News music

News music features the rhythm of a teletype machine or Morse code, together with two of the loudest instrumental groups in the Western orchestra: brass and percussion.

During the 20th century, teletypes and Morse code are major methods being used to transmit news and information, especially in newsrooms before computers and telephones become widespread.

Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence by Lalo Schifrin is also used through newscasts.

What makes Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence a fitting music cue for newscasts is a staccato rhythm resembling the teletype.

Despite not being used in its original form, Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence has been influential in news music.

Utilized in many television newscasts from around the world, Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence has established a certain style and sonic landscape for news music.

The cinematic quality being heard in Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence, which combines its driving rhythm with instrumentation, is adopted and adapted in news themes.

From the late-1960's to the early-1990's, Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence had been the Eyewitness News theme tune, mainly used in its edited form by ABC-owned stations and affiliates.

Increased licensing fees forced local television stations, in particular those using the Eyewitness News concept, to drop Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence by Lalo Schifrin in the 1990's.

New York's ABC station WABC-TV was the first to exploit Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence as the Eyewitness News theme when Al Primo arrived in the late-1960's or before 1969.

Adding to Eyewitness News on WABC-TV under Al Primo was happy talk.

The Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence cue was also used outside the United States, notably in both Canada and Australia.

For Canadians, Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence is the famous theme tune for Pulse on CFCF; for Australians, it is the famous theme tune for National Nine News.

Just before Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence was adopted for the WABC-TV version of Eyewitness News, earlier television news themes featured fanfares in a neutral tone.

Plus, the teletype or Morse code sound was a news sounder without music accompaniment.

With Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence, television news themes have a modern cinematic sound.

Television stations have either used The Tar Sequence or created their own news themes mirroring its modern cinematic sound, especially since the WABC-TV version of Eyewitness News.

007 and 007 Takes The Lektor, two of the music pieces being composed by John Barry for the 1960's James Bond film called From Russia With Love, are also notably used through newscasts.

Like Lalo Schifrin's Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence, what makes From Russia With Love: 007 a suitable music cue for newscasts is a staccato rhythm resembling the teletype.

News executive Al Primo pioneered the use of music being sourced from movies as news themes, all resulting in a more modern and cinematic news music sound than the neutral one of the past.

Aujourd'hui C'est Toi from A Man and a Woman by Francis Lai (in its instrumental iteration) is also utilized through newscasts and current affairs.

In the UK, the BBC's Panorama, which is the longest-running television current affairs program in the world, uses an adaptation of Francis Lai's Aujourd'hui C'est Toi as its theme tune.

What makes Francis Lai's Aujourd'hui C'est Toi piece a fitting music cue for both television news and current affairs is its use of timpani drums, its strings and its French flavour.

The use of timpani drums in Francis Lai's Aujourd'hui C'est Toi piece can convey drama, urgency and importance, all being suited qualities for a news and current affairs program.

Strings in Francis Lai's Aujourd'hui C'est Toi piece convey gravity and significance.

Fast Action, composed for the De Wolfe label and performed by the Laurence Stephen Orchestra, is a stock music cue notably being used for television news.

What makes Fast Action, composed for De Wolfe Music, a fitting music cue for television news is its dynamic and urgent sound, punctuated by brass and strings.

Heavy Action, composed for KPM/EMI in 1974 by Johnny Pearson and released on its own Industrial Panorama album, is known for its usage on Monday Night Football.

Until the 1980's, the intro sequences for Eyewitness News had a simple wide shot of the studio as the news team walked onto the studio set.

Move Closer to Your World is an iconic and famous television news music package that is based on a jingle and still used by WPVI-TV and WNEP-TV.

Before MCTYW, The Action News Theme was the first theme used for the Action News format.

Tom Sellers, who was a student attending Temple University, which also features fellow students Daryl Hall and John Oates (Hall and Oates), wrote The Action News Theme.

Al Ham, who was a session musician in pop music, wrote Move Closer to Your World.

Similarly, both Tom Sellers' The Action News Theme and Al Ham's Move Closer to Your World are centered around a trumpet lead and a timpani-driven finish; they also play in the same key.

Plus, both The Action News Theme and Move Closer to Your World have a soul-pop sound.

The first station to use Move Closer to Your World is WNAC-TV, which is one of the first television stations in the United States to use a jingle-based news music package as well.

For years, WPVI-TV and WNEP-TV, two of the ABC television stations based in Pennsylvania, have utilized Move Closer to Your World, doubling as the only US stations to use this music package.

Aside from both WPVI-TV and WNEP-TV, WJET-TV is another ABC station in Pennsylvania which utilizes Move Closer to Your World.

WPXI, though not an ABC station, is another Pennsylvania station using Move Closer to Your World.

Outside Pennsylvania, WKBW-TV, a former sister station of WPVI-TV, notably used Move Closer to Your World, as did other Capital Cities/ABC stations like WTVD, WTNH, KTRK and KFSN.

Score Productions, based in New York City and held by Robert A. Israel, has been responsible for the music packages being made for both ABC News and ABC Sports under Roone Arledge.

Ever since its inception, Action News has used its fast-paced cinematic intro montage, which includes quick cuts, bold graphics and driving music.

The fast-paced intro sequence for Action News differs from the static intro for Eyewitness News.

Classical Gas by Mason Williams is one of the pop music tunes also being used through newscasts.

For Classical Gas, what makes it a fitting music piece for newscasts, in particular television news, is a distinctive and unique classical and pop combination, its driving rhythm and its upbeat feel.

Like Move Closer to Your World, Classical Gas is being used for Action News.

Some stations that use the Eyewitness News format have their intro sequences made in the style of an Action News intro to reflect a more fast-paced and modern presentation.

Fool's Overture by Supertramp is one of the pop music tunes also being used through current affairs programs.

CTV's W5 notably used a synth-heavy instrumental portion of Fool's Overture by Supertramp.

Dancing in the Stars by Mannheim Steamroller is likewise a pop music piece also being used through newscasts.

What makes Mannheim Steamroller's Dancing in the Stars a fitting music cue for television news is a combination of pop and orchestral elements.

The Mission is an orchestral suite, composed by world-famous Hollywood film music composer John Williams as a television news music package for NBC News.

Having consisted of four movements, The Mission altered this news music sound by moving from the conventional fanfare-based themes towards a symphonic and nuanced approach.

During the 1980's, CNN used stock music cues from many labels, including De Wolfe, KPM, Bruton, Sonoton, Killer Tracks, FirstCom, Atmosphere, Match, Parry, Omni, etc.

Plus, during the 1980's, CNN created custom music for its station identifications.

In 1990, its 10th year, CNN contracted Score Productions to create custom music; it already provided music for CNN's sister network called CNN Headline News since the 1980's.

Some music cues being created for CNN by Score Productions are also stored in the Turner Broadcast Music Library by Sound Ideas

Besides Turner, Sound Ideas formerly distributed De Wolfe Music and Beatbox Music in Canada.

During the Cold War, television news music themes in the Eastern Bloc sounded neutral.

With Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms (glasnost/perestroika), television news music themes in the Eastern Bloc began adopting a more modern uniform Western-influenced sound.

Meanwhile, in both mainland China and Vietnam, many news music themes utilize a modern Western sound, whereas some others sound traditional.

Some Chinese composers also do television news music in a modern Western sound.

Ever since the late-1920's advent of talkies, many stock music labels have used recorded music from different eras and genres.

For the corporate/industrial genre, especially in news and current affairs, stock music incorporates the sounds of technology like the teletype or Morse code.

Plus, the corporate/industrial genre in stock music uses a modern and cinematic orchestral feel, which combines grand orchestral arrangements with industrial and corporate settings in a modern age.

Many modern news music packages incorporate music techniques frequently found in film scores to enhance the emotional impact and storytelling of the news.