Do they speed up songs on the radio?

Question

I was listening to shake it on the radio the other day and then

i listened to it on my mp3 player and the version they played on the radio was definitely more up-beat. I noticed this with pocket full of sunshine too.

Answer 1

I agree with Duh - it was (and still is) a common practice on Top 40 and Rhythmic Dance stations to speed up the song a touch to make the tempo more exciting. It has also been done in other formats, with some PD's using the weak excuse that by speeding up the music, they were able to save an extra 2 minutes per day - using that time for two more commercials.

Answer 2

sometimes bands release a separate version of a song for radio stations to play. may have noticed when buying an mp3 of a song there may be an album version and a radio version.  sometimes the language is cleaned up, sometimes the mix is a little different.

Answer 3

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 4

Sometimes Dj's feel like speeding it up a bit or mashing it up, so you're probably right.

Answer 5

Yes. This isn't the on-air talent's choice to do this, once the song is in the computer system it is automatically adjusted when it plays over the air. It's not something the jock can control on-air. They also may sound different due to  compression. It is so slight though that you don't notice it on most songs.