What happens when your podcast’s theme song—cobbled together from GarageBand loops—gets called “game show music” and likened to a cereal commercial? You rewrite it. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of Switched on Pop’s sonic makeover, from scathing critiques by music industry heavyweights to the creation of a lush, layered soundscape inspired by Wendy Carlos and PBS science shows. With expert advice from sonic branding maestro Dallas Taylor (Twenty Thousand Hertz) and the composers Zach Tenorio and Jocie Adams (Arc Iris), we dissect every step of transforming our theme into a timeless sonic identity. Tune in for the full story and hear how we turned a jingle crisis into a musical triumph.

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Recommendations

Read Cat Zhang at The Cut
Read Lauren Michelle Jackson’s White Negros and columns at The New Yorker
Listen to Ian Fitchuk’s work
Listen to Song Exploder hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway
Listen to NYTimes Popcast hosted by Jon Caramanica
Listen to Twenty Thousand Hertz hosted by Dallas Taylor

Songs Discussed

The Monkees: "Theme Song (Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees)"
Radiohead: "Kid A"
No Name: "Yesterday"
Mort Garson: "Ode to an African Violet"
Wendy Carlos Switched On Bach
Whitney Houston: "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1991 Super Bowl performance)
Jimi Hendrix: "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Woodstock performance)
Friends theme Song "I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts
Reading Rainbow theme song “Butterfly in the Sky” by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir
Bill Nye the Science Guy theme Song composed by Mike Greene
3-2-1 Contact theme Song composed by Tom Anthony

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