OK I admit it - I listen to top 40 radio. I don't know why this bugs me so much so here goes my rant.

Have you noticed KJ has really sped up the songs in the past few months? I know 104.9 does it a little but KJ really sounds bad IMO. There were a few songs that almost sounded like the chipmunks singing. All to fit in an extra commercial or 2...

Some people don't evevn notice this. But it drives me nuts! Slow down the freakin music!

Can you site some examples? I don't think I have noticed it but maybe I am not a musical expert..

I hear it in every song. I am an ex club dj so I am used to hearing songs being slowed and sped up. If you hear the new *****cat dolls song it really jumps out (if you've heard the normal speed)

Yep, I noticed this even before, during my very brief listening of KJ in a friend's car, while turning the dial, etc. I'm not into it.

I know that, if not the first station to do so, WABC in NYC historically played the songs at a higher speed both to fit in room for an extra spot and to make the station sound more lively and fresh. The latter is a side benefit to speeding up the tunes, especially for the casual listener so vigorously targeted by radio.

I thought it was a station dedicated for the Chipmunks fans. :P

Yanno I was thinking about putting a post up about this the other day. I have XM, and my wife does not. Sometimes I'll listed to the 20 on 20 on XM. I was in my wife's car the other day, and noticed how chipmunck the songs sounded. It's ridiculous!

kj 103 sucks

so do radios in general

i mess with the cd's

That's crazy....I can't believe they do that. I've never even thought about it.

Some people will say it's to make the music more uptempo. That's BS. I know people in the radio biz who says it comes straight from the top to get a few more commercials in. It just depends on the parent owner of the company how much they speed up the songs. It drives me NUTS. Trying to think which song I heard this morning that sounded rediculous.

I'm glad someone pointed this out...I thought I was just going crazy. It seems that all ClearChannel Stations uptempo their songs, but KJ 103 is one of the worst I've heard. Maybe to free up time for more ad space?

Some people will say it's to make the music more uptempo. That's BS. I know people in the radio biz who says it comes straight from the top to get a few more commercials in. It just depends on the parent owner of the company how much they speed up the songs. It drives me NUTS. Trying to think which song I heard this morning that sounded rediculous.

I'm not a jock in any capacity, but I can't imagine that ad space is the ONLY reason for uptempo-ing tunes, bar other possibilities, as far as music radio as a whole goes.

I would think that depends on, like you said, the parent owner of the company, as I see elsewhere that it's also justified by an uptempo sound, dealing with competition, etc.

They push the pitch up 2% on all the stations. I was good friends with the engineer over at Clear Channel.

Conversely, I was listening to the jazz station (103.7), and they slowed down a tune---"Kiss From a Rose" by Seal. If I had to guess, they were filling time.

Thier PD over there is a good dude though...

Joe

It's not just radio, they do it on TV too. Next time you watch a movie that has been edited to play on TV watch the little disclaimer at the beginning of the movie and some of them actually say that they've jacked with the speed of the movie. I forget the "code words" they use at the moment.

more than speed up tv, they tend to remove individual "frames," so you have quicker edits, and moments that may have been intended to stretch a bit get cut off at the quick. This is especially apparent as they near cutting to commercial break.

All to ensure that their local advertisers get the required amount of air time.

I believe the standard "30 minute" show is now cut down to 22 mins total, which includes spacing for national ads and local spots.

It's not just radio, they do it on TV too. Next time you watch a movie that has been edited to play on TV watch the little disclaimer at the beginning of the movie and some of them actually say that they've jacked with the speed of the movie. I forget the "code words" they use at the moment.

Now that might be the reason my tv messes up when a movie on MTV is on. It's hard to describe, but it's like the movement is all messed up. Sounds is fine though.