21 thoughts on “CBC Radio’s new news chime

    1. Charlie

      I like the first sounder better..I miss the old chime.I remember going to work on the Monday morning that they changed it,and I wasn’t too happy..I loved the chime sound..I dislike the new sounder very much..my co-workers will tell you I was upset with the change..I was quite vocal about it…over & out!

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  1. Frank

    With the emphasis on “This”, it’s one step closer to Jones’ THIS..is CNN
    It does sound more authoritative though so I’ll pick the new one.

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    1. Fagstein Post author

      The comparison is more for the music than the voice. The voice of “this is CBC news” is usually delivered live by the announcer, and so will change with every newscast.

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  2. Philip Moscovitch

    Isn’t it a sting, not a chime?

    I don’t know if it’s better or worse, but it’s VERY SERIOUS. Which can sound funny when you live in a place where the news can include stories like, “A taxi driver got a ticket after he struck a pedestrian and broke her leg,” or “Somebody stole 91 bales of hay from a field in Cape Breton.”

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  3. Olivier

    Fun trivia about the same change that went undrway at the turn of the year on Radio-Canada’s radiojournal: after they changed the chime, they actually had a publicity out on RDI signing the praises of the RJ as a trusted source for info, a classic if you will.

    And how did they signalled that trustworthiness? By using the old chime, of course. Didn’t last long, tough :)

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  4. Qcnewsmusic

    As a news music expert ;-) , I would say that the older one is better.

    I’ve always been a fan of theme you can sing-a-long, like the first one, with a distinctive musical logo. There’s something royal and official in that one, like in the CBC election night theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZiRcT3H2fY). I love those bells!

    The second one is more generic, to my opinion. The 80’s teletype at the end sounds weird, mix to the contemporary beginning of the theme.

    Thanks for that subject, I love news music posts ;-)

    QCnewsmusic
    http://www.youtube.com/user/QCnewsmusic

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  5. John

    Of all the complaints I read online about the changes to CBC News (and there were many), the one I thought was the silliest was the complaint about the chimes. It’s a couple of notes that say, “here’s the news”. I had to laugh reading someone getting worked about it (and I wish I remember where I saw that comment). For what it’s worth, I like them simply because they’re new and I like a change now and again.

    No, the most important thing is to ask if, when the new chimes are played, is the musician playing them standing up or sitting down?

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  6. Chris

    They’re both quite good. I wish there was some way to hear the old one before the one that is now the old one. I seem to remember really liking it. It took me awhile to warm up to the last one. This new one is indeed very authoritative.

    I seem to remember reading somewhere that there’s a sort of pattern behind how CBC Radio does its news chimes with each type of news cast having similar but different chimes. Even with the change in chimes, the pattern would stay the same so one would unconsciously know what type of news cast was coming up, even if the chime changed. Apparently they don’t stick to it anymore.

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  7. Cym Gomery

    I prefer the old one. More distinctive. More memorable. But I applaud the idea of changing it from time to time and I hope they will continue to experiment.

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  8. J-F.S.S

    I’ll really miss the old one, this new chime comes a bit off with the impromptu piano tone. Guess I’ll adapt to it, still.

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  9. M. Irvin

    The new one is higher pitched and a bit irritating. Typically, the CBC barrels on changing what they don’t need to change, while remaining overall pompous. Look at the Hockey Night In Canada theme fiasco. They probably spent more money on coming up with a new theme than just renewing the rights to the old theme.
    Da dum.

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  10. Michel de Londres

    I though the whole point of the former chimes was to have a cross-platform way of signalling the news with the same jingle/chime?

    It shouldn’t be important but I don’t like the new one. If CBC wants an NBC-style chime, it doesn’t help changing it every year. Stick to one and refresh it every now and then.

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  11. Tracy Scott

    A request?
    Is there any way I can get the CBC radio news intro from the late 70’s or early 80’s?
    I just had a friend pass from cancer this week – we used to carpool to university and he would
    drive us crazy listening to the cbc news ( he was the mature one . . .). I would love to share
    that news intro with my friends somehow – at his service, online obit, something.

    Tracy

    Reply
  12. Robin Chibi

    I find the new one too loud. Is there anyway they can lower the volume on all their intros and extros?
    I am always adjusting the volume in the car to maintain the same audio level.
    Robin

    Reply

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