{"id":17595,"date":"2014-10-22T00:01:35","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T07:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=17595"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:43:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T18:43:44","slug":"radio-jingle-terry-moss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/radio-jingle-terry-moss\/","title":{"rendered":"RADIO JINGLE THAT UPSET THE F.C.C."},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I’m sharing stories about and paying tribute to one of the all-time great radio people, the late Terry Moss<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday’s true story was pretty dramatic and little known. <\/span><\/p>\n

Today’s true story is legendary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Terry’s best-known\u00a0contribution to radio personalities around the world continues to bring smiles to DJs and listeners alike: Cheap Radio Thrills<\/span><\/a> \u2014 the best and best-selling radio production library<\/a> of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n

As any old American DJ will confirm, for many years radio stations were required to broadcast periodic tests of the Emergency Broadcast System<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s what the listener would hear:<\/span><\/p>\n

For the next 60 seconds, this station will conduct a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The following is only a test<\/em>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That would be followed by this test tone:<\/span><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/EmergencyBroadcastSystem-TONE.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then the announcer would return to say:<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the FCC and federal, state, and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news, or instructions. This station serves the [ ] area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Invariably the jock would read that copy in a monotone, there’d be silence, then the test tone, then the jock would return to read the close with the same disinterested inflection.<\/span><\/p>\n

Terry decided to change all that \u2014 with these two cuts from Cheap Radio Thrills. Here’s the introduction:<\/span><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Singing_EBS_Test_Open.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the intro, the test tone would be broadcast. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then this cut would be played, complete with a donut for the announcer to read the boilerplate copy that begins, “The broadcasters of your area…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Singing_EBS_Test_Bed_and_Close.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n


\nQuestion:<\/span> As a listener, which test would you be more likely to pay attention to? The one delivered in the bored monotone, or the musical version?<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly far more people would actually listen to the musical rendition \u2014 which really upset the FCC. People actually paying attention<\/strong> to the E.B.S. tests??<\/span><\/p>\n

So in its infinite wisdom, the FCC decreed that the Emergency Broadcast System test could not be sung.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bored monotone that no one listens to = Good.<\/span><\/p>\n

Entertaining version that many people listen to = Bad. <\/span><\/p>\n

(sigh)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I’m sharing stories about and paying tribute to one of the all-time great radio people, the late Terry Moss. Yesterday’s true story was pretty dramatic and little known. Today’s true story is legendary. Terry’s best-known\u00a0contribution to radio personalities around the world continues to bring smiles to DJs and listeners alike: Cheap Radio Thrills […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nRADIO JINGLE THAT UPSET THE F.C.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Radio legend: How Terry Moss upset the Federal Communications Commission by encouraging listeners to pay attention to the Emergency Broadcast System tests.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/radio-jingle-terry-moss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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