Jones TM
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JonesTM, Inc. is a radio jingle company based in Dallas, Texas (USA). It is currently the oldest radio jingle company still in business, with roots tracing back to 1955 when Tom Merriman (The "TM" in JonesTM) founded Commercial Recording Corporation (which closed in 1968). Tom Merriman left CRC in 1967 and founded TM Productions (later known as TM Communications, Inc. - a publically traded company) with Jim Long. By this time, Century 21 Productions (later known as Century 21 Programming, Inc.), another Dallas jingle company, was founded.
Both jingle companies remained in business until 1990, when TM Communications, Inc. and Century 21 Programming, Inc. merged to become TM Century, Inc.[1]
Along the way, TM Productions acquired the ID jingle, syndication reels and production libraries of Media General Broadcast Services. Media General was the purchaser of the former William B. Tanner Company[2] (also formerly known as "Pepper & Tanner" and before that, "Pepper Sound Studios"). MG's operations in Memphis was shut down and the master backing tracks and sound libraries were boxed up and shipped to Dallas. All of the reference reels for the syndicated ID Jingles and customized production libraries and commercials were dumpstered in Memphis. JonesTM has placed these reels in the custody of Media Preservation Foundation,[3] though the copyrights are retained by JonesTM. The production libraries were cherry-picked and incorporated in various JonesTM libraries still sold to this day.
Other entities and audio assets incorporated into TM and Century 21 over the years included the audio works of Ed Yelin, Ken Sunderland Productions, Sterling Sound and several other companies. Again, these assets were cherry-picked (or in some cases, just pulled out of the marketplace) and the master reels shelved.
Studio Dragonfly, a division of JonesTM, offers radio station jingles at low prices. Several of the jingles offered by Studio Dragonfly were previously produced by TM Productions, Century 21 and many others. JonesTM also has another division that exculsively handles commercial jingles known as JingleBank. In order to facilitate ID jingle enthusiasts the ability to purchase "personal cuts" JonesTM initiated a program called iJingles in 2006.
Over the years jingle composers such as Bruce Upchurch, Bruce Wermuth, Greg Clancy and Barry Young have composed jingle packages for JonesTM and its predecessors. Tom Merriman, now in his eighties, has composed several jingle packages for the company, most recently KLUV's Greatest Hits in 2005.
Of all the radio stations using jingles from Jones TM and its predecessors, WPLJ in New York City has ordered more jingle packages to date: seven so far since 1991. JonesTM is now a wholy owned division of Jones Media Group, which acquired the company in September of 2006 by buying out the then-current shareholders.
The full history of TM Productions and the other ID jingle producers is documented in Don Worsham's book, The Hits Between The Hits: The History Of Radio ID Jingles[4]. ISBN 0974268909
