In 1977, Costello reworked the song to feature a more aggressive arrangement and more direct, sarcastic lyrics that criticised the commercialism of British radio.

Costello and the Attractions recorded the song around the time of his second album, This Year's Model.

The song has since seen critical acclaim, being marked as one of Costello's best by many writers and appearing on several compilation albums.

[7] He explained, When I was sitting at home in England in 1975, in the thrall of Bruce Springsteen, he sort of made it feel like a big dream in America where a radio was playing and it was always the perfect song.

[2] Costello explained that these new lyrics reflected the moment when "you get into the business of making records and you realise what it's really about is some guy going off with a big sack of money to give it to somebody with hookers and cocaine so that they play your record enough times that people get batted to death with it and that makes it a hit".

[6] When asked about the song's relevance in 2003, Costello stated: Oh, you might as well just admit now that radio has nothing to do with music anymore—it's in the advertising business.

[13] The song was also added onto the American release of This Year's Model, replacing "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Night Rally".

Costello speculated that this was a reaction to the notoriety the song had achieved from its appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Mark Deming of AllMusic described the song as "certainly among [Costello's] most anthemic", while Matt LeMay of Pitchfork Media called it as "easily one of the glowing highlights of the man's entire career".

[19] Jim Beviglia of American Songwriter named it Costello's third best song, stating, "The song hit the nail on the head so hard that it drove that nail right through the homogenizing programming and thinly-veiled censorship that had already become standard practice at the time of the single's release in 1978".

[24] A reference to Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren's inability to get his band visas was made by drummer Pete Thomas who, during the performance, wore a shirt with the words "Thanks Malc".

[25] SNL music director Howard Shore noted that Costello sought to buck pressure from his label during the show.

SNL producer Lorne Michaels was reportedly furious, giving Costello the finger throughout the duration of the performance.

[31] Costello referenced the incident during SNL's 25th anniversary show in 1999, where he burst in on Beastie Boys during their performance of "Sabotage" and, after reprising his famous introduction of the song from the original performance, played "Radio Radio" with the Beastie Boys backing him.

[34] On 16 January 2012, indie rock musician St. Vincent performed a version of her song "Cheerleader" on Conan, before which she started with a cover of "Radio Radio" stopping seconds later and stating "I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to play that song.