Here is a collection of vintage show intros, promotions, and PSAs.
THE Station ID! (0:20) The late Bob-a-Loo
(Robert Lewis Schwartzman, who died in 1987) supplied the professional
voice.
The musical bed for the station ID (0:21) Instead of Bob-a-Loo, YOU got to try your hand at saying "WBRU
in Providence" in the gap. Go ahead, try it! The music is from the
end of the song "The Big Blowout" from Henry Mancini's album, "Breakfast at
Tiffany's." I'm not sure who to credit for this innovative ID.
Music '67 Station IDs (0:34)
Station ID (0:22) from 1969, Paul Payton
Station IDs and News Intros (1:07);
Bob-a-Loo again on the first one, then Fred Brack
Headline News Intro (0:11)
The musical bed (extended) for the News Intro (0:15).
The song is "NOLA," from the album, "The Big Band Sound of Sid Ramin."
Bulletin Intro (0:16).
I can remember dragging the needle on the record with high reverb set on the
recorder, duplicating the track, and splicing them together! Then we
added a recording of our teletype in the newsroom.
Insight Special Report Intro by Don Berns (0:23)
Promos
The Morning Show (0:31),
voiced by Mark Jordan and Andy Fisher
Women's World/News (0:36),
9-noon show, voiced by Andy Fisher
Jo's World (1:29),
weeknights at 9:30 in 1969; voiced by Jo and Dave Corry
[See Note 1 below]
Destination Jazz Promos (1:06)
10 to 1 nightly
Destination Jazz Promo (0:33)
more upbeat
First Anniversary Promo (0:48)
for February 21st, 1967.
Show Intros
Music 67 Day Intros (2:40).
These brief intros started with upbeat music and ended with silence. The
idea was to use them right out of a newscast, for example, to lead into the
first song of the hour. I used to cringe when a DJ insisted upon
speaking between the intro and the song!
Music 67 Night Intros (2:19).
Yawn. These sleepy intros served the same purpose as the day intros, but
for downbeat nighttime tunes...
Destination Jazz (0:51).
From the end of "Sister Sadie," by Horace Silver from the 1959 album, "Blowin'
the Blues Away."
Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
Public Service Announcements (1:59).
Four PSAs for the Peace Corp, Freedom From Hunger Campaign, and the College Fund.
While unrelated to WBRU, if you want to hear a montage of radio jingles
from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, visit the
PAMS Productions website.
Miscellaneous
Station Signoff (2:19).
"Image,
Part 1," by Hank Levine and his Orchestra. This was also used as theme
music on Paul Payton's Sunday "Spotlight" show.
[See Note 2 below]
(With the exceptions noted, most of these were voiced by Fred Brack.
If you can find other clips in your archives, send me some recordings! Several of the clips
on this page were contributed by Mark Jordan.)
Note 1: Mark Jordan
writes that "Jo's World" was "a show that some woman from town named Jo used to
do, that mixed poetry, early new age music and who knows what together and was
sponsored by a club downtown, Senator Kearney’s (paid some bills, I guess).
She had to have someone with license engineer for her." Then Larry Maier
filled in the rest: "It was I ... I remember listening to the first show
and thinking that the choice of music was terrible. Since the show was
sponsored (see we were paid) I though I would volunteer to engineer the show so
that I could at least try to slip some good music in. After that, I
engineered every Jo's World. I have to say in all honesty that there were
some stunningly good moments, and some moments that I wished I could be anywhere
else. Jo often took us to Senator Kearney's for free drinks. I was
accused of accepting more than drinks, but can honestly say that those rumors
were probably more wishful thinking." Sam Merrell writes that "Jo was
a 20-something divorcé living on the east side with her two daughters, trying
like all the rest of us to figure it out, to make sense of the 60's and early
70's. Her last name (married) was Oster -- her last name (maiden) was Ginsberg.
(Or maybe Ginzburg.) Never a Brown student that I know of..." Paul Payton's
recollections of Jo and the quality of the show were, ah, less generous, and
don't need to be quoted! When Joe Patrick was hired as sales manager, he
"agreed with pretty much everyone else at the station that the show was
incongruous with the rest of the format ... [and the] show ended shortly
thereafter." (07/05)
Note 2: Paul writes:
"The signoff song is called 'Image, Part 1,' by Hank Levine & His Orchestra on
ABC-Paramount. It was my 'talk-over' music on my old Sunday night 'Spotlight'
show on AM; I think I also used it on FM, till I realized that having talk-over
music meant I tended to talk too much!
I've since found out more about this piece - it is called 'Image' because it
is the image jingle theme of the former KFWB in Los Angeles (you can sing the
call letters to the main hook). Apparently, they had a variety of musical
settings for the hook, and the flip side of the 45 (which I still have) is a
rock setting with a twist beat and a growling sax. By the way, the record is
still used as the theme song once a week by a DJ on freeform WFMU in the NYC
metro." (12/04)
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