In-house radio edits
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Topic: In-house radio edits
Posted By: Paul Haney
Subject: In-house radio edits
Date Posted: 14 August 2015 at 11:24am
| I remember hearing some "in-house" radio edits back in the day for long songs that weren't issued as promo 45s (several Elton John hits spring to mind). Now, I realize that these edits were in no way "official" and are very difficult, if not impossible, to track down today. However, have any of the skilled editors here ever tried their own custom edits on some of these hits? If so, I'd be curious to hear some of the results. |
Replies:
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 14 August 2015 at 11:53am
|
I know that Aaron reproduced an edit of "99 Luftballons" and "99 Red Balloons", to mimic an edit originally done by American Top 40. But I can't think of many others.
I'm sure there were in-house edits of "Isn't She Lovely", but I haven't attempted to reproduce any of them. I think we discussed "Erotic City" by Prince on the board, but I don't think we ever attempted the in-house edits that Z100/New York or WPLJ/New York used. Z100 used a snare thwack to replace the bad words; WPLJ cut out every full line of the song that included a bad word, making for a weird-sounding song structure. We can't really reproduce the customized edits for "We Built This City" or "Hot In The City". I started listening to the radio around 1979, and I don't remember any songs being trimmed for length after that period. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 14 August 2015 at 4:03pm
|
I did for some of the WLS versions of Elton John's mid-1970s stuff.
The one for "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" stands out--they took a large chunk of the song out from about the (4:15) mark to the "someone saved...someone saved...someone saved my life tonight" ending, then sped it up. ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 14 August 2015 at 9:12pm
|
<I'm sure there were in-house edits of "Isn't She Lovely">
I did an edit on "Isn't She Lovely" - turns out that what was later used on the UK version of the "Song Review" CD was very close to what I did. I've done edits of other long songs, though none of Elton John's, but Paul you didn't mention any other songs specifically. Were there specific ones you had in mind? |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 15 August 2015 at 5:06am
|
I'm thinking mainly of 1970s songs that were over 6 minutes or so.
Some examples: Do You Feel Like We Do - Peter Frampton Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - Temptations Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Elton John Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John All My Love - Led Zeppelin Also, some 1980s hits like "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses, and "One More Try" and "Father Figure" by George Michael. I've been on an "official radio edit" kick lately and it just seems to me that some of these super-long singles are crying out to be shortened a bit! |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 15 August 2015 at 5:06am
Doug, those are the some of the exact ones I had in mind. I'd love to hear those sometime! |
sriv94 wrote:Posted By: Fetta
Date Posted: 15 August 2015 at 8:16am
|
I know that I received a Paradise City or Patience edit (I can't recall) from someone in this group (I would say probably Aaron or Ron) a while back.
Also like Ron said, Aaron replicated the AT TOP 40 version of "99 Luftballons" and "99 Red Balloons" which was slightly different than the one played in NY, which I was able to replicate using Aaron's edit (just one minor change). |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 15 August 2015 at 5:49pm
Me too. The station I did weekends at in 1975 also played a house edit of that, I kick myself for not making a dub of it. Don't recall exactly what got cut out, but I do remember our production director leaving IN the "it's 4:00 in the morning, dammit", which other edits I've heard removed. In 1969 WRKO in Boston did an interesting edit of "Suite:Judy Blue Eyes". I can only guess that they got wind that this would be the next single and wanted to scoop the competiton, but 7:20 was way too long so they made a custom edit of the album version which they continued to play even after an official single was issued. They cut out the whole "Tuesday morning, Sunday in the afternoon part. I have a re-creation of it if anyone's interested (referenced from an off-air recording of their edit). |
Posted By: RichM921
Date Posted: 15 August 2015 at 8:54pm
|
There is an edit of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" which gets
played on our local classic hits station which closely describes what you are mentioning. The station is an affiliate of the Cumulus "Classic Hits" format, so apparently this homemade edit is still in use nationally, at least on Cumulus stations. |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 17 August 2015 at 9:00am
|
I've done tons of custom edits for my own car CD listening and in-house music system listening. Some are imitations of custom edits I've heard over the years, or of promo edits I can't seem to find at all. Many times, I much prefer my own edits.
Songs include: No Reply At All - Genesis (refrain before third verse removed) Rapture - Blondie (an LP Edit similar to Stereo Rock) Celebration - Kool and the Gang (an edit similar to Stereo Rock. Only once do they sing "Yahoo" on each chorus) Don't Stand So Close to Me - Police (final four measures of instrumental break removed, and intro fades up just before light percussion begins) Passion - Rod Stewart (an LP Edit similar to Stereo Rock, where the final eight measures of the piano intro are removed, and the second refrain is down to a single instance) De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da - Police (intro and first chorus spliced in half) (Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon (an edit similar to Stereo Rock, whereby the sustained "Somehwere..." and the drums are overlapped, removing the silence) Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Culture Club (turns out that it's identical to the promo single removing the long instrumental section. However, I never ever knew this was actually issued as a promo record. I thought Stereo Rock just created the custom edit at the second last "Make me cry". Things you learn on this forum) Turn it On Again - Genesis (imitation of an edit on a British compilation, whereby the intro starts after "1, 2, 3, 4..." and the instrumental section before the final repeat chorus is halved) She's Out of My Life - Michael Jackson (remixed in a sustained note of strings lightly overtop of the first line of the second verse "She's out of my hands...". I always recalled hearing something else there back when the song was released in 1980, but never found a record that sounded as I remembered it. Dirty Laundry - Don Henley (it appears that I must have heard a custom edit, because no one here can corroborate the existence of a promo that halves both of the guitar solos....hmmmmm. Oh well, that's what I ended up doing) There must be dozen and dozens more, but that's a start...lol ------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: 995wlol
Date Posted: 17 August 2015 at 11:05am
|
I've recreated a number of in-house edits from the 80s that were aired on WLOL Minneapolis:
Guns N' Roses - Paradise City and Patience Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart (crossfade edit during the instrumental break) Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me (single-length edit of the US extended version) Hall & Oates - Jingle Bell Rock (spliced to create a duet version with Daryl and John) Two other custom edits that I have not tried to recreate: Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep (splices the LP and 12" versions) One Night In Bangkok (spliced to create a duet with both Murray Head and Robey--I can't recreate it exactly because it includes additional gong sound effects at the beginning and end, plus I'm missing the first few seconds from when I recorded it off the radio) Beginning in May 1990 when WLOL moved to dance/top 40, a good portion of the music was composed of in-house edits--mostly edited from 12" and dub mixes. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 17 August 2015 at 12:29pm
|
Doug was kind enough to send me some WLS custom edits from the 1970s.
The following are terrific and match what I remember from back in the day: Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - Temptations (3:35) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Elton John (4:41) Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John (4:25) The edits for "Pinball Wizard" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" are not so great. In fact, the edits are pretty bad, so I think I'll stick with the longer versions on those two. I'm always up for hearing more! |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 17 August 2015 at 2:28pm
|
Actually, AT40's edit of "SSMLT" isn't bad. I'll send you that at some
point. ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Michaeldila
Date Posted: 17 August 2015 at 4:38pm
|
i definitely remember edited versions of madonna's "spotlight" "like a prayer"
and "bad girl"...all under 4:20 minutes long. |
Posted By: DJghr1
Date Posted: 25 August 2015 at 5:29pm
|
I made a custom edit of "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer
Sisters which I used the 1984 45 version and added the 12" cold outro. Also I made one for "Isn't She Lovely" which sounds much like the version played nowadays on many classic hits stations, with his vocals starting @22 seconds, running time 3:38. Feel free to PM me if you need a copy for review. George |
Posted By: Steve Carras
Date Posted: 25 August 2015 at 8:03pm
|
KHJ 93 in Los Angeles did these in 1974:
"Band on the Run"-Wings- edited from the DJ copy so as to REMOVE the second part ("never never get outta here..") Elton John's "Don't Let the sun Go Down on Me" (which I'm surprised was even played with the innuendo:D) lost a second verse/chorus and went straight from first or (after 2nd verse edit) Chorus 2 Kiki Dee's "I've Got the Music in Me" in the DJ edit was already short but the station took out the open piano notes. The single just starts out with the drums/tambourine!) Three Dog Night's "Show Must Go On" lost the first part of the sample of "March of the Gladiators". Kool & The Gang's "Hollywood Swingin'" was faded after the vocal (but then most of it is a long 2:40 instrumental, applying to all after the second chorus.) Reunion's "Life is a Rock" missed the first half of its first chorus ("Life...is a rock...but the radio Rolled Me/Gotta turn it up louder/so my DJ told Me"..and just went to "At the end of the rainbow/lies..a golden oldie). Otherwise same. From 1974 to exactly a year later, 1975: Miracles "Love Machine": After playing the OFFICIAL Chelsea Records DJ edit that combined parts one and two of Disco Tex's "Get Dancin'" with the Sex-o-lettes in 1974-75, KHJ did a similar edit (unless there WAS an OFFICIAL one like it) of The Miracles's "Love Machine"(Epic) with 1st chorus, 1st verse, 2nd chorus, choral break then when to the final chorus with "push it push it baby", so that line like "gentle as a lamb..":(2nd verse between 3rd and 4rd chorus and second bridge,all gone but picks up as mentioned on the fifth verse, then plays most of part 2). ------------- You know you're really older when you think that younger singer Jesse McCartney's related in anyway to former Beatle Paul McCartney. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 26 August 2015 at 6:08pm
I'm not sure if these were KHJ-specific edits or RKO- General corporate ones. I remember hearing similar ones on WRKO as well. Paul Drew, RKO's VP of Programming at the time was a stickler for lengths, I've heard that there was a limit of 3:30 on songs (though this was the time when Elton John cranked out marathon song after marathon song and I'm sure some leeway was granted for a must-add artist like him). In late '68/early '69 WRKO had quite a few house edits they aired (most of which weren't very big hits)...a couple that come to mind were "Someday Soon" - Judy Collins (instrumental bridge shortened) & "I Can't Turn You Loose" - Chambers Brothers (2nd verse removed).
Don't remember that, but WRKO (as did many stations) played a custom version where the chorus went "life is a rock but RKO rolled me". Did KHJ play a similar one? |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 26 August 2015 at 8:05pm
WLS did that edit as well, but I didn't include it in my care package to Paul because I couldn't remember where to start and end the edit. ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: garye
Date Posted: 23 February 2021 at 8:35pm
|
An older thread and some thoughts.
Recently have gotten on the in-house edits bandwagon and giving a try to some old classics edited as radio did. Example: "Philadelphia Freedom" edited down to 4:09 with fade. "Do You Feel" from ol' Pete down to 6:11. Any shorter I think would ruin the song. I just edited the LP version and then used to 45 from the talkbox break to the end and corrected pitch. Even Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" from 11:30 to 4:20 just for fun. Have done that and enjoy those and other edits over this last year. See what happens when you get bored? PS: distilled "Thick AsA Brick" from jethro Tull to 5:48 recreating the edit AOR KILT FM in the 70's used when playing the record. And no will not touch "Stairway to Heaven"! Afraid of what Zep fans might do to me! LOL |
Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 24 February 2021 at 4:34am
|
one that i don't think has been discussed is Janet
Jackson's 'where are you now' which on the lp runs 5:47....i asked Todd to try and come up with a shorter version and he did an excellent job editing it down to 4:31....if anyone wants to check out his work.....let me know... ------------- edtop40 |
Posted By: RoknRobnLoxley
Date Posted: 24 February 2021 at 10:07am
|
Robbie Patton recorded a song "Smiling Islands", released as a single in 1982. Verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, and Stevie Nicks finished the song by repeating verses 1 and 2, with a tag of "smiling islands", then fade out.
But a local radio station in Richmond VA wasn't playing Robbie's single, they were instead playing a specially edited version of this, cutting out Robbie's verses altogether, replacing them with Stevie's verses, so Stevie ended up singing all 4 verses by herself! It was in pretty good rotation solid for several weeks. So I go to the record store to pick up the single, and surprise Robbie is singing verses 1 + 2. I called up the radio station and asked whats up with that? He told me someone at their parent company put this all-Stevie version together, and offered to send me a copy, but I didn't take him up on his offer. So using my own tape deck, I created my own edit of this, to match what the radio station was playing. And I got very very close to it, but my tape deck wasn't as fast on the edits so there was a little drag in there at times. Then I called up the DJ again and asked for a copy, and he mailed me a cassette of it. So far, it's not up on YouTube, but you can imagine how it would sound by listening to the regular version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzToUPIiV9w - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzToUPIiV9w |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 24 February 2021 at 11:29am
|
This has nothing to do with edits, but I
bought the "Smiling Islands" 45 in 1983, and I always thought it was a great song. There was another song ("For Shame") that got local airplay in my area around the same time because the band KIX was from 30 miles down I-81. I thought both of these songs would be huge national hits, and neither of them were. KIX had their only Top 40 hit in 1989 as I am sure many of you know. Here is the song I am talking about from 1983. KIX was a few years ahead of the hair-band-ballad craze with this song. I rarely post so I hope I am not setting myself up for others to think, "What a terrible song." Sorry for going off- topic, but the "Smiling Islands" post made me think of it. Watch "For Shame" on YouTube https://youtu.be/pcl3OHMsmR4 ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: radiofan16
Date Posted: 25 February 2021 at 4:49am
| How about Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald"? |
Posted By: garye
Date Posted: 25 February 2021 at 1:36pm
Have the Reprise Edit dub at 5:23. Just cut out some of the guitar bridges. But it kinda works. You can tell where the edits are if you listen closely. Radio! |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 25 February 2021 at 7:09pm
|
But, the 5:23 edit was an official Reprise promo edit. Were
there any stations that created an even shorter edit? ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA https://www.johngallagher.com" rel="nofollow - John Gallagher Wedding & Special Event Entertainment / Snapblast Photo Booth |
Posted By: garye
Date Posted: 26 February 2021 at 11:39am
Living in Houston, Texas at the time, the 4 Top 40 stations in town played the 5:23 edit. No in house edit there. But possible WLS and especially WABC might have done an in house and maybe LA market. Just have to think editing down you would lose the narrative of the song. Just my thoughts. |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 26 February 2021 at 9:02pm
|
I only carry the 5:23 edit in my active music library. I
remember recreating it years ago and it was quite a few short edits as I recall. ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA https://www.johngallagher.com" rel="nofollow - John Gallagher Wedding & Special Event Entertainment / Snapblast Photo Booth |
Posted By: radiofan16
Date Posted: 28 February 2021 at 4:31am
There was a version on YT that has since been removed that shortened the guitar passages in the first verse. |
Posted By: Vince
Date Posted: 03 March 2021 at 11:27pm
|
KFRC in San Francisco made a lot of custom edits in the late 70's. A few I remember are:
Miracles - Jefferson Starship (3:54) They used the Lp intro and cold ending. i made my own version of this one. Do You Feel Like We Do - Peter Frampton KFRC's edit ran about 7 minutes. It was edited from the Lp and had a lot of parts that were not on the 45 version. Miss You - Rolling Stones (~4:45) This was a mesh up of the Lp version and 12" version. It was noticeable when they cut back to the Lp, since the Lp is a slower pitch than the 12" single. By 1979 they dropped their custom edit and just played the Lp version. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? - Rod Stewart Played an edit of the 12" single. Tonight's the Night - Rod Stewart (~3:10) Cut out the "come on angel" verse. Runaway - Jefferson Starship Similar to the single edit, but with the instrumental beak shortened and a part from the Lp version near the end. Mac Arthur Park - Donna Summer Started like one of the longer version, but finished like the single version. There are probably more, but these are the ones i remember. |
Posted By: 995wlol
Date Posted: 04 March 2021 at 5:30pm
|
WLOL in Minneapolis played a few different custom
edits in the 80s that I remember. Always Something There To Remind Me - Naked Eyes Edit of the 12" Jellybean mix Jingle Bell Rock - Daryl Hall & John Oates Around the holidays they would play a version that spliced together the "Daryl version" and "John version" to make a duet Talking In Your Sleep - Romantics Spliced LP and 12" mixes together Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes Edited the instrumental bridge down using a crossfade One Night In Bangkok - Murray Head/Robey Spliced together the 12" versions from both artists After WLOL flipped to "Dance 40" in mid 1990, a majority of the songs in regular rotation were custom mixes/edits |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 05 March 2021 at 6:19am
Quite a few stations did edits of the Rod Stewart song, though ISTR it being the line "spread your wings and let me come inside" that got replaced/deleted. There was also a version with Brit Ekland (?) mixed out of the fade. As far as "McArthur Park" goes, back in '78 my "day job" required considerable travel, and I spent a couple weeks in Montreal while that song was on the charts, and heard a similar version there. At the time I just assumed it was the Canadian single version (or a Canadian-only promo edit). Liked it better than what was serviced here in the U.S. |
Posted By: garye
Date Posted: 05 March 2021 at 4:53pm
|
Did my own Frampton edit which times at 6:11. I just
edited the first 5 or minutes of the LP and then edited in the single at the talk box part for rest of song. It is surprising what you can edit down with a little time! Even Hotel California to 4:30! Well when you can't go anywhere..... |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 05 March 2021 at 6:48pm
WLS' version ran (4:20)--one edit was after "With a crew and good captain well seasoned" to "The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait" and the other was after "Of the wives and the sons and the daughters" to "In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed" (and it was slightly sped). It actually came out passable. Certainly heard worse hack jobs. :) ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 06 March 2021 at 4:59am
| Speaking of "MacArthur Park", did any stations cut down the original Richard Harris version back in the day? |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 06 March 2021 at 7:46am
Sadly, yes. The station that gave me my first radio job produced a house edit that ran 5-ish minutes. Basically the intro was shortened and the instrumental bridge was mostly removed. It was awful, and to add to the insult no one bothered to locate the splice when it was dubbed to cart. Mysteriously, when the PD (who created it) was on vacation the cart mysteriously jammed, and we just played the full version for the rest of the chart run.
HC was one of those songs with what I used to call the infinite fade. You could dump that one any time after the 5 minute mark and not lose anything. Convenient for when you had to backtime to a newscast or something. Not that I would ever "cheat" like that... |
Posted By: garye
Date Posted: 07 March 2021 at 11:01am
Of course not! Far be it from radio guys to even THINK like that! lol |
Posted By: thecdguy
Date Posted: 07 March 2021 at 6:34pm
|
I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but wasn't there an in-house edit done in 1978 that spliced together Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand's solo versions
of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" which prompted Neil and Barbra to get together in the studio and record the duet that came to be a #1 hit? Never heard the spliced together version, although I'd definitely be interested in it. ------------- Dan In Philly |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 07 March 2021 at 6:42pm
I have the spliced duet as heard on AT40 in 1979. I can email it if you PM me ------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 08 March 2021 at 4:16am
|
The spliced version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (as heard on AT40) is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjKMiBShVk - You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Spliced Version |
Posted By: VWestlife
Date Posted: 27 May 2021 at 8:18am
Today I heard 106.1 "The Breeze" in Philly completely skip over the intro of "Father Figure" (beginning immediately with the vocals) and then very quickly fade out and have the DJ talk over the ending. This is different than co-owned 106.7 "Lite FM" in NYC which plays the full song. |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 27 May 2021 at 9:27am
I've tried creating an edit on open reel back in the day where I start the song about nine seconds in, and then halving the second part of the intro by removing :25 to :35. That sorta worked. There was a time on CHR radio where one would try to keep the flow moving into a stop set. So let's suppose I'm coming out of Father Figure and into a strong national spot. Right after Georgie finishes "time .... " you could give the calls and back sell over the end music, and even tease what's coming up. Then once you give a time check and start the spot, the final seconds of music are still underneath your voice. The flow keeps going. ------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |