"Song on the Radio" is a composition by Al Stewart introduced on his 1978 album release Time Passages.Time Passages - Al Stewart|AllMusic
Background Al Stewart on Song on the Radio "I was kind of making fun of Arista Records" who had "asked for a mid-tempo ballad with a saxophone...They wanted a song that could be played on the radio, [so] very tongue-in-cheek I wrote...'Song on the Radio'. I thought they'd [get that] I was actually joking, but of course they didn't & ...put it out as a single [which] made the Top 30, [so] the joke was on me because I screwed up a preposition" - referring to the opening lines "I was making my way through the wasteland/ The road into town passes through" which ends with a preposition - "Worse, I used the same word [through] twice in the same sentence."Al Stewart’s cast of characters - Boulder Weekly
"Song on the Radio" was released in January 1979 as the second single from the Time Passages album, following the title cut which had been a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as being afforded a ten week tenure at No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
"Song on the Radio" would peak at No. 29 on the Hot 100 and rise as high as No. 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
In Canada, "Song on the Radio" also peaked at No. 29 on the national hit parade as ranked by RPM magazine whose Adult Contemporary chart afforded the track a peak of No. 3.
Chart performance
Weekly charts Chart (1979)PeakpositionCanada RPM Top Singles 29Canada RPM Adult Contemporary 3U.S. Billboard Hot 100Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - 29U.S. Billboard Adult ContemporaryBillboard Adult Contemporary, March 24, 197910U.S. Cash Box Top 100 27
Year-end charts Chart (1979)RankCanada RPM Top Singles 187
References