The Chimes Go Modern
Their use as a formal network communications signal ended around 1971, the result of automation. Television flagship WNBC in New York kept the sound of the chimes alive, though. In 1974, it incorporated the sequence into the opening of its synthesized theme music for NewsCenter 4 (sharpening the pitch by a half-step). The stinger was heard at the opens to the newscasts' 5, 6 and 11 p.m. hours. Eventually, NBC Radio adopted WNBC-TV's NewsCenter 4 stinger as its top-of-the-hour news sounder. With alterations (and a brief interruption in the early 1990s), WNBC has used a form of the chimes on its newscasts ever since.
The music used on NewsCenter 4, NBC Radio-TV Newspulse by Fred Weinberg, was later used for NBC Nightly News in the 1970s and NBC News bulletins/special reports in the 1970s and 1980s. The usage of the NBC chimes continues in local newscasts on NBC stations to this day, in fact many NBC stations play the NBC Chimes at the end of the weather segment of the newscast, when the extended forecast is shown.
In 1976, the chimes were revived nationally in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the network. Modern musical versions of the three-note chimes are still in popular use on the NBC radio and television networks (and are the opening and closing notes of the current edition of the NBC Nightly News theme song), as well as in the closing logo of NBC Universal Television Studio, the TV production arm of NBC's current immediate parent, NBC Universal.
From 1982 to the early 1990s, most NBC voiceover promos at the end of network shows would begin with the chimes. From 1982 to 1987, the chimes would blend into an instrumental version of the promo slogan that NBC would be using at the time.
The Today Show made the chimes the centerpiece of its theme in 1978, resolving a legal dispute between the network and the composers of the musical Godspell. The musical composers felt that the Ray Ellis-penned closing theme Today used since 1971 (which was also the show's opening theme since 1976) was lifted from the classic Godspell song "Day by Day." Using the chimes as his template, Ellis composed a new theme song, which stuck.
Although Today has used a segment from John Williams' NBC News music package The Mission since 1985, Ellis's revised composition has been used on and off during portions of Today ever since.
NBC News uses a version of the original chimes for special breaking news reports that interrupt regular programming on the network and/or its stations.
NBC's on-air promotions for the fall 2008 television season featured the chimes prominently alongside the new slogan "Chime In". Several used alternate versions tied to specific shows' themes: for example, ringing telephones for The Office; the ringing of cash registers for Deal or No Deal; and objects striking metal for America's Toughest Jobs. Similarly, the chimes have also been used for select promotions in the fall 2012 season.
The use of chimes as an audio logo is not unique, as other broadcasters, including Britain's ATV, Mexico's Televisa Canal de las Estrellas and the Philippines' ABS-CBN have used similar chimes. The Canal de las Estrellas chimes, for example, consist of eight musical notes.
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