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Albany area CHRs music speed up

S

spt87

I live in MA, have family in WNY so I pass through the Albany area a couple times a year. I've long noticed the CHR stations in Albany speed up the music. Last weekend I heard this on both 102.3 and 105.5. What is about the Albany market that compels them to do this?

No where else on the entire trip between Boston and Buffalo have I noticed this being done.
 
Its been going on here since the AM days of 980 WTRY & 1540 WPTR. They did it all the time in the 70's. Could get a extra 30 second spot in a hour by speeding up the music.
 
Do you mean 105.7? Haven't listened in a while, but I barely notice if they speed up the music ;) Alternative rock stations that do that sound odd though (Flyleaf on helium, etc.)
 
CHR stations do it to make the music sound "hotter". Usually at 3%. It's not a matter of getting another spot in. They just drop the last song in the hour if they are running late, leaving plenty of room for spots. Some music sounds good pitched up, Rhythmic especially. The problem is CHR stations play some slow pop songs where the difference is noticeable.

A few years ago I recall hearing one of the weekend countdown shows being over pitched for weeks. Casey Kasem or something like that. It turns out they were dubbing the show into the automation system using CD Players that were pitched. Not only were you getting the 3% pitch from the CD players, but another 3% the automation system was set to when it played back. You can imagine what some of the Mariah Carey and Celine Dion songs sounded like.

Plenty of talk stations speed up their programming too. They get an extra minute or two per hour of spots by compressing syndicated shows. WGY has done that for years. If a show starts at 12:00, they play it back recorded and sped up at 12:01 until it reaches the live feed again within half an hour. Pitch isn't affected though, so no changes in voice. The more pauses and gaps in the talk, the faster it catches up. It starts all over again in the second half of the hour.
 
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