The WABC/PAMS Story

The jingles most fans of Musicradio WABC will remember are those from 1962-1974. These are the PAMS jingles. Over these years, PAMS was commissioned by WABC to produce 60 jingles per year for $45,000 per year. WABC had a ninety day exclusive for most of this time which meant that no radio station other than WABC could use these jingles for the first 90 days after they were released. PAMS and WABC were so closely identified with each other over this period that radio programmers from other markets would monitor WABC for the latest jingle packages. It was a beneficial arrangement for both concerns. PAMS got more free advertising than it could ever hope for and WABC had exclusive jingle packages and melodies which other stations could not touch for at least the first three months!

Many of the WABC PAMS jingles are built around the musical theme from the song "I'll Take Manhattan" written by Rogers and Hart. According to PAMS founder Bill Meeks, royalties were paid to Rogers for the use of the melody. Hart, who had written the lyrics, was not included in this payment since the lyrics were not used.

Originally, PAMS writer Euel Box was responsible for the orchestral arrangements on the PAMS jingles. However, due to time constraints, Bill and other PAMS staffers including Bobby Farrar, Bob Piper, Jodie Lyons and Chris Kershaw all contributed to the arrangements for the orchestration on the jingles. The lyrics were created by Bill and other staff people. WABC Program Director Rick Sklar would also sometimes collaborate on the lyrics depending on the themes the station was using.

Bill Meeks would frequently fly to New York City from Dallas to meet with Rick Sklar (and occasionally some of the on air talent including Bruce Morrow and Dan Ingram) to suggest ideas he had for jingles. Bill tells the story of sitting in a side studio by himself at WABC after these meetings trying to come up with ways to integrate suggestions made into actual jingles.

During one of his New York visits, Bill was walking down Broadway with Rick Sklar. As they walked and brainstormed, they came up on an old building that was in the process of being demolished. At one point, there was an explosion. The two looked at each other and there was the idea for PAMS series 31; "Music Explosion".

When the individual series were completed, Rick would fly to Dallas for the final versions. In one such instance for Series 27, Rick collaborated with the PAMS writers on some lyric changes. He also listened to the jingles through a 2 inch radio speaker to simulate their sound on a transistor radio. This was very important at that time since so much of the WABC audience was listening to the station on those small radios!

There were 49 "series" produced by PAMS between 1951 and 1977. A complete listing of these can be found at the PAMS website. There were also many custom series recorded such as "The Philadelphia Story", "Tuned Young", "Energy One" and the various WLS packages. Not all packages were used by WABC. Those used by WABC are listed below. Please note that in some cases almost the entire package was used while in other cases only a couple of jingles ever actually aired.

All jingles are in standard .wav format

Series 14 "Dramatic Signatures"

From 1960, this series is regarded by most experts as the beginning of modern radio station jingles.

While not pertaining specifically to WABC, this series is notable because, according to PAMS founder Bill Meeks, it was the first really big PAMS series recorded. It was the first to have the variable logo which meant that you could give the call letters of different radio stations different melodies. This allowed stations in different cities to use the same jingle package even though the call letters were sung to different melodies. Series 14 was also the first series recorded in a big auditorium which made the orchestra sound so impressive (later series 15,17, and 18 were also recorded in this manner).

This series was long before WABC's contract with PAMS and only the "Get Up and Go Go Go" jingle from this series was used on WABC. But, it was the "genesis" of what was to come later.

Get Up and Go Go Go (123K)

Series 16 "Sound of the City"

Created in 1961 this series featured 4 voices (2 male and 2 female). A few of these jingles made it to WABC including the Action Central News jingle, and the "Yours Truly jingles". The Yours Truly jingles used an alternative melody line to "I'll Take Manhattan".

Action Central News Intro (59K)
Sports Shorts (58K)

Series 18 "Sonosational"

Created in 1961 and featuring 5 voices (3 male and 2 female), this series includes the famous top of the hour "77 WABC" jingle and the "You're Hearing Things" jingles. "Sonovox" was introduced in this series. As Bill Meeks described it, "this is where you take a human voice and make it sound like an instrument". This series was sold to over 400 radio stations! WABC bought only selected jingles from Series 18; not the whole package. This package was not created for WABC but instead was created for KFWB in Los Angeles.

Top of the Hour Jingle (better known as the "Contempo Sig" cut) (73K)
You're Hearing Things (105K)
77 WABC Sonovox (83K)
Weekend Weather Watch (62K)

Series 22 "Sono-Magic

From 1962, this series was an update of Series 18 and also featured the Sonovox effect. Again, this was before the WABC contract with PAMS so it was only marginally represented on the air on WABC.

WABC Shotgun (26K)

Series 26 "Let's Go America"

Created in 1963 and featuring 5 voices (3 male and 2 female), WABC now had a contract with PAMS. The creation of this package by PAMS was in conjunction with WABC's "All American" theme. Many jingles were created for WABC from this package. This series includes the "All American" jingles, "Your World Looks Great" jingle, "The Greatest Team in the World" jingle, "The Hip-tee-do Day" jingle, "It's Now Number One" jingle, and the "All American Pick Hit Ready to Rocket" jingle. While this was one of the more popular PAMS series to run in New York on WABC, its popularity in the rest of the country was not as great as some of the other PAMS series (such as series 18 and 31).

There are a couple of interesting notes about Series 26 as told by PAMS founder, Bill Meeks. WABC General Manager Wally Schwartz and Program Director Rick Sklar really liked PAMS Series 15 but they wanted a tie in with the "All American" theme. They approached Bill about creating such a package of jingles, but he wasn't sure he wanted to do it. He told them he had to sleep on it overnight. Imagine that... telling WABC you had to "think about it"! The reason? Bill had grown up associating the term "All American" with an old bus line of that name. He just could not envision himself creating jingles for a bunch of old busses!

When Bill completed the Series and brought it to New York to be previewed, both Dan Ingram and Bruce Morrow were in on the screening session. According to Bill, when Bruce heard them he jumped up and exclaimed they were the best jingles he ever heard. Why? Aside from the trademark PAMS melodies and lyrics, they were short. Bruce had apparently had all he could take of long jingles! Needless to say, over the next year these jingles all became staples on WABC.

One other note about Series 26. This was the only PAMS series used on WABC that was sung in New York City rather than Dallas. The problem was AFTRA. The union would not allow the Dallas singers on the air in New York. After this experience, Bill had his singers join AFTRA to avoid any further problems.

Incidentally the "All American" theme at WABC was a slogan that referred to the "American" Broadcasting Company.

77 WABC "All American" (57K)
All the Weather All American (60K)
It's a Hip-tee-doo Day (90K)
It Happens First on 77WABC (91K)
Join the All American Team for Fun (114K)
Let's Swing With The All Americans (92K)
It's Now Number One (178K)
All American Pick Hit (101K)
The Greatest Team in The World (123K)
Your World Looks Great (86K)
All American Instrumental (92K)
Seventeee seven (80K)
"Drum" instrumental (72K)
Another instrumental (65K)
Piano instrumental (86K)
Sonovox drum WABC (73K)
Another sonovox WABC (64K)
Sonovox All American (91K)
All American Sports (145K)
All American 77 WABC (71K)
Spirit of 77 (99K) (
"Humming" instrumental (105K)
Get The Spirit (318K)
Smile Everyday (103K)
77 WABCeeeee.... (58K)
Get the Spirit.. 77.. (94K)
The Stars sing about... (198K) (Dan Ingram promo with Series 26 jingle)

WABC fans will remember the end of the next jingle from another WABC institution: The "Superhit Rundown" promos (the ones that started with "This week you will hear these super hit sounds on WABC....."). At the end of those promos was the end of the "On Your Mark" jingle. Listen closely.....
On Your Mark, Get Set (101K)

Series 26D "The Beatles Series"

Also from 1963, this series included the WA "Beatle" C jingles based on The Beatles sound.

The Beatles Spectacular is really moving! (176K)
We're Gonna Move, We're Gonna Groove Yea! (197K)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (159K)
A Brand New Beatles Hit! (151K)
Close Your Eyes and Listen to The Beatles (104K)

Series 27 "Jet Set"

Created in 1964 this package featured four voices, all male. While this may at first seem trivial, it is not. These jingles were written specifically for male voices. They have been copied and redone over the years frequently with female singers. According to Bill Meeks, this greatly diminishes their impact. In addition, this series included many sound effects

The series was based on the theme "Jet Set", and is probably the most famous jingle series people remember from WABC. Approximately 250 stations purchased Series 27. To this day, many oldies stations including WCBS-FM in New York City use pieces of this package in their jingles. Included here are "77 WABC Where The Action Is" jingle, the "Superhit Music Hits With A Beat" jingle, the "Superhit Sound of 77 WABC" jingle, "Stay This Weekend Where The Music Is" jingle, the "All American Plays the Hit Line" jingle and many, many others.

Some notes about Series 27: While the lyrics are all sung by males, the background tracks feature the tremendous voice of Glenni Rutherford. Glenni (a Cherokee Indian) has a voice that can reach amazing highs. Those high sweeping melodic backgrounds heard throughout the package were her voice. Bill used her voice as he would a musical instrument like the piccolo. Her ability to hit these amazing notes is legendary from this package.

Glenni was hired by Bill at PAMS simply because she walked in and asked for a tryout! Bill heard her sing and, as they say in show biz, the rest is history! After PAMS, she went on to perform opera in Germany for several years and even released a 45 rpm single under the name "Gleni Tai". Her daughter now occasionally works on jingle sessions for JAM.

When Bill contacted WABC General Manger Wally Schwartz about this new package, Wally asked Bill to meet him in Detroit so he could hear what the package sounded like. Bill brought about 10 cuts with him. As soon as Wally heard Glenni, he told Bill to immediately get to work. He wanted this unique sound on WABC as soon as possible.

77 WABC Where the Action Is (98K)
All American Plays the Hit Line (131K)
Follow the Weather (85K)
Solid Gold Hit From The Goldmine (95K)
It's 77 WABC (104K)
It's a Hit (76K)
Remember this Solid Gold One(142K)
Hot Line of Hits (132K)
Music Authority (69K)
You Get a Positive Charge (116K)
Superhit Swinger (88K)
Stay this Weekend Where the Music Is (94K)
Pick hit of the Week (240K)
Stay this Weekend... (99K)
Plan Your New York Weekend (507K)
77 WABC (83K)
77 Scores Again (65K)
Lets Go With Scottso! (103K)
Uh Uh Uh WABC (143K)
Promo Bed (used on "Fenwick Mouse" promo) (184K)
Hits With A Beat/Rapid Repeat (170K)
Radio A Go Go (101K)
Your Music Authority (81K)

Tommy Loy was an engineer for PAMS who occasionally did some singing. The famous "Diving Board" jingle (where he "gurgles") was recorded by him. Believe it or not, he created the gurgling sound with his throat... he did not have water in his mouth! Also, according to Bill Meeks, few radio people thought this jingle would ever work. But Bill produced it anyway and it is now one of the most famous jingles recorded from this series.
Diving Board (107K)

Series 28 "Happiness Is"

Also created in 1964 and featuring 5 voices (3 male, 2 female), WABC used some cuts from this series including the "Solid Gold Special Coming Down the Tracks" jingle, the "Great Singing Great Swinging" jingle and the "Who's Got Em' We've Got Em" Beatles jingle.

77 WABC (85K)
Solid Gold Special Coming Down the Tracks (107K)
Great Singin' Great Swingin' (127K)
Beatles Who's Got 'Em, We've Got 'Em (108K)
77 Makes The Week Go Fast (121K)
"Chaser" instrumental(74K)
Happiness Is Instrumental (118K)
77 W A B C (98K)
Happiness Is Instrumental II (74K)
77 WABC (Group Sing) (48K)
If You're Feeling Down... (108K)
Anytime is a Good Time (134K)
WABC Spells Happiness (82K)
Happiness Is Instrumental III (69K)
Kissing Instrumental (75K)
School Days... (190K)
77 Keeps You Weather Wise (54K)
Good Morning... (126K)

Series 29 "Go Go"

Created in 1965 and and featuring 4 voices (all male) it included the "In New York It's the One" jingle, the "He's a Go Go <DJ Name>" jingles, the "Time to Get Up Get Out Of Bed, Fill Your Cup and Get Ahead" jingle, the "Wherever You Go, Go-Go With 77 WABC" jingle and the "Come On Horse Whoa" jingle. Series 29 had a companion package called the "Series 29 DJ Themes". It included the famous "Go Go Dan Ingram Go Go" jingle that he used as an intro for his show.

While the lyrics were all male, the background "duby duby duby" were pre recorded tracks used underneath the lyrics and featured 4 girls and Glenni Rutherford.

In New York It's the One (129K)
The All American Go Go Team (99K)
Pick Hit (127K)
Weather Break (59K)
Lets Go Go Go Go Go Promo Music Bed (483K)
77 WABC Go Go (91K)
In New York Its Number One! (73K)
In New York Its Number One! (shorter) (35K)
Beach Report Jingle (250K)

The next jingle includes a voice over promo by Dan Ingram.:
Let's Go Go Go Go Go (197K)

Here is the famous Yosemite jingle originally sung by PAMS' Tommy Loy. After a while Tommy decided that doing this cut was ruining his throat so he gave it up. Tom Parma was the voice on some of them after that.
Come On Horse Whoa! (159K)

This is an example from the DJ Themes:
Go Go Dan Ingram Go Go (43K)

Series 30 "The 'N Set"

Also from 1965 and featuring 4 voices (all female), it included the "Bom Ching WABC Strikes Gold" jingle, the WABC Chime Time jingle, the "Wow What a Weekend" jingle, and the "Top Cat" jingles. It also included the famous "Charlie Greer For The Woman With The Man In Mind on 77 WABC" jingle.

Bom Ching WABC Strikes Gold (85K)
What a Weekend (95K)
77 Go Go (77K)
WABC Twin Spin (72K)
Charlie Greer For The Woman (129K)
He's the Top Cat Dan Ingram (59K)
Dan Ingram (actually this is just an edit of the "Top Cat" jingle which Dan used for a long time) (18K)
Won't You Come On In (118K)
You're In With Big Dan (53K)
In! 77 WABC (87K)
WABC Yea Yea Yea (49K)
What's Happenin' Pussycat (German) (95K)
What's New Pussycat (French) (103K)
'N Set Instrumental... ZAP (76K)
77 WABC.. It's What's Happenin' (79K)

Here is a combination jingle that Dan Ingram used leading into the news. It is actually 3 separate jingles attached together by WABC itself. The "He's In...." part is from Series 30, the "charge" trumpet and shout is not from PAMS at all, and the last instrumental part is the "Chaser" from Series 28:
He's In Dan Ingram, He's On, Charge! (160K)

Here is the famous WABC "Chime Time" jingle. The series 30 PAMS demo features only the full-length version of the jingle ("The weather...is in! WABC"). It was the "WABC" from that cut (demo cut #4) that was snipped off and had the chime added to it. And it was a re-sing at that; the demo vocal is not the air vocal.

There has been some controversy concerning where the actual "chime" came from. Bill Meeks claims he rang the chime at PAMS on the "Grand Chimes" (a picture of these is on the PAMS website). However there is no demo version of this jingle with the chime. As Jon Wolfert points out, the actual chime heard on WABC was used by itself long before it was attached to this jingle. In addition, PAMS was never able to re-create that exact chime sound for any other station (and they DID try). Jon therefore believes that it was WABC itself that added the chime to the jingle.

I believe Jon is correct about this. Given that there is no demo version of this jingle from PAMS, it seems only logical that WABC added the chime to the jingle, not PAMS.
WABC Chime Time (35K)

Series 31 "Music Explosion"

Commissioned by program director Rick Sklar in 1966 and featuring 4 voices (all male), it included the famous "More and More People Hear More and More Music" jingle, "The New York Sound" jingle, the "77 WABC Yeth Thur" jingle, and the "Go Go Go Go Go Go Go Go The Top Down Sound of 77 WABC", 77 More Miles of Music jingle and all the famous DJ name acappellas. WABC used Series 31 extensively in 1966 and many of these cuts were still in use for 2 or 3 years. In fact, the famous "Dan Ingram" acappella is still in use today! Dan Ingram uses it on his WCBS-FM show. PAMS sold this series to over 400 radio stations!

Jon Wolfert tells the story of when WABC had many of the series 31 cuts re-sung with "all request" lyrics. The intent was to turn Cousin Brucie's show into a phone-in request program. The problem was that WABC melted the phone system night after night and so the idea was abandoned (along with the Series 31 resings)!

Tommy Loy (who did the "Diving Board" jingle from series 27) did another novelty jingle for this series known as the "Yeth Thur" jingle.

More and More People (103K)
Super Hit One (36K)
The "Yeth Thur" jingle (64K)
"Dan Ingram" (his favorite) (13K)
The Beat Goes On (254K) (Dan Ingram promo with Series 31 jingle)

Series 32 "Swiszle"

From 1966, WABC used only one jingle from this series, and it was an instrumental!

Swiszle instrumental (75K)

Series 33 "Fun Vibrations"

From 1967 and now featuring 7 voices (4 male 3 female), this package was used during the Mayor John Lindsay era in New York City. Any WABC jingle you hear with the word "Fun" in it came from this series... there are quite a few!

Turn Your Mind Off Baby (This jingle features a Trella Hart Solo.)(104K)
Fun WABC (32K)
77 Fun WABC (47K)
Weekend Vibrations (104K)
Fun Dan Ingram (24K)
77 WABC... Fun.... Laugh (93K)
77 Fun (65K)
Fun Is... (119K)
Quack Quack Quack.... (97K)
Fun WABC (37K)
Ain't No Need Telling You Why... (99K)
WABC Funnnnn (28K)
77 Funnnnn (30K)
Just for Fun (69K)
Doe De Oe Do..... (88K)
New York Merry-Go-Round (214K)(Series 33)

The next jingle had 3 versions with the logo sung in different languages... there was an English, Spanish, and
German version!
It's a Merry Go Round (272K)

The next jingle never ran on WABC but was on the Series 33 demo tape. Bill Meeks tells an interesting story about this jingle. It uses the lyrics "I'll Take Manhattan". As explained above, PAMS paid a royalty fee to Rogers (of Rogers and Hart) to use the melody from the song "I'll Take Manhattan". PAMS did NOT pay a royalty fee to Hart for the lyrics. As a result, when this demo version became known, Hart threatened to file a lawsuit.
The "Manhattan" jingle (64K)
Needless to say, on the final versions, the phrase "I'll Take Manhattan" was replaced with the phrase "I'll Take Fun City". They did use at least 2 cuts (an acappella, and a fully orchestrated cut that isn't on any demo) that said "I'll take Fun City" with the identical melody.
The "Fun City" jingle (65K)

Series 34 "The Tenth Dimension"

The official title of this series from 1967 is "The Tenth Dimension" but it actually consists of three series; 34A (The Power of Love), 34B (Music Power), 34C (Music Pow Pow Power). WABC used cuts from 34B such as the "Most Music Power" jingle and 34C cuts like "Another Hour of Music Pow Pow Power".

Another Hour of Music Pow Pow Power! (104K)
More Music Pow Pow Power (165K)
Music Power 77 New York (89K)
Pow Pow 77 WABC (73K)
77 With the Power of Music (90K)
Music Pow Pow Power (47K)
Dan Ingram Music Pow Pow Power (76K)
77 WABC (69K)
WAB.....C (33K)
WABC Power Pack (66K)
Music Power.... Everybody Knows It (205K)
77 With The Power of Music (180K)
More Music Power (72K)
Brucie Pow Power (43K)
WABC Is Simply, Madly..... (138K)
77 Music Power (58K)
WABC Power Pack (50K)
77 Music Power WABC (94K)
W A B Music C (34K)
mmm WABC (43K)
77 Music Power (64K)
77 Music Power II (46K)
77 Music Power III (100K)

Series 36 "Contempra"

There were two parts to this series from 1969. Series 36A was based on "The Music Machine" and WABC used jingles like "77 WABC Most Music" jingle and Series 36B which was built around "Twenty Four Hour Excitement".

The Music Machine (104K)
Dan Ingram (32K)

Series 37 "Power Play"

Also from 1969 and utilizing four voice (all male), the theme was "music comes here to play". The "WABC Playing Through" jingle comes from this series as well as some of the later "Music Power" jingles. They also made heavy use of the "Playback" and "Playdate" jingles to introduce oldies.

Music Comes Here To Play (66K)
WABC Music Power Play (68K)
WABC Shotgun (15K)

Series 40 "The Changes"

From 1970, this series had seven voice (4 male 3 female) and included short acappellas and quick "shotgun" type jingles. Reviewing the demo reminded me more of the old WOR-FM New York jingles than WABC jingles. As Jon Wolfert points out, this series was influenced by the Drake era (Bill Drake was programming WOR-FM at that time). There are not too many WABC jingles from this series that made it on the air even though they had it re-sung.

Many of the acappellas were used. Some had guitar slides or moog synthesizer overlayed. The most famous was the "Musicradio WABC" acappella, which was used to replace the chime jingle at the end of songs. The other famous acappella was the one where PAMS (and now JAM) bass singer Jim Clancy does the "W..." and the rest of the group overlays "ABC".

Musicradio WABC (32K)

This Sonovox cut wasn't really in the package, it was something PAMS did for WABC at about this time. It was used frequently leading into "news from American Contemporary Radio".
WABC New York (Sonovox) (20K)

Series 41 "Music Radio"

From 1971 and again featuring 7 voices (4 male 3 female) it is surprising how few WABC jingles actually made it on the air from this series considering the name!

Remember (82K)

This next jingle was included in Dan's list of "jingles we almost never use" bit we have featured in the aircheck section. It came from this series:
You're Riding With Music and Dan Ingram (56K)

Series 42 "The Igniters"

From 1971, many of the "Musicradio" jingles came from this series. This series is an example of how WABC used cuts that were not on the demo. As Ken R. points out, some of the cuts that were used most extensively on WABC were among the best in the package and were not on the demo tape. Consequently none of the other stations even knew they were available.

Jon Wolfert goes on to say that this was often true because WABC had PAMS create things for them whenever they had a need; often this was in-between the creation of major packages. Some of these "limbo" cuts never found their way into a package or onto a demo. However, according to the lyric sheet the "W..Musicradio..ABC" WAV was eventually added to the Series 42 demo. It became cut #26 "Tube".

W..... Musicradio...... A B C (51K)
Johnny Donovan... W.... Musicadio... (43K)
Johnny Donovan WABC III (28K)
On WABC (30K)
Johnny Donovan....W.... Musicradio II (42K)
Chuck Leonard... W.... Musicradio (52K)

The "Top 100 of the Year" acappella was another "loose" item that was not really done in conjunction with any package although it appeared around this time
Top 100 of the Year (41K)

Series 44 "The Music's On Us"

From 1972, this series was based on the slogan "The Music's On Us" that WABC was using at that time. According to Jon Wolfert, over 60 (!) cuts were created by PAMS for WABC. And, as usual, WABC used only a few of them.....

The Music's On Us On WABC (32K)
The Music's On Us WABC (55K)
Johnny Donovan WABC (36K)
Johnny Donovan WABC II (28K)
Fun... The Music's On Us (77K)
WABC.. The Music's On Us (55K)
... W A B C. (80K)
Music's On Us Shotgun (25K)
Music's On Us.... WABC (39K)
The Music's On Us..... WABC (63K)

A few notes about PAMS WABC jingles:

First, PAMS used the WABC call letters on many demo tapes for the numbered series. As a result there are numerous copies of series demos around for WABC. That does NOT mean that all of these series were ever actually used on the air by WABC. In fact, some were not. For example the entire series 15 "Living Radio" contains the WABC calls but was never purchased or used by WABC. (It was used by another New York radio station, WMGM.). Another example is Series 32 "Swiszle". Not one of the vocal versions aired on WABC.

Second, PAMS demo tapes for series that WABC did use frequently contain demo jingles that were NOT used on WABC. Changes were frequently made to the demo versions before the final cuts were put on the air. Here is an example. Note they are very similar, yet different:

Here is the demo version of a Series 33 "Fun" jingle:
Fun Demo (48K)

Now, here is the version that actually ran on WABC:
Fun Air Version (47K)

Third, there are many jingles that WABC used that were not on any of the series demos. Examples include the "Top 100 of the Year" jingles and, of course, the WABC Chime Time jingle discussed above.

It is important to be aware of these notes. Some collectors think they have many "original" WABC jingles when, in fact, what they have are PAMS demos that were never aired by WABC. This is also why it is difficult to reconstruct the actual jingles used by WABC on the air. Simply having a copy of a jingle with the WABC calls does not necessarily mean it was used by the station. On this web page, every effort has been made to verify that these jingles were, in fact, used on the air by WABC!

WABC Jingles Page

WABC Musicradio 77 Home Page