An interval signal, or tuning signal, is a characteristic sound or musical phrase used in international broadcasting and by some domestic broadcasters. Played before commencement or during breaks in transmission, or (most commonly) between programmes in different languages it serves several purposes:
- It assists a listener to tune his or her radio to the correct frequency for the station.
- 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 practice 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.
Read more about Interval Signal: Broadcasting Services and Interval Signals, Sources Used
Famous quotes containing the words interval and/or signal:
“[I have] been in love with one princess or another almost all my life, and I hope I shall go on so, till I die, being firmly persuaded, that if ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)