History Main / RadioFriendliness

* Of course the length rule isn't always true; if a DJ at a rock station needs to buy some time for other matters (such as taking a rest, grabbing some food, or [[PottyEmergency doing some business]]), they'll often put on "[[Music/LedZeppelin Stairway to Heaven]]" (7:55), "[[Creator/DonMcLean American Pie]]" (8:33; also the longest single to ever be a number-one hit in the U.S.), or "[[Music/LynyrdSkynyrd Free Bird]]" (9:08).

* TimMinchin has an unusually clean, three-minute long song written especially for pre-{{watershed}} TV appearances (which make similar stipulations), and which [[HowIWroteThisArticleArticle is all about the reasons he needs to write a clean three-minute song]].

-->-- '''TimMinchin''', "Three-Minute Song"

* Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known as TheKLF, had a Number One hit in the UK as [[Series/DoctorWho The Timelords]] with a novelty record called "Doctorin' the Tardis", and were inspired to write a book about it, ''The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)'', "a step by step guide to achieving a No.1 single with no money or musical skills". One part of the advice is listen to other tunes, and the one you're making, on the most basic equipment available. If it's [[EarWorm memorable]] on the crappiest car radio, you're onto a winner. The book was also prescient enough to anticipate home recording, saying "It's obvious that in a very short space of time [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld the Japanese]] will have delivered the technology and then brought the price of it down so that you can do the whole thing at home. Then you will be able to sod off all that crap about going into studios."

* Music/DavidBowie suffered the same fate in the U.S. after he moved on from the pop-rock stylings of ''Music/LetsDance'' and its two successor albums at the end of TheEighties. He moved on to [[Main/NewSoundAlbum usually harder sounds]], and combined with his lyrical tendency towards dark and/or difficult subject matter rather than SillyLoveSongs, he's not welcome in the adult contemporary radio format that usually adopts older rockers and their new material (Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, etc.). Yet he's not embraced by modern rock radio either, possibly due to his age. In TheNewTens, classic rock radio largely neglects his work because so little of it "rocks" in the conventional sense; it's telling that the song of his that gets the most play is his collaboration with Music/{{Queen}}, "Under Pressure". (Stations that do "flashback" weekends featuring blocks of 1970s/80s tunes might throw in "Changes", "Young Americans", "Modern Love", and a few other numbers that charted when new.)

* A lot of Music/PinkFloyd songs get heavily edited for the radio.

* Save for [[BlackSheepHit "Touch of Grey"]], don't expect to hear a lot of Music/TheGratefulDead on classic rock radio.

* Of course the length rule isn't always true. Among the most played songs on the radio all-time is [[Music/LedZeppelin Stairway to Heaven]] at 7:55.
** And a song you'll almost certainly hear on Classic Rock stations on Thanksgiving is "Music/AlicesRestaurant", which runs 18:34. Of course, there's a joke/statement of some degree of fact that these are both played for much the same reasons: To allow the DJ to leave the booth unattended for 5 and 15 minutes respectively. (After all, even [=DJs=] need to crap.)
** The 10 - 15 minute version of "Freebird" shows up from time to time on whatever channel the university's food court puts on.

** The longest song to hit #1 in the US is ''American Pie'' by Creator/DonMcLean which ran a whopping 8:33

And the wisdom here at the {{BBC}}\\

* Music/DavidBowie suffered the same fate in the U.S. after he moved on from the pop-rock stylings of ''Let's Dance'' and its two successor albums at the end of TheEighties. He moved on to [[Main/NewSoundAlbum usually harder sounds]], and combined with his lyrical tendency towards dark and/or difficult subject matter rather than SillyLoveSongs, he's not welcome in the adult contemporary radio format that usually adopts older rockers and their new material (Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, etc.). Yet he's not embraced by modern rock radio either, possibly due to his age. In TheNewTens, classic rock radio largely neglects his work because so little of it "rocks" in the conventional sense; it's telling that the song of his that gets the most play is his collaboration with {{Queen}}, "Under Pressure". (Stations that do "flashback" weekends featuring blocks of 1970s/80s tunes might throw in "Changes", "Young Americans", "Modern Love", and a few other numbers that charted when new.)

* Save for [[BlackSheepHit "Touch of Grey"]], don't expect to hear a lot of TheGratefulDead on classic rock radio.
* {{Lampshaded}} by Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter". Ironically it was neither Radio Friendly nor a Unit Shifter[[note]]Unit Shifter is a music industry term for a song that sells albums[[/note]]. The song was originally titled "Four Month Media Blackout" to mockingly reflect the amount of time "Smells Like Teen Spirit" would play on the radio and MTV. When "Teen Spirit" lingered on for longer, the song was retitled "Nine Month Media Blackout." When it became clear the song would become a permanent fixture, the newer song would be retitled "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter."

* Despite being quite popular and having a massive cult fanbase, you will never hear Music/{{Radiohead}} on the radio (except "Creep" and maybe "Fake Plastic Trees", "Karma Police", or "Paranoid Android" if the six-minutes-and-change running time doesn't put it out of the running).

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the case of {{Queen}}'s "Bohemian Rhapsody", a mini-RockOpera released as a single uncut at 5:55, which the band knew would be a hard sell. It became a hit when Freddie Mercury ''begged'' his friend, DJ KennyEverett not to play it, [[TemptingFate knowing full well Kenny (who loved the song) would do so anyway]]. Kenny would always "excuse" his plays of the song by muttering, "[[BlatantLies Oops, hand slipped]]!" and the like.

* Music/DavidBowie suffered the same fate in the U.S. after he moved on from the pop-rock stylings of ''Let's Dance'' and its two successor albums at the end of TheEighties. He moved on to [[Main/NewSoundAlbum usually harder sounds]], and combined with his lyrical tendency towards dark and/or difficult subject matter rather than SillyLoveSongs, he's not welcome in the adult contemporary radio format that usually adopts older rockers and their new material (Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, etc.). Yet he's not embraced by modern rock radio either, possibly due to his age. In TheNewTens, classic rock radio neglects most of his work; the song of his that gets the most play is his collaboration with {{Queen}}, "Under Pressure".

** You might also hear the seven-plus-minute version of "[[Music/TheBeatles Hey Jude]]" from time to time, or the similarly-lengthy "Macarthur Park".

* BBC Radio 2 DJ Richard Allinson had a regular feature on his show called ''Oh no, not ALL of it!", where he would play a listener-requested long track in its entirety - the longer the better. Things like The MoodyBlues' ''Legend of a Mind'', at 8:45, were considered too ''short'' to qualify.

* Toad The Wet Sprocket's "Walk On The Ocean" suffered from this due to formatting - it lacked the usual instrumental "intro" and "outro" with the singing starting ''immediately'' at the start of the track, and the track ending ''immediately'' when the lyrics stopped meaning the DJ would have to time the transitions carefully to avoid either talking/playing another song over the lyrics, or DeadAir.

* {{Lampshaded}} by Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter". Ironically it was neither Radio Friendly nor a Unit Shifter [[hottip:*: Unit Shifter is a music industry term for a song that sells albums]]. The song was originally titled "Four Month Media Blackout" to mockingly reflect the amount of time "Smells Like Teen Spirit" would play on the radio and MTV. When "Teen Spirit" lingered on for longer, the song was retitled "Nine Month Media Blackout." When it became clear the song would become a permanent fixture, the newer song would be retitled "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter."

* Music/DavidBowie suffered the same fate in the U.S. after he moved on from the pop-rock stylings of ''Let's Dance'' and its two successor albums at the end of TheEighties. He moved on to [[Main/NewSoundAlbum usually harder sounds]], and combined with his lyrical tendency towards dark and/or difficult subject matter rather than SillyLoveSongs, he wasn't welcome in the adult contemporary radio format that usually adopts older rockers and their new material (Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, etc.). Yet he wasn't embraced by modern rock radio either, possibly due to his age. In TheNewTens, classic rock radio neglects most of his work; the song of his that gets the most play is his collaboration with {{Queen}}, "Under Pressure".

* Music/DavidBowie suffered the same fate in the U.S. after he moved on from the pop-rock stylings of ''Let's Dance'' and its two successor albums at the end of TheEighties. He moved on to [[Main/NewSoundAlbum usually harder sounds]], and combined with his lyrical tendency towards dark and/or difficult subject matter rather than SillyLoveSongs, he wasn't welcome in the adult contemporary radio format that usually adopts older rockers and their new material (Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, etc.). Yet he wasn't embraced by modern rock radio either, possibly due to his age.

** You might also hear the seven-plus-minute version of "[[TheBeatles Hey Jude]]" from time to time, or the similarly-lengthy "Macarthur Park".

----

** Music/DavidBowie suffered the same fate in the U.S. after he moved on from the pop-rock stylings of ''Let's Dance'' and its two successor albums at the end of TheEighties. He moved on to [[Main/NewSoundAlbum usually harder sounds]], and combined with his lyrical tendency towards dark and/or difficult subject matter rather than SillyLoveSongs, he wasn't welcome in the adult contemporary radio format that usually adopts older rockers and their new material (Sting, Elton John, The Eagles, etc.). Yet he wasn't embraced by modern rock radio either, possibly due to his age.

* {{Lampshaded}} by Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter".
** Ironically it was neither Radio Friendly nor a Unit Shifter [[hottip:*: Unit Shifter is a music industry term for a song that sells albums]]
** The song was originally titled "Four Month Media Blackout" to mockingly reflect the amount of time "Smells Like Teen Spirit" would play on the radio and MTV. When "Teen Spirit" lingered on for longer, the song was retitled "Nine Month Media Blackout." When it became clear the song would become a permanent fixture, the newer song would be retitled "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter."
* Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known as TheKLF, had a Number One hit in the UK as [[Series/DoctorWho The Timelords]] with a novelty record called "Doctorin' the Tardis", and were inspired to write a book about it, ''The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)'', "a step by step guide to achieving a No.1 single with no money or musical skills". One part of the advice is listen to other tunes, and the one you're making, or the most basic equipment available. If it's [[EarWorm memorable]] on the crappiest car radio, you're onto a winner. The book was also prescient enough to anticipate home recording, saying "It's obvious that in a very short space of time [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld the Japanese]] will have delivered the technology and then brought the price of it down so that you can do the whole thing at home. Then you will be able to sod off all that crap about going into studios."

** You might also hear the seven-plus-minute version of "[[TheBeatles Hey Jude]]" from time to time, or the similarly-lengthy Macarthur Park.
* Despite being quite popular and having a massive cult fanbase, you will never hear Music/{{Radiohead}} on the radio.
** Except "Creep" and maybe "Fake Plastic Trees", "Karma Police", or "Paranoid Android" if the six-minutes-and-change running time doesn't put it out of the running.

** Except "Creep" and maybe "Fake Plastic Trees" or "Karma Police"

** Ironically it was neither Radio Friendly nor a Unit Shiter [[hottip:*: Unit Shifter is a music industry term for a song that sells albums]]

* Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known as the KLF, had a Number One hit in the UK as [[Series/DoctorWho The Timelords]] with a novelty record called "Doctorin' the Tardis", and were inspired to write a book about it, ''The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)'', "a step by step guide to achieving a No.1 single with no money or musical skills". One part of the advice is listen to other tunes, and the one you're making, or the most basic equipment available. If it's [[EarWorm memorable]] on the crappiest car radio, you're onto a winner. The book was also prescient enough to anticipate home recording, saying "It's obvious that in a very short space of time [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld the Japanese]] will have delivered the technology and then brought the price of it down so that you can do the whole thing at home. Then you will be able to sod off all that crap about going into studios."