2/16/2005
BANK NOTES
OK, bear with me, anybody who’s ever lived in or near Chicago, or watched WGN a lot on cable during the 70s and 80s. “588-2300 . . .” What comes next? “EMPIIIIIIIRE!”
It’s the jingle for Empire Carpets, and it’s been on the air, essentially unaltered, since at least 1978. (It actually sounds much older than that.) You used to hear it on WGN television, you still hear it on Chicago and Milwaukee radio and TV. But after the “EMPIIIIIIRE!” comes a little “bomp.” Just a bass guitar and a bass drum, right?
Well, somebody had to play those notes, and, Chicago being Chicago, you just know they were union. So, not only did they get paid for that “bomp” in the first place, they get residuals. What I want to know is, how much has that “bomp” earned those guys over the years? If I go down to the marina, will I see a yacht with the name BOMP! painted on it?
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I was hearing that in my head the other day - I was trying to figure out the phone number, I could get the “588″, then the “EMPIRE!”, but not the middle numbers. Excellent timing!
Comment by Harry — 2/16/2005 @ 8:35 pm
The problem is that it is now no longer limited to Chicago, but infiltrates Milwaukee airwaves.
I can’t remember the name of the company, but the other jingle that I remember from WGN days as a kid was “Call NAtional 2-9000, NAtional 2-9
thousand.”
Jon
Comment by Jon — 2/17/2005 @ 8:13 am
And isn’t every business in Chicago on Wacker Drive?
Comment by Harry — 2/17/2005 @ 4:43 pm
There is a remodeling contractor in Kansas City that’s been using the same advertising, with animation and jingle, since the dawn of color television:
Male Singers: “Call Standard (boom buh boom buh boom) Improvement Company!”
Cartoon bird: Squawk!
Single male voice: Dial WEstport 1 7100!
That’s going to be stuck in my head until the day I die.
Comment by Jim Bush — 2/20/2005 @ 2:06 pm