I know it may vary from station to station, but do most land-based
radio stations play songs by spinning an actual CD? Or do they burn to
a computer first?

To clarify, I am talking about broadcast stations and not internet
stations. I would like to learn more about the process that occurs
from the time a station receives a promo CD in the mail to the time it
goes on the air. Thanks for the help.

I don't have much info, but I often hear DJs on the main stations
getting requests and then saying that they'll have to go look for the
CD. I'd also presume they'd use the original CDs because MP3s wouldn't
be of a broadcastable quality for most commercial stations.

I don't have much information either, but some stations used very
large hard drives to store up to 1000 recordings and the play order
was entered via computer key board. The latest releases would need to
be played manually at least once to get them on the hard drive. Still
earlier large reels of tape held the songs. Likely some of the old
technology is still in use at stations that have little profit. My son
is the 70s disk jocky on www.radioio.com  He often plays songs from
his personel collection of vynals. A great job;he rarely needs to
leave his house.   Neil

Most commercial radio stations now use automation software combined
with servers for their audio needs, such as music and commercials.

The use of the Cd term on the air by the announcer is to not confuse
the listeners, as the audio server can hold lots of music, but yes the
stations still have a music department, where original CD?s are
stored.

Most Radio stations do not receive the actual Cd?s that you purchase
in a store. The record companies send at least once a month,
compilations of new songs from their artists. That is why you will not
hear different songs from the artist?s album, all the stations will
play the same song, the one that was send from the label.

The radio station transfers the audio from the CD onto the music
server and this turns it into an .WAV file.

Some larger stations/record companies are now using the internet to
send their audio tracks to stations. For example, American Idol 3
winner Taylor Hicks? song was sent to stations via the internet, along
with the clip of his interview, so radio stations played the
interview, right before the song.

Here is a link to radio automation software and a link to the music
distribution service used by stations.

http://www.dalet.com/radiosuite.html

http://www.promoonlympe.com/