February 24, 2008

Curious George: Radio Jingle Chord Yo musical monkeys: what's that chord so typical of radio bumpers (link goes to American Top 40 audio)? Think of singing a radio call sign and it's that chord: "Double-you - Kay - Are - Peeeeeee . . in Cincinnati" kinda thing. What chord is that?

Is it a sixth? Augmented ninth? An inverted-seventh-double-flatted-mocha-soy-macchiato?

posted by petebest 16 years ago
  • Sounds like a major ninth maybe with the sixth thrown in for schmaltz. I could be (very) wrong.
  • agreed, sommat like that. Haven't got my keyboard or guit set up now so can't check for sure.
  • The final chord in that example is a triad with added ninth (I think; it's so fucking compressed that it's hard to tell). I usually associate the triad with an added sixth with radio jingles, though. Lemme see if I can upload the jingle I did for Radio Free #mofirc a while back.
  • #mofirc jingle [.aif file because I was too lazy to convert it into an .mp3, 2.6 MB]
  • You, sir, are awesome. And the jingle segued straight into "Devil With the Blue Suede Shoes" by Chuck E. Weiss in my iTunes playlist, which of course enhanced the awesome.
  • Bone, I think the final chord in your jingle thing (for which I am forever grateful, BTW) is a major sixth (the highest note is the sixth).
  • Also, WFMU posted this somewhat scary meta-jingle to promote a company that specializes in radio IDs. Get your chords from there, I guess. :)
  • (Context for the MP3 I just posted.)
  • The best radio jingles ever made were by Kenny Everett, in the UK. He did them himself, usually multi tracking his own voice, in his home studio.
  • That gives a nice feel for what he did, but his best ones were from the 70s-80s. Some of them included sound fx from BBC radiophonic workshop (famous for Dr Who). He also did skits or short episodic shows in which he played all the characters, did all the sound fx & music.
  • Sorry, missed this thread first time around. The chords I hear most frequently are the major 6/9 chord. I also hear the major ninth (with maj 7th) a lot. In earlier years you would hear more non-functional dominant chords such as the dominant 13th and the dominant 7 #9 structure. Some may remember the famous LLLLLLLLectric Shave! chord from the 60's which was a dominant 7#9#5 but those type of chords are a little passe these days. Still, I'm amazed at the continued use of the major 6/9 chord which dates back (in popular music usage) to early Ellington.