Yesterday's radio commercials and related jingles are disposable flotsam and jetsam. Often rescued from the dumpster and tape eraser, here's where they live to celebrate another day, and give us a peek into the pop culture of the past. All material has been sourced from tapes or vinyl discs (records) used on the air at radio stations or dubs of said tapes, transferred for pristine quality when possible.
We have more off the rack generic commericals they used to tie into a local sponsor, often as a start off to get your attention, and this stuff, likely from the late 1950s or early 1960s will do that. You could air this today to get someone's attention (with probably a bit of WTF moments by a listener) for nostalgia purposes I suppose. The great thing about virtually anything connected to advertising is that it's dated for the times, and is often why it's so great. Advertising defined the era it was in and this doesn't disappoint.
This disc has the same thing on both sides, so no sense is putting up 2 pics of the label. This company also did radio station jingles of the same era and a wide range of other services for radio stations. check out this link in a 1963 Billboard magazine HERE
Moving into the 1970s we bring you another reel of Beer spots from 40 years ago....likely they were on the air around this time in the year of 1976. Not sure who "Morrison" is, though I think it's safe to say it's not Van Morrison. If you know, post below. always fun to know more details regarding the stuff I post.
After being sick last month around good friday, I decided to take the month off for a jetsam post. Yeah, lazy me.
We're back with jingles reflecting a invention of the mid 20th century....the TV dinner. Swanson was the first to have success, when sitting down in front of the TV to eat was the 1950s equilvalent of people and staring at their smartphones today (and people act like staring at screens is new!!! geesh). It was a time to give mom a break for cooking (Mcdonalds was just starting to have success around that time so fast food as we know it today was hardly known) and the family bonding in front of the TV while they watch their favorite shows. Some more details on the wiki page HERE
Banquet has been a Swanson competitor for almost as long as Swanson has turned out TV dinners, well according to their details on their own WEBSITE Banquet though started out with meat pies and that is reflected on the spots on this disc (see the labels for details!). One can argue which tastes better, Banquet or Swanson, but i've had both, so I'll leave the preferences for another day and let you enjoy these banquet radio spots from I believe 1960 to get you in the mood to head to the microwave and throw in your own TV dinner as you are too lazy to cook yourself something. Even after 60+ years, they are still cheaper then going out even for fast food. Enjoy..the spots and your TV dinner :)
Happy Feb 29th! I was watching "The Goldbergs" on TV the other night and the story told how Murray's furniture store wasn't doing great, and resisted selling those new futon's (the series is set in the 1980s!) while he was pushing the waterbeds. The show goes on eventually having him sleeping in his own store and having him not sleeping well in the waterbeds, but slept like a baby on the futon. This makes me wonder, did he need one of these off the rack jingles we are featuring on the jetsam this month? You know that might have helped clean out the waterbeds so he can move on to the futons. Funny how the show did say what happened to that waterbed, but hell, can you even get them today? They certainly see to be a relic of the 70s and 80s.
Here we go with another off the rack LP, this time from tanner's TTS series. I'm guessing 70s, but it could be 80s, not really sure, but I hope you like them. I have more and will consider posting them in the future, but right now, I think we'll mix up the postings from a variety of material I have. Posted per side, the contents are to the left here
Finally, we're getting closed to vacations and a busy time for rental car companies, so time to dig out the jingle package for Budget car Sales. This is where they sell off their rentals cars after the typical renter has run the cars though god knows what and you decide you need a nice clean used car to roll down the highway of your life. Hey, who am I to say otherwise? Well, I can't think of any other reason to post this one, so enjoy!
We focus on Radio Commerical Jingles and those "off the rack" jingles I've come across over the years working in radio production at radio stations. I was always sucker for "full sings" of jingles and packages when I worked in the industry, I'd make copies for me, and i'd take home the LP's of various off the rack stuff, or know someone getting ready to toss it out. I actually trained a creative director (those who write the copy for the commericals) to let me go through the tapes he was about to toss to see if I wanted anything. That certainly came in handy.
I've also helped out a few people come across this page over the years in getting dubs of the exhibits, as what I had was better then what they had. It's great that the jetsam has done this. I won't lie, it takes some time to record edit, clean up (in some cases) and post to this board. I wonder sometimes if it's worth it. I recently received some download links from a visitor of the jetsam which made me think it just might be, so I think it was time to get back to the jetsam. Let's get back on track for 2016.
One word about requests. I do get them now and then. Sadly, I usually can't help them. The reality is that most of the time, the request is such an odd niche impossible to find request, it's likely I will NOT have it, despite the fact that
we have some rather niche rare and odd stuff here. I focus on material found in Canada in my radio station days. That off US spot from a certain state that aired in the month of april 1991 will not be found here. Sure, you can ask, I encourage it, but I'll tell you right now, don't hold hope I can actually help you. It's likely that I cannot, as anything I have usually gets posted here.
And now.....on with this month's exhibits.
From 40 years ago (I just kick myself I didn't save more of these!!) the Masterplan series from TM was a "off the rack" package that seemed to be able to be customized for the client. There are examples for both these jingles and all the workparts and donuts to customize them to your liking. There dated as hell, and yet, not dated at the same time, that is, if you don't take them seriously. Some fun stuff. The department store jingle gave me a few WTF moments...uh....women say that today? Perhaps. My wife doesn't though.
I've tried to make a scan of the contents of Side 1 and 2, hopefully you can read it reasonably well. I've broke it down to Side 1 and 2 as I usually do
Finally, a really DUMB campaign......literally....
Mark's Work Warehouse, a canadian clothing store chain mainly leaning towards work wear turned out this package in August 0f 1991. I don't think i've heard any other jingle using the word "dumb" so creatively. It's clever, catchy and hey, you get a "dumb donut" to play with. Just be careful what you do with it. REALLY!
Enjoy!
From 1991, Mark's Work Warehouse "Dumb Dumb"
Produced by Ogilvy and Mather West, Calgary
see tape box scan for tape contents list.
With the series finale of Mad Men recently (I've never seen a single episode!) and how it ended with one of the most iconic ad campaigns of the last 50 years, I thought i'd tie in the jetsam with a nice little record I picked up many years ago. This was no doubt issued during the campaign in 1971-72 era, but I don't have an exact date, in fact I don't even know why this was made to start with. Was it a giveaway? It could have been. A co worker suggested I should actually watch the series. I might give it a try, and I don't necessarily have to avoid spoilers, as all I know it ended with the Coke "I'd like to teach the world to sing" campaign. The rest, is a mystery to me.
This includes the original 60 second jingle, and 2 count em, 2 versions by canadian artists, The Laurie Bower Singers and Dr. Music. I doubt this was ever heard outside the country, and likely long forgotten. Not anymore, thanks to the jetsam
As promised, more of my MARS production library stuff......deal with old school news intros and beds that are related. All cleaned up of those clicks and pops....the weather stuff is delightfully dated. Enjoy!
Should I start how it seemed to be the winter from hell?
In my area in Atlantic Canada, it was easily the worst winter in a decade, back to back storms dumping feet filled piles on snow down on the roads. I got stuck multiple times in my own driveay, besides the fact of the 5 feet of snow I had to shovel more then once out of the end. You work all week and then have to shovel snow in the driveway, oh wait, even one day I couldn't get to work because the snow drift was too high for the car, I call in sick, and still spend 4 hours shovelling a way out of the driveway. That and being sick on and off because I never had time to really recover....made for a really exhausting last few months. Hope yours was much better.
I guess I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now, as I'm back posting on the jetsam.
One of the things we like to post here is stuff that's likely long forgotten. We can get the more famous TV spots and radio ads on you tube, and other places on line, but over here, if we find something like this, we love posting it because it's likely not been heard since originally aired.
Here's two that haven't been heard in a long time.
Two Carlsberg Light Beer jingles with a real jazz flavor to them. I guess they were trying to market to a more high brow discriminating clientele? makes me wonder.
From 1984, Carling O'Keefe Breweries Ltd. Carlsberg Light
Produced by Ogilvy and Mather (Canada) Ltd.
Duet and Cut Time -English
Each :30 sec full Sing
As a bit of a bonus, I found a reel doing some sorting around of a PSA that Johnny Cash did for the Seventh Day Adventists on quitting smoking. Apparently their program helped him and now it can help you. The date on this is probably 1970s, but I have nothing to go on. Lots of Johnny Cash fans out there still, so thought i'd put this up as a rare piece of audio.
Johnny Cash Seventh Day Adventists-Quit Smoking PSA's. 3x60
I'm had some inquiries about the MARS Production Library album I posted sometime ago, asking if there were anymore and/or if I had the whole set. The truth is yes and no. Yes I have more (and just actually found them looking for something else a couple weeks ago) and no, I don't have the whole set...maybe 8. It's likely I'll be posting one next month since it's been awhile, and hey, I found the ones I have....watch next month to find out for sure.
No,the jetsam isn't dead.....just hibernating for a bit, and with a bit of warm snap (well, around where I live) this winter, it's time to wake up and smell the cheese on this reel of tape.
Another reason is my beloved Studer Reel to Reel Machine was sick for a few weeks. After some time troubleshooting the problem, parts were ordered and a couple weeks of waiting, parts were installed and up and running again. Can't complain, the last time it broke down to this degree was 7 years previous, so while i'm fixing other gear in my vintage gear radio studio here in the basement of my humble house, I feel like a maytag repair for this beast. Willi Studer seems to have lives up to his reputation. And to think, this machine was tossed, and avoided the dumpster thanks to a friend of mind in the right place at the right time! Gotta love that.
And what's the first thing I dubbed on the machine after the fix? Why the reel posted here today:
I forget exactly where this came from, I think it might have come in as part of a music service at a station I worked for. It was never played until I transferred it for the jetsam and fortunately, in great shape because of it.
Now about the content. Over time, some things hold up better then others when we look back. This can be largely because of our biased memories of fondly remembering things with our happy filters. This stuff doesn't hold up well. I suppose that's what makes it interesting today.
In the era of "We Are The World" and "Hands Across America" just a few short years before, I can sort of see why an important message about AIDS would get the happy feel good spin in song. Today, looking back it's more of a WTF going through your head when you listen to this in all it's glory. When hormones rage, I doubt anyone would really care about anything written like this. REALLY!, yet here it is. If anything it's a good laugh at how a serious matter was dealt with in the 80s.
For the rest of the reel, It's a mix of campy PSA's and reflects the time. Of special note is Tom Bodett of Motel 6 ad fame doing a PSA for voting away from home, Voting for Black American's featuring one PSA voiced by Canadian actor Percy Rodriguez, who was all over TV and movies from the 1950s-80s including movie trailers (Wiki Info: HERE) just a great set of pipes, and even in 1988, some people didn't have a telephone in their home (in 2015, I'm guessing it's all cell phones now) can't you image that? Apparently so.
Enjoy!
I've spaced all the material off this 40 min reel in sections as per the original listing. Refer to the tape box pic for specifics.
Media General" Take the Time" Aids Project Song (FULL SONG ONLY!)
