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Answers: This was a discussion topic on Mark Simone's Saturday Night Oldies show, heard on 77 WABC radio in NYC (and streaming on the internet):

http://www.wabcradio.com/goout.asp?u=htt...

So, why did the practice start? Any live performance has to have an ending, as did the earlist records.

But when did it change, and why?

Any information, and cites to sources, would be appreciated. thanks.

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I am a former broadcaster as is my twin brother. My format was country, his was jazz with fill-in gigs in a smorgasbord of college station formats - and we both were headbangers and alternative-style rock listeners with a deep background in 70's pop.

We just got off the phone after discussing your question at length. Here's the gist of that conversation:

All records are designed to hold a listener in place so that stations can get their promotional and required items on while you are listening. Thus, the directors choose music that fits the style of demographic the station owners want.

However, despite matching genre, generally not all these records are the same style or rhythm speed. Unless there is a rigid playlist from the director, it is up to the jockey to get them to fit the programming needs. Today's jock has codes for the different cues and endings (as well as beginnings) of all the records he has the option to play. The records they are given are normally not too long in length, nor extremely variant or quiet in delivery unless it matches format. The records almost always are part of a presentation-organized format, the most famous known as the "wheel" (specific kinds of records in a certain order/time slot of the show) unless it is a show like a countdown or dance party, etc.

What happened in the past is the actual acts would play instead of a record. To break away from the live performance, the program would be faded down so the announcer could talk. That evolved to the records as well. If a record establishes a repetitive or easy to see finish, the producer or radio director had the option of creating a fade ending for that record. (My brother's jazz station recognized seven different endings to songs, where the country station I worked at recognized just the cold and fade endings.)

One of the most famous fade endings occurred in 1971, with singer/songwriter Don McLean's coup de grace "American Pie" slowly climbing to a four-week hold of the #1 position on Billboard. With the full version of the song standing at almost eight and a half minutes, some mainstream pop radio stations had received and were playing a "single edit" (shorter version of a hit) that cut about five minutes off and had a fade ending of the chorus after three stanzas (the norm for that period). This single version is not mentioned on Wikipedia, and I will try to find its origin.

At the time I am typing this I have scoured the Internet for about three hours looking for more data on when the first fade outro record was made. There are a few fade intro ones as well. Until I have more answers, I will have to leave your question right here.

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The outer circumference of the record gives the slow down affect.

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Sometimes if they don't know how to end the song and keep playing. Sometimes musicians will make a mistake at the end and they'll cut it off and have it faded at that point, but that's more rare.

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