Pizza Nova celebrates 60 years with ‘oh-oh-oh-oh’ ringtone

An iconic pizza advertisement by late Hamilton jingle king Syd Kessler is now available as a ringtone.

Ontarians not living under a conveyor oven for the past 35 years will be familiar with Pizza Nova's jingle with lots of zeros."

Variations of the 4-3-9-oh-oh-oh-oh" song have had a constant presence on radios and televisions in the province for the past 35 years. For the company's 60th anniversary - and simultaneously National Pizza Day on Feb. 9 - the jingle is going digital. It's available on Spotify, Apple Music and the iTunes Store.

Pizza Nova president Domenic Primucci thanked his dad and the company founder in a Monday media release for inspiring the creation of a jingle that reflects the timelessness and quality of our pizza."

The pizza chain was founded in 1963 by Sam Primucci. The first restaurant was located in Scarborough.

Pizza Nova's pre-smartphone ode to phone number memorization was written in 1987 by Kessler and sung by musician Alfie Zappacosta.

The creatively inclined Kessler, who died in 2021, was a Westdale High alumni and Canadian advertising icon. Among other advertising companies, he founded Kessler Productions in 1978 and co-founded Supercorp Entertainment in 1987, which dominated commercial production in the country and became a $200-million giant.

Kessler's long list of jingles include Maxwell House's Hugga Mugga Max," Labatt's Reach for the Blue" and many more.

Regarding Pizza Nova's 4-3-9" jingle, Primucci says good things last," somewhat ironically kicking off an anniversary year celebration by turning a song that is a phone number into a ringtone.

The pizza company has more than 150 locations across the province, including four stores in Hamilton and three in Burlington.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com