WWN THEME SONG

Sal Donato plays the Weekly World News theme song

Sal Donato has been performing the news for more than forty years. It all started in 1979 when he began his job as a bar piano player in Granville, Ohio. “The bar was called Mario’s,” he said. “It was a rough place, but a warm place. Lots of regulars. I knew that many of the people there didn’t have time to read the news, so every night at 11, I started to sing it.”

Daily dispatches proved too redundant, and he soon switched to weekly updates, which he has maintained ever since, even as he has moved on from Mario’s and played at various other bars and restaurants around the Upper Midwest and then the Tri-State Area.

Today, he can be found at Gary’s in Hopetown, Pennsylvania, where he’s billed as “The Cronkite of the Keys.” “Young kids may not even know who Cronkite is,” Donato said. “But that doesn’t bother them, they love hearing Sal croon.”

About a year ago, Weekly World News contacted Donato to ask if he would be willing to have the newspaper post his weekly updates. He agreed readily, and even asked if he could write a theme song for the WWN.

Today, we premiere that theme song.

Written by Luciano Salvatore (music) and Boyce Day (lyrics)

Singers: Sal Donato, Jodi DiPiazza, Clare McGowan

Recorded and mixed by Sergio Salvatore.