It appears Raoul Wedel is a fan of the “Sound of the City” and the vintage sounds of a legendary AM radio station that is today owned by John Catsimatidis.
And, he’s demonstrating the power of generative AI in 2023 by turning back the clock 60 years with “a tribute” to 1960s jingle producer PAMS that demonstrates how computers can create what humans have produced for decades as an essential for thousands of on-air properties around the world.
An 18-minute demo being shared by Wedel-led Adthos, and it is meant to show how some of radio’s more complex jingles and unique song identifiers can be created solely through genAI.
It is “A Tribute to PAMS,” and was created “as a respectful homage to Pams Productions of Dallas.”
To be clear, this is not a demo designed for sale and use by WABC-AM 770 in New York, the station featured in the demo. Rather, Adthos shares, “It is crafted for non-commercial purposes, intended primarily for educational, research, and entertainment uses.”
That said, the idea of genAI jingles that go deeper than a :15 weather report music bed or what JAM Creative Productions pioneered in the late 1970s and 1980s for such stations as WLS-AM in Chicago and WHTZ “Z100” in New York is clearly designed to create a new business opportunity — one that could potentially reduce the work of jingle musicians and singers.
Today, jingles are still used around the globe, with Netherlands-based Pure Jingles presently one of the more popular choices for stations in numerous countries.
The Adthos demo puts a spotlight on AI creations that are original and not direct copies of any works associated with Pams Productions of Dallas or other entities. And, they are imperfect, as one cut features an AI jazz singer promoting what some may hear as “W-I-B-C” rather than “W-A-B-C”; the intonation was meant to emulate a Harlem singer circa 1961.
Why WABC, and why an era of the station that predates its hugely successful run that began precisely 60 years ago, when “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was first aired on the Top 40 station, beating crosstown WMCA to proclaim itself the official station of the Beatles?
“This tribute has been created as a homage to one of the great radio jingles and is purely a fun way for us to demonstrate just what is possible with today’s AI technology,” Wedel explains.
To hear and see Adthos’ tribute to PAMS’s work for WABC-AM in New York, please click here.
