My understanding is that in the early days of the chimes, they had a few different chime tunes used for different purposes, and the four-chime version essentially meant, "hey, network or station employees, there's some big news happening, so come in to the office or at least call in."
The familiar three-chime version was originally a signal that meant, "attention affiliates, it's time for a station break." Since it was heard after every program, usually right after an announcer said, "This is the National Broadcasting Company," it quickly turned into an effective audio trademark for the network. (The notes are "G-E-C," but it's an urban legend that it has any relation to the General Electric Corporation -- it just happens to be a reasonably pleasant-sounding C-major arpeggio.) > On Jul 28, 2020, at 11:19 AM, stannc <[email protected]> wrote: > > The clips that I’ve found don’t agree on the specifics, but during World War > II a fourth chime was used. Sometimes it’s a second sustained C, one clip has > it as a different higher note. > > -Stan > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/f7c04602-400e-4ed5-b691-8ca9c6e816e1o%40googlegroups.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/9D074023-3E2D-4112-BD13-D6B8ACE17785%40ellwanger.tv.
