The Smooth Sound of NPR Morning News

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2019

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do Bach and smooth jazz have in common? Both score the unmistakable theme song for NPR's flagship show Morning Edition, listened to by millions across the country every day since 1979. This is undeniably pop music, a daily soundtrack to the lives of many. So why does it sound the way it does? And why, after forty years, why does NPR want to change it? Featuring: BJ Leiderman - Morning Edition Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good Herbie Hancock - Chameleon George Benson - Breezin' Kenny G - Songbird Don Voegeli/Wycliffe Gordon - All Things Considered Take 6 - All Things Considered Phish - All Things Reconsidered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Sabotage hired goons and a landfill in Utah.
0:05.0	How Steve Jobs' revolutionary catastrophe of a computer, the Apple Lisa, earned a brief
0:10.7	second life and then was buried for good.
0:14.8	Watch the Verges documentary Lisa's final act now on YouTube.
0:30.0	Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.
0:37.0	I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:39.0	Charlie, today we are here to talk about one of the most popular songs in the Western
0:42.7	world.
0:43.7	Oh, and it's not Taylor Swift.
0:46.7	And it's not Lil Nas X.
0:48.7	No.
0:49.7	And it's not the Jonas Brothers.
0:50.7	Okay.
0:51.7	Let's just spin it.
1:00.0	All right.
1:07.0	What are we listening to here, Charlie?
1:11.1	This is the warning edition theme song by NPR.
1:16.4	Ding, ding, ding.
1:18.0	And while the song is not at the top of the charts, this is absolutely part of the world
1:22.7	of popular music.
1:23.7	I mean, this is as popular as music gets.
1:26.4	This is heard by millions and millions of people every single day.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.