The J-WAVE Singin' Clock

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I don't listen to radio anymore so I'm not sure if this part exists in the average broadcast now, but I remember periodically hearing the harmonized singing of the call letters of any station.

For example, the ones for Toronto station CHUM. Always wondered how much the singers earned for their seconds of harmony.

I also remember singer-songwriter EPO giving her tribute to those sung call letters on her 1981 mini-album "JOEPO〜1981KHz".

However, I have to admit that I hadn't been aware of time being announced on radio in the same manner. And when it came to Japan, I had thought it was usually just a series of beeps leading up to the top of the hour...kinda like NHK. But then, I recently came across Tokyo-based radio station J-WAVE 81.3 FM and its Singin' Clock where a beautiful and sexy voice musically announces the time (and "Good morning" in Japanese) as if she were whispering "Penny for your thoughts" during the afterglow.

The above video by YouTuber Mizuki Yamaguchi has a whole plethora of J-WAVE jingles. The Singin' Clock started right from the first-ever broadcast by the station on October 1st 1988 and at one point, the sexy voice was announcing the time at strategic points at 5 and 6 am, 12 noon, 6 pm (5:18 in the video above) and 1 am. However, although I couldn't find out when this happened, The Singin' Clock had her seconds cut and right now, she just pops up at the first two times.

Couldn't find out who the sexy voice was but the jingle was composed by a pianist named Yassue Anai who released this 1993 album of calming music titled "A Fine Day".