Faster? Stronger?
Written May. 18, 2009 by Sean Ross in Content with 1 Comment
For many years, speeding up records (or refusing to) has been a litmus test for the sort of Top 40 radio that a programmer believes in -- it usually signifies a station that is younger, more aggressive, higher-energy, etc. There's a discussion taking place on Radio-Info.com this morning about WIOQ (Q102) Philadelphia's reported decision not to pitch records up, while one of WXRK (Now 92.3) New York's calling cards has been its sped-up music.
So a few random thoughts on speeding records up:
* In general, I've always liked it -- if only because it was usually a hallmark of stations that were exciting in other ways as well. And, indeed, other stations didn't sound quite right if they didn't speed songs up as well.
* That said, I'm in favor of doing it intelligently. I remember the Top 40 station that was still (unlike most) speeding songs up in early 1981. And boy did "With You I'm Born Again" sound bad.
* These days, the point of comparison isn't other radio stations, as much as one's own iPod. And it's hard to know whether a listener is likely to hear a sped-up song as more exciting than their own copy or somehow "wrong-sounding." (Hint: I heard an Oldies show on Friday night play two songs I've heard hundreds of times. Between their processing and the Internet signal, I actually wondered if those songs were different takes or even different artists because they sounded so different from what I hear at least once a week.)
* If you don't like sped-up records, and even if you do, most Top 40s put songs through a funhouse mirror with their extreme processing. And most songs already arrive at radio cranked to the max. "Waking Up In Vegas" by Katy Perry is my favorite Top 40 record right now, but on one prominent CHR, when the chorus rolls around, it becomes very hard to listen to. The combination of "extreme engineering" + "extreme processing" + "sped up records" is certainly not doing certain songs any favors.
Reader Comments
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Sean,
When there is a battle between two or more CHR's, the one speeding up the tunes will always sound more exciting than the others. But it's very subliminal...until they play a gold you've heard a thousand times at the correct speed.
I remember the first time I tried this and got calls from folks who listened to Open House Party on my competition wondering why our music and John G's sounded different than my competitor's.
Interesting your take on iPods. I would think it might make their music sound off too, but only the less familier current music.
I still think its a great weapon if you have a heated battle at CHR. Any quarter hour you can steal from your competition makes it well worth it.