Quick Hitz, redefining CHR? or butchering music?

[DJKraze]

As I was looking at charts on All Access last month I noticed an ad for http://quickhitz.com/ and a statement that they play 24 songs an hour, every hour, I was curious and a bit fearful of what I figured for being a bunch of time compressed songs, REALLY squished down to almost nothing. It wasn't quite that (though some songs do seem a bit faster paced) it was chopping and pasting until a song is less than 3 minutes (at least the commercial breaks were less than 3 minutes as well).

I found it interesting that someone would put a patent on a method many DJ's for years have used to make scoped demos! I myself have edited some songs to adjust the length to suit my program purposes. Does this mean something I was doing as far back as 1979 will now get me into trouble for patent infringement?

Anyhow, I told some non radio (er, I mean normal) people about it and they were horrified by the idea of cutting down the songs, in fact most would like it if the songs were at least 4 minutes in length. Has any radio station actually considered jumping on the bandwagon?

 

[atlantaboy]

So doing the math, 24 songs per hour with 3 minutes of commercials is 24 songs in 57 minutes, which is between 2 and 3 minutes per song, meaning CHR listeners would only get to hear 2/3 of their favorite song, instead of the whole thing - in addition, stations would go bankrupt from only having 3 minutes of commercials per hour

The only time I could see this being a positive idea is on weekend nights when listeners are physically dancing to the music and rushing through songs would mean more energy/excitement

I still don't even see a correlation between pitching music and higher ratings - in Atlanta, Star and Power pitch, while Q100 and B98.5 don't, and the two that don't pitch are winning - same is true in Charlotte, Raleigh, and even New York City (pitching stations are losing) - IMO there's no reason why rushing through music even more quickly would cause people to want to listen longer

 

[DJKraze]

And that's why I'm baffled as to why they are doing this, I just can't see it be a winning format, it's almost like an April Fool's joke or a station stunting between formats (Quick 96 comes to mind).

Yeah, they are running the songs as close to half length and always under 3 minutes a song. The commercials aren't run all in one shot either, they will do three 30 second spots (I think, I didn't time it) and later do more, all to keep up the slogan "You're never more than 3 minutes away from another song".

 

[atlantaboy]

And that's why I'm baffled as to why they are doing this

It's just an internet radio station (I think) - they've gotta differentiate themselves from typical terrestrial radio in order to get hits

 

[editthis]

There are a bunch of songs on CHR now that are 3 minutes or under Icona Pop, Anna Kendrick, Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons...the artists are there already.

 

[Mike Schwartz]

As I was looking at charts on All Access last month I noticed an ad for http://quickhitz.com/ and a statement that they play 24 songs an hour, every hour, I was curious and a bit fearful of what I figured for being a bunch of time compressed songs, REALLY squished down to almost nothing. It wasn't quite that (though some songs do seem a bit faster paced) it was chopping and pasting until a song is less than 3 minutes (at least the commercial breaks were less than 3 minutes as well).

I found it interesting that someone would put a patent on a method many DJ's for years have used to make scoped demos! I myself have edited some songs to adjust the length to suit my program purposes. Does this mean something I was doing as far back as 1979 will now get me into trouble for patent infringement?

Anyhow, I told some non radio (er, I mean normal) people about it and they were horrified by the idea of cutting down the songs, in fact most would like it if the songs were at least 4 minutes in length. Has any radio station actually considered jumping on the bandwagon?

What an interesting concept! I tried the online station this morning and enjoyed it but I couldn't continue later with my phone. On their mobile platform, they offer a demo but no live streaming. Does anyone know if they are planning to incorporate mobile streaming at some point in the future?