How Radio Jingles Are Made

The last time I wrote about radio-station jingles was in 2012, when I interviewed jingle writer Larry Greene in two parts (here and here). I love the sound of these branded musical bites promoting the station. The vocals harmonies are always tight and fresh, and the melodies they sing are meant to be catchy and addictive. The first radio jingle for Wheaties cereal dates back to 1926...

The modern, post-war radio-station jingle has its roots in the close-harmony sound of vocal groups of the early 1950s like the Four Freshmen and the Hi-Lo's. At first, these jingles were used for radio advertising. By the 1960s, stations used them for their call letters. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, "beautiful music" stations that featured easy listening used jingles that sounded less high-strung and more relaxed, as if recorded by Singers Unlimited.

Before I turn you on to the clips I found of radio jingles being recorded, let me play you a few of my favorites that I grew up with in New York in the 1960s:

Here's a jingle for the old WNEW-AM...

Here's a bunch of Beatles-influenced jingles for the old WABC-AM in the 1960s...

And here's the jingle for WMCA-AM (the "Good Guys")...

So how are radio station jingles recorded? They're actually quite painstaking, sophisticated and demanding for even the best studio vocalists. Studio singers may need to sing the jingle upward of 50 or 60 times until the conductor or producer feels it's in the pocket and hitting the right notes. The end result should sound fun, carefree, hip, breezy and exciting. Most of all, the listener should look forward to hearing it over and over again.

Here are a series of videos I found of radio jingles being recorded...

Here's JAM Creative Productions recording a jingle for WABC-AM in New York. JAM has been doing them for WABC since the 1970s...

Here's Johnny Mann leading the Johnny Mann Singers in 2007 during a jingle session for KRTH-FM (K-Earth) in Los Angeles...

Here's a session at PAMS/TM in Texas for WABC in New York...

And here's a PAMS strings and vocal session in 1989...

Bonus: Here's a history of JAM Productions in Dallas...

And here are jingles created by PAMS, another jingle production company...