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Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades.
The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the 1980s, and focus primarily on innovators and artists from country music's Golden Age, including Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, George Jones, Kitty Wells, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, Kenny Rogers, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Merle Haggard, along with English and Spanglish language songs from 1960s to 2000s Tejano and New Mexico music artists like Freddy Fender, Johnny Rodriguez, Little Joe, Freddie Brown, and Al Hurricane. It can also include recurrent 1980s to 2000s hits from neotraditional country and honky-tonk artists such as George Strait, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Randy Travis.
The format resulted largely from changes in the sound of country music in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as it began moving to FM radio stations in and around major cities and absorbing some of the electric sounds of rock music; similar pressures also were a factor in the development of the Americana format at around the same time. These new FM country stations excluded older "classic" country artists from their playlists, even though artists, such as Merle Haggard, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Emmylou Harris, were still actively performing and releasing new recordings, some of which were significant hits. When mainstream country radio began this practice in the mid-1990s, a large segment of older country fans felt alienated and turned away from mainstream country. [1] Whereas modern country began moving to FM around this time, the classic country remained (and remains) one of the few formats that have proven ideal for AM radio, particularly in rural areas; before this transition, the country was primarily an AM radio phenomenon and was most widely popular in rural areas.
In 1998, Robert Unmacht, editor of the M Street Journal, said that thirty stations around the United States had switched to the format because many longtime country fans did not like what country radio was doing. [2]
The same practice has seemed to follow to television, where Country Music Television and Great American Country rarely play any music videos produced before 1996, leaving heritage and "classic" artists to networks such as RFD-TV, which features a heavy complement of older programming such as Pop! Goes the Country , Porter Wagoner's programs, and The Wilburn Brothers Show, along with newer performances from heritage acts. CMT Pure Country, the all-music counterpart to CMT, relegated its classic country programming to a daily half-hour block known as "Pure Vintage" before abandoning classic country altogether by 2015. (Complicating matters somewhat is a relative lack of music videos for country music songs before the 1980s.)
Classic country remains a popular block format on mainstream country stations, usually on weekends as an example Classic Country Saturday Night on stations KMDL & KNGT in the Acadiana area of Louisiana.
As is the case with rock music (where classic rock, mainstream rock, and active rock all have varying amounts of older music), country music stations also can vary in the amount of "classic" content in their playlist, and formats exist for such stations. In addition to pure "classic country" stations, which play little to no current or recurrent country hits (i.e., recorded after about 2010), country music-formatted stations tend to fall under one of these formats:
With a few exceptions, the classic country genre has struggled as a radio format (unlike mainstream country stations). While it has a fiercely loyal audience, classic country stations often struggle to find advertisers. While advertisers are primarily interested in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic age group, classic country usually attracts an older audience. For perhaps that reason, country music fans are often (stereotypically) divided into two camps:
The 1990 dividing line coincided with a change in Billboard magazine's rules for what was then the Hot Country Singles record chart. Before 1990, it had operated under a variant of the methods used to produce the Hot 100; singles sales were combined with radio airplay to rank songs on the chart. In 1990, through an affiliation with Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, Billboard dropped record sales from the formula, basing a song's ranking solely on spins on country radio, weighted by a station's listenership. [8] (The formula reincorporated singles sales, both physical and digital, in 2012, but included airplay on non-country stations, thus giving pop-crossover singles a major advantage.) The 1990 change had quick effects: many musicians who had had consistent success on the chart through the late 1980s suddenly dropped out of the top 40 by 1991.
Although this 1990-era dividing line, to a certain extent, exists, it is not necessarily universal. "Classic" era country artists such as Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton continued producing hits well into the 2000s that received mainstream country radio airplay (sometimes in collaborations). Other artists from the era that did not continue to receive wider radio airplay after their heyday maintained strong cult followings from fans of all ages; an example of this is Johnny Cash, who remains in high regard many years after his 2003 death. Artists who began their careers in the 1980s, near the dividing line of the classic/modern divide, enjoy followings among both audiences; examples include George Strait and Reba McEntire, both of whom (as of 2014) are still active and performing hit songs. Neotraditional country, a style of country that arose in the 1980s, continues to produce hit songs and artists that draw from the sounds of the classic country era.
In part due to changing demographic pressures, "classic country" radio stations have begun adding 1990s music into their playlists since the late 2000s and phasing out music from the 1960s and earlier. As children who grew up between 2000 and 2009 are now adults, some classic country stations play country music from the 2000s, with 1970s music increasingly being de-emphasized. Some classic country stations are even adding occasional early 2010s music. Examples of this are KLBL in Malvern, Arkansas, the now-defunct WAGL in Portville, New York (which brands itself as "country throwbacks" instead of the classic country), and KMJX in Conway, Arkansas. This is not universal, as a limited number of AM radio stations still emphasize the earlier, pre-1980s country cuts; WRVK in Mount Vernon, Kentucky and KWMT in Fort Dodge, Iowa being prominent examples.
Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio.
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music, broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock, from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music.
Dick Bartley is an American radio disc jockey. He has hosted several popular syndicated radio shows of the oldies/classic hits genre, including Dick Bartley's Classic Hits and Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits, both syndicated through United Stations Radio Networks.
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.
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 KSPF, 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.
A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelled to develop new and exclusive ways to programming by competition with television. The formula has since spread as a reference for commercial radio programming worldwide.
Dick Bartley's Classic Hits was a syndicated weekly, four-hour, classic hits program written, produced and hosted by Radio Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Dick Bartley. It was syndicated across the country by United Stations Radio Networks and internationally via Radio Express.
WDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned and operated by Cumulus Media, WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center district near downtown, while its transmitter is located in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue.
WOGL is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a classic hits radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, at. The station's studios and offices are co-located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City Philadelphia. The station features mostly hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with some 2000s hits.
WQQO is a commercial radio station licensed to Sylvania, Ohio, carrying a hot adult contemporary format known as "Q105". Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Toledo metropolitan area and much of surrounding Northwest Ohio. WQQO's studio is located near UTMC on Arlington near Byrne road. The transmitter is located in Toledo's Scott Park neighborhood. Besides a standard analog transmission, WQQO broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online; WQQO-HD2 carries a sports talk format branded as "ESPN 100.7 The Ticket", which is relayed over low-power analog translator W264AK.
Adult hits is a radio format drawing from popular music from the late 1960s to the present. The format typically focuses on classic hits, but blended with 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.
WFRQ — branded as 93.5/94.7 Frank FM — is a radio station licensed to Harwich Port, Massachusetts. It serves the Cape Cod market with an adult hits format. The station is also heard on 102.9 WPXC-HD2 (Hyannis) via HD Radio and on 94.7 W234DP (Hyannis), a translator of WPXC-HD2. Unlike other Frank FM stations launched in the mid-2000s, this Frank FM station was patterned after Jack FM. It currently plays a broad selection of music from the 1960s to present.
KJKJ is an American commercial active rock radio station serving Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It first began broadcasting in 1985. The station is currently owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and the station's broadcast license is held by iHM Licenses, LLC. KJKJ primarily competes with Leighton Broadcasting's classic rock 1590 KGFK/95.7 K239BG/97.5 K248DH "Rock 95".
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
WHTT-FM is a commercial radio station in Buffalo, New York, serving Western New York. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a classic hits format, calling itself "104.1 WHTT". The studios and offices are on James E. Casey Drive in Buffalo.
WOZZ is a mainstream rock radio station licensed to Mosinee, Wisconsin, serving the Wausau, Wisconsin, market. The station is owned and operated by Duke Wright's Midwest Communications and operates at an ERP of 50,000 watts. The station simulcasts on translator W275AC, licensed to Wausau.
WGER is a radio station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan, broadcasting a classic alternative format. The station broadcasts from a transmitter southeast of I-675 Exit 6 in Carrollton Township in Saginaw County.
WZLR, known as "95.3 and 101.1 The Eagle," is a radio station broadcasting a 1980s classic hits format currently owned by Cox Media Group. Licensed to Xenia, Ohio, United States, it serves the Dayton area. According to the Federal Communications Commission's website, the station has transmitted at 6,000 watts since 1998. Its studios are co-located with other Cox Media properties in the Cox Media Center building near downtown Dayton. WZLR's transmitter is located in Xenia and translator on the WHIO-TV tower in Germantown, Ohio.
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 1980s to 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.
