Radio format

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A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. [1] 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. [2] The formula has since spread as a reference for commercial radio programming worldwide. [1]

Contents

A radio format aims to reach a more or less specific audience according to a certain type of programming, which can be thematic or general, more informative or more musical, among other possibilities. [nb 1] Radio formats are often used as a marketing tool and are subject to frequent changes, [3] including temporary changes called "stunting."

Except for talk radio or sports radio formats, most programming formats are based on commercial music. [1] However the term also includes the news, bulletins, DJ talk, jingles, commercials, competitions, traffic news, sports, weather and community announcements between the tracks. [1]

Background

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

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—many of which were "independent", that is not affiliated with the network —began to emerge in the United States and Canada. They developed a format with programming consisting of music, news, and charismatic disc jockeys to directly attract a certain audience. [2]

For example, by the 1960s, 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] [ citation needed ] – 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 caused a proliferation of 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, including, 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]

Regulation

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".[ citation needed ]

List of formats

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
Rock/alternative/indie
Country
Urban/rhythmic
Dance/electronic
Jazz/blues/standards
Easy listening/New Age
Folk/singer-songwriters
Latin
International
Christian/Gospel
Classical
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.

Miscellanies
Spoken word formats

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]

Spoken-words

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Music radio, old time radio, all-news radio, sports radio, talk radio and weather radio describe the operation of different genres of radio format and each format can often be sub-divided into many specialty formats.
  2. ↑ At that time, there were several American FM stations that belonged to owners of AM stations, so the programming of the AM station was broadcast simultaneously with the station FM. Owners who programmed FM stations independently often did so using avant-garde, underground, jazz or highbrow (generally, classical music) program formats as a form to attract the few listeners who owned FM receivers and who were specific about signal quality they heard. [2]
  3. ↑ The figure 40 was established by Todd Storz and Bill Stewart n their station KOWH-AM in Omaha, Nebraska, inspired by the fact that there were 40 records in a bar jukebox. In the 1960s, some radio formats reduced the figure to 30 records, or even just 10. [5]

Related Research Articles

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.

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.

WUFL is an FM radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Family Life Broadcasting, it broadcasts a contemporary Christian radio format, with some Christian talk and teaching programs. Its studios are located in the Fisher Building in New Center, while its transmitter is located at the intersection of 10 Mile and Greenfield Road in suburban Oak Park.

Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on their playlists, and generally include some mix of contemporary R&B and traditional R&B. Urban adult contemporary playlists generally consist of many different genres that originated amongst Black Americans including R&B, soul, funk, disco, jazz, pop, hip-hop, electro, quiet storm, gospel, new jack swing, and hip-hop soul.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CIDR-FM</span> Radio station in Windsor, Ontario

CIDR-FM is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, targeting the Detroit–Windsor metropolitan area, with fringe reception into Toledo and Cedar Point/Sandusky in Ohio. It is owned and operated by Bell Media and airs a Top 40/CHR format. The studios and offices are located on Ouellette Avenue in Windsor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WZMX</span> Radio station in Connecticut, United States

WZMX, better known as "Hot 93.7" is an urban-leaning rhythmic contemporary radio station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut, in the United States. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its transmitter is located on West Peak in Meriden, Connecticut, and the station's studios and offices are located on Executive Drive in Farmington.

Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult contemporary formats in practice. It typically focuses on genres such as disco, classic hip-hop, dance pop, and house music of the late 1980s/early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WMXD</span> Radio station in Detroit

WMXD is a commercial radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station operates with 45,000 watts of power from an antenna located on the Cadillac Tower building in downtown Detroit. The studios and offices were housed for years at Detroit's Penobscot Building until November 2009, when they were moved to the Clear Channel Communications, studios in Farmington Hills.

Rhythmic oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, R&B, disco, or dance genres of music. Playlists can span from the 1960s through the 2000s and, depending on market conditions, may be designed for African-American or Hispanic audiences. It is also referred to as "Jammin' Oldies" or "Music From Back in the Day" by various radio stations. Since the late 2000s, much of the library in the "rhythmic oldies" format has been adopted by the classic hits format. A variation on the format is urban oldies.

This is a list of media in Lexington, Kentucky, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTBV</span> Radio station in St. Petersburg, Florida

WTBV is a commercial radio station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, and serving the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by the Cox Media Group and broadcasts an urban adult contemporary format known as "101.5 The Vibe." The studios are on 4th Street North in St. Petersburg. WTBV carries the syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show in drive time.

Nassau Broadcasting Partners LP was a company based in Princeton, New Jersey that owned radio stations in New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Nassau's stations, which included both AM and FM frequencies, were located in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The company was owned and headed by Louis F. Mercatanti. Nassau was predominantly an operator of radio stations in medium and small markets. Nassau formerly owned radio station WCRB in Waltham, a Boston suburb, and located in the Boston market, the 11th largest radio market in the US, according to BIA Financial Network. However that station was sold to WGBH in 2009. Nassau operated radio stations in substantially all of the major formats. The company's most common format was classic rock/classic hits. On October 13, 2011 Nassau Broadcasting entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after their senior lenders petitioned for an involuntary Chapter 7 liquidation in September. The stations were auctioned to various bidders in May 2012 subject to bankruptcy judge and FCC approval. Nassau's last station, WPLY in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, lost its license in 2014 after having shut down in 2011.

WSCC-FM, also known as "News Radio 94.3 WSC", is a commercial radio station licensed to Goose Creek, South Carolina, and serving the Charleston metropolitan area. It airs a news/talk format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station's studios and offices are on Houston Northcutt Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSOL-FM</span> Urban Adult Contemporary radio station in Yulee, Florida, serving Jacksonville, Florida

WSOL-FM is a commercial radio station known as V101.5. It is licensed to Yulee, Florida, and serves the Jacksonville metropolitan area and Southeast Georgia. Owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc., it broadcasts an Urban Adult Contemporary radio format. WSOL-FM's studios are located on Central Parkway in Jacksonville's Southside district. The transmitter is off McKendree Road in Kingsland, Georgia, a couple of miles from the Georgia-Florida border.

The year 2001 in radio involved some significant events.

The year 1999 in radio involved some significant events.

The year 1993 in radio involved some significant events.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shepherd, John; Horn, David; Laing, Dave, eds. (2003). "Programming". Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. p. 499. ISBN   9781501329234.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Margaret A., ed. (2013). "Radio Entertainment". History of the Mass Media in the United States: An Encyclopedia. p. 564. ISBN   9781135917494. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "What is a radio format?" Archived 2010-01-02 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "7.3 Radio Station Formats". The University of Minnesota Libraries. 1 May 2019. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  5. 1 2 Shepherd, John; Horn, David; Laing, Dave, eds. (2003). "Playlist". Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. p. 499. ISBN   9781501329234.
  6. ↑ Beisbier, Paul F Frank, ed. (2019). The Value of History: Values and Beliefs. ISBN   9781645446378.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 "New York Radio Guide: Radio Format Guide", NYRadioGuide.com, 2009-01-12, webpage: NYRadio-formats Archived 27 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine .
  8. ↑ Stewart, Peter (29 May 2010). Essential Radio Skills: How to Present a Radio Show. A&C Black. ISBN   978-1-4081-2179-5.
  9. ↑ "Heart FM London 106.2 live". www.radio-uk.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "BBC radio 1Xtra - listen live". radio-live-uk.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "How the King of Breakfast is waking up Asian Britain". The Independent. 28 June 2009. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  12. ↑ Aujla-Sidhu, Gurvinder (July 2019). Delivering a Public Service? The BBC Asian Network and British Asian audiences (PDF) (PhD). De Montfort University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Celebrations for Britain's First-Ever Licensed Ethnic Radio Station | LGR 103.3 FM" . Retrieved 5 July 2022.
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