Do radio stations speed up songs?

Question

it couldnt be by much at all. But when I am listening to my favorite songs on the radio which are also on my iPod, I notice that the radio version always seems to go a little faster than what is on my iPod.

Is there are reason for this....or what is happening...or am i out of my mind?

Answer 1

We're getting this question a lot lately, must be back in vogue again.

Here's the old theory (not in use very often nowdays). Some programmers think that if you hear a song slightly faster on their station it will make the competing station(s) sound slow and not as crisp and exciting when they play the same song.

It's not necessarily done to get more music or commercials played as the increase is minimal - done correctly, you shouldn't be able to hear the difference. The fact that you've noticed, leads me to believe you are listening to a station whose program director is taking the practice a bit too far.

We used to record 45s at about 46-46.5 RPM to get this effect. Did it work? Who knows, we used to do lots of things to s***w with the competition - still do ;<)

-a guy named duh

Answer 2

The answer is yes.. In large cities this is done routinely.    Why?  Keep in mind that radio stations make money by selling commercials.  There are only so many minutes in an hour to slice up and they still have to play the music.  If they could they would just run commercials 24/7.  But then no one would listen, so they have a device which speeds up everything to some degree in order to squeeze in an extra 30 - 60 seconds per hour.  In a large market that may mean $500 - $3,000 more per hour they would make.  One company markets the device and has dubbed it the "cash machine".  The amount of time it creates is adjustable and if they use it wisely it is fairly undetectable.  If they use it unwisely, listeners start to figure it out as you have.. For more information on this device visit http://www.NexusBroadcast.com

Answer 3

i think it depends on the station, and definitely the area of the radio station. for example, some areas censor a certain song, while in another area, they play it without any editing.

but yep, some stations speed up songs for radio commercial airplay. all depends on the station itself!

Answer 4

no its usual, they can do it, also sometimes there is a sligh variation in the song. They do it so they can fit more music in and also because of the way it gets transmited. :)