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Discovered composers & publishers of music themes


promoguy98

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A relatively minor find, but one I'd been hoping for since 2014...

 

The

theme, as also heard on KPHO and
, is the beginning of Beyond by Herb Alpert, sped up by about 5% in the first instance. (Ironically, I only noticed the YT comment on the first video identifying it after noticing the auto ID on the third...)
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[quote name='promoguy98']Finally, a clean one minute closing cut of "News '80s" by VTS Productions was added to the NMSA site. I noticed hints of the WWLP-WANE-WLOX theme, which is listed as the "KTVW 1986 News Theme" [/QUOTE] @Raymie @ChesapeakeTV @TServo2049 @Ntropolis Tagged a few peeps where we had discussed the WGHP News '80s package back a month or two ago. Found a clip earlier today from WLOX in 1984 that features the News '80s theme off and on for the first couple of minutes, starting at :28 seconds in. I don't think the first track before 28 secs is related. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP30snibz7s So, this puts WLOX using the package at least as early as 84 through the early 90's,which they followed with the "Jazzy" mixed cut of "Full Potential" from Network Music. Anywhoooo, this shows the theme that WLOX-WANE-WWLP-KTVW-WEVU used was a part of the overall WGHP package or an update to it. One thing is for sure - - it's definitely VTS, not that there was much doubt by anyone... :)
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Yeah, that first track is High Combustion out of the Network library. Not surprising, really...

 

The VTS theme is definitely the main attraction though. I'd definitely have to agree that it's pretty solid proof that the KTVW, etc. theme is a straight update, rather than a separate package with some common melodic cues.

 

I almost wonder if it was WLOX who commissioned "v2". They seem like they were the last ones to use it (I recall seeing a YT comment on jacky9br's video of the jazzy Full Potential open saying they switched to it in mid '92, and I suspect they switched from "v2"), they do have a known history of commissioning music (the '98 Ford theme comes to mind), and their news department looks quite well staffed and funded for 1984 and the market in that video...

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Yeah, that first track is High Combustion out of the Network library. Not surprising, really...

 

The VTS theme is definitely the main attraction though. I'd definitely have to agree that it's pretty solid proof that the KTVW, etc. theme is a straight update, rather than a separate package with some common melodic cues.

 

I almost wonder if it was WLOX who commissioned "v2". They seem like they were the last ones to use it (I recall seeing a YT comment on jacky9br's video of the jazzy Full Potential open saying they switched to it in mid '92, and I suspect they switched from "v2"), they do have a known history of commissioning music (the '98 Ford theme comes to mind), and their news department looks quite well staffed and funded for 1984 and the market in that video...

 

We'd really need a 1986/87 clip of WLOX to ascertain a potential progression.

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  • 1 month later...

As those of you who frequent this forum know, KPHO was one of the users of Rick Krizman's 24 Hour News during its 15 minutes of fame in the mid 90's. The NMSA lists them as using it from an unknown start date until 1998, with a KPHO 1995 unknown from that year until some unknown time after. For several years now it's been assumed that this unknown is a mystery cut of Krizman's theme that the NMSA simply hasn't done anything about yet.

 

I think I've just disproven that, through random listening at NMN.

 

First, we step into the time machine, back to 2014 in the U.S. news music abroad topic:

 

But "KPHO 1995" must also have had some sort of a connection with Gari, because it was included in his International Sampler (as POP TV's theme) -- if it's the same theme.

 

BTW, apart from its launch day (seen in the clip above), POP TV never used "KPHO 1995" as a news theme, just as an image theme. Gari's "Eyewitness News" was used for the news close.

 

I have to admit, at the time I thought it was suspect too. The instrumentation in the clip referenced is quite Gari-like...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=9GdbOkjEXWE;t=13

 

...and the signature doesn't quite work either. 24 Hour News tends to revolve around a 3 note cue, whereas this mystery theme uses more of a 6 or 7 note melody.

 

Fast forward to this morning, and imagine my surprise when I randomly click on the Entertainment theme listed under series 1 of Hometown News on NMN. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

 

TL;DR: KPHO 1995 must be a Gari library theme of some sort, because it appeared in Hometown News, and the instrumentation matches Gari's work. Even if it isn't a Gari theme, the signature doesn't mesh with everyone's suspicion - Krizman's 24 Hour News - anyway.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Anyone know who did the WJLA 1992 theme? A really underrated, very newsy early-90s tune (the close is especially good). Definitely fit DC.

 

The theme reminds me A LOT of the 1991 WSB open as far as the music styling and that very newsy sound.

 

I wonder if Cheryl Rogers who composed the theme for WSB 1991 open had a hand in this one? If not, it still sounds a lot like the Fairlight CMI Synth/Sampler sound that was used for the WSB composition. If she wasn't involved, it could have been an Atlanta "Doppler Studios" staff composer.

 

Also, wonder if the open video animation/composites for both WSB 1991 and WJLA 1992 came out of Crawford Post / EQ Vance / John Christopher Burns in Atlanta? I see some similiar stylings there. Anyway, that's a couple of thoughts....

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ASCAP lists a WJLA theme by Michael Randall, but no idea which of the four unidentified packages it would have been.

 

And speaking of WRTV, ASCAP also lists a "Station Style News Theme", aka "WRTV News", by Randall - no, not Michael Karp, but Michael Randall. What would that be? The 1992 theme? (I have a feeling the 1979 and 1984 packages were both Tuesday - even though Tom DiNoto didn't recognize them when I sent him audio, they both sound quite "Tuesday" to my ear. I once thought the 1984 package could be Randall, until I heard the KCCI "Be a Part of It All" promo that sounded very similar, and since it was higher sound quality, I could tell that the bongos in that KCCI song sounded very, VERY Tuesday. If WRTV 1984 sounds similar, I'm betting it was also Tuesday. And we know WRTV 1990 was VTS, so that only leaves WRTV 1992, but does it sound too orchestral to be Randall?)

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I know this has been brought up before, but check out this newscast from WQAD in 1990. This is the era when they used the WCCO '85 Theme, This clip obviously includes bumpers to this package, that I am hearing for the first time. Was curious if this sounds familiar to anyone. I know this package was used by several stations and I have been really wanting to figure out who created it, its a great package. Below are other clips of this package.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdLh15dGZxs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNg2iHb8-ak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=0iLP7YebhSM;t=216

(The last clip from WMBD is a long shot, but you can hear very briefly at the end of that promo is the same as the end off the KSNW promo, point being is this package was widely used)

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I once thought the 1984 package could be Randall, until I heard the KCCI "Be a Part of It All" promo that sounded very similar, and since it was higher sound quality, I could tell that the bongos in that KCCI song sounded very, VERY Tuesday. If WRTV 1984 sounds similar, I'm betting it was also Tuesday.

 

Not just similar...I just listened to "Be a Part of It All", and they sound like they're the exact same package. We know KCCI was a repeat Tuesday client (well, we know they used Now More Than Ever...who knows where the NMSA's listing of KAKE 1980 came from), the beginning of the image sounds very much like the WRTV theme, and that theme

.
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NMSA added a WSB news open from 1980, listed separately from "2 Steps Ahead". It appears there was definitely a theme change in 1979, based on this snippet:

 

 

The first five seconds appears to be the tail end of a midday newscast, with "1979" on the chyron.

I just wonder, is this the same theme as "2 Steps Ahead" or a different theme altogether?

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Melody sounds like it spells "2 Steps Ahead" in the last four notes, but otherwise it sounds rather different. Perhaps a "v1" or a different theme that's melodically related?

 

Whatever it is, it must have appeared pretty early in 1979 - the station ID from the 1980 clip appears at the tail end of this video, with different music carrying the same signature. The Chicago mayoral election mentioned occurred in April...

 

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I was digging through the US Copyright Office search, and found something on the "WTAE 1993 News Theme". It was written by Brad Kelley, who did work with VTS. Its record lists "For use by Columbia Pictures in the motion picture, Striking distance."

 

The film is set in Pittsburgh, and the theme is prominently featured in the opening scene of the movie as Sally Wiggin delivers a news report.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=nJXy8RR4O1E;m=1;s=47

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  • 2 weeks later...

I may be right or wrong, but if you go over to the SouthernMedia's News Music Search Archive website, take a listen to the KWES 2002 Closing Theme. If you take a listen, the theme sounds like a Tuesday Productions piece. In fact, if I am not too badly mistaken, this may very well be part of the KAKE 1988 package done by Tuesday.

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I may be right or wrong, but if you go over to the SouthernMedia's News Music Search Archive website, take a listen to the KWES 2002 Closing Theme. If you take a listen, the theme sounds like a Tuesday Productions piece. In fact, if I am not too badly mistaken, this may very well be part of the KAKE 1988 package done by Tuesday.

 

You're not the only one who thinks that.

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