Bring back the jingles!

[your friend]

The imaging on this show has just been absolutely terrible. When the show first changed hands, it had a modern new jingle collection that really suited the format of the show quite nicely.

The new "bare" format with the roboticly-voiced "KellyKellyKelly" is lame and smacks of laziness.

[Deleted]

No, actually it sounds like most ID's on every station I hear the show on meaning it fits in perfectly.

[your friend]

The point isn't to "fit in perfectly", the point is to make the show sound more distinctive. The current imaging the show uses is quite forgettable. The current show intro is a complete mess as well.

Most people I know who have been listening to AT40 remember either Casey's old jingles and Ryan's old jingles and would sing or hum along. The little tune sticks in listener's minds and has positive connotations.

The current imaging doesn't give people a reason to listen and remember the show.

[Deleted]

So, jingles going in and out of commercial breaks are the reason why most people should listen? Strange, I always listened to hear the host count down the top 40 and the songs he counted down.

[your friend]

Jun 10, 2013 12:16:09 GMT -5 @paul said:

So, jingles going in and out of commercial breaks are the reason why most people should listen? Strange, I always listened to hear the host count down the top 40 and the songs he counted down.

I don't recall saying that they are the reason why most people should listen. They are a reason that can get people who have the station on to "perk up". It only takes 2 seconds for a hook to catch someone's attention.

The show's imaging should be unique and identifiable that give the show a memorable sound. No one hums along or remembers KellyKellyKelly when she says "American Top 40" in her detached robotic voice. But people do remember a jingle and guitar riff. AT40's current imaging seems to miss part of the point of having effective imaging...



"Five. Five dollar. Five dollar foot-long."

"Hotwiiiiiire dot. com."

"freeeeee credit report dot. com."

"Sweet Jack (woof woof)... it's a real sweet deal!"

[Deleted]

Jun 10, 2013 14:40:33 GMT -5 your friend said:

Jun 10, 2013 12:16:09 GMT -5 @paul said:

So, jingles going in and out of commercial breaks are the reason why most people should listen? Strange, I always listened to hear the host count down the top 40 and the songs he counted down.

I don't recall saying that they are the reason why most people should listen. They are a reason that can get people who have the station on to "perk up". It only takes 2 seconds for a hook to catch someone's attention.

The show's imaging should be unique and identifiable that give the show a memorable sound. No one hums along or remembers KellyKellyKelly when she says "American Top 40" in her detached robotic voice. But people do remember a jingle and guitar riff. AT40's current imaging seems to miss part of the point of having effective imaging...



"Five. Five dollar. Five dollar foot-long."

"Hotwiiiiiire dot. com."

"freeeeee credit report dot. com."

"Sweet Jack (woof woof)... it's a real sweet deal!"

Actually, yes you did...

Jun 10, 2013 14:40:33 GMT -5 your friend said:

The current imaging doesn't give people a reason to listen and remember the show.

Anyway, stations do not want something that sounds different. They want something that blends in with the stations imaging and feel. I'm pretty sure Premiere/Clearchannel doesn't do things on a whim because someone in charge woke up in a certain mood one day. They asked programmers what they wanted. This is the result.

[your friend]

I said:

"The current imaging doesn't give people a reason to listen and remember the show."

You then twisted that into:

"So, jingles going in and out of commercial breaks are the reason why most people should listen?"


I'm not sure why you would do this, but you may wish to review the following logical fallacy:

Description of Straw Man

The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern:

1. Person A has position X.
2. Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
3. Person B attacks position Y.
4. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person.

[Deleted]

Yeah, so like I said.....you claim jingles give people a reason to listen (pardon me, the way you have gone about it if I misinterpreted most in that I apologize). I never listened for jingles. Don't think about 99% of others did either. So, no I wasn't battling any straw men. But, of course I noticed in your retort you didn't address anything else I wrote.

[your friend]

Jun 10, 2013 17:36:43 GMT -5 @paul said:

Yeah, so like I said.....you claim jingles give people a reason to listen (pardon me, the way you have gone about it if I misinterpreted most in that I apologize). I never listened for jingles. Don't think about 99% of others did either. So, no I wasn't battling any straw men. But, of course I noticed in your retort you didn't address anything else I wrote.

So, I presume that your argument is that if a jingles comes on it doesn't give people a reason to "perk up" and listen?

I disagree. A jingle is an audible cue, and if done well reinforces a positive message. Sure, people don't listen to a show explicitly for the jingles. But they do catch attention in a way that voiceovers cannot do. That's why people hum along to jingles, and why advertisers use them. Do you disagree?

[Deleted]

I hear less and less in terms of jingles on the radio. If anyone is going to listen when they hear a jingle, they'll listen when they hear "You're On Air with Ryan Seacrest...on AT40" So, no I do not think jingles matter. And as I stated, the show is designed to fit seamlessly into most CHR stations. So the imaging sounds just like everything else on the stations. That's why Premiere does the show that way. That is what stations want, thus that is what they get.

[your friend]

Jun 10, 2013 19:08:58 GMT -5 @paul said:

I hear less and less in terms of jingles on the radio. If anyone is going to listen when they hear a jingle, they'll listen when they hear "You're On Air with Ryan Seacrest...on AT40" So, no I do not think jingles matter. And as I stated, the show is designed to fit seamlessly into most CHR stations. So the imaging sounds just like everything else on the stations. That's why Premiere does the show that way. That is what stations want, thus that is what they get.

If jingles don't matter, why would advertisers continue to use them?

Here in the Saint Paul-Minneapolis market, the local CHR (KDWB) and Hot AC (KS95) both use jingles and refresh them every year or so. If anything, it's AT40 that sounds "out of place" on KDWB....

[Deleted]

Most I know don't and if they do it is nowhere near the way it used to be. Haven't heard a jingle on our local CHR or Hit AC station since I moved here in 2008. Hadn't heard one on the station that airs the show in Jacksonville in years. Don't think the one in Orlando does either. Haven't heard one on KIIS in years either. Not sure about Z100. I stated above I hear less and less of them so doesn't seem like they must be working like they used to in advertising or needed in station jingle land either.

[your friend]

Jun 10, 2013 20:14:30 GMT -5 @paul said:

Most I know don't and if they do it is nowhere near the way it used to be. Haven't heard a jingle on our local CHR or Hit AC station since I moved here in 2008. Hadn't heard one on the station that airs the show in Jacksonville in years. Don't think the one in Orlando does either. Haven't heard one on KIIS in years either. Not sure about Z100. I stated above I hear less and less of them so doesn't seem like they must be working like they used to in advertising or needed in station jingle land either.

ReelWorld has KISS-FM's latest jingle package for 2013... Their updated jingle package is available to listen to on reelworld.com/flashindex.php, look in the CHR area.

[Deleted]

Ok, so I was partially wrong on KIIS. You still haven't dealt with the main crux of this and have done this now on like 3 or 4 replies. Whether you like it or not, the way the show is designed is the way affiliates by and large want it. They do not want it to sound indistinguishable from the rest of the stations format. Thus, why it sounds the way it does.

[your friend]

Well, there isn't any hard data to support that claim, we are both relying on anecdotal evidence.

In my home market, of the stations that play modern music 50% use jingles:

KDWB - CHR - Jingles
KSTP - Hot AC - Jingles
KTCZ - AAA - Voiceover
KTWN - Modern AC - Voiceover

While correlation does not imply causation, it still is relevant to point out that the 2 stations which use jingles have much higher PPMs than the 2 that don't.

When I travel out-of-state, I still definitely hear jingles being used. My own personal experience is that stations with more up-tempo music tend to use jingles.

BUT since we don't have any hard-and-fast data to definitively say stations overwhelmingly prefer one over the other, I can't make the assertion that the majority of stations don't want jingles.

What I do recall reading once is that Kelly Doherty - who is the national director of Clear Channel's imaging - doesn't like jingles. I read it years ago and can't find the weblink anymore where I read that... but I remember that fact vividly.

Thus, I tend to think we are dealing with "KellyKellyKelly"'s preference rather than any sort of definitive evidence that suggests CHR stations don't want jingles...

I think there is a proper use for voiceovers, but they simply fall flat as far as identifying AT40 with a memorable auditory cue when coming out of commercial breaks.