Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

'The Jingle King' Tracks Decline Of Original Music In Advertising

Steve Karmen wrote a number of famous jingles, including Budweiser's "When You Say Bud"; the New York State song, "I Love New York"; the jingle "Here Comes the King"; the Exxon Song; and Wrigley Spearmint Gum's "Carry The Big Fresh Flavor." He also composed several music scores for motion pictures during the 1960s and performed briefly as a calypso singer. Karmen is the recipient of 16 Clio Awards. NPR explores how the business of writing the music for advertising has changed.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: December 15, 2016 at 11:00 PM CST
We prematurely aged Steve Karmen; he is actually 79, not 80. We also incorrectly said Karmen informally crowned himself the "king of jingles." Karmen tells us that the accolade was not his own invention but came from an article in People magazine.
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.