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The catchy productions that became known as “Drake jingles” were very popular with listeners and radio industry people. Here you can play back recordings of selected jingles and listen to them over and over.

The audio imagery on KHJ in the mid-1960s was very unique because it went against the traditions at the time. Long singing jingles and music beds (sometimes as long as commercials) were “normal” in those days. The Boss Radio format brought to Los Angeles in 1965 a very different sound--much shorter audio imagery and catchy, unforgettable melodies. Listen to these two “Motown-style” jingle melodies without any voiceover:

MOTOWN-STYLE MUSIC BED (:44) MP3, 688 KB  

The audio imagery on KHJ is especially memorable even after decades have passed. This imagery included not only radio jingles, but also on-air promotional announcements known as "promos," which relied upon a few well-chosen words and slogans that were repeated frequently.

Bill Drake, himself, voiced what become one of the most famous components of the Boss Radio KHJ. He could be heard saying, "And NOW, ladies and gentlemen..."—with a deliberate emphasis on the word "now"—leading into a singing jingle featuring the name of the on-air personality, like this:

Drake: "And NOW, ladies and gentlemen. The Real Don Steele..."

Jingle singers: "KHJ, Los Angeles."

Listen to that here:

DRAKE VOICEOVER: STEELE (:08) MP3, 102 KB

Here is a collection of the most memorable jingles heard on 93/KHJ:

KHJ JINGLE PACKAGE (5:38) MP3, 5.17 MB

Listen to a collection of Drake voiceovers, including a rare bonus track:

DRAKE VOICEOVERS (:54) MP3, 638 KB

Beyond Boss Angeles

After the success of the audio imagery on KHJ--especially the jingles--all the other radio stations that Bill Drake and Gene Chenault consulted started using what became known as “Drake Jingles.” The melodies of the acapella jingles are nearly identical whether they were played in Boston, San Francisco, New York City, Tulsa, Memphis and everywhere else.

ACAPELLA DRAKE JINGLES (0:41) MP3,656 KB

Although the Boss Radio format started on AM radio, FM radio started to emerge shortly afterwards so stereo versions of the audio imagery were produced. Here are jingles, music beds and news theme from WOR-FM, New York.

STEREO WOR-FM IMAGERY (3:50) MP3, 3.53 MB

Jingle History in Los Angeles: "I remember when we were
going to do the jingles for KHJ, I first contacted Chuck Blore
who had been at KFWB. Well, he contacted us and wanted
to do the jingles. He had a production company that did
jingles and that sort of stuff. All I wanted was frequency, call
letters and maybe the jock’s name, and that’s it.” But Blore
warned,”’...it will never work in Los Angeles.’ So, we called
Johnny Mann and got five or six singers together, and went
down to the RCA studios and did it ourselves."--Bill Drake

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 wg (at) woodygoulart (dot) com or visit woodygoulart.com.

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