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Counterpoint on the radio?


newsguy22

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This is something that's been bugging me for years -- because I just don't know the answer. Maybe someone here will?

 

Did Stephen Arnold ever do any news music/imaging work for radio stations? There is a news music/imaging package that some news/talk radio stations used in the early to mid 1990s that sounds A LOT like the Counterpoint TV news music package. There were various news opens, weather and traffic jingles, etc.

 

KMBZ (AM) in Kansas City and WWL (AM) in New Orleans both used this mysterious music. What I can't figure out is: Did SA adapt some Counterpoint themes for use on radio? Was this part of a different music package SA did for radio that borrowed elements of Counterpoint or the Counterpoint musical logo? Am I just insane? (It's certainly possible.)

 

Here's a link to the themes to compare. First is the Counterpoint :30 topical theme, which sounds the most like this radio package. Then, a news intro from KMBZ and WWL. The opens are different versions from the "package". WWL used the KMBZ version at :30 past the hour. Please take a listen and tell me what you think -- or share any insight. I'd certainly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

https://soundcloud.com/user-410701405/counterpoint-on-the-radio

 

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That's definitely a Counterpoint signature on KMBZ - but the interesting thing about that it's the theme with the secondary ABC News hook - and KMBZ was (still is?) an ABC News Radio affiliate.

 

I'm not sure WWL ever was, but if they were, I wonder if ABC themselves helped to commission that particular update and distributed to their affiliates.

 

That aside, I don't think it was or is that unusual for the news music companies to license out to radio stations. WDEL still uses NSM's Millennium News. I remember hearing Gari's The One and Only on KNRC in Denver in 2002!

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Non-Stop Music I think had a pretty solid radio business – they created Premier News for KGO-AM (side note: I miss that old KGO all the time), and First News has been used on a ton of news radio stations, most notably being WCBS-AM in New York. 

 

But yeah, that's definitely Counterpoint on KMBZ. While I never can remember where I leave my sunglasses, I definitely distinctly remember seeing a clip of WPTV using that cut of Counterpoint as a bump-in in like 2000/2001. 

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3 hours ago, TSSZNews said:

That's definitely a Counterpoint signature on KMBZ - but the interesting thing about that it's the theme with the secondary ABC News hook - and KMBZ was (still is?) an ABC News Radio affiliate.

 

I'm not sure WWL ever was, but if they were, I wonder if ABC themselves helped to commission that particular update and distributed to their affiliates.

 

You know, I never realized until right this moment that it was an ABC news signature on that. WWL was a secondary ABC radio affiliate off and on through the 90s, so that’s quite possible! 

1 hour ago, caliwxdude said:

 

But yeah, that's definitely Counterpoint on KMBZ. While I never can remember where I leave my sunglasses, I definitely distinctly remember seeing a clip of WPTV using that cut of Counterpoint as a bump-in in like 2000/2001. 

 

Isn’t that funny the things we remember? 

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8 hours ago, newsguy22 said:

 

 

Here's a link to the themes to compare. First is the Counterpoint :30 topical theme, which sounds the most like this radio package. Then, a news intro from KMBZ and WWL. The opens are different versions from the "package". WWL used the KMBZ version at :30 past the hour. Please take a listen and tell me what you think -- or share any insight. I'd certainly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

https://soundcloud.com/user-410701405/counterpoint-on-the-radio

 

Interesting you bring this up. I remember toward the front end of my time in Buffalo (late '90s/early 2000s) that WBEN used this before switching to the WMAL imaging package not long after they were sold to Entercom.

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58 minutes ago, swillh2k2 said:

Interesting you bring this up. I remember toward the front end of my time in Buffalo (late '90s/early 2000s) that WBEN used this before switching to the WMAL imaging package not long after they were sold to Entercom.

I’m just glad I’m not crazy and that other people remember this package. 

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I wish they did that here in the SusquValley. WHP 580, the conservative talk station uses an odd package for news which sounds like a reject Coldplay song. There was a short time years ago they used Third Coast for news when they had a tighter News relationship with WHP-TV.  

 

— Matt 

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