This section does not cite any sources. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
The song was released in three formats: the radio 45rpm single; the 5+ minute version included on Summer's Greatest Hits double album package, and a DJ Promo 7+ minute version released on 12" single (and included on the Foxes film soundtrack album). This last version was later released on the Bad Girls CD digipack double CD release. The Foxes soundtrack also includes an instrumental version of the song in a ballad tempo and crediting Moroder as a solo artist. In the film, the ballad tempo and the disco version are both heard with Donna Summer's vocals. Donna Summer performed "On the Radio" on many television shows such as American Bandstand.
The instrumental parts of this song were occasionally heard on the US version of The Price Is Right in the early 1980s when they displayed jukeboxes and stereos as prizes. While the first two versions included all written lyrics, the DJ Promo omitted the final verse, opting instead to repeat the third. Only the first "short" version ended with the famous "on the radio – adio – adio" echo vocal effect. For the second consecutive year, Summer placed at least three singles in the Billboard Year-End charts in 1980.
Official versions[]
"On the Radio" – (single version) – 4:00
"On the Radio" – (On the Radio: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2: long version) – 5:50
"On the Radio" – (Foxes soundtrack and 12" single version) – 7:34
"On the Radio" – (piano instrumental version from Foxes soundtrack) – 4:27
"On the Radio" was released as a single and became, in February 1980, her tenth top-ten hit in the U.S. as well as her eighth and final consecutive top-five single. "On the Radio" peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the soul chart.[2] The song was also Summer's 14th entry on the Billboard Disco chart, where it peaked at number eight.[3] In Canada, it peaked at number two.[4]
English singer and actress Martine McCutcheon covered "On the Radio" released it as the second single from her second album, Wishing, on January 22, 2001. Her version was produced by John Poppo. Although it became McCutcheon's fifth consecutive top-ten hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven, it is to date her last single to appear within the top 100 on the UK chart, and it would be her last single until 2017's "Say I'm Not Alone". In Ireland, "On the Radio" reached number 18, matching the peak of the original.
