem. KGW went back to Top 40 around the fall of '69 but waited awhile to include mornings.

KPAM used PAMS Series 40 when I was there in 1971-72. I thought it sounded pretty cool for the times. Oddly enough, since KPAM 1410 was a daytimer back then, when they left the air Vancouver's CKVN blasted through...and they too used the PAMS Series 40 package! Being the radio geek/packrat that I am, I've got a reel dub of the package in a radio box in the closet somewhere...When I run across it, I've GOT to convert it to a CD copy. The package was used on WABC, WFAA, and KYA among other stations. You can still hear these jingles, samples of the various Drake packages and more in the online demo at www.rhythmandgold.com

I've been hooked on this online stream for almost six months now. I've even heard a couple of old KISN jingles from the 60s sung differently back in the day for WABC. It really illustrates how the jingles were important elements in making the station "sound" flow... I'll catch myself almost singing along to the WFIL jingles because of the chord change on the last note! It's a lost art of programming compared to today's formatics...or I wonder if that would more appropriately be termed "robotics"?

I also don't recall any jingles at KPAM during '74-75 but semoochie is right, later KPAM did run jingles lets say 77-78? I thought they weren't anywhere near as good as recently-killed-by-the-FCC KISN's, KGW's or the soon to surface KYTE.

"K-PAM!, K-P-A-M" that's how one went.

Mark....thank you for the link...if anyone on this thread hasn't gone there you are really missing out...I also agree that this shows how jingles were an extremely important part of programming...imagine if todays "robotic" programmers used jingles how much better it would sound.

Skeptical: Not sure which package your example comes from, but it dated back to KPAM's jazzy middle-of-the-road days as far back as the late 60s...Series 40 replaced those relics!

Albordj: You're more than welcome! I don't know if automation can do as good a job of blending the jingles as a live warm personality, although Rhythm & Gold does it pretty well. (Actually, I think they're pre-programmed with each song...ensures a good fit.) When I was on the air and had access to a good jingle pack, I'd always be auditioning jingles in the cue circuit to see how they'd blend with the next song...If it matched or complemented the key the song was in, that's what I ran!

KYXI had a jingle package for awhile called "Ever in the Air." I think it came from an Olympia Brewery spot. I seem to remember hearing that the station had purchased the rights from the OB folks. This would have been in the '70's sometime. I also remember the jingle KGW had as sort of an anthem during their early '90's talk days..."the Talk tation...KGW!"

I don't know the best Portland radio jingles, but I thought K103 had some great jingles in the mid to late 1990s.

If you look at the airchecks of WTIC-FM (Hartford) from the late 1970s and early 1980s, they had some great jingles for that station. WTIC-FM was one of the first "Hot Hits" stations in the nation (launched in 1977). The top-40 "hot hits" stations were formatted to play only the new and current hits on the charts with no or limited recurrents. These stations became popular in the late 1970s and 1980s in larger and smaller markets. WTIC-FM jingles were also used at other hot hit stations.

Didn't 97.1 go KCNR ("Center of the Dial") in the late 70's? Seems to me, KCNR had jingles.

BradE: You are absolutely correct... I recognized one of the sample Oly ads that Steve Naganuma posted the link for here as one of the several music beds we used for KYXI Community PSAs.

Gosh, I wish I had a copy of those... It was a custom package for KYXI that they obtained the rights to sometime after that Olympia campaign was retired. It was an outstanding thematic series, and truly "beautiful" music for "the Oregon City station"...

KCNR was originally "the music center" thus the call letters.

I recall the "Have A Happy Day" promotions were a cash-in on the ubiquitous "happy face" (a yellow disc with a smile and two dots for eyes) stickers that were the rage from 1969 to 1971.

Hmm . . . I thought that "happy face" went back to at least 1964 (although the background wasn't always yellow) . . . we need an authority to check in -- Stoner?

(I have one of those older clear window stickers with the "happy face" -- fairly big too, about 8" by 8"? I haven't seen it in a while, but I peeled it off a wrecked van in 1976 that had been in the wrecking yard for 10 years. That would date it to the mid 60's. Of course, the story on the van could have been incorrect, but the van year matched and it looked like it spent its whole life
in a junkyard.)

The yellow "Kisn Goodguy" face was the rage in the 60's. The sweat shirts are now collectors items. The stickers were everywhere. Later around 69 they rolled out Have a happy day...where the goodguy face was there with "Have a Happy Day" written on the sticker.

Here are some San Francisco jingles in Real Audio format. Check out the KFRC jingles.

http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/jingles.shtml

I just re-read this entire thread, and I can't help but think, (what with all the less than intelligent posts of recent weeks), this is what this site does best. It's a great place to talk about our industry, its past, and its future. Thanks, Dan, for your patience and for this one-of-a-kind radio board!

"More Muuuusic, KGW"!

I remember the "Good Guys" smiley face from the mid sixties, not the same as the "happy day" smiley face later on.

are you sure? it looked exactly the same to me.

The mouth on the later drawing was more smiley. I've always liked the original which was created by WMCA.

The smiley face didn't have any hair.

Here's a cool site if you want to download jingles in MP3 format. There is a ton of stuff on this page including the KISN 97.1 jingles from 2001.

http://www.mp3airchecks.com/jingles.htm

Thanks Steve! The Kisn-FM "Jam" jingles were I believe our best sounding package ever. So many greats to choice from. Some of my favorites from the mp3 link above were:

"Summertime In The Northwest". We also had an identical one for Springtime. I always pushed to get those two on the air when the season turned. Other greats on the mp3 were:

"It's Always Fun Fun Fun (Surfin)"
"Great Oldies (Rockin' Guitar)"
"Good Times & Fun Oldies (Latin Sound)"
"Great Oldies All The Time (High Horns)"

So many others. Special thanks to Bob Harlow for sending that package in 2001 to the web poster. We can enjoy them all over again in Stereo!

KSGO used Johnny Mann singers (1984-1988) before going satellite and eventually flipping in 1989.

Here's the KISN Have A Happy Day jingle package. There is a older package on the end too. The jock shouts are cool because they bring back memories of all the great talent that worked at KISN over the years. There is also a KISN Thanksgiving promo at the end. Enjoy!

http://www.divshare.com/download/209539-482

Here are some Seattle area commercial production jingle beds along with radio jingles and other stuff. It is from a jingle demo from 1976.

http://www.divshare.com/download/209479-d07

Steve, your collection continues to amaze me, but I have to say that none of this sounds familiar to this 1976 Seattle 16-year old radio geek. It is obviously a demo reel from one company, but either they had little success or their campaigns were short-lived. The Captain and Tennile imitation was horrid, IMHO.

But if we were in the same town, I would love to get together and share some of our stuff. (I am not so advanced as to how to share via downloads yet...perhaps a project to learn, as all my classic stuff is still boxed up on cassette tapes!)

Paul...The KGDN jingle was for AM 630 (now KCIS). If it did air in Seattle in the mid 70's, perhaps AM 630 was not one of your favorite stations at the time.

I feed a cassette or reel deck into my computer. I use Adobe Audition to record the audio. Then upload the MP3 to DivShare. Anyone can sign-up for a free DivShare account. Upload as many files as you want, unlimited number of people can download the files and they stay on the DivShare web site forever. I would recommend converting your old cassettes asap. I had some of my cassette tape snap. Had to get out my splicing kit and patch the cassette together to get it to play one last time.

Here's a KJR 1980 and KING 1975 aircheck.
http://www.divshare.com/download/178657-fe3

Regarding the two KHOF Los Angeles jingles, the infamous Dr Gene Scott had those call letters until all his licenses were revoked.

Taking a lead from Steve, I posted several KHJ jingles on divshare.

http://www.divshare.com/download/226672-c52

Enjoy.

best jingles? isn't that an oxymoron?

Anyone have any copies of the jingle package used at KEX featuring the line "Call of the Northwest?" (Or was it Sound of the Northwest? Gawd, I'm old!)

You're no older than I am. I remember DXing at night as a kid from Seattle and hearing "Call of the Northwest" on KEX. At the time, KVI in Seattle was also owned by Golden West and thus was KEX's sister station. KVI had a similar set of jingles that I think was called "City by the Sound."

Another package that I remember was from the early 1970s, when KIRO in Seattle called itself "Radio Northwest." They had a collection of songs called "The Northwest Suite." Some quite lovely and majestic, others kind of silly, but all describing the Northwest.

KEX's "Call of the Northwest" and others here

Man! That's a Memory Maker!

I liked the KYTE package allah 1976....

I loved the Legal talk over ID....the one Ron Leonard used to do soo well......

AND .......................

Immmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ronnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Leonarddddddddddddddddddddddddd

.......K........Y.........T.......EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

.........PORTLANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD....

KGW had the drake package, I think. KING had the same, of course but earlier on. Those went on the air first at KING for the spring book 1970.

KGW was 'chicken rock' till spring of 71' and followed suit is when they got the same package, like thier flagship station in Seattle.

Somewhere afterwards in all of this, they did the 'YOU" package, added the " we do it for YOU' and all that jazz. Some of those "You" jingle/liners were rather tiresome....

Our own "Missing KSKD" has some of those TM Synergy jingles from KYTE, along with some other KYTE material posted on a blog called PDX Radio Spots.

Also there is a scoped aircheck of Ron on KYTE on the other history page of this website. http://www.pdxradio.com/pdxhist.htm

What ever happened to Mike Davis? I worked with him briefly at KYXI before he moved over to KOIN/KYTE.

I remember those old Golden west jingles...KSFO had "The City by the Bay..." I don't think I ever heard KMPC's, assuming they had one.