https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Sat, 09 May 2026 12:44:05 +0000 Tue, 05 May 2026 19:52:47 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=10351 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=68134&title=ot-radio-sources#68134 Author: Bwci Bo
Subject: 10351
Posted: 05 May 2026 at 7:52pm

Just for laughs, my local AC/oldies station was mostly being serviced with cassingles (yes, cassette singles!) right up until they changed format in late 1992.  The cassingles were then dubbed into their automation system.  The tape hiss and flutter was very apparent on-air, especially during the fades and quieter passages, thanks to their heavy compression settings.     ]]> Tue, 05 May 2026 19:52:47 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=68134&title=ot-radio-sources#68134 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67990&title=ot-radio-sources#67990 Author: LunarLaugh
Subject: 10351
Posted: 31 March 2026 at 9:11am

For music, Denon CDcarts or modified Sony CD jukeboxes were what I saw being utilized the most before the switch to digital files. ]]> Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:11:34 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67990&title=ot-radio-sources#67990 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67989&title=ot-radio-sources#67989 Author: Hykker
Subject: 10351
Posted: 31 March 2026 at 8:29am

CountryPD wrote: One of the early limitations for CD's airing on radio stations was not having CD players available! My station's first CD player was a higher-end SONY deck obtained with an advertising trade-out with a local appliance dealer. Initially we only had ONE so it was installed in our production room where we would use it to dub music to tape cartridges. Some months later we acquired two more that were installed in our main studio so we could finally play music from CD direct to on-air.

Only ever worked at one station that played CDs on the air (every other one was either carts or, later, hard-drive automation), and we just used consumer units we'd traded out for. They did the job, but the mechanism just wasn't up to this kind of use, and they didn't stand up very well.]]> Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:29:16 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67989&title=ot-radio-sources#67989 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67988&title=ot-radio-sources#67988 Author: LunarLaugh
Subject: 10351
Posted: 30 March 2026 at 7:17pm

I have a bunch of old carts but no way of playing them other than spooling the tape on to a reel and running it on my r2r deck, which takes away the fun of it. Still holding out hope that a nice cart machine might fall into my lap somewhere down the line. ]]> Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:17:31 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67988&title=ot-radio-sources#67988 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67987&title=ot-radio-sources#67987 Author: CountryPD
Subject: 10351
Posted: 30 March 2026 at 7:51am

Regarding country promo singles in the late 80's/very early 90's it was similar to the scenario with pop radio as outlined in the previous post by Hykker. Initially some single releases were sent on CD while others were still on 45's. Most of the major labels periodically released multi-artist CD compilations that aggregated recent single releases. Many stations (like mine) used those CD's as the source for transferring songs to broadcast tape cartridges for airplay.

I recall that initially there was a lack of CD manufacturing facilities so record labels had some limitations in that regard. As more CD plants came online it allowed promo CD singles to proliferate.

One of the early limitations for CD's airing on radio stations was not having CD players available! My station's first CD player was a higher-end SONY deck obtained with an advertising trade-out with a local appliance dealer. Initially we only had ONE so it was installed in our production room where we would use it to dub music to tape cartridges. Some months later we acquired two more that were installed in our main studio so we could finally play music from CD direct to on-air. About a year later our capital budget allowed us to replace the SONY decks with Denon professional broadcast CD players. For quite a while we continued to use a mix of CD's & tape cartridges on air. It was a few years before many country oldies had CD availability. Also many of the single edits/remixes were unavailable on compact disc (to this day there are still hit radio versions with no digital availability)
That's why many stations used a service like TM to obtain oldies on CD.

Edited by CountryPD - 30 March 2026 at 7:53am]]> Mon, 30 Mar 2026 07:51:35 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67987&title=ot-radio-sources#67987 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67985&title=ot-radio-sources#67985 Author: Hykker
Subject: 10351
Posted: 28 March 2026 at 6:56am

VWestlife wrote: Spencer Morasch (ex-WABCRadio77 on YouTube) had a video of the 45 of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" with "CARTED" written on the sleeve, and he said it was from WPLJ in New York City. So even in 1987-1988, major-market radio stations were still receiving new music on 45s (and copying them to tape "carts" to play on-air), rather than on CD.

In the late 80s the labels were inconsistent about what promo singles were released on CD vs 45. While I never worked in a large or major market, promo service in the mid-sized market I was in was a mix even into the early 90s.

Stations used carts for a number of reasons...to get around cueburn/record wear/bad pressings, because it was easier for the jocks and to prevent DJs from playing stuff they weren't supposed to.]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 06:56:48 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67985&title=ot-radio-sources#67985 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67984&title=ot-radio-sources#67984 Author: VWestlife
Subject: 10351
Posted: 27 March 2026 at 10:03pm

Spencer Morasch (ex-WABCRadio77 on YouTube) had a video of the 45 of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" with "CARTED" written on the sleeve, and he said it was from WPLJ in New York City. So even in 1987-1988, major-market radio stations were still receiving new music on 45s (and copying them to tape "carts" to play on-air), rather than on CD.]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:03:38 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67984&title=ot-radio-sources#67984 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67980&title=ot-radio-sources#67980 Author: NightAire
Subject: 10351
Posted: 26 March 2026 at 2:23am

I know the big top 40 in Tulsa I worked at in 1989 and 1990 was getting MULTIPLE copies of CD singles from the labels... so much so that he was begging part time staff (like me) to take crates of CD singles home. (Most of them were songs we DIDN'T play, to be fair.)

The big country station I worked at in 1998, though, had a huge library... I think it was TM Century? Not sure; some library, could have been CDX.

I later worked at the other Top 40 in town, and they had a mix of CD singles from the labels, and compilation CDs... so I'm not sure there was a pattern.]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 02:23:48 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67980&title=ot-radio-sources#67980 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67979&title=ot-radio-sources#67979 Author: Hykker
Subject: 10351
Posted: 25 March 2026 at 6:16pm

CountryPD wrote: CDX was a company specifically created for country releases. They provided free discs to the smaller country stations to save the major labels from doing so. CDX discs mostly included the radio versions/remixes/single edits. At the dawn of the CD era TM began to offer "oldie" music libraries on CD. A significant number of radio stations subscribed to them as many oldies were not yet commercially on compact disc. However many of the tracks were sourced from vinyl with noise reduction applied. Some also had inaudible "tones" embedded at the end of songs for automation systems.

I've worked at several small market country stations, and agree those CDX discs were a lifesaver. Another source smaller stations used at least in the 00s & 10s was newmusicserver.com. I don't know if they're still around. One of the PDs I worked with gave me his login, but that was 15+ years ago, and last time I tried it, it didn't work.

I know Top Hits USA used tones to trigger automation systems, but, at least in the 90s TM used the index function on CDs to perform that function.]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:16:32 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67979&title=ot-radio-sources#67979 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67977&title=ot-radio-sources#67977 Author: CountryPD
Subject: 10351
Posted: 25 March 2026 at 8:00am

Agree with Aaron that most major market radio stations always received excellent service from record labels and had no need for other sources. Companies that compiled multiple new releases on a single CD were mostly for smaller market stations or club DJ's.

CDX was a company specifically created for country releases. They provided free discs to the smaller country stations to save the major labels from doing so. CDX discs mostly included the radio versions/remixes/single edits.

At the dawn of the CD era TM began to offer "oldie" music libraries on CD. A significant number of radio stations subscribed to them as many oldies were not yet commercially on compact disc. However many of the tracks were sourced from vinyl with noise reduction applied. Some also had inaudible "tones" embedded at the end of songs for automation systems. ]]> Wed, 25 Mar 2026 08:00:15 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10351&PID=67977&title=ot-radio-sources#67977