Beep at top of the hour on WBZ disappeared

[Bob Nelson]

Maybe gone by now but WTIC Hartford had a morse code (or some such)
representation of the letter V for victory.It sounded like the first four
notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. (Notes G, G, G, E flat.) This ran at
the top of the hour.

WCBS New York and some CBS affiliates ran some notes that sounded like
dong...dong...dong...dong! then it went to the CBS News top of the hour
sounder. This can be heard 1 min and 9 seconds into this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc3jiAgA0rU

TV networks would have a ding at the top of the hour, start of a program. A
website called TVParty used to have that sound when the page loaded.

Bob Nelson

On Wednesday, September 26, 2018, A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com>
wrote:

> It goes back earlier than the 1970s.  I remember it in the late 1950s or
> early 1960s, when I was in high school.  I had an electric alarm clock
> which I would set to the exact top of the hour -- minute and second hand on
> the 12 -- and hold the plug in my hand near the outlet while listening to
> the leadup to the WBZ news on the hour. As soon as I heard the tone, I'd
> quickly plug in the clock.
>
>
> On 9/26/2018 12:19 AM, Ron Bello wrote:
>
>> Beep at top of the hour was a creation of Norm Graham, 1970s CE at BZ
>> radio
>> Was probably left behind at 1170 SFR
>>
>> There might also be an issue with timing between regular analog signal
>> and HD
>> Which tone is correctly timed ?
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 12:11 AM A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com
>> <mailto:joe@attorneyross.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     I think this may have been the last station to have that beep on the
>>     hour.  I think BBC World Service still has it, but that can be a
>>     second
>>     or two delayed.  I guess I'll have to start setting my watch by
>>     either
>>     my cellphone or the Windows clock.  The beep on the hour has gone the
>>     way of Jordan Marsh, WHDH radio, and the Red Sox talent for snatching
>>     defeat from the jaws of victory.
>>
>>     On 9/25/2018 7:06 PM, Mario Gonzalez via Boston-Radio-Interest wrote:
>>
>>     I commute to work and we listen to WBZ on a car radio in the mornings
>>     and afternoons.  We used to hear the beep at the top of the hour
>>     but it
>>     seems to have disappeared.  Even when we last heard it, it seemed
>>     to be
>>     late, maybe 30 seconds after our cell phones changed their time to
>>     the
>>     top of the hour.  I don't know which device was correct though.
>>
>>     I'm not sure if WINS in New York still does the beep at the top of
>>     the
>>     hour, but if they do, I only hear them online or on my Alexa devices.
>>
>>     I think it used to be traffic and weather on the 3's and I think it's
>>     just traffic on the 3's and weather afterwards?
>>
>>     Mario
>>     f
>>     --     A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103
>> <https://maps.google.com/?q=.+Joseph+Ross,+J.D.+%C2%B7+1340+Centre+Street,+Suite+103+&entry=gmail&source=g>·
>> Newton, MA
>>     02459
>>     617.367.0468 · Fax:617.507.7856 · http://www.attorneyross.com
>>
>>
> --
> A. Joseph Ross, J.D. · 1340 Centre Street, Suite 103 · Newton, MA 02459
> 617.367.0468 · Fax:617.507.7856 · http://www.attorneyross.com
>