Some Great Radio Jingles, The Binderman's At Home, and a Bit of Beatles Plagiarism

Happy October 18th! Hmmm. October 18th. Someone I once loved dearly was born on October 18th. It took me all day before I connected today's date to that person. Didn't used to be that way....

Wow - that flashed me back about 46 years. Man - it was great to be 16. And... Man - it was awful to be 16. 

What... Ah, well, that's not why you called....oh, yeah, the post.....

I have something fairly fun to start off with, followed by something magnificent. Then I have a whole batch of recordings from the same tape, and stick around for some astonishing plagiarism., 

That fun segment and the magnificent segment I mentioned come from the very same tape, one that has a spine that looks like this: 

What we have here are two sets of Jingles, spliced together, from two different companies, for two different radio stations. 

The first, and longer segment, is a batch of jingles for WLBQ in Kentucky. These are from the Gwinsound company, a firm I had not heard of before I got this tape, but which seems to be fairly well known among those who collect jingles and such. These are fine, but they start to sound pretty "samey" after awhile, and they certainly don't have that extra OOMPH that need to hear in order for jingles to really resonate with me. Still, they're fun to hear and have.

Download: Gwinsound - A Collection of WLBQ Jingles

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But then we come to the other set, which is from PAMS, and which were created for W-100 (WIOO) in Pennsylvania. Immediately, the magic of PAMS is in the air, and I find these jingles irresistible - they have that certain magic sauce which always seems to exude from the work of the folks at PAMS. This is masterful stuff, engaging, fun and memorable. 

Download: PAMS - A Collection of WIOO (W-100) Jingles

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Most of the rest of this post, all but the very short reels segment, is taken from a single reel that I've owned for decades, and that I enjoy very much. It's for those of you who like home recordings, particularly people trying to be creative in their home recordings (whether successful or not). It seems to have originate in the home of someone named Bob Binderman, and his name is the only thing written on the box. He doesn't appear to be the only adult heard on the tape, but there is no evidence as to who the others might be. 

The tape starts with Mr. Binderman trying to do his best Doodles Weaver impression, in this fictional calling of an automobile race from France. The zooming car sounds at the end actually went on at least another three minutes, but I edited that part down, as it become tedious.  

Download: Bob Binderman - Calling an Auto Race in Reims, France

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Next, Mr. Binderman uses a variety of records from his collection to tell what he most assuredly meant to be a humorous story about being lost and captured in the jungle. Parts of this work better than other parts, but it strikes me as an interesting attempt all the way through. 

Download: Bob Binderman - Jungle Story

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The next short segment features a young boy telling a deliberately messed up sports report. My guess is this is Mr. Binderman's son, and that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. 

Download: Kid Does Mixed-Up Sports Report

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The rest of side one of the tape consisted of recordings of female pop vocalists and instrumental pieces copied from records, so let's flip the tape over!

The start of the other side could not be more different than the jokey material on the first side. For here we have a bit of poetry, in tribute to some members of the Air Force. It's introduced as the "Ode to the 309th" and ends with a song for "Bentley's Air Force", and I've attached both names to it here. 

The mention of listening to Rock and Roll would indicate this band of brothers worked together during peacetime. This does not sound like Bob Binderman, but there's no indication of who it is. Any guesses about the source of this material would be welcome. 

Download: Unknown - Ode to the 309th (Bentley's Air Force)

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The tape ends with about 20 minutes of slice-of-life recordings made in someone's home. The stories heard on the radio make it clear that we're now in 1965 (I believe that is likely at least a few years after the other material here), and we're spending those minutes with a little girl named Chrissie and her parents. 

Download: Chrissie and Her Parents - 1965

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And now, very short reels. I realized with some embarrassment that last time, I shared a Very Short Reel that I'd already offered up more than a year earlier. Somehow, I'd neglected to move it into my "already shared" folders.

So to make up for it, I'll offer up two such very short reels today. 

For the first... I've mentioned a few times that I have a whole batch of tapes which came from a radio station in Astoria, Oregon. Many of those tapes featured a "story time" show called "A Story Told with Aunt Polly", and the voice of that host also shows up on many of the PSA's and local ads that are in that batch of tapes. 

Well, here is the owner of that voice, Polly Columbo, no doubt wearing a raincoat, searching for clues as to whodunnit, and gathering together some of her work into a demo reel. I get a great kick out of the fact that she does voice over introductions for both "Pipeline" by the Chantays and "Baby Snakes" by Frank Zappa during this segment, and not only that, but back to back

Extra points for anyone who knows another link between The Chantays' "Pipeline" and Frank Zappa. 

Download: Polly Columbo's Demo Reel

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But I've saved the best - or at least the oddest - for last. 

This comes from a longer tape of AM, Top 40 radio that I myself recorded in the fall of 1970. The tape is very choppy and not worth sharing as a whole - bits and pieces of songs, etc. But at one point, I did capture a Certs ad which is astonishing in that those who created it simply took a Beatles hit - from about 18 months earlier - and rewrote it to be about Certs. It's got the same melody, it's got essentially the same instrumentation, and even the music bed under the voice over is the same SOLO from that Beatles' hit. 

I wonder at what point this sort of blatant plagiarism stopped being something advertisers could get away with. 

Download: 1970 Certs Ad

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