Television news music

Television news music is used by television stations to brand their news operations. Each television station uses an identifiable news theme; some themes are used by multiple stations while others are composed specifically for a certain station.

In the United States

In the United States, news themes used on local television stations are typically organized into news music packages, with each theme within a package sharing a similar musical signature. A typical television news music package consists of anywhere from 50 to as many as 1000 cuts of music. One of the largest news music packages is Overture, created by Stephen Arnold Music. This package consists of a total of 36 themes and over 1000 cuts.

News music packages consist of the following: opens, closes, bumpers, topicals (promo beds), franchise opens/stingers, IDs, utility tracks and billboards.

  • Opens: These are the cuts used to begin a newscast, usually accompanied by a vamp straight out of the open (either a stripped or full version of the bumper.) In a news package, opens come in short credit forms (for the main open) and long credit forms (for talent opens.) Some packages even include different lengths of the talent opens for three- or four—anchor lineups.
  • Closes: Closes also come in different formats and lengths, many of which are similar in sound to that package's open. Usually, there are 60-, 30-, 20-, 15-, and 10-second versions of the close, designed to resolve at a precise time.
  • Bumpers: These are used primarily before the main open and teasing out to the next segment of a newscast. When the bumper is played, a summary of what will air in the upcoming newscast or later in the newscast will be shown.
  • Topicals/promo beds: These are the cuts of music used only in promos for a specific upcoming newscast. Topicals come in four types: theme donut/theme donut open beds, ID/promo beds, end theme news open/promo beds, and ID/stingers. These usually correspond with regular promo times (:30, :20, :10, and :05 ID.)
  • Franchise opens/stingers: Franchise opens or stingers are used to open various segments of a newscast in-show (breaking news, special reports, sports, weather, investigation, etc.)
  • IDs: This is a short package signature used to identify the television station. It can also be used in conjunction to identify talent. The Federal Communications Commission requires several over-the-air (OTA) stations (including radio stations) to identify themselves at regular intervals by either stating their call letters or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in the United States, as a "sounder" or "stinger", more generally as a station or network ident). Also, an ID can signify a network affiliation such as the NBC chimes or the drum rolling intro to the 20th Century Fox fanfare.
  • Utility tracks
  • Billboards

Stations within the same market area will always use different music packages, unless they are related to each other in some manner; e.g., if two stations may be owned by the same company (or operated by the same company under a local marketing agreement (LMA), or one station may contract out its news production to the other. For example: in Ft. Myers, Florida, ABC affiliate WZVN-TV is owned by Montclair Communications, Inc., while NBC affiliate WBBH-TV in the same market is owned by Waterman Broadcasting Corporation, which operates WZVN under an LMA. That said, both stations currently use This is Your News by Gari Communications. In newscasts airing on WZVN, NBC network ID stingers can be heard in the news opens, even though WZVN-TV is an ABC affiliate.

A case where the opposite of the aforementioned is true is in Denver, Colorado, Fox affiliate KDVR and CW affiliate KWGN are owned by Tribune Media.

Custom news music packages

Some news music packages are custom made for one station only, as opposed to syndicated packages which are used by multiple stations. While syndicated packages are normal in the industry, there are some stations that still use custom made packages. Such examples include:

  • KDVR, Colorado
    • News Music Package Composed by Alan Koshiyama (2011–2017)
  • KWGN, Colorado
    • News Music Package Composed by Alan Koshiyama (2011–2016)
  • WLS-TV, Chicago
    • News Series 2000 Plus (1992–present)
  • KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City
    • Newsmusic Central's KFOR Custom News Package (1993–1997)
    • Wow and Flutter Music's KFOR-TV News Package (1997–2017)
  • KNBC-TV, Los Angeles
    • Newscenter (1979–1982) and Newscenter II (1985–1993) by Michael Randall
    • KNBC News Package (1982–1985) by Tuesday Productions
    • KNBC News (1994–1998) by Michael Boyd
    • L.A. Groove (2004–present) by Groove Worx
  • KSTP-TV, Minneapolis-St. Paul
    • Latitude Music's Leading Edge (1995–1999)
    • Stephen Arnold Music's Overture (1999–2005)
  • KTHV, Little Rock
    • KTHV 1995 News Package (1995–2004)
    • KTHV 2004 News Package (2004–2008)
  • KUSA-TV
    • KUSA News Package by Third Street Music (1995–2009; while it ceased to be the main theme as of October 2008, it was used for the talent ID until February 2009)
  • WPIX-TV, New York
    • WPIX-TV Custom News Package by Non-Stop Music (1994–2017)
    • New York's Very Own by 615 Music (2017–present)
  • WGN-TV, Chicago
    • WGN 1991 News Theme (1991-1993)
    • Chicago's Very Own by John Hegner (1993–1997)
    • WGN News Theme by Non-Stop Music (1997–2007)
    • Chicago's Very Own by 615 Music (2007–present)
  • WWL-TV, New Orleans
    • Stephen Arnold Music's WWL News (1989–2004; version 1 and version 2 were made available to other stations)
    • Stephen Arnold Music's WWL Custom News Package [The Spirit Of Louisiana] (2004–2006)
  • WTVK, Knoxville (now WVLT-TV)
    • Pulstar (1977-1981)
    • Hello News (1981-1985)
    • WTVK 1985 News Theme (1985–1986)
    • WTVK 1986 News Theme (1986–1987)
  • KOMO News theme (KOMO-TV, Seattle, composed and recorded by Dan Dean Productions)
    • KOMO News theme 1988
    • KOMO News theme 1990
    • KOMO News theme 1992
  • WCAU-TV, Philadelphia
    • NBC10 News Theme (1997–2000) by Eve Songs
    • WCAU NBC News Theme (2000–2008) by Modern Audio Production
  • WISH-TV, Indianapolis (These packages used the "Back Home Again, in Indiana" melody in the music exclusive to Indiana)
    • Newsleader, possibly a.k.a. Newsleader in Indiana by Stephen Arnold, first use of the melody (1991–1997; also once used by WHBQ-TV, Memphis)
    • WISH-TV News Music Package, a.k.a. Counterpoint with Indiana by Stephen Arnold (1997–2004)
    • In-Sync V.4/V.5, a.k.a. In-Sync with Indiana by 615 Music (2004–2012; 2018–present)
    • A New WISH by 615 Music (2012–2018)
  • WJZ-TV, Baltimore
    • Chroma Cues (1988–2019)

Some packages are custom made for a specific station group company, or owned and operated stations and affiliates of a specific television network:

  • Sinclair News Music Package by Stephen Arnold (2002–December 2006), Daily News by Gari Communications (December 2006 – 2014), and Sinclair News Package by 615 Music (2014–present) for the Sinclair stations.
  • Fox Affiliate News Theme by OSI Music (2005–present) and Beyond by Stephen Arnold (2017–present) (for Fox affiliate and owned-and-operated stations (O&Os).
  • Gannett News Music Package by Rampage Music (2008–2012), This Is Home by Gari Media Group (2012/2013–2017; now only used on non-Gannett/TEGNA stations) and C Clarity by Sixième Son (2017–present) for the Gannett/Tegna stations
  • Image News by Gari Media Group (1995/96 to 2002/03; now used only on non-Hearst stations), Revolution (aka The B Package) by Gari Media Group (1998/99 to 2002/03; alternate package), Hearst-Argyle News Package by NewsMusic Central (2003/2004–2012), and Strive by In The Groove Music (2012–present) for the Hearst stations
  • Media General Station Group Package by John D. Keltonic (2006–2013) and Canvas by Stephen Arnold (2013–present) for the Media General stations
  • Move Closer to Your World by Al Ham (1972–1988) for stations owned by Capital Cities Communications
  • The CBS Enforcer Music Collection by Gari Media Group (1994–present) for CBS O&Os and affiliates
  • The NBC Collection by Gari Media Group (1995–present), The Rock by Stephen Arnold (2005–present), The Tower by 615 Music (2000–present), and L.A. Groove by Groove Worx (2012–present) for NBC O&Os and affiliates.
  • Scripps TV Station Group Package by Musikvergnuegen (2009–2012), Inergy by Stephen Arnold (2012–2019; now used on non-Scripps stations) and Scripps Custom News Package by Stephen Arnold (2019–present) for the E. W. Scripps stations
  • Spirit (of Texas) by TM Communications (1984–1990s) for the Belo Corporation stations

Station imaging packages

Some news music packages are accompanied by a station image package, featuring promotional jingles which often share the same musical signature as the parent news music package. Often, imaging packages include jingles for the holiday and elections. Such promotional packages first came to prominence in the United States in the 1970s, and had become widespread by the 1980s, used by many (though not all) television stations. Many memorable packages, such as Frank Gari's "Hello"[1] and "Turn to...", were composed during this era, and some were even used on stations in some other countries and in languages other than English.

Station image packages are designed to give a positive branding method for broadcast television stations. Many such packages from the 1970s and 1980s often portrayed stations in a community-oriented light, accompanied by footages of the stations' personalities participating in recreational activities and charity events with regular everyday people.[2][3] By the 1990s, many stations had adopted a more hard-hitting approach to branding, resulting in a reduced demand for traditional promotion campaigns. However, a few stations which used Gari's Hello campaign briefly re-introduced it in the 2000s as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations.

News music adopted from other sources

Besides standard news music packages, some stations had opted to use the soundtrack from some movies or other popular songs as their main news themes; examples include:

News music worldwide

Certain News Music packages used in the United States have also been used worldwide. Eyewitness News by Frank Gari has been picked up for use in overseas markets. Hong Kong Cable News has used it for its morning newscast, and POP TV in Slovenia has used it for its main newscasts.

News music in the concert hall

The News in Music (Tabloid Lament) (2017) by Thomas Meadowcroft, is an orchestral work of TV news music specifically written for the concert hall.[10] Commissioned by the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, the work positions orchestral news music, stylistically reminiscent of TV news music cues from the 1970s and 1980s, in a live, acoustic setting. [11]

News music composers and production companies

Canada
  • Peak Media

United States

United Kingdom

The Netherlands

The Philippines

References
  1. "The Last Word on 'Hello, Milwaukee'". www.jsonline.com.
  2. Chris Lewis (30 November 2006). "WSMV Stand Up 4 Nashville 1992" – via YouTube.
  3. thenightbeat (6 February 2009). "Hello Image Campaign - Hello Houston - KPRC" – via YouTube.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-09-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-06-15. Retrieved 2007-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "The News In Music (Tabloid Lament)". Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  11. "Le Sacre du Primetime". Retrieved 17 February 2018.
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