Althouse: "For 40 years, [NPR's 'Morning Edition' has] basically had the same theme song..."

May 7, 2019

"For 40 years, [NPR's 'Morning Edition' has] basically had the same theme song..."

"... though it has gone through many changes... Since then, the news has been different every day. But the song has stayed the same until now. Can you hear it? The classic melody is intact, but the feel - the whole vibe - has been given an update."

Listen to the old and the new in this 2-minute clip:

81 comments:

Jim Gust said...: If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is broke.; 5/7/19, 3:18 PM
CJinPA said...: Without listening first, I'll guess they added a "World Music" vibe...; 5/7/19, 3:19 PM
Jupiter said...: My tax dollars at play.; 5/7/19, 3:20 PM
gspencer said...: Yeah, the theme's always been the same. "Lefties are great. Conservatives are very, very evil."; 5/7/19, 3:20 PM
Kevin said...: If you play the new song backwards you can hear the voice of Trump begging to be impeached.; 5/7/19, 3:21 PM
CJinPA said...: ....I was wrong. They updated it from the 1970s to a 1980s sound.; 5/7/19, 3:21 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: "For 40 years, NPR's Morning Edition has basically had the same theme..."

Why yes, yes it has.; 5/7/19, 3:25 PM
stevew said...: NPR Morning Edition airs during the time of day when I am not available to listen, so I don't know anything about the musical introduction. Did the show's fans complain and demand a change? The new version sounds rather over produced to me. Do people that listen to the show invest a lot of energy in the intro?

I record most of the shows I watch and so usually skip over the intro - that's not the reason I'm watching. Btw, GOT has a long, involved, and complicated opening song with cool visuals. It was interesting the first time but I just skip it now, it's become tedious.; 5/7/19, 3:27 PM
rehajm said...: My tax dollars at play, alright. I want the theme song to sound like when the compactor is going on the back of the garbage truck.; 5/7/19, 3:28 PM
etbass said...: Been a very long time since I listened. Remember well Bawb Edwards.; 5/7/19, 3:29 PM
Tina Trent said...: I don't care if they have goats chewing. I don't want them to have my tax dollars to libel me anymore.; 5/7/19, 3:29 PM
rhhardin said...: Radio Japan changed their news music after decades, a few months ago.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/podcast/rss/english.xml

A nice thing to check every day for news with no US bias, albeit their own.; 5/7/19, 3:29 PM
gilbar said...: OMG! What is Chuck going to do about THIS???
Is it GOOD? i mean, it Must be: It's NPR!
Is it BAD? i mean, it Must be: It WAS npr!

If you're a Life Long Liberal, that gets all his news from msnbc, the bulwark and NPR...
Change is BAD, right? (but, on the other hand; Everything NPR does is GOOD, right?); 5/7/19, 3:33 PM
Achilles said...: National Public Radio no longer really works either.

They should just change the name to Fascist Public Radio and get it over with.; 5/7/19, 3:36 PM
effinayright said...: "Another forty years", my ass.

Trump should defund them NOW.; 5/7/19, 3:39 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Ha! I noticed the different music this morning AND my local station had a fill-in announcer--I thought the two might be related in some way but I guess that was a coincidence. Thanks for the info!; 5/7/19, 3:40 PM
Jupiter said...: How about "National Socialist Public Radio"?; 5/7/19, 3:45 PM
Rob said...: I expected the new theme music would be a dirge, heavy on the minor chords and appropriate for NPR's view of a Trumpian apocalypse. But it's only a slightly more gimmicky version. I'm woefully unfamiliar with what passes for popular music these days. Is the new music something Taylor Swift fans would find more congenial?; 5/7/19, 3:47 PM
Fernandinande said...: Speaking of music, I'd like to see Blondie vs Tarzan.; 5/7/19, 3:52 PM
Bilwick said...: Shouldn't the theme be the Internationale?; 5/7/19, 3:53 PM
Anonymous said...: National Peoples' Radio.

Used to listen to Morning Edition (and Weakened Condition before I remembered it was Saturday) and to ATC--short commute to and from work.

God do I not miss them.

Narr
I do recall some good stories, including one about the similarity of the ATC theme to some little piano thing by C-M von Weber(?); 5/7/19, 4:00 PM
Sebastian said...: Wait, did the Palestinians change their anthem?; 5/7/19, 4:04 PM
Krumhorn said...: The revised version sounds like terrible elevator music. At least the original sets mood that isn't all hyped up. Of course, NPR is leftie broadcasting paid with tax dollars so I don't care what crappy theme music they use. I'm reminded of that great line from My Cousin Vinny when in response to Vinny's question about his hunting pants, Lisa says:

A sweet, innocent, harmless, leaf-eating, doe-eyed little deer. ...Imagine you’re a deer. You’re prancing along, you get thirsty, you spot a little brook, you put your little deer lips down to the cool clear water… BAM! A fucking bullet rips off part of your head! Your brains are laying on the ground in little bloody pieces! Now I ask ya. Would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing?

That's how I feel about the NPR theme music.

- Krumhorn; 5/7/19, 4:05 PM
RobinGoodfellow said...: Not an NPR regular listener.

That said, I have listened to small pieces of the show over the years. I really don’t like the new sound. Someone else described it as elevator music, and I agree. Terrible.; 5/7/19, 4:09 PM
Krumhorn said...: Here's the scene.

Marisa Tomei was priceless in that movie.

- Krumhorn; 5/7/19, 4:10 PM
MadisonMan said...: I suspect someone with a salary in the low 6 figures worked on this for more than 6 months.

This was not money well spent, but I guess they can say they did something.; 5/7/19, 4:10 PM
traditionalguy said...: I miss Bob Edwards. Background music is icing on the cake of his voice.; 5/7/19, 4:11 PM
Fen said...: You should have heard their Clinton Impeachment coverage. Two different movies.; 5/7/19, 4:12 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: Yeah That'll do it.; 5/7/19, 4:12 PM
rcocean said...: Y'know the REAL reason they did this? So, they can give royalty money to their friend that wrote it.

And now that they're updating things, why don't they get rid of Nina Totenberg and everyone over 70.; 5/7/19, 4:19 PM
narciso said...: The real hellfire club:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7002941/Nxivm-leader-Keith-Raniere-raped-girl-15-ordered-sexually-assault-woman-tied-up.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwAR22D6JjXSAhAh2P0Yak6bYWvQp2WmAPl2CXUShPnHBiUIfDrWX6Kc2Se-E; 5/7/19, 4:23 PM
rcocean said...: OK thanks narcisco. Thanks for saving me 2 seconds and moving my finger to google where I can see all the top news stories. What about Sports? Want to give us an update?; 5/7/19, 4:29 PM
madAsHell said...: I remember when the local radio station would present the news over the background sound effect of a teletype hammering away. That's a kind of theme song.; 5/7/19, 4:33 PM
Marty said...: I love it when Althouse trolls us with MSM ephemera.; 5/7/19, 4:38 PM
robother said...: I was expecting something a bit more ominous, in this Time of Trump, when the Whole Earth has just 10 more years until Le Deluge.
Instead, its elevator music all the way down.; 5/7/19, 4:38 PM
Clayton Hennesey said...: Sounds as if it were lifted from a music file playing in the lobby of a Sandals resort in the Caribbean.

What's really hot is the way Rachel Martin pronounces all her short As as short Os, like that girl who demonstrated the facts of life to you for the very first time.; 5/7/19, 4:44 PM
Fen said...: Thanks for saving me 2 seconds and moving my finger to google where I can see all the top news stories. What about Sports? Want to give us an update?

Don't be an ass. I like his links. World doesn't revolve around you. If it really bothers you that much, scroll on by.; 5/7/19, 4:44 PM
narciso said...: Since NPR has mainstreamed deviance since 1984, I thought it fit the thread, I listened to 'wait wait dont tell me' thinking it had to have value; 5/7/19, 4:53 PM
Be said...: For years, public radio folks woke up to bird songs, thanks to Robert J(ay) Lurtsema.; 5/7/19, 4:55 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I have discovered that post-Trump, I can no longer listen to NPR. I was a fan for many years -- I wasn't deaf to the bias, but I could live with it. No more.

That said, the best theme for a new show is Classical Gas; 5/7/19, 4:55 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: new show ==> news show, dangit!; 5/7/19, 4:56 PM
rcocean said...: "Don't be an ass. I like his links. World doesn't revolve around you. If it really bothers you that much, scroll on by."

Normally I wouldn't respond, but I'm bored at work, so I will.

Narcisco isn't really giving us the "Breaking news", he's bored by the topic and wants to derail it. We're all supposed to click on his "linked new story" and talk about that. We're all supposed to discuss what *He* wants - not the Althouse topic. Its actually quite arrogant and egotistical. Of course, compared the "Chuck and Friends Show" its actually not that bad.; 5/7/19, 4:56 PM
rcocean said...: Since NPR has mainstreamed deviance since 1984, I thought it fit the thread, I listened to 'wait wait dont tell me' thinking it had to have value

OK - sorry- my mistake. I take back what i wrote. Or as Emily Litella would say "Never mind".; 5/7/19, 4:59 PM
narciso said...: it's a cult involving scions of major industry, two political dynasties in mexico, and the father of one presidential candidate, as irrelevant as she is,; 5/7/19, 5:10 PM
rehajm said...: I like the idea of throwing them off the safe quasi government dock into the cold market economy waters and broadcasting the results, like a CNBC reality show.; 5/7/19, 5:13 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: NPR is 'Stuff White People Like', and changing the theme song won't change that.

(In the sense of the famous web site about blue bicoastals, not the white people who like Nascar or hunting..); 5/7/19, 5:17 PM
Mary Beth said...: I miss Bob Edwards. Since he was from Louisville, when he gave the morning temperatures from cities around the U.S., he would sometimes give the temperature of one of the small towns/cities around Louisville - Middletown, Fairdale, Anchorage, Pleasure Ridge Park....; 5/7/19, 5:34 PM
Robert J. said...: Fittingly, it's the same old tune, but played inside an echo chamber.; 5/7/19, 5:35 PM
John D said...: Putting lipstick on a pig?; 5/7/19, 5:36 PM
JackWayne said...: It’s certainly got a Julia feel to it. Or is it Soy Boy?; 5/7/19, 5:52 PM
Sam L. said...: I gave up on NPR some years back. I don't care how the music sounds.; 5/7/19, 6:12 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: What Sam L. said.

NPR: National Palestinian Radio. Life is too short to listen to it. Especially when we have a good classical station in town.; 5/7/19, 6:22 PM
stever said...: I made it a habit to avoid NPR. Too bad I can't ignore the groupthink it has created in people.; 5/7/19, 6:37 PM
bagoh20 said...: New one sounds like a cell phone ring tone, which I guess is "modern".

I pretty much stopped listening to NPR due to their slanted coverage of the Iraq war. I quit Facebook years ago, and today I deleted my Twitter account due to clear censorship of conservative views. We need open, tolerant alternatives to the Big Brother tech we have now. They don't care about pushback becuase they are willing to lose customers to win the next election. They simply have made that calculation and will not stop their election tampering for the sake of anything.; 5/7/19, 6:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Don't get me wrong, our NPR affiliate here IS the classical station, and I give 'em money every month despite the politics of the news shows.

Opera, Gristle and Hamhock w/Fiona Ritchie-- can't get that on any other station in these parts.

Narr
Art's bigger than all that, y'all; 5/7/19, 6:45 PM
readering said...: I'd like to know more about what went into their thinking with this change. But I listen to KUSC, pure classical music, without the news.; 5/7/19, 6:56 PM
Michael said...: bird songs, thanks to Robert J(ay) Lurtsema. --Be

The all-time, inimitable, unquestionable, greatest... ! I was just missing him again the other day. Will anyone ever again approach his eccentric but wonderfully comforting style with so much silence? Seems unlikely, doesn't it?; 5/7/19, 6:58 PM
Henry said...: It's an evolution from Dentist Office Guitar to Sitcom Synth.; 5/7/19, 7:05 PM
Michael said...: Btw, loved how NPR's little promo tried to associate itself with Clint Eastwood and Shaft... he's a real motherfu -- SHAFT! People whose movies they undoubtedly wrung their hands disapprovingly over at the time.

When NPR news comes onto our local classical station at certain hours, it is immediately shut off by switching to a Haydn CD or something similar to serve as refreshing substitute for five or 50 minutes, depending.; 5/7/19, 7:07 PM
Henry said...: bagoh20 said...
New one sounds like a cell phone ring tone

That nails it exactly.; 5/7/19, 7:08 PM
Henry said...: I remember Robert J Lurtsema quite well. His kind of public radio was a different world than what we've had since.; 5/7/19, 7:11 PM
Eric said...: I listen to a bit of Morning Edition and I can think of lots of better ways for them to spend their money.; 5/7/19, 7:19 PM
chuck said...: The news changes? I once pulled some old papers out of a wall and they were good as new, you would hardly know the difference to read them. NPR could save money if they recycled old broadcasts.; 5/7/19, 7:59 PM
Marcus Bressler said...: I've always thought that "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" had to be the stupidest fucking game show name ever.

Change my mind.

THEOLDMAN; 5/7/19, 8:59 PM
Phil 314 said...: I always found NPR less conflictual and more condescending.

Like that liberal you’re speaking with at the party and he/she says “I’m sure you sincerely believe that.”; 5/7/19, 9:11 PM
gilbar said...: rcocean said...
Y'know the REAL reason they did this? So, they can give royalty money to their friend that wrote it.

Have you noticed how often they send their 'news personalities' to do reports on far away places, that just coincidentally happen to be prime left wing vacation spots? Like Paris?; 5/7/19, 9:25 PM
RichardJohnson said...: Strawberry Phil
I always found NPR less conflictual and more condescending.

I detected the sneering, condescending tone of NPR during the '80s. As I was voting Third Party at the time- best defined as "None of the above-" I had no inherent preference towards either the Democrat or Republican candidate. I noticed the sneering, condescending tone of the NPR announcer in announcing a Reagan victory.

It's been so long since I listened to NPR that I didn't recognize the old tune.; 5/7/19, 9:36 PM
nbks said...: 1) The new theme is blander than rice crispies.
2) Thank you for reminding me that podcasting freed me from decades of listening to NPR. I didn't agree with their "more govt is always better" worldview but it passed for thoughtul audio entertainment compared with the other radio options; 5/7/19, 10:04 PM
Josephbleau said...: I liked the all things considered theme with the brassy marching swing. Reminded me of what DC should be like. NPR puts me to sleep now, although I did like listening to the old show “ The dustbins of Jazz.”; 5/7/19, 10:55 PM
Achilles said...: bagoh20 said...

I pretty much stopped listening to NPR due to their slanted coverage of the Iraq war.

The stuff they, and I mean the media in general, were putting out there would get back to us while we were over there.

We did not think highly of them.

Pretty much everyone in the media in general are just terrible human beings.; 5/8/19, 1:34 AM
Chris said...: Who the hell listens to National Propaganda Radio? Who the hell cares about the theme music?; 5/8/19, 6:01 AM
Michael said...: @Strawberry Phil
Absolutely right. The NPR newscasters' uniformly smug, self-satisfied tones are so extraordinarily unaware they belong in the Smithsonian Institute.; 5/8/19, 7:12 AM
Michael said...: And isn't that tone-deafness a direct consequence of their non-competitive position? They can imagine they are all wonderful and superior and it doesn't really matter effects that may have on their audience -- too many of whom are desperate to belong to that same club.; 5/8/19, 7:20 AM
JAORE said...: It has a good beat and you can dance to it.; 5/8/19, 7:39 AM
Craig Howard said...: Back in my daily commute days, I would listen to Buffalo's major news station until one of the very frequent commercials came on.

Then I would switch to NPR and listen until someone said something crazily liberal.

Back to the news station.

Lather, rinse, repeat.; 5/8/19, 8:13 AM
Fen said...: I always found NPR less conflictual and more condescending.

I bet their staff is as Limousine Liberal White as HuffPo.

Fen's Law. Again. Is there anything it can't do? It even opens mayonnaise jars. Orders yours today for $19.99! First 12 callers are eligible to enter a drawing for a chance to win a spot in our raffle of a lotto ticket!; 5/8/19, 8:18 AM
Fen said...: We're all supposed to click on his "linked new story" and talk about that. We're all supposed to discuss what *He* wants - not the Althouse topic.

So what.

And we're not "supposed" to do anything. Just like we have the freedom to discuss or not discuss his posting habits on Althouse. We have free will. And sometimes Althouse's topics are not interesting to me either. I usually just skim past those.

Did you see the one he posted that sleuthed out all the Fusion GPS personnel and their connections to our intelligence agencies? I haven't see that anywhere else. So, as far as I'm concerned, he can go wherever his creative instincts take him. And my opinion matters as much as your does here. ;); 5/8/19, 8:24 AM
Fen said...: Although I guess we could take another pass at how out of touch and posey NPR is.

Yawn...

I'm sorry, slipped out there. What was I saying?

Oh yah. NPR. They are really ignorant biased and preening Virtue Signalers, aren't they?

Yup. And I hear they changed their music or something. Yup.; 5/8/19, 8:28 AM
CapitalistRoader said...: Wow! The Morning Edition song with an added, annoying disco beat.; 5/8/19, 9:08 AM
Mr. D said...: So they should use the theme from "Shaft" as well and dedicate it to the taxpayers.; 5/8/19, 9:45 AM
Michael said...: Fen's Law. Fen's scolding. Fen's boredom.

OK, Fen-Fen! Please post more enlightening material for all us other yahoos here. We need more instruction. Btw, are you currently married?; 5/8/19, 10:25 AM