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June 30, 2022 8:35 am  #1


The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

I'd never heard of the Library Of American Broadcasting, but it's a virtual museum based at the University of Maryland. It has a pretty extensive website, including a new addition that highlights the history of American radio ad jingles. It includes the oldest such pitch known to exist - a singing Wheaties spot that aired in 1926, which you can hear on the site.

But it's a separate mention that got my attention. If you grew up during the 60s, you probably remember a group called the Cyrkle. They only had two hits - Red Rubber Ball (written by a then unknown Paul Simon) and Turn Down Day - but they toured with the Beatles at one point and the spelling of their name came from John Lennon.

It turns out one of the members was a guy named Thomas Dawes. When the group disbanded, he wound up in advertising and used his musical background to write several of the most iconic jingles in history. And yes, you know two of them instantly.

One is "7-UP The Uncola" and the other is that earworm, "Plop, Plop, Fizz Fizz, Oh What A Relief It Is," for Alka Seltzer. 

Next time an oldies station plays a Cyrkle song, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to hear them quite the same way again. 

There's also mention of Steve Karmen - the guy who wrote "I Love New York," and "When You Say Budweiser, You've Said It All." Just to name two of hundreds he's famous for. He was highlighted in the early 80s on a segment done for the CFTR documentary show "Sunday Sunday", and you can hear that still very entertaining piece here.

The Lost Art Of Jingle Writing

 

June 30, 2022 10:46 am  #2


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

This is such an interesting subject. Jingles we heard as kids often resonate with us years later, and still bring back images of the products. The art of jingle writing is covered in two of Terry O’Reilly’s episodes “Under The Influence” Season 7, Episodes 12 and 13. They’re well worth a listen.
For instance it’s generally known that Barry Manilow wrote or arranged many jingles. “I am stuck on Band-Aid brand `cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me.” “Like a good neighbour, State Farm is there.” He arranged the famous “You deserve a break today....” for McDonald’s. Apparently during his performances he’s does a medley of his jingles called VSM - “very strange medley.”

Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane did a bizarre psychedelic-themed song advertising white Levi jeans. The Who recorded a number of jingles in their early years including ones for Coke.

One of the shortest jingles was “By Mennen,” just three seconds in length. Any time a jingle is used a licencing fee has to be paid, including this one when it was apparently sung in a version of Family Guy with a slight word change: “By Menonnites.”

Back in 1969 or so a number of Canadian bands were hired by Coke to record a portion of one of their songs that had received airplay. After 20 seconds or so, the songs segued into “....’cause things go better with Coca-Cola, things go better with Coke.”

One of the crazier jingles I recall was for Brylcreem, which was a tube of white grease that some guys would use on their hair. “Brylcreem, a little dab’ll do ya, Brylcreem, you’ll look so debonair, Brylcreem the gals will all pursue you, they love to get their fingers in your hair.”
Oh, you can still get this stuff if you crave the John Travolta look he sported in the movie “Grease.”

Here’s the jingle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmoDx2wJy1c

 

June 30, 2022 1:22 pm  #3


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

One of the best jingle companies in the 80's and 90's was Seacoast Sound out of Victoria. They were a division of CFAX radio.  They produced jingles in English, French, Spanish, Japanese and sold them all over the world. They also produced the thematic music for the Calgary Olympics.  There is still a company by the same name in Victoria but I don't think it is affiliated with the original which was sold years ago.  All of the big retailers in that era, The Bay, Eatons, Sears, Canadian Tire, Petro Canada, Thrifty's, Bootlegger all had radio jingles from Seacoast. 

 

July 1, 2022 9:29 am  #4


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

Thanks for sharing RadioActive, some of these jingles still make me smile, nostalgic fuzziness for sure! On that note, yesterday one of my colleagues was whistling the Meow Mix jingle, which is odd since it hasn’t been aired for years I believe. How things can stick with you!

 

July 1, 2022 10:04 am  #5


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

I'd love to sing the Meow Mix jingle, but I can never remember the words! 

     Thread Starter
 

July 1, 2022 10:15 am  #6


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

The American cigarette manufacturers had some of the most memorable jingles and tag lines. Winston tastes good, like [clap, clap] a cigarette should, LSMFT: Lucky Strike means fine tobacco, Tareyton: I'd rather fight. than switch [spoken by a person with a black eye image. Probably one of the most successful, and annoying, taglines was introduced in 1968, "Ring Around The Collar" for Wisk laundry detergent. The campaign ran for more than three decades before criticism implying it was the fault of wives that their husbands left home with dirty collars, caused Unilever to end it.

 

July 1, 2022 11:30 am  #7


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

RadioActive wrote:

I'd love to sing the Meow Mix jingle, but I can never remember the words! 

Fortunately, as a retired research professional I can help you with this. 
https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meow-mix/36678
 

 

July 1, 2022 11:45 am  #8


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

PeterY wrote:

This is such an interesting subject. Jingles we heard as kids often resonate with us years later, and still bring back images of the products.

Seconded! The many jingles from my childhood, listening to/watching radio & TV from Barrie, Peterborough and Toronto, are still fresh in my mind, thanks in part to YouTube channels like The W/O/C Archive (filled with retro CKVR material), and of course Retrontario. I think I heard more jingles for local advertisers on 'VR versus other stations like CHEX and CFTO... among them:

-Foley's Furniture, Collingwood ("You can buy the best of things, at Foley's Furnishings")
-Huronia Ford, Barrie ("The right choice right now!")
-Dunlop's of Moonstone (don't clearly remember the jingle, something about "out of this world" I believe)

...and I'm wondering if someone here on Big Yella would know who produced some of the jingles and other music for Channel 3, such as the "Stay Right Where You Are" campaign from the mid '80s.

 

July 1, 2022 4:00 pm  #9


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

There have been a number of updated Meow Mix ads that have been produced including Country, R&B, Metal and a Club DJ version.

 

July 1, 2022 4:56 pm  #10


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

One I remember, which is not a jingle but an ad, comes from a septic tank cleaning company. ‘We are #1 in the #2 business’. 😊

 

July 1, 2022 5:18 pm  #11


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

A lot of the jingles mentioned above were actually from TV commercials and not so much radio.  One of the great successes for a radio jingle was produced in Toronto.  Pizza Pizza 967-11-11. The jingle has been used by the company for over 40 years and still on the air today.  That is a mark of a successful jingle.  And it was radio that initially made the phone number and Pizza Pizza so well known and very successful. 

 

July 1, 2022 7:56 pm  #12


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

These aren't commercial jingles from ads, but there's an online station in England that plays nothing but radio station jingles from all over the world, back-to-back, 24 hours a day. Definitely a weird but wonderful distraction, although as much as I love the interstitials, it gets a bit much after a few minutes. 

Jingle Mad Radio.com

     Thread Starter
 

July 1, 2022 10:43 pm  #13


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

Neat-o, I love jingles and can still recall the exact "by Mennen" melody the minute I read PeterY's words. And recognizing the vocal performance of Zappacosta the first time I heard the Pizza Nova jingle.

I believe there's a scene in the terrific movie "Demolition Man" with Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock where they're in the car and they turn the radio on and the playlist of the only station left in their timeline is nothing but what they call "mini tunes", classic jingles for Armour? Hot Dogs, Band-Aids etc.

Last edited by betaylored (July 1, 2022 11:29 pm)

 

July 3, 2022 1:29 pm  #14


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

It's funny how these stick with you - even if you're not aware of their origins. When I was a kid, there was a musical beer commercial that ran for years on the radio that went, "Enjoy Yourself - Take Five For 50 Ale." It went on from there. 

It wasn't until years later that I found out it was based on a real song called "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)" which was a Top 10 hit for Guy Lombardo in 1950, and stayed on the Billboard charts for 19 weeks. I wasn't around then and by the time I was, no one was playing Guy Lombardo records on the radio anymore, so I never heard the actual tune.

I honestly thought it was an original jingle made for the spot. Worse yet, it was so ingrained into my head through repetition that if I ever do hear the song today, it's the "50 Ale" lyrics that still come to mind first!

Here's a longer version of it with slightly different lyrics than I remember.

     Thread Starter
 

July 3, 2022 2:39 pm  #15


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

betaylored wrote:

Neat-o, I love jingles and can still recall the exact "by Mennen" melody the minute I read PeterY's words. And recognizing the vocal performance of Zappacosta the first time I heard the Pizza Nova jingle.

I believe there's a scene in the terrific movie "Demolition Man" with Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock where they're in the car and they turn the radio on and the playlist of the only station left in their timeline is nothing but what they call "mini tunes", classic jingles for Armour? Hot Dogs, Band-Aids etc.




 

 

July 3, 2022 4:40 pm  #16


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

Media Observer wrote:

betaylored wrote:

Neat-o, I love jingles and can still recall the exact "by Mennen" melody the minute I read PeterY's words. And recognizing the vocal performance of Zappacosta the first time I heard the Pizza Nova jingle.

I believe there's a scene in the terrific movie "Demolition Man" with Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock where they're in the car and they turn the radio on and the playlist of the only station left in their timeline is nothing but what they call "mini tunes", classic jingles for Armour? Hot Dogs, Band-Aids etc.




 

It's just as good as I'd hoped, thanks Media Observer!

Think I'll have to hunt this down and watch it for old times sake.

Last edited by betaylored (July 3, 2022 4:41 pm)

 

July 3, 2022 4:51 pm  #17


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

     Thread Starter
 

July 3, 2022 6:33 pm  #18


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

RadioActive wrote:

How many do you remember?

The 30 Most Influential Jingles Since 1948

27/30      I have watched way too much TV...LOL!   A couple of the '50s ones were before my time,  but I've seen them over the years on docs, etc.


 

Last edited by Media Observer (July 3, 2022 6:36 pm)

 

July 3, 2022 7:18 pm  #19


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

RadioActive wrote:

How many do you remember?

The 30 Most Influential Jingles Since 1948

Not familiar with #17 and #27. After viewing the ad for #1, I remembered it.

 

July 3, 2022 8:37 pm  #20


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

I bought this CD years ago... used to sing along with it in the car with the kids.  (Including the cigarette commercials.)  All catchy tunes!  
https://www.amazon.ca/Tee-Vee-Toons-Commercials-Various/dp/B000000GOR

Davester.

 

July 3, 2022 8:42 pm  #21


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

Also, on a side note, I picked up a bunch of 33 1/3 records a few years back that were commercials for radio stations from the late 50's to the early 60's at a radio swap meet.  I especially like the Crown Diamond Paints jingle.

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/a3bhqe284ly51/Radio_Commercials_MP3

One warning, it's Mediafire so there might be a lot of pop-ups.  
Enjoy!

Davester.
 

 

July 3, 2022 9:13 pm  #22


Re: The History Of Radio Ad Jingles Brings One Incredible Surprise

Davester wrote:

I bought this CD years ago... used to sing along with it in the car with the kids.  (Including the cigarette commercials.)  All catchy tunes!  
https://www.amazon.ca/Tee-Vee-Toons-Commercials-Various/dp/B000000GOR

Davester.

I have that album, although I haven't listened to it in years. It probably won't surprise anyone that the entire thing is on YouTube, divided into individual spots. Fun listening again after all this time. 

Tee Vee Toons On YouTube

     Thread Starter