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Tony Blackburn’s pick of the jingles

Posted by on 7 January 2013

Tony Blackburn visited
Tony Blackburn. Always smiling.

Jingle companies come and go but JAM Creative Productions of Dallas, Texas is one with incredible staying power.

Now some of this legendary jingle company’s most famous work is back on BBC Radio 2 in the Tony Blackburn Pick of the Pops show.

Jam Creative ProductionsJAM was responsible for producing BBC Radio 2’s jingle imaging for a 21 year period stretching back to the 1970s, it created the jingles that Tony Blackburn played for many years on BBC Radio 1 and also produced a number of packages for BBC Local Radio stations in the the 1990s.

Now, JAM has re-sung a number of compositions first produced in the 1980s and 90s for Tony Blackburn’s Pick of the Pops show.

[audio:http://earshotcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/pick-of-the-pops.mp3|titles=Pick of the Pops jingles by JAM Creative Productions for the BBC]

Jonathan Wolfert, president of JAM Creative Productions acknowledges the longstanding ties between his organisation and the BBC:

JAM created the jingle imaging heard on Radio 2 for 21 years, spanning the 70s, 80s and 90s. An entire generation of UK radio listeners grew up hearing JAM jingles along with their favourite songs. Now, as that music is played again by the legendary Tony Blackburn on “Pick of the Pops”, I think it’s great that our jingles will once again be heard on Radio 2. We have always been very proud of the quantity and quality of work JAM has done for the BBC through the years, and look forward to a new and continuing relationship.

Only last year did BBC Radio 2 introduce a station-wide package of jingles from UK production house Wise Buddah. That station-wide package complements the breadth of Radio 2’s playlist and does so with the composition and production standards expected of today’s commercially-produced music.

The Pick of the Pops jingles from JAM are quite different: they are unapologetically highly-produced radio jingles, not soundalikes of songs.

Their composition is intricate and playful and each cut is loaded with fun effects and uplifting sunny vocals that cut through clearly and align perfectly with Tony Blackburn’s on-air personality and tight presentation style.

Why have JAM and Blackburn both survived so long? Perhaps it is that they know what they do best, believe in entertaining listeners and always bring a smile to the radio.

JAM Creative Productions is represented in the UK by S2Blue.

Picture of Tony Blackburn by Steve Bowbrick on Flickr. Used under CC licence.