Radio format

Even before World War II, radio stations in North America and Europe almost always adopted a generalist radio format.

However, the United States witnessed the growing strengthening of television over the radio as the major mass media in the country by the late 1940s.^[2] American television had more financial resources to produce generalist programs that provoked the migration of countless talents from radio networks to the new medium. Under this context, the radio was pressured to seek alternatives to maintain its audience and cultural relevance.^[2]

As a consequence, AM radios stations began to emerge in the United States and Canada – many of which "independents", that is not affiliated with the network – developed a format which targeted audiences with programming consisted of music, news, charismatic disc jockeys to directly attract a certain audience.^[2]

For example, by the 1960s, the Easy listening obtained a stable position on FM radio – a spectrum considered ideal for good music and high fidelity listening as it grew in popularity during that period^{[nb 2]} – and the Middle of the road (MOR) rose as a radio industry term to discern radio stations that played mainstream pop songs from radio stations whose programming was geared towards teenagers and was dominated by rock and roll,^[4] the most popular musical genre of the period in the United States and which held the first successful radio format called Top-40. In reality, the Top-40 format was conscientiously prepared to attract the young audience, who was the main consumer of the records sold by the American record industry at that time.^[2] Soon, playlists became central to programming and radio formats,^[5] although the number of records in a playlist really depends on the format.^{[nb 3]}

By the mid-1960s, American FM radio's penetration began achieving balance with AM radio since the Federal Communications Commission required that co-owned AM and FM stations be programmed independently from each other.^[2] This resulted in huge competition between radio stations in the AM and FM spectrum to differentiate themselves for both audiences and advertisers.^[4] At that time, it proliferated many radio formats, which included presentation, schedule and target audience, as well as repertoire.^[4] Within a few years, FM radio stations were supplying program formats completely analogous to their AM stations counterparts, increased to more than 50% in 1970 and reached 95% in 1980.^[4]

During the 1970s and 1980s, radio programming formats expanded into commercially successful variations, for example, adult contemporary (AC), album-oriented rock (AOR) and urban contemporary (UC), among others, which spread to most AM and FM radio stations in the United States.^[2]

Over time, FM radio came to dominate music programming, while AM radio switched to news and talk formats.^[6]

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Radio broadcasting

Radio broadcasting

Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio station, while in satellite radio the radio waves are broadcast by a satellite in Earth orbit. To receive the content the listener must have a broadcast radio receiver (radio). Stations are often affiliated with a radio network that provides content in a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast, or both. Radio stations broadcast with several different types of modulation: AM radio stations transmit in AM, FM radio stations transmit in FM, which are older analog audio standards, while newer digital radio stations transmit in several digital audio standards: DAB, HD radio, DRM. Television broadcasting is a separate service that also uses radio frequencies to broadcast television (video) signals.

Mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers to a diverse array of media that reach a large audience via mass communication.

1940s

1940s

The 1940s was a decade that began on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.

AM broadcasting

AM broadcasting

AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave transmissions, but also on the longwave and shortwave radio bands.

Music

Music

Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect of all human societies, a cultural universal. While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions. The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance, though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, and psychology. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice.

News

News

News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. News is sometimes called "hard news" to differentiate it from soft media.

Disc jockey

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.

1960s

1960s

The 1960s was a decade that began on 1 January 1960, and ended on 31 December 1969.

Easy listening

Easy listening

Easy listening is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, non-rock vocals and instrumental covers of selected popular rock songs. It mostly concentrates on music that pre-dates the rock and roll era, characteristically on music from the 1940s and 1950s. It was differentiated from the mostly instrumental beautiful music format by its variety of styles, including a percentage of vocals, arrangements and tempos to fit various parts of the broadcast day.

FM broadcasting

FM broadcasting

FM broadcasting is the method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting offers higher fidelity—more accurate reproduction of the original program sound—than other broadcasting techniques, such as AM broadcasting. It is also less susceptible to common forms of interference, having less static and popping sounds than are often heard on AM. Therefore, FM is used for most broadcasts of music and general audio. FM radio stations use the very high frequency range of radio frequencies.

Middle of the road (music)

Middle of the road (music)

Middle of the road is a commercial radio format and popular music genre. Music associated with this term is strongly melodic and uses techniques of vocal harmony and light orchestral arrangements. The format was eventually rebranded as soft adult contemporary.

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security.

In some countries such as the UK, licences to broadcast on radio frequencies are regulated by the government, and may take account of social and cultural factors including format type, local content, and language, as well as the price available to pay for the spectrum use. This may be done to ensure a balance of available public content in each area, and in particular to enable non-profit local community radio to exist alongside larger and richer national companies. On occasions format regulation may lead to difficult legal challenges when government accuses a station of changing its format, for example arguing in court over whether a particular song or group of songs is "pop" or "rock".

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United States and Canada

Formats constantly evolve and each format can often be sub-divided into many specialty formats. Some of the following formats are available only regionally or through specialized venues such as satellite radio or Internet radio.^[7]

Pop/Adult Contemporary

• Contemporary hit radio (CHR), occasionally still informally known as top-40 / hot hits^[7])^[7]
• Adult contemporary music (AC)^[7]
• Adult/variety hits – Broad variety of pop hits spanning multiple eras and formats; Jack FM, Bob FM.
• Classic hits – 1970s/1980s-centered (previously 1960s-1970s) pop music
• Hot adult contemporary (Hot AC)^[7]
• Lite adult contemporary (Lite AC)^[7]
• Modern adult contemporary (Modern AC)
• Oldies – Late 1950s to early 1970s pop music^[7]
• Soft adult contemporary (soft AC)

Rock/Alternative/Indie

• Active rock^[7]
• Adult album alternative (or just adult alternative) (AAA or Triple-A)^[7]
• Album rock / album-oriented rock (AOR)^[7]
• Alternative rock^[7]
• Classic alternative
• Classic rock^[7]
• Lite rock
• Mainstream rock
• Modern rock^[7]
• Progressive rock
• Psychedelic rock
• Rock^[7]
• Soft rock

Country

• Americana^[7]
• Bluegrass
• Country music:^[7]
  • Classic country (exclusively older music)
  • New country/Young country/Hot country (top 40 country with some non-country pop and no older music)
  • Mainstream country (top 40 country with some older music)
  • Traditional country (mix of old and new music)
• Regional country formats: Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma Red Dirt, Newfoundland

Urban/Rhythmic

• Classic hip-hop
• Quiet storm (most often a "daypart" late night format at urban and urban AC stations, i.e. 7 p.m.–12 a.m. midnight)
• Rhythmic adult contemporary
• Rhythmic contemporary (Rhythmic Top 40)
• Rhythmic oldies
• Urban:^[7]
  • Urban contemporary (mostly rap, hip hop, soul, and contemporary R&B artists)
  • Urban adult contemporary (Urban AC)^[7] – R&B (both newer and older), soul and sometimes gospel music, without hip hop and rap
  • Urban oldies (sometimes called "classic soul", "R&B oldies", or "old school")
• Soul music

Dance/Electronic

• Dance (dance top-40)^[7]
• Space music
• Carolina beach music (regional in the Carolinas; mostly R&B and some pop-country with shuffle beat)

Jazz/Blues/Standards

• Big band^[7]
• Blues
• Jazz^[7]
• Smooth jazz^[7]
• Traditional pop music

Easy Listening/New Age

• Adult standards / nostalgia (pre-rock)^[7]
• Beautiful music
• Easy Listening
• Middle of the road (MOR)

Folk/Singer-Songwriters

• Folk music

Latin

• Hispanic rhythmic
• Ranchera
• Regional Mexican (Banda, mariachi, norteño, etc.)
• Rock en Español
• Romántica (Spanish AC)
• Spanish sub-formats:^[7]
  • Tejano music (Texas/Mexican music)
  • Also see: Ranchera, Regional Mexican, Romántica, and Tropical
• Tropical (salsa, merengue, cumbia, etc.)
• Urbano (reggaetón, Latin rap, etc.)

International

• Cajun
• Caribbean (reggae, soca, merengue, cumbia, salsa, etc.)
• Indian music
• Asian pop
  • Japanese music (J-pop, J-rock, Anisong, city pop, etc.)
  • Korean music (K-pop, K-rock, etc.)
  • Original Pilipino music
• Polka
• World music^[7]

Christian/Gospel

• Christian music
  • Christian rock
  • Contemporary Christian (which is also known as CCM)
  • Praise and Worship
  • Urban Gospel
  • Southern Gospel
  • Traditional hymns (e.g. Bible Broadcasting Network, Fundamental Broadcasting Network)

Classical

• Classical^[7]
• Contemporary classical music

Seasonal/Holiday/Happening

Seasonal formats typically celebrate a particular holiday and thus, with the notable exception of Christmas music (which is usually played throughout Advent), stations going to a holiday-themed format usually only do so for a short time, typically a day or a weekend.

• Christmas music (usually seasonal, mainly late November into December)
• American patriotic music (short-term format, usually adopted around holidays such as Fourth of July and Memorial Day)
• Halloween music (usually only on or around 31 October)
• Irish folk music (usually only on or around 17 March to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day)
• Summer music (June to August in the Northern Hemisphere)

Miscellanies

• Eclectic
• Freeform radio (DJ-selected)

Spoken word formats

• All-news radio
• Children's
• Christian radio
• College radio
• Comedy radio
• Educational
• Ethnic/International^[7]
• Freeform/Experimental
• Full-service (talk and variety music)
• Old time radio
• Paranormal radio shows
• Radio audiobooks (see also radio reading service)
• Radio documentary
• Radio drama
  • Radio soap operas
• Religious radio
• Sports (Sports talk)
• News/Talk
  • Conservative talk radio
  • Progressive talk radio
  • Public talk radio
  • Hot talk/shock jocks
• Weather radio

United Kingdom

Music-oriented

The UK has several formats that often overlap with one another. The American terms for formats are not always used to describe British stations or fully set specified by RAJAR.^[8][9]

• Contemporary hit radio (CHR) / Top 40 - e.g. Capital, BBC Radio 1, Hits Radio
  • Rhythmic contemporary (Rhythmic CHR) - e.g. Kiss, Capital Xtra
• Adult contemporary music (AC) - e.g. BBC Radio 2, Magic
  • Hot adult contemporary (hot AC), middle ground between CHR and soft AC - e.g. Heart,^[10] Virgin Radio
  • Soft adult contemporary (soft AC) - e.g. Smooth Radio^[11]
  • Urban/black adult contemporary with stronger leaning to urban and hip-hop - e.g. BBC Radio 1Xtra^[12]
  • Modern adult contemporary (modern AC) with stronger leaning to rock - e.g. Absolute Radio
• Oldies, which can range from the 1950s to the 2000s depending on the station - e.g. Gold, Greatest Hits Radio, Kisstory, Absolute 80s
• Alternative, sometimes confused with rock - e.g. Radio X, BBC Radio 6 Music
• Classical - e.g. Classic FM, BBC Radio 3
• Asian, referring to content for British Asian communities (including Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Afghan, Nepalese)^[13][14] - e.g. BBC Asian Network, Sunrise Radio
• Ethnic, referring to content for specific ethnic communities - e.g. London Greek Radio,^[15] Spectrum Radio
• Community, radio stations for localised communities which can be in various formats including ethnic

Spoken-words

• News and talk - e.g. LBC, BBC Radio 5 Live, Times Radio
  • Sports broadcasting and talk - e.g. BBC Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT
• News, talk, documentaries and drama - e.g. BBC Radio 4
• Christian, broadcasts for Christian religious interests with occasional music - e.g. Premier Christian Radio

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Internet radio

Internet radio

Online radio is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means. It can either be used as a stand-alone device running through the Internet, or as a software running through a single computer.

Contemporary hit radio

Contemporary hit radio

Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on rock, pop, or urban music. Used alone, CHR most often refers to the CHR-pop format. The term contemporary hit radio was coined in the early 1980s by Radio & Records magazine to designate Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all musical genres as pop music splintered into Adult contemporary, Urban contemporary, Contemporary Christian and other formats.

Adult contemporary music

Adult contemporary music

Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm and rock influence. Adult contemporary is generally a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music.

Adult hits

Adult hits

Adult hits is a radio format drawing from popular music from the late 1960s to the present. The format typically focuses on adult contemporary, pop, and rock hits from the 1970s through at least the 1990s, and is synonymous with franchised brands such as Jack FM and Bob FM.

Bob FM

Bob FM

BOB FM is the on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in the United States and formerly in Canada. The BOB FM format mostly concentrates on album rock, alternative rock and pop hits from the 1980s and 90s, especially those popular during the early days of MTV when music videos made up most of MTV's schedule. But BOB FM also features a smattering of oldies from the 1970s or earlier and classic hits from the 1990s or later.

Classic hits

Classic hits

Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s and the nostalgia behind it is a major driver to the format. It is considered the successor to the oldies format, a collection of top 40 songs from the late 1950s through the late 1970s that was once extremely popular in the United States and Canada. The term is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for the adult hits format, which uses a slightly newer music library stretching from all decades to the present with a major focus on 1990s and 2000s pop, rock and alternative songs. In addition, adult hits stations tend to have larger playlists, playing a given song only a few times per week, compared to the tighter libraries on classic hits stations. For example, KRTH, a classic hits station in Los Angeles, and KLUV, a classic hits station in Dallas, both play power songs up to 30 times a week or more, which is another differentiator compared to other formats that share songs with classic hits libraries.

Active rock

Active rock

Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge of mainstream rock and album-oriented rock.

Adult album alternative

Adult album alternative

Adult album alternative is a radio format. Its roots trace to both the "classic album stations of the ’70s as well as the alternative rock format that developed in the ’80s."

Album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.

Alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock.

Classic alternative

Classic alternative

Classic alternative is a radio format focusing on alternative music from the late 1970s to early 1990s, with particular focus on the early days of MTV.

Classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s, primarily focusing on commercially successful blues rock and hard rock popularized in the 1970s AOR format. The radio format became increasingly popular with the baby boomer demographic by the end of the 1990s.