How is it that different radio stations play the same song at the same time?

This afternoon I'm scanning the radio stations in my vehicle - I have 5 different preset stations - they all play classic rock (basically) with some 80's hits and one station plays a couple more modern songs from the late 90's and i believe I've heard some from the 2000's.

So you see what I'm working with here - basically it's all classic rock stations on the 5 presets.

Ok - so roughly at around 1:00 pm I'm scanning through the presets to listen to a song that I've heard a million times already but that I can still stand to listen to (still).

So I land on preset #4 and it's Billy Joel - 'Big Shot' - I'm not into that song so I hit preset #5 (the last preset since I've exhausted my choices of 1 through 5).

Preset #5 is strangely Billy Joel's 'Big Shot' and it's roughly 2 or 3 seconds behind preset #4!

Don't you just hate that?!?

What are the chances of that happening? This is not the first time this has happened to me but why does this happen?

I mean the playlists of these stations are rather shallow of the classic rock genre but how does this happen that they would play a song at almost the exact same time as another competing station? Weird huh?

This thread is not for those chiming in with these remarks so i'll spare you the typing by doing it for you:

"That's why I listen to XM..."

"I play the CD player..."

"I play my mp3 player in the car..."

"I listen to vinyl in my car..."

"I listen to 8 tracks...."

"I still play cassettes...."

"I carry a portable boombox in my front seat..."


So is there someone at the station getting a laugh by copying another station to see if people notice or call in to complain?

 

It happens more frequently that you may think, especially with "seasonal" hits, especially summertime.
An exception had been during the full Saturday Night Fever era (77/78)... you just couldn't escape Stayin' alive or Night fever anytime... these were always somewhere at least in two station.

BTW, two addition to the list:
"I play my cell phone"
"I carry a Tuba player on the backseat of my Cadillac"

 

Many stations pay for pre-programmed playlists. One central location can be feeding multiple stations, especially those with the same format such as "Classic Hits" or "Classic Rock". But usually not in the same market area. One location I know of...let's say San Antonio...programs stations throughout the country.

 

Nah, it's just the narrow playlists. Years ago when this happened it was a near-cosmic thing. Now, not so rare.
My car only has an AM/FM and I play a game with the radio where I'll name a 70's mainstream rock artist (Heart, Styx, Fleetwood Mac, Boston, etc) then turn on the radio and scan the presets. I nail it quite a lot, but then three stations here in Portland do have slightly similar formatting.

 

This is why I always have a live band in the backseat of my car.

 

You do that game too? I do that all the time - I try and guess it by landing on it and calling out the name of the song and pressing the next preset button right away - only hearing a millisecond of the song. It's a fun game to play - well sort of.

 

It's a huge conspiracy supported by the Keebler Elves...

 

Once in early December I was in Florida and "Feliz Navidad" was on four stations at once.

 

There's a decent chance a couple of stations are playing "Hotel California" on my dial right now.

 

are they an auspices of Halliburton?

 

Over here we have franchise stations that play the same playlists but with regional presenters all in sync from a common playout
As you drive the M4 to London the stations change but the music does not
Sad indeed.

 

awesome! That's some serious bonus points there!

 

No, the Keebler Elves went rogue in the mid 1980s...

 

And now that you've made this public, they're going to kill you. Tonight.

 

You forgot "my car is manufactured by Pandora and/or Spotify"
Having said that, the amount of songs radio stations play nowadays, the odds are much higher than they used to be that this could happen.

 

"Synchronicity"*

my fave, which i've postED on this fabulous forum B4:
"Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Sprit"
on
KSAN "Rock" station
KITS "Modern Rock" station
&
KMEL "Hip Hop"
at the same time!!!

* not really, cause i imagine songs like "Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2U" when they were hot were on multiple stations in one area at the same time as well.

 

I play that one with a variation: I hear the song, recognize it, say "no", and then hit the next preset.

 

Cosmic Coincidence

 

And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

 

Yup, and it is even more endemic with hit radio (I have two kids addicted to top 40 radio and Hits 1 on satellite) when songs cross over into light rock, mix and easy listening.

 

Eagles songs are so omnipresent it's only a matter of time before you hear Tequila Sunrise playing at the same time on another part of the dial.

 

Funny how some of these classic rock stations are so predictable in what they play that number of songs in rotation actually seems to get smaller over time, even though it probably doesn't.

 

This just happened to me last night about 2am as I driving back home to DC. I would guess the 2 stations are at least 100 miles apart. As the song was ending, the first station was fading and I changed to a DC station and that song came on.

For the life of me, I can't remember the song now, but it was not one you here often on radio.

 

In @2001 I had a work placement in an office that had BBC radio 1 on in one room and Radio 2 in the other Walked out of one room to whatever Westlife were covering that week, just in time for it to start on the other station.

Not quite on topic - back in the '90s when Virgin Radio massively overplayed The Lemonheads cover of Mrs. Robinson, I remember going straight to the opposite end of the dial to find a local radio/local gold or oldies station playing Simon & Garfunkel's.