What’s been happening in Canada is that the radio stations now have to pay the music publishers for each song when they air them; thus they are extremely conservative in their choices for fear of paying for a song that drives away listeners. The result is that everything is focus-grouped to death and you hear the same lame tracks a dozen times a day.
I suspect that the real reason for cutting song length is to maximize the number of ad breaks. That would explain why most radio stations, including the local classical station here, play the longer pieces late in the evening and overnight.
Makes sense! I’m still bummed at how rock radio ain’t what it used to be.
It’s a shame.