The BBC World Service has a new theme
(Source: The Guardian)
For 70 years, far-flung listeners knew they had found the BBC on their radio dial when they heard the jaunty notes of the Irish jig Lillibulero. Its brassy, old-fashioned sound spoke of men in dinner jackets and vintage radio microphones, and there was a minor public outcry when it was formally dropped more than a decade ago.
Since then the World Service, which has an audience of 79 million, has used a musical motif which, according to controller Mary Hockaday "changed every now and then in rather an ad hoc way".
But from tomorrow morning, the English-language station will have a new jingle, letting listeners across the world know unquestionably that London is calling. The signature tune is a nod to the station's long traditions, with even a beat or two of the BBC's famous pips to send a message about values in an age of "fake news".["]