QuickHitz is a new radio format which premiered in Canada at Calgary radio station 90.3 AMP last Friday, according to Financial Post.

The station plays shortened versions of popular songs, edited to about half their length, so listeners don’t get bored.

90.3 AMP says it now plays 24 songs in an hour compared to the 12 it used to play.

Commercial breaks have also been reduced to nine minutes per hour as against 12 minutes on many Top 40 stations.

Sparknet Communications, a Vancouver-based company that developed QuickHitz claims a lot of people can’t detect the music has been edited.

According to Hillary Hommy, Vice-President at Sparknet, the format was launched in the US last September and stations in the U.K. and Australia are also planning to introduce it within the next six months.

But while the format has reportedly been patented, some radio programmers wonder is it really new and whether the Intellectual Property (IP)  is enforceable?