Copyright ocregister
Back in the days of AM radio dominance, there was one thing that often set FM stations apart from their AM counterparts: the length of the songs. Popular AM top-40 stations such as KHJ (930 AM) had rules that limited song length — roughly three minutes — while FM stations tended to play the full album versions, even the early FM top 40s like KKDJ (now KIIS, 102.7 FM) There are various reasons for this difference. In the early days of recorded music, songs tended to be about three minutes due to the technology of the time. The 45 RPM records (and earlier 78s) tended to be limited to that in recording length, and that is what stations played. But many AM programmers tended to take this to an extreme. Longtime KHJ Director of Production Douglas Brown explained that even as late as the mid-1970s, “KHJ programmer Michael Spears would not add any current longer than 3:35. That led me to doing some strange edits of popular longer songs.” Brown said that occasionally, promotional copies of singles sent out by the record companies had the song length mislabeled to be shorter than the actual time, in an attempt to get longer songs played in full. Don McLean’s “American Pie” ran about eight minutes on FM stations. AM? About four. There were actually two versions of “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf, the single version played on KHJ was about 40 seconds shorter than the album version played on KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM) and had slightly changed lyrics in the first verse: instead of “goes far, flies near” the KHJ version had a shorter opening and the line “flies far, goes near.” It truly is a different version. You can hear it on an aircheck if you search for “Shadoe Stevens KHJ.” Brown explained that it had to do with what he called “forward momentum … keep it moving,” he explained. “If you don’t love this song, the next one is only 3 minutes away. It also made the number of songs work with the desired commercial load.” I bring this up because I have run into something quite interesting. One of my favorite Foreigner songs from the 1970s is “Feels Like the First Time.” as with so many others, there was an “AM version” and an “FM version. The AM version has a shorter musical bridge leading into the line “and it feels like the first time,” after the second verse; as the song reaches the end, a quick “open the door” is edited out of the song before the remaining “won’t you open up the door.” The overall change is about 20 seconds shorter than the full version. But it did bring the song under the “3:35 limit” from the full 3:47 original playing time. But it just sounds wrong to my ears. Interestingly, by the time the song was a hit, KHJ was playing “long versions all the way through,” and so many of us heard the song on KMET or KLOS (95.5 FM). I cringe every time I hear the short version. And yet, that’s what seems to usually get played today. At least that’s all I remember hearing lately. I did check with KLOS, and they say they play the full version. I must be hearing it primarily on SiriusXM and some of the pop-oriented oldies stations. I wonder if anyone actually prefers the short version, or if stations don’t know what they are playing. It’s kind of funny … certainly some songs do sound better edited, but moves like that and the similar speeding up of songs are what drove many to discover FM … and FM stations doing it today risk driving people elsewhere. I received an interesting inquiry from reader Dennis Bell, regarding the recent changes at iHeart and “Love Songs on the KOST” (103.5 FM) host Karen Sharp leaving the airwaves. “With the shake-up, I wonder what will happen with its Christmas music?” he asks. “I was somewhere yesterday where the TV was tuned to the Music Choice channel, playing Christmas song classics sung by Bing Crosby, Chuck Berry, etc, not by current singers who can’t carry a tune in a bucket. “I love Christmas music … I can listen to it all year long: he concluded. Have no fear. The ratings for KOST more than double — sometimes triple — the normal ratings seen by the station; they will not give this up. You can bet they will change to holiday hits as we get closer to Thanksgiving. I am betting on November 14. And of course, if you have an HD radio, you can tune in to holiday music right now, on KKGO’s (105.1 FM) HD3 stream. But as far as I can tell, you do need an HD-capable radio — many cars and trucks come with them now. Thus far, I can’t find an app to play it. Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com
