Jon Wolfert on 50 Years of JAM Jingles

[KA-Electonics.com]

Jon Wolfert on 50 Years of JAM Jingles

“At JAM, jingles are still hand-made the old-fashioned way,” he [Jon Wolfert] said. “We are one of the few places, if not the only one, that still offer jingles with a seven-voice vocal group. We use other configurations as well, but a lot of our classic packages were done with seven singers and we get orders to re-sing those all the time, constantly.

From Radioworld: https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/roots-of-radio/jon-wolfert-on-50-years-of-jam-jingles

I worked as a freelance tech for JAM for a great many years. They were a terrific client and I have huge respect for Jon and Mary Lyn.

I also know a great many of the singers who also spent a lot of time at Dallas Sound Lab where I also did maintenance engineering.

Jon and Mary Lyn Wolfert

Jon and Mary Lyn in 1974

A seven-voice group in 1986: Brian Beck, Bruce Upchurch, Jim Clancy, Kay H. Sharpe, Chris Kershaw, Judy Parma and Abby Holmes.

 

[KA-Electonics.com]

I wrote Jon and received a really nice reply.

He needs help maintaining his MCI console, 2" machines, and 25 year-old Euphonix.

If @Brian Roth is listening to this thread and is up for a trip to Texas I'd be glad to refer him to Jon.

One interesting thing about Jam is the shear number of 2" masters that require off-site storage. He had to look for a bank that had enough large safe deposit boxes and that was quite challenging. He finally found one near me.

 

[Brian Roth]

@KA-Electonics.com I retired from traveling and doing "house calls" a couple years ago. Is John Eldridge (sp?) still active down there in Dallas?

Bri

 

[KA-Electonics.com]

I haven't heard from John Eldridge in years. He must be in his 80s by now.

You did house calls a lot longer than I did - which attests to your stamina.

Thanks Brian.

 

[Brian Roth]

It's been at least a few years when John reached out to me to say "hi" and I doubt I have any current contact info.

Wayne, I've gotten to the point where driving 80 MPH for hours and dodging semis (driven by meth heads <g>) was more than I wanted to deal with! Interestingly, there is just enough work for me here in Salina to keep me active. The fleet of Ampex ATR-100's (hell, I've lost count...I think it's up now to 11 machines) at Acoustic Sounds can keep anyone busy! lol That and the Doug Sax mastering lathe system....

Bri

 

[Brian Roth]

Speaking of radio jingle companies in Dallas, PAMS was the biggie (and briefly mentioned in the Radio World article). Wolfert ultimately bought them out but there is still a PAMS website owned by JAM. It seems to be a tribute site, but has tons of PAMS history pages and pictures. I liked the custom Ampex 1" 10-track built using what looks like 351 series vacuum tube electronics channels.

For USA Baby Boomers, they also have audio tracks of 1950's-1970's jingles they made for many stations here in America. Fun nostalgia!

http://pams.com/index.html

Bri

 

[KA-Electonics.com]

I worked for and with some of the ex-PAMS owners and writers over the years.

One of them was Sam Stalos who wrote the famous "Sears has Everything" jingle. It ran for years.
As it turns out - in our litigious society - that Sears didn't have everything and they were sued by a customer.
That lawsuit ended the jingle. But it was memorable and is still in my head.

I also worked with another jingle writer and creator by the name of Spencer Michlin.
Spencer created "Chester Cheeto" for Frito Lay now Pepsico.

Pivoting back to JAMS and Jon Wolfert...
Jon is one of the few Sonovox performers around.
Many boomers remember Peter Frampton's use of it.

 

[Brian Roth]

Frampton and Joe Walsh! lol Did Jon learn the art when he was at PAMS? I clearly recall 1960's KOMA jingles with the "talkbox".

"(Music) a go-go. KOMA 1520" .... (Music) being the Sonovox portion, with the rest sung by the PAMS vocal group.

Bri

 

[KA-Electonics.com]

I remember KOMA well and my nearby neighbor worked for them in promotions.

IIRC KOMA had a directional nighttime pattern and they didn't come in well in DFW.
As a kid visiting my brother one summer in El Paso KOMA came in like a barn-burner.

That KOMA Sonovox jingle may have been Jon.
I had forgotten about Joe Walsh.

 

[Brian Roth]

KOMA was one of two Top-40 stations battling there in my hometown of Okla. City. They had a blowtorch 50 kW signal with a three tower pattern at night, protecting WWKB (WKBW) in Buffalo, NY.

A friend I met in the 1970's grew up in Barstow, CA. He and his friends listened to KOMA at night! OTOH, you could barely hear KOMA in Tulsa (90 miles NE) at night.

You can see the null heading NE but not the skywave blasting west.

Bri