KYW Philadelphia Ditches Teletype Sounder

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That familiar – and very ancient – teletype sound behind news stories is gone from the KYW Philadelphia airwaves. It’s something listeners have been hearing for many decades. KYW Brand Manager Alex Silverman went on Twitter and explained why he pulled it.

“They stopped making the ribbons for the trusty teletype in 1986, and our supply finally ran out – so alas, old reliable is out of commission until further notice,” Silverman said. “As technology has evolved over the years, so has KYW Newsradio, and the sound of the station should reflect the modern, nimble, multi-platform news organization we’ve become.”

PhillyVoice writer Michael Tannenbaum picked up on what happened at KYW and wrote a story about it. He also dug up a YouTube Video with KYW archives from 1983 which includes the sounds of the teletype during a big blizzard that year.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Sister station 1010 WINS in New York ended their Teletype SFX a month after KYW, but not for the reasons Mr. Silverman cited. No, in their case it was because of sonic inconsistency – only those anchors who broadcast from their Hudson Square studios had the sound behind them, whilst those broadcasting from home in the wake of the COVID pandemic did not. So it was decided to ditch the sound – which, in that form, dated to the mid-1980’s, and was excerpted (and looped endlessly) from Track B14, “Teletypes,” from Elektra’s 1964 album “Authentic Sound Effects, Volume 2” (from which record the cash register sound – Track B19 – that opened up Pink Floyd’s “Money” from their “The Dark Side Of The Moon” album, also emanated) – altogether. Ironically, given how WINS’s presentation has been compared with the (New York) Daily News (and its now-defunct competitor WCBS Newsradio 88(0)’s [where Mr. Silverman worked as a reporter prior to coming to KYW], to The New York Times), the SFX WINS used from c.1985-86 to 2020 was actually recorded in the early ’60’s in the Daily News Building’s Teletype room from back when their circulation exceeded 1-million.

    As for KYW, its earliest airchecks from its first months of “all news, all the time” in 1965 didn’t have the Teletype SFX. A different recording from the one they used for ages was heard on airchecks from 1968-69 (and noticeably from their coverage of the Apollo-11 astronauts’ splashdown) as per the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. So they didn’t start out with the “clack-clack-clack.” Its final SFX, as used since at least 1971, sounded like a Model 14 piped through a phone line – and occasional “return” sounds dubbed in from a Valentino/Major SFX library number, “Battery of Teletype Receivers” a.k.a. “Teletype Receivers Battery.” Only one other station I know of used the KYW TTY SFX: KFWB in Los Angeles. Don’t think I ever heard any WINS airchecks with it.

  2. Yes, Teletype machines (capitalized, “Teletype” is a brand name) are a thing of the past. But the Teletype sounder under KYW was a Philadelphia institution and tradition dating to 1965, when that station went all-news. It’s as much a tradition as soft pretzels, scrapple, and the Liberty Bell. Bring it back!

    Some things are not meant to be “modernized”. Retire Silverman instead!

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