Historical interval signal of the BBCRAVAG interval signal, clock ticking 270/min (9 in 2 sec)
An interval signal, or tuning signal, is a characteristic sound or musical phrase used in international broadcasting, numbers stations, and by some domestic broadcasters, played before commencement or during breaks in transmission, but most commonly between programmes in different languages.
It serves several purposes:
It helps a listener using a radio with an analogtuner to find the correct frequency.
It informs other stations that the frequency is in use.
It serves as a station identifier even if the language used in the subsequent broadcast is not one the listener understands.
The practise began in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s and was carried over into shortwave broadcasts. The use of interval signals has declined with the advent of digital tuning systems, but has not vanished. Interval signals were not required on commercial channels in the United States, where jingles were used as identification.
Radio Norway International (Utenlandssendingen [no](in Norwegian), former international service of NRK): Ancient folk tune from the Hallingdal region.[12]
Radio Norway International (NRK)
Poland
Radio Katowice: Sound of a hammer striking an anvil.[13]
Radio Olsztyn [pl]: Excerpt from O Warmio moja miła by Feliks Nowowiejski, played on barrel organ.
Radio Sweden: Chime version of Ut i vida världen ("Out in the Wide World"), composed by Ralph Lundsten and the opening notes of Carl Michael Bellman's Storm och böljor tystna r'en.[6][16]
Switzerland
Radio Beromünster [de]: D' Zit isch do, played on music box.
Classical radio station WQXR-FM in New York City, during its ownership by The New York Times Company, played different variations of a classical infused gong with the ID read at the same time as "The Classical Station of the New York Times, WQXR, New York (And WQXR.com 2000–2009) [citation needed]
^"Pausenzeichen und ihre musikalischen Quellen". 8 October 2007.
^ a b c dFrost, Jens Mathiesen (1983). World Radio TV Handbook. New York: Billboard Publications.
^Treiber, Alfred (2007). Ö1 gehört gehört : die kommentierte Erfolgsgeschichte eines Radiosenders (in German). Vienna: Böhlau. p. 218. ISBN 978-3-205-77495-2. OCLC 127107294.