As part of CityLab's “Public Access" series on local videos that capture place, Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV’s Action News jingle is winning new hearts on the web and showcases the city's identity.
The jingle, "Move Closer to Your World," was written in 1972 by Al Ham and endures today, and is no longer Philly's own. At the time, other news affiliates licensed the tune from the composer's company, Mayoham, and other versions of the song have been released, the latest iteration being Philadelphia’s The Roots sampling the song on "The Tonight Show." Mark Byrnes writes for CityLab, "For real local broadcast journalism fans, it’s the definitive, spine-tingling banger that has pumped viewers up for THE NEWS since the 1970s," adding, "If you grew up in cities like Buffalo, N.Y., where the tune heralded WKBW’s Eyewitness News for decades, a few seconds of 'MCTYW' is likely to summon a Proustian reverie. It’s nothing short of a perfect song for the evening news from the 'Anchorman' era."
On Monday, a two-minute-long video featuring an Philadelphians on their absolute worst behavior went viral. Sure, the crashes, fights, and fires are the main draw, but it’s the music that brings it all together. The tune—a rousing brass-heavy opening hook preceding a groovy proto-disco vocal passage (and, in the extended version, an awesome set of key changes)—is called “Move Closer To Your World.”
