Two pieces of music were used at the start of RAdS broadcasts, and Kian Sharifi kindly (and very quickly!) confirmed their identities.
The evening broadcasts began at 2300 GMT (2000 Falklands time) with an identification jingle consisting of a three-note "sting" (in the US radio industry it would be called a sounder) played on an organ, followed by the announcement "nueve setenta uno" ("nine seventy one"), referring to the station's shortwave frequency of 9.71 MHz (9710 kHz).
The canned announcement was made by the station's sole female presenter, who used the on-air name Mariana Flores.
After that ID jingle was repeated, the station played "Treasure of San Miguel" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (written by Roger Nichols and released in 1967).
Some way into this, a presenter would make a brief live announcement to identify the station, give its transmission schedule and say that programmes would start in a few minutes.
The next piece of music played was "Argentina" by the group Conquistador, written by Hans van Hemert and Piet Souer to support the Dutch team during the 1978 football World Cup in Argentina. It's played on flute, guitar and conga drums.
During this, the presenters would preview some of the key points of that evening's broadcast.
The opening sequence described above lasted five minutes.
Listen to the music
A studio recording of the first 90 minutes of the Radio Atlantico del Sur broadcast on 20 May 1982, including the opening music, can be found on Jonathan Marks's website.
Were these good choices as the theme music for the station? They certainly met the main criteria for any signature tune, being distinctive and memorable.
During this, the presenters would preview some of the key points of that evening's broadcast.
The opening sequence described above lasted five minutes.
Listen to the music
A studio recording of the first 90 minutes of the Radio Atlantico del Sur broadcast on 20 May 1982, including the opening music, can be found on Jonathan Marks's website.
Were these good choices as the theme music for the station? They certainly met the main criteria for any signature tune, being distinctive and memorable.
They were also "shortwave friendly" – wind and percussion instruments generally coming across well through that medium.
© 2018. Material may be reproduced if attributed to Chris Greenway and any original source.
While listening to the studio recording of Radio Atlantico del Sur, I noticed one particular sounder. Would anyone know where the "las noticias" sounder originated? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Noah. I don't know the origin of the news jingle. As Radio Atlantico del Sur would not have had the time or resources to have commissioned any of its own jingles, I assume that it was taken from a stock package of commercially available jingles and sounders. Neil ffrench-Blake, the station's civilian manager, had a background in commercial radio and would have been familiar with what was available.
DeleteVery thoughtfuul blog
ReplyDelete