New Musical Image

WQAM Proud Of It's New Musical Image

From The Miami Herald

By JACK E. ANDERSON
Herald TV•Radio Editor

VQAM'S general manager Jack Sandler is beaming like an 18th century nabob who has just had delivered to him a commissioned symphony by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

He has finally gotten on the air WQAM's new musical "image," a daylong series of variations on the station's theme sung by a vocal aggregation called The Skipjacks.

It took weeks of recording by The Sklpjacks and their instrumental supporters in a New York studio to put on tape almost 1,000 brief variations for use for WQAM's station breaks and as introductory music to its various programs.

Each variation is based on the musical phrase that spells out WQAM's call letters.

"IN A WAY it's more elaborate than a symphony," said Sandler as he and I sat among the whirring tape reels of WQAM's quarters in the McAllister Hotel the ether day.

"Now listen," he said, signaling program director Chuck Murdock to push the necessary buttons. One by one the close-harmonied Skipjack group sang out the string of variations.

There was a nice jazzy scherzo for introducing the station's "Top 40" shows for the sub-21 listeners. The weather introduction smacked of breezes and sailboats.

Sandier was very eager for the tape to hit the sports segment.

"Here it is," he said with one finger raised expectantly. "It's a whale of a march."

The musical phrasing sounded a little top stately for sports.

"I'm wrong," said Sandler as the theme became more and more stately. "That's the introductory for Alan Courtney's show."

BY NOW the theme was plainly liturgical. "Oh I know what that is," he said. "That's our church service introductory." He shouted to Murdock to run the tape throughmile or two to the sports segment.

We got it at last. The Skipjacks' caissons were finally rolling along, Sandler's foot and finger tapped spritedly in tempo.

"I'm thinking seriously having it orchestrated," said Sandier as The Skipjacks' voices faded across the imaginary parade ground. "We'll call it the 'WQAM Tiger March' and present the score to the University of Miami symphony.'

The "tiger" refers to WQAM's new designation of itself as "the tiger station. " The striped pussy is part of the WQAM leitmotif (awright call it descriptive musical phrase) in each of the new musical variations.

INCIDENTALLY, Sandler and his aides are feeling more tigerish by the moment. They're involved in a nasty scrap with WFUN, the Rounseville station.

The scrap crested recently when two of WQAM's disc jockeys defected without notice to the opposition. WQAM's automation and the fast footwork of Murdock and the other faithfuls saved the day.

Sandler's visor is lowered, his lance is raised and once the band strikes up the "WQAM Tiger March" he expects to take some of the fun out of WFUN.