RCA Thesaurus Tribute Page
Now I turn to the 4 records I have in the RCA Thesaurus library. My first 2 records have to be from 1956 at the latest! The next 2 come from what was by then called the "New Thesaurus", from 1966 and 67.
It began in the 30's as "NBC Thesaurus", a service radio stations subscribed to which made records of short songs, around 2 minutes each, by musical artists ranging from big-band to opera to country. The stations could use the songs as station features, or filler, or whatever use they could find for them.
Now I don't know anything of what happened between NBC Thesaurus, the musical programming service, and RCA Thesaurus, the what-we-would-now-call "production library". I'm just glad to have gotten my hands on these records.
All these records come under the RCA Thesaurus sub-category called "Sell Tunes". The records from the 50's didn't set out to make spots that were :30 or 1:00 long. They were mostly so stations could use them as intros to live commercials.
ST-600, 1956(?)
SIDE 1
The first 3 cuts deal with Easter clothing.
1. Easter -
Children (Easter For Children)
2.
Easter - Women (Easter is a Happy Day)
3.
Easter - Men (Everyone Likes to Look His Best on Easter)
4.
Supermarket (The Way to a Man's Heart) "...and the prices are - soooooooo
lowwwwwwww."
5. Food Store
- Delivery (Food for Thought) Below the list of contents, the record label
has this note: "Band 5 allows phone number insertion after
ting." I think the barbershop quartet was a neat touch.
6. Week-End
Special - Food (Week-End Special)
7.
Week-End Special - Food (To Market, To Market)
8.
Week-End Special - General (Week-End Special)
9.
Week-End Special - General (Nifty, Thrifty)
10.
Week-End Special - General (Clever Lady) "There is a clever lady named Hayes,
who gets the most for the money she pays."
SIDE 2
1.
Spring Fashions - Women (Spring Garden of Fashion)
2. June
Bride - Gifts, Furniture, Appliances (June Bride)
3.
Shopper's Radio Special - Neutral (Shopper's Radio Special)
4.
Shopper's Radio Special - Specific Sponsor (Shopper's Radio
Special)
5.
Household Services and Products (Busy, Busy, Busy)
6. Time
Payment - Neutral (Easy Time Payment)
7. Time
Payment --(Friendly Credit)
8.
Automobiles - New and Used (The Best Value)
9. Auto
Service (Be Kind to Your Automobile)
10.
Banks - Children's Savings (Teach Your Children to Save)
ST-602, 1956(?)
SIDE 1
1.
Automobiles - Used (Come To Us) Excuse me a minute. Do I hear - rock
& roll? Something CRC didn't start using until the
mid-60's and Pepper-Tanner just started to flirt with in the
late-60's?! A production library record using rock music
more-less in its infancy?!? This really shocked me!
2. Automobiles
- Used (The Best Deal) And
in contrast to the previous track, the barbershop quartet strikes
again!
3. Furs (Give
Her Fur)
4. TV
Sets (Television)
5. Outdoor
Products; Clothing (Happy Summertime) After the listing for this track on the
record label, it says "(lyrics end at :29 for commercial
over humming)" It's funny how they try to rhyme
"pleasure" with, uh, "leasure"?
The next 5 tracks identified certain days of the
week with certain activities, and gave commercial intro jingles
for Monday, aka "wash day", "Wednesday
mend-day",etc. Thursday was called "market day",
even though I remember as a kid in the 70's and early 80's that
our day to go to the grocery store was Wednesday. This must've
been done the way "positioners" are done today in FM
radio. A group of "braintrusts" probably did
"research" and determined that most housewives did
laundry on Monday, ironing on Tuesday, mending on Wednesday, etc.
So this was how to reach those housewives right where they live.
6. Appliances;
Household Products (Monday, Wash Day)
7. Appliances;
Household Products (Ironing Day) "Your these-and-those"?
8. Appliances;
Household Products (Mending Day) "We'll help you knit the rattle sleeve
of care." I'd love to hear one of those alt-rock
stations try that.
9. Food -
General (Market Day)
10.
Appliances; Household Products (Cleaning Day)
SIDE 2
1. Back
to School - General (Soon There'll Be School Days)
2. Back
to School - Clothing (Back To School)
From now on, the record gets into the area of
station features - ID's, program intros, PSA's, etc.
3. Holiday
Theme - General (Happy Holiday)
Below the list of contents, the label says "Bands 4,
5, 6 and 7 allow :04 for insertion of station call letters."
4. Station
Break - Sign-On (Good Morning) "This is radio stationnnnnnnn..."
while an announcer gives the call letters. A little corny, but I love
this musical tag, especially in the next 3 tracks!
5. Station
Break (Regulations)
6.
Station Break - Music-News-Sports (Let Us Pause For a Moment)
7.
Station Break (Keep Your Eyes On The Road) Now, I have quite a few driving
safety messages in my production library collection, but nothing
that compares to this!
8. Farm News
Theme (Farming News) What
Les Nessman might've used when he first started out.
9. Sports
Theme (Sports Parade)
10. Elections
(Get Out And Vote!)
In 1965, RCA Thesaurus Became "New Thesaurus". It now adapted the style of the production libraries such as those from Pepper.
The records consisted of 3 jingles per side, starting with a :10 version of the jingle, then the full version which was either :30 or 1:00 long, and an instrumental version. The numbering system continued as it was from Thesaurus on through New Thesaurus. These records were now known under two sub-names, "Sell-Tunes" and "Hot Spots".
ST-833, 1966
SIDE 1
1.
Plumbing and Heating (vocal only)
2.
Plumbing and Heating The
1:00 commercials started with the :10 version, added instrumental
music, then ended with a tag sing.
3. Plumbing and
Heating Instrumental
version.
At this point, I'll only put the full-sing
versions here.
5. Building and
Lumber The :30 ads
didn't have a tag sing.
8. Paint
Supplies
SIDE 2
2.
Insurance
5.
Variety Store
8.
Furniture
ST-855, 1967
SIDE 1
2.
Service Station (Automobiles)
5. Auto
Insurance
8. Auto
Repair Service
SIDE 2
2. Movie
Theatre
5.
Children's & Infant's Wear
8.
Luggage
E-Mail: sr@sammyreed.com