NCMojo

Maybe I'm nuts... that is a distinct possibility... but does it seem like some radio stations speed up the pop songs that they play, possibly to increase the amount of commercial time that they can allot? I am listening to my cubicle neighbor's radio right now and they are playing Eminem's "Loose Yourself" at a speed that has to be at least 20% faster.

Am I imagining things? Is this a fairly common practice? And does it drive any of you crazy?

Rypro 525

dc 104.1 does this.

tofu

Eh, who cares about the songs anyway? It's just filler in between commercials

Jason

I've noticed it a few times. It's a little more acceptable on the pop station when they're mixing the songs together, as the beats match up and some of their remixing isn't too bad, but I've noticed a local AOR station (not a CC station, surprisingly) doing the same thing, and that can only be to maximize the commercials. One time they played an Aerosmith song so fast Tyler's vocals were actually starting to touch chipmunks territory.

SubZero

I wonder why they wouldn't just change the tempo and leave the pitch the same. On my cd players, you can adjust the tempo +/- 10% with or without affecting the pitch. I figure a radio station could do the same with whatever source material they use, because pitch-bent vocals can be pretty annoying.

Jepthah

I notice this done with Gerry Rafferty's great song "Baker Street." It pisses me off.

illennium

If you listen to commercial radio, then you're basically admitting that you enjoy being shat upon. Therefore, I don't see why this or any other gimmick should come as a surprise.

Giantrobo

Yep, and they speed up some of your favorite talk shows if it's being rebroadcast.

You'll love the name of one of the most widely used units for speeding shows and musci up:

It's called "CASHBOX" seriously

Jason

DJLinus

I've noticed repeats of Howard Stern's radio show are always sped up. It's helpful, in a weird way, because I can instantly tell it's an old program rather than sit there and wonder what the heck Mr. T is promoting.

Giantrobo

Yep and it sounds like crap to hear Howard all high pitched.

And for the record, Howard Stern's show was THE SHOW that proved listeners WILL SIT through nearly 15 minutes of spots after that was shown to be true spot breaks increased all over radio in this country.

I saw a whole article proud of this fact in a radio trade mag

spainlinx0

Who sits through commercials? As soon as I hear that commercial break on Stern I change the station and flip back every 10 minutes.