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When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
The things you can learn on the Internet. I just found out about this, although there must be a lot of others who were well aware of it. But I never realized that there was an alternate version of Steely Dan's iconic hit "FM," from the movie of the same name. The "other" song was called "AM" and was the exact same tune except with the title edited out and the other broadcast band dubbed in.
The song came along just as FM was starting to challenge AM for dominance on the dial and music stations on the old band were unwilling to publicize the competition. So to ensure airplay, a second version was released. Although how they can claim "no static at all" on AM is beyond me.
- Jody Thornton
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Didn't we post this awhile back? Maybe I was thinking of the "Top 40 Music on CD" Forum I post on.
I made a higher quality version for Humble and Fred to use on Funny 820. That was damned hard to edit, but I think I did pretty well.
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
I see in your post on the other board that this wasn't exactly a record company idea. It was done by an AM station (the exact outlet is open to some dispute) by taking the "A" sound from another of their songs called "Aja." Wow, what a great edit. It's completely seamless.
How did I miss this all those years ago?
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Thread Starter- Jody Thornton
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Here's my edit:
[url]!Aqf69xNYUTWUhHVSYGR26cEsw3OU?e=C7j6yJ[/url]
I can't seem to hyperlink the whole URL, so just copy and paste it 
Last edited by Jody Thornton (March 25, 2020 4:12 pm)
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
- paterson1
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Must have been a US thing. I have never heard a station here play the AM version of this song. To me this was really comical. I vaguely remember the AM version, and at the time, we laughed at it at the station (CKPR) I was working at in '78. We thought this was really dumb and of course only played the original.
In fact all four AM stations where I was on air only played the original. So in 1978 AM radio in the US was so threatened and insecure by FM that they had to have their own version, or what they wouldn't play it? Unbelievably stupid and an overreaction. Moves like that killed AM music stations as much as anything.
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Jody Thornton wrote:
Here's my edit:
[url]!Aqf69xNYUTWUhHVSYGR26cEsw3OU?e=C7j6yJ[/url]
I can't seem to hyperlink the whole URL, so just copy and paste it
Your version was also great. If you didn't know about the edit, you couldn't tell.
I'm not sure when you did this or how. But there's nothing like a great electronic or blade tape edit to evince a sense of satisfaction. Not to mention all those pieces of tape draped on your leg waiting to be put back in. Or all that grease paint on your fingers. And the back and forth of the reels as you try to find just the right edit point. I can't help feeling we've lost a certain skill that will never come back.
While that was an interesting time, I'll admit that it sure is a lot easier now than it was then!
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Thread Starter- Lorne
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Might be worth mentioning here that the group FM made the CHUM (AM) Chart for eight weeks in 1985 with their biggest hit, Just Like You, which peaked at #14. No doubt it helped that they were Canadian, plus of course with CHUM having an FM station this issue might not have been a concern to them. On the other hand, the Steely Dan song never charted on CHUM, and I remember noticing at the time that I was only hearing it on FM.
- Jody Thornton
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
All good editing should never be audible.
I miss using open-reel decks for editing, and I got pretty good with it. I use GoldWave and Adobe Audition most of the time now. With analog tape machines, I would have had to use either sound-on-sound or track bouncing to accomplish what I did, and that results in a buildup of hiss and less solidity in transient sounds. Digital is so much better for this sort of thing I admit.
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
I cut my teeth - and my tape! - on those wonderful old Ampex machines, which were tremendous workhorses. Then it was on to Studers. Both were great reel-to-reels and all of my edits in those days were done totally by hand, by sound and sometimes even by feel. When an impossible edit done manually came out perfectly, it was a real sense of accomplishment. And sometimes, with real tricky cuts, you felt like you could never do the same splice twice!
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Thread Starter- Fitz
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Here's my edit:
[url]!Aqf69xNYUTWUhHVSYGR26cEsw3OU?e=C7j6yJ[/url]
I can't seem to hyperlink the whole URL, so just copy and paste it
Nice Job Jody. I had never heard about "AM" before but I still use reel to reel tape and in fact I am listening to a lot of old radio tapes during this shut down.
I have the FM soundtrack album and what has always surprised me is that for a movie that was decrying the mainstreaming of FM radio how mainstream the actual track listing of the album is. The song FM is maybe the best thing on it.
Cool Airchecks and More:
- Dale Patterson
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Must have been a US thing. I have never heard a station here play the AM version of this song. To me this was really comical. I vaguely remember the AM version, and at the time, we laughed at it at the station (CKPR) I was working at in '78. We thought this was really dumb and of course only played the original.
In fact all four AM stations where I was on air only played the original. So in 1978 AM radio in the US was so threatened and insecure by FM that they had to have their own version, or what they wouldn't play it? Unbelievably stupid and an overreaction. Moves like that killed AM music stations as much as anything.
Methinks it was done as a tongue-in-cheek joke, and a good one at that.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
- tvguy
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Re: When Steely Dan's Hit "FM" Never Actually Mentioned "FM"
Slightly off topic but Donald Fagan's "The Nightfly" is also a great radio song. Great harmonies from the backup singers who sound like they're singing a radio id:
[Chorus: Fagen]
An independent station
WJAZ
With jazz and conversation
From the foot of Mt. Belzoni
Sweet music
Tonight the night is mine
Late line 'til the sun (til' the sun) comes through the skyline