A thought--all of us who posted here could email NPR and tell them what we've been saying above. Give 'em some feedback. They won't know how their regular listeners feel about this small but annoying change unless we tell them about it....

Instead of spending money on changing the theme song, they'd go a long way in attracting and keeping listeners of any age if they stopped repeating the same stories all morning.

Hate it, it sounds so stupid and amateurish. The change was pointless, and on top of it all, the new theme is BAD.

I have worked with nonprofits for 25 years, I imagine somebody hired an expensive consultant to tell Npr that they needed to do a branding change to get younger audiences and this was their brain child. Stupid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They talked in the article about how they wanted to attract younger listeners.

Well, this 32 year old has been listening since she was a kid and wants the old song back.

Op here:
I'm 37 and SAME!

This is a really good article on the song change, better than the NY Times piece: https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/05/npr-debuts-a-new-morning-edition-theme-and-the-fact-that-people-care-shows-the-continued-power-of-old-fashioned-non-internet-radio/

32 year old here. I hate it. It's cringeworthy. I don't feel like the previous song was dated.

Were people clamoring for a change??? I doubt it.

Anonymous wrote:It sucks and sounds like ambient electronic elevator music. And this is coming from someone who really likes Jean Michel Jarre.

WHY?!?

I hate it too! It sounds like the music they put you on hold to listen too.

NPR should have remembered the old mantra: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Anybody from Philly here? This makes me think of Channel 6 Action News, which hasn't changed its new jingle in 40+ years.

Anonymous wrote:They talked in the article about how they wanted to attract younger listeners.

Well, this 32 year old has been listening since she was a kid and wants the old song back.

Op here:
I'm 37 and SAME!

This is a really good article on the song change, better than the NY Times piece: https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/05/npr-debuts-a-new-morning-edition-theme-and-the-fact-that-people-care-shows-the-continued-power-of-old-fashioned-non-internet-radio/

They talked in the article about how they wanted to attract younger listeners.

Well, this 32 year old has been listening since she was a kid and wants the old song back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate it and can't STAND it. I liked the old one and didn't think it sounded dated.

OP here:
I didn't think the old song sounded dated at all. I actually really liked it, as it was uptempo and bright

The new song just sounds flat. There is no real energy, it's reminiscent of a slow dirge. Seems like it was a "make work" project for the outgoing CEO

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/business/media/npr-morning-edition-theme-song.html

I think the new song sounds dated. It sounds very 90s elevator music.

Anonymous wrote:I hate it and can't STAND it. I liked the old one and didn't think it sounded dated.

OP here:
I didn't think the old song sounded dated at all. I actually really liked it, as it was uptempo and bright

The new song just sounds flat. There is no real energy, it's reminiscent of a slow dirge. Seems like it was a "make work" project for the outgoing CEO

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/business/media/npr-morning-edition-theme-song.html

I associate the Morning Edition theme song with my childhood. Why would they change it?

I hate it and can't STAND it. I liked the old one and didn't think it sounded dated.

Agree. The theme was so identifiable. Now it's so forgettable it may never stick in anyone's head as signaling that it's time for Morning Edition. There's a reason to keep a basic theme largely the same over time.

It sucks and sounds like ambient electronic elevator music. And this is coming from someone who really likes Jean Michel Jarre.

WHY?!?