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Are multiple clean versions of songs common or not?

radiofan2023

radiofan2023

Just wondering why there are multiple clean versions of songs, or how common that is?

A current example is “Please, Please, Please” by Sabrina Carpenter - I’ve heard two different clean versions on different stations in the same market, one with “mothertrucker” and one with “little sucker”.
 
It depends. I received two versions of the current Koe Wetzel single, but they each sound the same to me. One was labeled "radio version" and the other was labeled "clean version."

There are six mixes of the Sabrina song according to her record label:

  1. "Please Please Please" – 3:06
  2. "Please Please Please" (acoustic) – 3:01
  3. "Please Please Please" (clean) – 3:06
  4. "Please Please Please" (sped up) – 2:32
  5. "Please Please Please" (slowed down) – 3:30
  6. "Please Please Please" (a cappella) – 3:06
  7. "Please Please Please" (instrumental) – 3:06
So there is only one official clean version. But perhaps some owners have decided to do their own. I've made my own edits for various reasons, but I usually accept the version sent by the label.
 
Does the World need SEVEN versions of that? Please Please Please make it stop.😑

It's amusing that Radio still has to deal with the absurd concept of fleeting profanities in songs. For years, I worked at Rock stations that played songs like WHO ARE YOU, MONEY, JET AIRLINER, etc.. Nobody ever complained about the "dirty" words in those songs. The stations were never fined and life went on. I expect that even more recent songs on Urban and Top 40 formats have to be "cleaned up". It all seems ridiculous given the current climate of US society...
 
tbolt909 said:
Does the World need SEVEN versions of that? Please Please Please make it stop.😑

It's amusing that Radio still has to deal with the absurd concept of fleeting profanities in songs. For years, I worked at Rock stations that played songs like WHO ARE YOU, MONEY, JET AIRLINER, etc.. Nobody ever complained about the "dirty" words in those songs. The stations were never fined and life went on. I expect that even more recent songs on Urban and Top 40 formats have to be "cleaned up". It all seems ridiculous given the current climate of US society...
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Until the FCC changes its administrative law rulings to make non-binding today the decisions of the past, stations will continue to be concerned about indecency and profanity.

Most people seem unaware that there is no list of prohibited words, but stations are very conscious of the effect of a documented complaint by a listener or community organization so they self-regulate.

One of the reference points is the "Seven Dirty Words" which did result in FCC sanctions for profanity. Part of the analysis is that the words, all spoken together with no context, is pure profanity. It is uncertain whether a sole "F word" in context would be fined; nobody want their station to be the expensive test case.
 
The fact is that there are a lot of antiquated rules that only apply to broadcasters, and not any digital platforms. The ownership rules are antiquated, the payola rules are antiquated, and of course the obscenity rules are antiquated. None of them apply to any other audio service. Just broadcasting. At some point the music industry will stop making clean versions. The videos that I've seen always use the original version. So anyone of any age who can access a music video on YouTube or TikTok is subjected to obscenity.
 
radiofan2023 said:
Just wondering why there are multiple clean versions of songs, or how common that is?

A current example is “Please, Please, Please” by Sabrina Carpenter - I’ve heard two different clean versions on different stations in the same market, one with “mothertrucker” and one with “little sucker”.
Click to expand...
The only one that says mother trucker is Hits 1.
 
Consider this take. I'm working a CHR in a college town. Our competition is Kiss FM. We ran a Valentine's contest saying put your pucker on a piece of paper and send it to you. It may be proclaimed the Pride of Puckerdom on February 14. On my morning show I ask my news girl what you call an entry from a mother of two. When she says he hasn't a clue, I say a Mother Pucker. After my show I am called to the GM's office where I'm told it's not what I said. It is what the listener thinks they heard. I'm informed if the station has to defend a complaint it is coming from my paycheck. I was in a small city at the time (about 100,000). And this was almost 40 years ago.

Rock stations got away with a bunch. You have to remember the general population is diversified and listens to their favorite station. The rockers are not offended by a fleeting 4 letter word and some were so fleeting many listeners missed it.
 
b-turner said:
Consider this take. I'm working a CHR in a college town. Our competition is Kiss FM. We ran a Valentine's contest saying put your pucker on a piece of paper and send it to you. It may be proclaimed the Pride of Puckerdom on February 14. On my morning show I ask my news girl what you call an entry from a mother of two. When she says he hasn't a clue, I say a Mother Pucker. After my show I am called to the GM's office where I'm told it's not what I said. It is what the listener thinks they heard. I'm informed if the station has to defend a complaint it is coming from my paycheck. I was in a small city at the time (about 100,000). And this was almost 40 years ago.

Rock stations got away with a bunch. You have to remember the general population is diversified and listens to their favorite station. The rockers are not offended by a fleeting 4 letter word and some were so fleeting many listeners missed it.
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Huh? That sounds like a really lame contest and an even lamer joke. The FCC isn't going to fine a station over something a listener "Thinks they heard". You may want to leave that sketch off your resume...
 
tbolt909 thank you for you atypical negative comment. You do have to admit very little of what you post is positive or at least those posts I've read of yours.

You'd have to talk to my PD at the time about the contest. Seems that didn't hurt me. I've been continuously employed in radio since '78 and never out of work.
 
tbolt909 said:
Huh? That sounds like a really lame contest and an even lamer joke. The FCC isn't going to fine a station over something a listener "Thinks they heard". You may want to leave that sketch off your resume...
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He's saying the station manager found it inappropriate. It's his station.
 
b-turner said:
tbolt909 thank you for you atypical negative comment. You do have to admit very little of what you post is positive or at least those posts I've read of yours.
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👍
 
b-turner said:
You'd have to talk to my PD at the time about the contest.
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You claimed that if the station had to defend a complaint --(Really? A lawsuit from a listener over a jocks lame joke?) that the owner would dock your pay. That seems unlikely. Some people used to accuse Jeff Lynne of using backwards Satanic messages in ELO songs. They complained to Radio stations to stop playing them or else. Reasonable owners and PDs don't cave in to ridiculous listener complaints.

Vapid Jock banter and stupid contests are reasons that make people stop listening rather than making a complaint.
The infamous Entercom "Hold your wee for Wii" is one that went off the rails...
 
Wow, you really dropped off into the deep end there tbolt909.

I said I was told that if a listener complained to the FCC and we had to defend ourselves, I was going to be stuck with the bill. For example: complaint filed with FCC that I said F instead of P. The FCC sends a letter of inquiry at a minimum and our Washington attorney responds that they heard wrong and here's the recording. I get to pay for that cost to the station.

It really doesn't matter what you think. It happened. It scared me being a struggling jock. We did the contest all 4 years I was there and the contest was amazingly a huge hit. Then again the winner got their pucker printed in the paper and an assortment of other prizes worth several hundred dollars. The college crowd ate that up.
 
b-turner said:
tbolt909 thank you for you atypical negative comment. You do have to admit very little of what you post is positive or at least those posts I've read of yours.

You'd have to talk to my PD at the time about the contest. Seems that didn't hurt me. I've been continuously employed in radio since '78 and never out of work.
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I think negative comments are mostly what you find on the internet as a whole, though.
 
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