Do CHRs still "pitch" the music?

[henry]

Twenty years ago, the trend in Top 40/CHR radio was to pitch the music 2-3% faster to make the hits sound a bit bouncier (than your competition).

For instance, I could find actual message board threads (back when regular people cared about radio) complaining about how WPLJ played sounds "slower" than Z100. Pitching clearly worked.

Today, when Spotify and YouTube are at the audience's fingertips, do stations still pitch songs? Would it make radio feel more bouncy/exciting than streaming services — or just make it sound fast and silly to listeners?

 

[Mikey Radio]

Not sure about CHR, but some R&B stations still clearly do:

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/r-b-stations-that-pitch-up-songs.732884/

 

[seatownmedia]

These gimmicks are decreasing as radio listening is decreasing. Reverb was a thing too, about 40 years ago.

 

[Mikey Radio]

These gimmicks are decreasing as radio listening is decreasing. Reverb was a thing too, about 40 years ago.

Reminds me of a story an engineer told me about 20 years ago. He was once CE of a country station that used reverb on the host and guest mics and had a CB radio in the studio for truckers passing through to make requests. One of their jocks kept adjusting the reverb, usually adding way too much, to the point where his commentary was nearly unintelligible on air. Eventually they either locked the rotary pot in one position while unscrewing the set screw on the knob slightly so he could still turn it, or they set the reverb using an internal pot and they mounted a 'dummy' on the chassis so whatever adjustments he made would actually do nothing. From that moment on, if they ever installed a knob or a button or switch in the studio that appeared to be functional but really did nothing, it was called an XXX knob in his honor. Insert said jock's name in place of the XXX.

 

[davideduardo]

Twenty years ago, the trend in Top 40/CHR radio was to pitch the music 2-3% faster to make the hits sound a bit bouncier (than your competition).

For instance, I could find actual message board threads (back when regular people cared about radio) complaining about how WPLJ played sounds "slower" than Z100. Pitching clearly worked.

Today, when Spotify and YouTube are at the audience's fingertips, do stations still pitch songs? Would it make radio feel more bouncy/exciting than streaming services — or just make it sound fast and silly to listeners?

Today, pitch increases can be accompanied by frequency shifting of the audio. The result is that it sound "right" but lasts three to five seconds less per song. It give the station a bit more tempo without changing the pitch.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

I worked in country for a long time starting in the late 90s. The CD cart machines we used were set to pitch everything up 2%. When we switched to digital, I worked with the CE to write a script in Cool Edit Pro that did the same for the entire library after we ripped it. I knew a PD who went as far as 3, but then backed it down to 2.7%. There was a "sweet spot" (I guess) that would save a few seconds per hour so he could claim "more music."

 

[davideduardo]

I worked in country for a long time starting in the late 90s. The CD cart machines we used were set to pitch everything up 2%. When we switched to digital, I worked with the CE to write a script in Cool Edit Pro that did the same for the entire library after we ripped it. I knew a PD who went as far as 3, but then backed it down to 2.7%. There was a "sweet spot" (I guess) that would save a few seconds per hour so he could claim "more music."

The time saving was not even enough for an extra half a song. the main reason for speeding songs in more recent years is to make the songs sound "brighter". In the 70's, it was to make the song on the other station sound draggy. But with the ability to shift the audio to sound like the original at a faster speed, the man reason for doing it is just to raise the tempo a tiny bit.

Most station automation software can do this overall or selectively.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

The time saving was not even enough for an extra half a song. the main reason for speeding songs in more recent years is to make the songs sound "brighter".

I know. I was just relaying the reasoning that the particular PD had.

And yeah, automation does it...well, automatically...but there was a time when you had to figure out a way to pitch up the entire library before you loaded it into the system. Hence, the script we wrote.

 

[Phil Harmonic]

oh my, Prince sounds like an ant...

 

[Kelly A]

My question is; why does this topic come up fresh at least twice a year?

 

[seatownmedia]

Because there are a lot of radio geeks like you and me, Kelly. Not a hard question to answer!

 

[qwertyuiop56]

It looks like a local college station broadcasting a pop format (not like CHR) is one of the few that doesn't modify such pitch settings while I assume it's an error to my radio sets. Gotta love listening to a pop station without any commericals.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

It looks like a local college station broadcasting a pop format (not like CHR) is one of the few that doesn't modify such pitch settings while I assume it's an error to my radio sets. Gotta love listening to a pop station without any commericals.

What's the station? Is it online too?

 

[qwertyuiop56]

What's the station? Is it online too?

WNHU 88.7 from West Haven, CT streaming from RadioGarden

Edit: Looks like the station's site is having some issues at the moment which also affects the streaming services. It used to work like a month ago, now it's only over the air for the time being...
98.1 WQAQ from Hamden, CT also broadcasts a similar college format like the station above which also streams but has a super weak signal unlike the other station.

 

[CTListener]

WNHU 88.7 from West Haven, CT streaming from RadioGarden

Edit: Looks like the station's site is having some issues at the moment which also affects the streaming services. It used to work like a month ago, now it's only over the air for the time being...
98.1 WQAQ from Hamden, CT also broadcasts a similar college format like the station above which also streams but has a super weak signal unlike the other station.

I never thought of WNHU's format as being "pop" in the sense of familiar, Top 40-style hits. It's generally block-programmed, with the emphasis on indie bands and more obscure rock, with oldies and Irish and other niche shows sprinkled in. I've also found WNHU's streaming unreliable, with fairly frequent outages. Kind of wondering how long University of New Haven management will hold on to it. I'll bet that signal would be attractive to any number of Christian outfits looking to fleece the southern New Haven County flock.