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Discovered composers & publishers of music themes


promoguy98

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Any clues on who did this piece for KWTV? There's a less synthy version on the NMSA.

 

Ahhh! I love this theme. If I remember right, the one on the NMSA may have had slightly different graphics, but I can't remember because it's been so long since I've seen the clip. Maybe it was from later in '93.

 

Speaking of KWTV, it looks like they may have been using "Going Global" by FirstCom in 1994, or a variant thereof...

 

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Going off a post on the WLNE 1993 theme...

 

I'm prolly way off, but Doppler Studios Atlanta (also producers of the WSB 1991 theme) come to mind, especially with the second YouTube clip. And behind the anchor portion of the second clip, I'm reminded of the WJLA 1992 Open, which I previously wondered if Doppler Studios had anything to do with. Also, wonder if Rhode Island based Star Trak Music (startrakstudios.com who composed their 1995 theme may have composed any earlier themes? According to their website, they've been around over 30 years, so either of these guesses may be a slim possibility! Checked through ASCAP and BMI and with BMI, StarTrak Music composer John Rametta only had one listing for WLNE, but he also listed a ton of individual package cuts separately as BMI composition entries, so there is really no way to know for sure if there wasn't other things made. Lots of rabbit holes here to jump in and out of.

 

Maybe some others will chime in with some more guesses that get us in the right direction or with some confirmation somewhere over these two packs.

 

Maybe Doppler could also be responsible for the KWTV 1993 theme? *shrug*

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Straight out of left field, but WTVH 1988 is...Non-Stop!?!?!?!? (Syracuse Herald-American, June 26, 1988)

 

In a suite in a posh Los Angeles hotel in mid-June, Lou Dennig was cutting a deal on the theme music that had been haunting and eluding Graham Robertson.

 

Three thousand miles away, in the James Street newsroom of WTVH-TV (Channel 5), Robertson, the station's news director, took the word from program director Dennig that the deal had gone through in stride. But with a shadow of a smile.

 

Both men knew the sound they were after. Its jazzy beat drifted off a compact disc by the group Slim and the BBs at a dinner only weeks before in the home of Cathy Creany, Channel 5's general manager. That sound met the tune Robertson couldn't get out of his head -- and clicked.

 

ALL IT NEEDED was a composer -- found by Dennig in the form of Non-Stop Productions, the Salt Lake City, Utah, firm which composed original music on-the-spot for ABC's coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics. And maybe, just maybe that music could be ready in time for the launching of Channel 5's hour-long early evening newscast, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday. New music -- mood music -- for a new newscast.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=8e2ysL77FiE;t=166

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=29OlXchoU9Y;t=1634

 

———

 

The KCRA 1991 10pm theme is custom and local. Turns out they wanted something different, actually...a theme from a Miami station. (September 16, 1991)

 

Musically, the 10 p.m. news theme will be a departure from what will be heard during the station's other newscasts. A hot, pulsating theme the station liked a lot turned out to be the property of a Miami station, so Channel 3 had a local composer whip up a similar theme.

 

I wonder what is being described. Either WSVN's Real News (which had already hit Sacto airwaves by this point on KRBK) or WTVJ's Watch Our Team Work. Someone whip up a resync!

 

———

 

Please notify me when we get 1995-era KPLR. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 24, 1995)

 

KPLR-TV Channel 11 will debut its new graphics package today on its 9 p.m. newscast. Color Associates Creative Imaging Group was commissioned to design and digitally produce animation and graphics compatible with the St. Louis 11 News format.

 

Also debuting will be a new music package for the entire news program, thanks to award-winning composer Scott Alspach and Turn It Up Productions Inc. This is the second phase in an on-going design project created by Color Associates for KPLR-TV. Phase one included the airing of daily episodes and generic graphics since last October.

 

For searchers: Alspach goes by the name Scott Spock.

 

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WHYY's Delaware newscast in 1982 had a theme composed by Ken Rosenberg. (Philadelphia Inquirer, December 22, 1982)

 

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WLTV 1985 debuted in 1983. No mention of the composer, but the music is custom. Potential lead: "The new set, "pulse" concept and station identification were created by Media Vision of Miami at a cost of $80,000."

 

———

 

WTVQ began using Hello News in 1986.

 

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Was Gari ever based in Boston? Or is this something else? The station in question is KWCH, in 1989: (Wichita Eagle October 21, 1989)

 

There are also new graphics and theme music to introduce Eyewitness News at noon, 5, 6 and 10 p.m. DiPasquale said they were custom designed and composed by a Boston firm for exclusive Wichita use rather than purchased as a package for regional use. Local viewers won't run into those intros in any other market during their travels, he said.

 

———

 

Who in Atlanta might have been responsible for WPCQ 1988? (Charlotte Observer, April 2, 1988)

 

Animated logos costing $30,000 will open and close the revamped broadcast. New theme music recorded in Atlanta has also been purchased. Asked how much the musical theme cost, [VP/GM Jeff] Davidson replied, "Too much."

 

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WWBT was using The Mission in 1990, but it looks like they also had something else going on... (Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 16, 1990)

 

Channel 12 has just added new theme music to its newscasts as well -- which may be coincidence, or it may be that competitive spirit again. Written by Robbin Thompson, who also performs along with Steve Bassett, the new jingles proclaim "BT-12 Is on Your Side" in a variety of tempos.

 

———

 

Date: September 7, 1993. Can you guess the station?

 

The theme music - variations of which debut today on Channel 9's other newscasts - was first developed for use this year at KPNX-TV, an NBC affiliate in Phoenix, Ariz.

 

(Note the "this year" line. News Station indeed debuted in 1993!)

 

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Boston Herald, October 18, 1993:

 

WLVI: Channel 56 is a last-minute entrant in the fall set-remodeling contest. Its "10 O'Clock News" gets a makeover Oct. 25 - which, not-so-coincidentally, is the same day WSBK-TV (Ch. 38) begins broadcasting a WBZ-produced 10 p.m. newscast.

 

Look for a new anchor desk, an expanded background with brighter colors and new computer-controlled lighting. The station will also modify its graphics design to match the set changes.

 

WBZ: Channel 4, which rolled out its fresh look last spring, is planning a new opening to its newscasts, as well as new theme music. While Oct. 25's debut of "News 4 at 10" would seem a natural date to introduce these changes, news director Jeff Bartlett says it probably won't happen by then. And, even though the music adjustments have been in the works for months now, he still can't pin down an exact premiere date.

 

———

 

The Enforcer package never was used in 1994. Robert Feder, Chicago Sun-Times December 29, 1994:

 

Three months after he started as news director, John Lansing is ready to put his own mark on WBBM-Channel 2.

 

Starting Jan. 8, the CBS-owned station's newscasts will sport a new look, including new openings, new graphics and a new title: "Chicago's News."

 

Unlike the six news directors who preceded him in the last 10 years, Lansing has a plan to boost ratings that doesn't depend on faddish formats, technical gadgetry or the dubious advice of news consultants.

 

———

 

WKJG 1992/93 is local as well: (Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, August 20, 1993)

 

Producer/director Kurt Wallenstein and art director Melanie Bayles worked closely on the project, creating the graphics in house and contracting with a Fort Wayne recording studio, Sweetwater Sound, to make the musical changes.

 

Meyer said Sweetwater staffers wrote four different musical openings for the various newscasts, each digitally recorded for crisp, clean sound and all incorporating the NBC chimes. The music written for Channel 33 may be marketed by Sweetwater to other NBC affiliates.

 

(This cannot be WKJG 1995 which I once heard as a production track on a promo that aired on KMGH in 1993)

 

———

 

Not an ID, but this quip about KUSI from 1992 might still apply to KUSI in 2017:

 

One more thing, Channel 51: Change that theme music for your news. It's dull, lifeless, uninspired . . . just like too much of your newscast.

 

-John Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune

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WWBT was using The Mission in 1990, but it looks like they also had something else going on... (Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 16, 1990)

 

The article might be referring to this promo campaign...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI6QeNeP9uc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc9WX9avwDI

 

However, I had no idea it was by Robbin Thompson & Steve Bassett! ("Sweet Virginia Breeze")

 

The Mission was definitely used as early as 1986 and as late as 1993, probably up until the logo change in 1994 which is likely when Signature was picked up. WWBT did use a couple of other themes here and there during the time, such as the mysterious 1989 theme and the NBC Affiliate Package, but they were all used alongside The Mission.

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I think the one for Sept. 7th, 1993 may have been for WIXT 9 (now WSYR) in Syracuse.

 

Yes it is. A good amount of the article went to describing the new "9 News Now" 5pm newscast (NMSA sample 1) which was geared to women and aired after Oprah. However, the "this year" mentions for KPNX are another nail in the idea of News Station in 1992. So too is the newspaper mention I found that said KPNX changed slogans sometime in April.

 

This is what they were using in 1992 at KPNX (there's also the open in the NMSA, which is my white whale and I've wanted to see it for years):

 

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Yes it is. A good amount of the article went to describing the new "9 News Now" 5pm newscast (NMSA sample 1) which was geared to women and aired after Oprah. However, the "this year" mentions for KPNX are another nail in the idea of News Station in 1992. So too is the newspaper mention I found that said KPNX changed slogans sometime in April.

 

This is what they were using in 1992 at KPNX (there's also the open in the NMSA, which is my white whale and I've wanted to see it for years):

 

I read that KPNX debuted "News Station" on April 30.

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This one's a long shot... but who did this NBC credits music bed used around 1995? I guess this would have been before they used the Tonight Show theme which was used up until 2005 or so.

 

 

I know there are better examples out there on YT; they're just hidden within 10/11pm newscasts...

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[quote name='ChesapeakeTV']I can't give you any specifics, unfortunately, but I can definitely tell you it was [I]not[/I] a custom NBC piece...[/QUOTE] I worked at an NBC affiliate back during this period and never heard that much of the theme in the clear. @Ntropolis in your first clip, I hear a custom NBC logo built into the end under the anchor. Perhaps the composer added that for NBC to use it. I have a guess over the composer/company and two reasons why I believe it. I bet it's a Craig Palmer (Tuesday Prod/Network Music) theme. Why? (1) The station used two packages from Tuesday during the mid 80's through the mid 90's. The open and close to the newscast @ChesapeakeTV linked to uses News 88... (2) the two bumpers don't appear to be from News 88, but are similar in that they use a triangle instrument loop in the background. That sound is featured in a lot of Tuesday's work. Anyhoooo, I think it was a great pensive, haunting, dramatic cut that prepared the viewer for a rough and tumble, crime-filled newscast to follow and not so pleasant dreams! :D
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It appears that Michael Randall composed the unknown theme used by WRC in the mid-80s, at least according to the guy who posted a clean copy of that open (and was obviously involved in WRC promotions during the period).

 

See the comments on

 

 

It kinda makes sense. I get a real WNEV vibe out of the end even though that theme was not introduced until 1989. The WJW theme that was rolled out in 1985 is also a useful comparison.

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If KTUU 1990 was used in October 1989, it was a local composition. Anchorage Daily News, October 10, 1989:

 

Chris and Beth Kay's music is well known to almost everyone in Anchorage, but they aren't.

 

They wrote and produced many of the catchiest advertising jingles on local television and radio. They are responsible for such classics as, "No Frills, Lake Otis and Tudor," and "The power of Stolts," and "Experience it, Dimond Center," and the theme of the Channel 2 News.

 

They did so many commercials in Anchorage that they had to start using other vocalists because, well, let Chris Kay explain:

 

"I used to use Beth as the vocalist almost exclusively, until it got kind of ridiculous. You'd turn on the TV, and hear her singing five commercials in a row."

 

WCAU 1972? This ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1985. Whatever it is, we don't have it:

 

When he first entered the job market, [Louis] De Lise found work composing and arranging music for large music recording companies that included Casablanca, Mercury and CBS and Warner Brothers. But he "wasn't really happy at it."

 

"I arranged and co-wrote the News Ten theme for Channel 10 television in 1972, when Jack Jones and Mike Tuck were anchors. That was my first shot," he recalled proudly. "I also wrote the Prime Time theme for Channel 6 in 1978, when the late Jim O'Brien was the show's host."

 

Could additional early-mid 80s WTVR themes be lurking? This from the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1986 (and yes, this is JDK Music described):

 

The orchestra fared better in the premiere of the seven-minute "Tripos" by John Keltonic, a Richmond-based composer best known for his commercials and theme music for Channel 6's newscasts. This piece was predictably easy listening and was smoothly done by Bay and the symphony.

 

The date on this piece is December 2, 1993. Keep that in mind when you're looking at the NMSA and at this paragraph from the Boston Herald. Looks like the NMSA has a mistake!

 

Boston stations continue to tweak the look of their newscasts. The latest change comes from WBZ-TV (Ch. 4), which unveils new theme music and opening video for its news shows starting tonight at 5:30. Created by noted area composer Mason Daring, the new music has been in the works for nearly six months.

 

And what the heck is this from Philadelphia, July 11, 1979? Did this guy get involved with 10 Is (Klein &)?

 

Dexter Wansell, the talented local composer and musician who wrote the new Channel 10 theme music, took his group to the Atlantic City jazz festival on Sunday but it was Ray Charles who got the headlines.

 

Is Jim Ball the same thing as Metro Music? Baltimore Sun, November 21, 1993:

 

Jim Ball scores one for the movies

 

You may not know his name, but you probably know his music.

 

The bluesy promo for the Orioles on Channel 2. The orchestral rhythms of a local Nissan ad. The frenetic theme song for Channel 45's news show.

 

The man behind all these melodies is Jim Ball, a mild-mannered 38-year-old former busboy/dishwasher/salesman who owns a sound studio in Hampden.

 

...OK, I want to hear this. (Dallas Morning News May 29, 1989)

 

Look for the vision, the vision of today.'

 

The KTSP-TV theme song, played to placate callers on hold, serves as an unintended tease for Shelly Jamison's full frontal assault on the Phoenix station in July's Playboy, due on newsstands this week.

 

So is this why Symphony is, well, Symphony? (Syracuse Herald-Leader November 16, 1990)

 

Just in time for the holidays, Channel 5 will be getting some embellishments to its news set, and a new opening theme song for its newscasts, courtesy of the London Symphony Orchestra. ...

 

It will appear Monday, along with the new tunes, replacing the specially designed light-jazz news theme and "station image'' jingle that has been a part of Channel 5 since July 1988, when the hour-long early-evening newscast appeared.

 

"It's not because we didn't like it, we actually loved it, but we thought it was time for a change. It was getting old,'' said station manager Creany. "We ended up looking for something a little more traditional.''

 

The new music can also be heard on a handful of other stations around the country, said Creany, unlike the soon-to-be-deceased music written for Channel 5 by Non-Stop Productions of Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

Jacobs & Gerber was apparently tied into the KYW 1983 relaunch: (Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 1983)

 

The station is being very tight-lipped about its coming promotional campaign, but it has been learned that Jacobs & Gerber Production Co. of Los Angeles is handling the production. Also, a theme song along the lines of "If you believe in it with all your might, it shows in everything you do" is in the works.

 

No composer IDs, but want to hear what this newspaper columnist thought of

?

 

WFTV's new graphics look, even softer and more dreamily pastel than the old one, is gorgeous, and in sync with Central Florida's natural colors. It would look too tutti-frutti anywhere north of here.

 

We could do without the glossy photos of the anchor people and the cloying ''People You Can Count On'' theme song, which has all the sincerity of a McDonald's commercial.

 

Did you know the KATC Michael Doucet theme has an orchestrated version that was put on an album??? (Birmingham News, 1997)

 

A couple of years ago, a Lafayette, La., television station was looking for a new theme song to introduce its nightly newscasts.

 

''We were looking for . . . something that would set us apart and maybe take in the culture of the area, which is the Cajun, zydeco and creole music of this area,'' said KATC news co-anchor Agnes DeRouen.

 

It didn't take her long to think of someone who might do that ''set-us-apart'' something - old friend Michael Doucet, the lead singer, songwriter and sometimes frenzied fiddler of BeauSoleil, perhaps the nation's best-known Cajun-style band.

 

''I got him to come over, he heard what we wanted and he went home and came up with this theme,'' Ms. DeRouen said. ''. . . It's sort of like the signature music of the station.''

 

''That fact that it is aired every day is a trip,'' said Doucet in a recent interview from his Lafayette home. ''. . . It was just a riff that I played.'' BeauSoleil, Page 3G Posing in a Louisiana swamp are the members of BeauSoleil: From left, Al Tharp, David Doucet, Tommy Alessi, Jimmy Breaux, Billy Ware and Michael Doucet. Page 1G

 

And while that riff, largely in fiddle form, now leads off KATC's nightly news, a fully orchestrated version, entitled "Newz Reel," also leads off BeauSoleil's most recent album, L'Amour ou La Folie (Love or Folly).

 

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Could additional early-mid 80s WTVR themes be lurking? This from the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1986 (and yes, this is JDK Music described):

 

WTVR was using the "WSLS 1988 News Theme" in '86... I'm thinking it was made for them since they were the Roy H. Park flagship station and John Keltonic is out of Richmond. Several years back, WTVR did a Charles Fishburne retrospective and they played a bit of the news open at the time, and it was the same theme used in the WBMG opens.

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Since we just saw a rare WAGA open, I wonder who composed the Theme Music. Could it be locally-produced or a Network Music track, cause I know then-owner Storer used lots of Network Music tracks for their stations.

 

The sound doesn't match with Network's typical instrumentation...I know I've heard the theme somewhere else before, but I can't remember for the life of me just where. It was relatively contemporary with WAGA's usage of it though.

 

I wonder if it was their actual theme at the time, or a one-off for the eclipse. If it was their actual theme, it might explain the odd dates given on this video...

 

 

EDIT: It wasn't just a one-off...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=2g1u2g8XAvE;m=4;s=30

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Sometimes you strike gold. That's an article from 1996 on David Miller (aka David Miller Music), a KTVK employee who apparently wrote the themes the station debuted in 1995:

 

"Miller's Channel 3 playlist includes theme songs for Good Morning Arizona (sung by local country entertainer Ray Herndon), Good Evening Arizona (sung by Molly Molten, a former Channel 3 correspondent) and the new Tonight Arizona (sung by Los Angeles-based studio pro Mark Campbell). Yet the composer calls Channel 3's longtime promotional theme, Arizona's Family, "by far the most important I've ever written. That song is about everybody I work with, and it really means something to me," said Miller, whose father, Bill, is Channel 3's general manager."

 

He also did graphic design work for the stations. Apparently the KTVK circle 3 was known around the station as the "meatball".

 

KASW is explicitly mentioned and I'm led to think the NewsNight theme (1995-97) is from him too. He's now a partner in MagicDust Television, the producer of RightThisMinute and worthy of the title "spiritual successor to KTVK's glory days".

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This isn't quite the same thing, but...

 

I've been trying to find proof that KOLD used the TM Spirit campaign in the mid-late 80s. Tracy Carman's jingle reference list has them using it, but I wanted something more.

 

I think I've got it. They didn't use this slogan long, it seems.

 

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/164320589/

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Might be time for an NMSA date tweak. This ran in the Tennessean on December 9, 1973:

 

After three months of advance billing, WSM-TV unveiled its hour-long "Scene at Six" with a new theme, full of brass and drums, and a promise from News Director Dave Daughtry of "the ultimate in news reporting." Channel Four's promotional campaign prior to the Sept. 10 debut held out the same promise. No longer would TV news be just a "headline service," viewers were told. Instead, you would "move closer to your world" presumably by watching a newscast which was better, not just longer.
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Might be time for an NMSA date tweak. This ran in the Tennessean on December 9, 1973:

 

WSM-TV (and their owner National Life & Accident) used three of Mayoham's packages, MCTYW, A Part Of Your Life, and Home Country before acquiring Klein&'s We're 4 package.

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Something I've been meaning to share, which may be a find, but for now TOTAL speculation! I'm thinking the late and great Eddie Horst may be the composer behind the WBTW 1991 theme used during "The Best of Two Worlds" era. He has a BMI listing for that station and the open on the NMSA sounds like his style of work. His theme for "Crisis in the Gulf" and some of his WAGA work also reminds me of the WBTW 1991 open. Wonder if WBTW was a part of a Peters Production and Peters contracted out the production to Horst? A side thought: considering WBTW and WMBB were once owned by Spartan Communications, I additionally ponder if all of this early 90's stuff may be some type of Peters/Horst collaboration? Just some thoughts.... carry on! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hfltsap4vhy45zy/AACcl9gmzNp79laZFabH_4Xca?dl=0

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Something I've been meaning to share, which may be a find, but for now TOTAL speculation! I'm thinking the late and great Eddie Horst may be the composer behind the WBTW 1991 theme used during "The Best of Two Worlds" era. He has a BMI listing for that station and the open on the NMSA sounds like his style of work. His theme for "Crisis in the Gulf" and some of his WAGA work also reminds me of the WBTW 1991 open. Wonder if WBTW was a part of a Peters Production and Peters contracted out the production to Horst? A side thought: considering WBTW and WMBB were once owned by Spartan Communications, I additionally ponder if all of this early 90's stuff may be some type of Peters/Horst collaboration? Just some thoughts.... carry on! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hfltsap4vhy45zy/AACcl9gmzNp79laZFabH_4Xca?dl=0

 

It's for BG cues, so I doubt it's a full news theme... :/

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