An interval signal, or tuning signal, is a characteristic sound or musical phrase used in international broadcasting and by some domestic broadcasters. Played before commencement or during breaks in transmission, or (most commonly) between programmes in different languages it serves several purposes:
- It assists a listener to tune his or her radio to the correct frequency for the station.
- It informs other stations that the frequency is in use.
- It serves as a station identifier even if the language used in the subsequent broadcast is not one the listener understands.
The practice began in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s and was carried over into shortwave broadcasts. The use of interval signals has declined with the advent of digital tuning systems, but has not vanished.
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Broadcasting services and interval signals
- BBC World Service in English: Bow Bells
- BBC World Service in English (occasionally): Lillibullero
- BBC World Service, non-English, non-Europe: Three even notes tuned B-B-C
- BBC World Service, non-English, to Europe: four notes tuned B-B-B-E, spaced to spell out V in Morse code
- China Radio International: Chime version of March of the Volunteers
- Deutsche Welle Radio: Chimes from Beethoven's Fidelio
- Radio Serbia: national anthem "Bože pravde"
- Radio Australia: Chorus of Waltzing Matilda on chimes
- Radio Canada International: First four notes of O Canada played on a piano
- Radio France Internationale: Electronic-disco, culminating in the last 8 measures of La Marseillaise
- Radio Japan (NHK World): Kazoe-uta ("Counting song")
- Radio Habana Cuba: March of the 26th of July
- Radio Netherlands: Chime version of the Eighty Years' War song "Merck toch hoe sterck"
- Radio New Zealand International: the call of a New Zealand Bellbird, a distinctive sounding NZ bird species, repeated every 3 minutes
- Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI): "Rayuan Pulau Kelapa", composed by Ismail Marzuki.
- RTÉ Radio 1: O'Donnell Abú [2]
- Radio Slovenia: The European Common Cuckoo, electronically generated
- Radio Sweden: Ut i vida världen (Out in the Wide World), composed by Ralph Lundsten.[1]
- Vatican Radio uses the chimes of the clock in St. Peter's Square, Rome, followed by the Papal fanfare
- Voice of America: Yankee Doodle played by a brass band
- Voice of Korea: Melody of the Song of General Kim Il Sung
- Voice of Russia: Chime version of "Majestic" chorus from the "Great Gate of Kiev" portion of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
- Radio Moscow (former service of the Soviet Union): Moscow Nights or Midnight in Moscow
- China Radio International : March of the Volunteers (the national anthem of People's Republic of China)
Numbers stations interval signals
Numbers stations are often named after their interval signals, such as The Lincolnshire Poacher or Magnetic Fields after "Magnetic Fields Part 1" by Jean Michel Jarre.
Sources Used
Sennitt, Andrew G.; David Bobbitt (December 2005). World Radio and Television Handbook 2006. Billboard Books. pp. 608. ISBN 0823077985.
External links
- Interval Signals Online
- Nobuyuki Kawamura's Interval Signal Library
- TRS Consultants' Audio Bytes
- IntervalSignal DataBase
- Uwe Volk's Sound Library (available both in English and in German)
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