Hello News

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Hello News is a popular television news music package and image campaign. Written and composed by Frank Gari for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, PA, the Hello News theme package first became available in 1978, and by the 1980s it had become one of the most widely used and recognized news music packages in the United States, with numerous local television stations using it.

Some stations continue to use the package, and Gari Communications' composer Chris Gari completed an 18-cut update to the package in 2004. Half of the cuts make use of a heavily disco-themed melody which harkens back to the original Hello News series, and the second half are more of a hard-hitting nature.

The accompanying image campaign was also very popular, and was even used by television stations in Canada, Australia and some Latin American countries.

[edit] Image campaign

The station promotional jingle that accompanied the news theme was one of the most notable parts of the music package. The earliest version was sung by Gari himself; he then modified it into a ballad version sung by Florence Warner. The two versions had similar lyric structures, but the first version had a repeated chorus to account for its faster pace.

The following is an example of the lyrics used for the ballad version, as heard on WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee:

There's a feeling in the air
That you can't get anywhere
Except in Nashville
I've tasted thousand yesterdays
And I love the magic ways
Of Nashville
Working side by side
We share the growing pride
Each time you touch the sky
From where the river flows
To where the sunset goes
We're all good neighbors passing by
(CHORUS)
Makes no difference where I go
You're the best hometown I know
Hello Nashville
Hello Nashville!
Channel 4 loves you...

Obviously, the location and station name varied for each television market. Besides that, numerous variations of the lyrics had also been written, often to include references to locations and sceneries specific to a particular market (eg. the Yarra River is mentioned in HSV-7's "Hello Melbourne"). In the 80's, WXIA, Atlanta adapted the campaign to include their popular identity, "11 Alive," as well as the popular NBC slogan, "Let's All Be There!" In 1985, The Commodores updated "Hello, Georgia" thus:

There's a feeling in the air
That you can't get anywhere
Except in Georgia
And no matter where I go
The best people that I know
Are here in Georgia
There's a magic we can't hide
When Eleven comes alive
Like a star shining bright
Cause we've got good times to share
Let us take you there
We'll light up your night
You know, it makes no difference where we go
You're the best place that we know
(Spoken) Hello, Atlanta!
(Spoken) Hello, Georgia!
Let's all be there on 11 Alive!

Several years later, Gari introduced a new variant, mostly consisting of the line "Say Hello". A few other stations aired their own customized versions that deviated from the regular versions even more (eg. WBAL-TV in Baltimore introduced a version which tied in with "Reach for the Stars", the tagline for its then-parent network CBS). All variants, however, retained the familiar "Makes no difference where I go" chorus. Promos utilizing this jingle often included a montage of local people waving at the camera. KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, MO made more than a dozen separate versions highlighting a specific county in their viewing area.

The treatments of the vocals were also varied. While most stations either used Gari's or Warner's vocals, some decided to go for a local twist, and have residents in their viewing areas sing the ballad version instead. Country music group Atlanta sang one version of WXIA-TV's "Hello Georgia", while the Osmonds were featured on KUTV's "Hello Utah".

Many stations had dropped the "Hello" campaign by the 1990s; however, a few brought it back in the 2000s as they approached their 50th anniversary celebrations (eg. Portland, Maine's WGME and Calgary, Alberta's CICT). The instrumentals and vocals were updated, but the structure to the song itself remained basically the same.

[edit] External links

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