Yes, in fact, a song that hasn't been mastered can quite often sound BETTER and LOUDER on radio because the increased dynamic range interacts with the processing better. Radio has up to seven or so tiers of processing before it hits the transmitter. The original purpose for this is because FM has a dynamic range of about 54dB, which means EVERYTHING needs to be loud so as to keep the noise floor down. These steps include:
1. Phase rotation
2. Auto gain compensation
3. Stereo enhancement
4. EQ
5. Multiband compression and limiting
6. HF pre-emphasis and limiting
7. Clipping
For more info read this:
Audio Mastering - Radio Processing
The problem we face here is also a political one. First we have the playlisting department. This is usually a group of people that are kind of like a committee that listen to the material they are sent on any given week and they decide what goes forward for playlisting. If they hear your song and it's not as loud as the others, chances are they'll think it's not as "pro" and strike you from consideration.
Then you've got the label mooks. These guys also think that if a song is louder it will stand out on radio better and therefore get the listeners' attention. Of course, any audio pro knows this is not true because music that has been smashed into oblivion will fall apart when it hits the radio processing and actually sound smaller. It's a paradox there.
I have been trying to figure out a way for years to give the playlisters a loud version of the song and then somehow slip in a more dynamic version for airplay. Hasn't worked thus far but I'll tell you this...
My own band gets played quite a bit here on one of our commercial radio stations because we have a good relationship with them and much of the staff are high school buddies of the guys in our band. I produced, mixed and mastered all of our stuff and at this point, they will play pretty much anything we give them. Because of this I've gotten the opportunity to hear how my material stands up on radio. The last album we did I made a point to not make it too loud and to still leave some dynamics and I can say that on air my stuff sounds a lot better and louder than other locally produced material that is smashed to hell. This particular radio station, in my opinion, also has the best sounding radio processing in the country and compared to other radio stations that play the same kind of stuff (top 40), it is the loudest and clearest station on the dial. It's been interesting to say the least.
So, yes, mastering is important but it's not what makes a song "radio-ready". To me that's a strange term because a well mastered song should sound good on all systems, regardless of the media.
My 2c.
Cheers
