Rock 100.5

[jabba17]

Well, Rock 100.5 has finally:

1) Put up a billboard that didn't refer to their morning show
2) Cast their lot in the ATL AOR market: the billboard said "Chili Peppers, not Sgt. Pepper's. Atlanta's ONLY Rock Station". Obviously trying to differentiate themselves from the NEW 97.1 The River and dumping boomer classic rock in the circular file.

Their music mix now seems to be centering on 80s harder stuff and 90s/00s rock; some 90s/00s alt/active but nothing too far outside mainstream AOR.

 

[acheron1982]

I saw the billboard with the "ONLY" rock station mentioned off 120 in Alpharetta today. Tuned in and the last hour of music really did not seem all that different from what it has been for the last three or so years. They still play your Tom Petty, Pink FLoyd, Zeppelin, Rush and ZZ Top. They have always mixed in some 80s hair bands and 90s grunge. I honestly didn't hear anything beyond 2000. Still sounds like 2016 version of Classic Rock with an avoidance of any deeper cuts. Cumulus has lots of stations like that including Rock 103 in Albany and I-95 in Savannah. I've seem these stations dubbed as "heritage rock" stations though I'm assuming that is new niche term.
Speaking of terms, I do have a question. AOR - I know what it stands for but I thought AOR's original purpose was to be opposite of mainstream? Wasn't the term derived from the Prog Rock movement of the 70s and these AOR station were rock stations that played deeper album cuts vs the hits? If that is still the case, I would not call Rock 100.5 AOR. However, in modern times, that term AOR gets thrown around a lot and it may have lost all original meaning. Personally, I define Rock 100.5 as classic rock and I think they avoid that term and just refer to themselves as "rock" so that they can tweak from time to time.

I could be just dead wrong so curious on thoughts.

 

[acheron1982]

Based on Mediabase, the only post 2005 artists they even play is Pretty Reckless and Metallica (both with new albums). They don't even play new stuff from RHCP or Green Day - Both huge 90s bands that I would assume they would still play new stuff from.

 

[max100]

This station just gets worse...................

 

[jabba17]

Speaking of terms, I do have a question. AOR - I know what it stands for but I thought AOR's original purpose was to be opposite of mainstream? Wasn't the term derived from the Prog Rock movement of the 70s and these AOR station were rock stations that played deeper album cuts vs the hits? If that is still the case, I would not call Rock 100.5 AOR. However, in modern times, that term AOR gets thrown around a lot and it may have lost all original meaning. Personally, I define Rock 100.5 as classic rock and I think they avoid that term and just refer to themselves as "rock" so that they can tweak from time to time.

AOR, or "album oriented rock", became a thing in the late 60s/early 70s when some "experimental pop" stations would veer away from the Top 40/singles and play album cuts. The "mainstream" they were opposing was Top 40, not "mainstream rock" as we know it today (today's mainstream rock was the "alternative" back then). This was around the time that prog rock became big (as a result of AOR, not a cause of AOR), and prog rock was an AOR staple, but AOR wasn't limited to prog rock. 96 Rock for most of its existence (or at least until the mid-80s when classic rock became a discrete thing) was considered AOR.

Atlanta's first AOR station was WPLO-FM, Progressive 103.3. I one time heard an aircheck of WPLO-FM and a couple of songs included "Hush" by Deep Purple and "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly, both classic rock standards. Plough let GSU students run the station as a charity writeoff in the late 60s and early 70s, when FCC rules prevented them from simulcasting country WPLO-AM, and before the days of 96 Rock (1974) and Album 88 (RIP). Plough dropped the format when the FCC got rid of the no-simul rule and 96 Rock and 94Q came along. 94Q occasionally experimented with a semi-AOR format that is nowadays sometimes called "Rock 40".

The term AOR is tricky nowadays because "album rock" has gotten so fragmented among (rock) classic hits (many of which to this day have never been released on a single, like Stairway), classic rock, alt, AAA, active, mainstream, etc. I generally use it as a catchall for any "rock" (vs. CHR/AC/other pop) format that traces its lineage back to the original album rock format.

One other thing I would add is that by the late 60s Top 40 had gotten rigidly programmed (e.g., Drake-Chenault), but AOR wouldn't see that until the Abrams "Superstars" programming of the late 70s.

 

[acheron1982]

Good explanation. Never thought of it that way but it does make sense.

Majority of commercial rock oriented stations are one of five formats:

Classic Rock
Active Rock
Mainstream Rock (could be considered AOR)
Alternative
AAA

To me, classic rock would be anything from Rock 100.5 to KSHE in St. Louis. Some classic rock stations just get deeper than others. KSHE will play The Chamber Brothers, deep Neil Young and also 80s hair bands and 90s grunge. Classic Rock title is growing. However, some stations like Rock 100.5 are adjusting the classic rock format by dumping the deeper cuts and expanding more into the 90s and in some cases, early 2ks.

Active Rock to me would be 98 Rock in Tampa or Planet 93.3 in Greenville South Carolina or the old Project 961. Today, very few true active rock stations exists.

Mainstream: This would be those God awful man-up stations that Iheart has. Hard focus on 80s and 90s with a few tired 2ks and 70s songs. Rock 100.5 could sadly go in this direction and that may be their plan but for now, they still have a large library of 70s and that would force me not to call it mainstream. I think AOR can be lumped under mainstream.

Alternative: 99X & Radio 105.7

AAA: Dave FM (R.I.P.), 93 XRT Chicago.

**Classic Hits, by definition, should be the Top 40 of the 60s 70s and 80s vs the AOR of the 60s 70s and 80s. The River, to me, is a hybrid between Classic Hits and Classic Rock. Some songs on their playlist don't belong on a classic hits station (Black Sabbath) while others are far from Classic Rock (Steve Perry post Journey and Phil Collins post Genesis).

AOR, or "album oriented rock", became a thing in the late 60s/early 70s when some "experimental pop" stations would veer away from the Top 40/singles and play album cuts. The "mainstream" they were opposing was Top 40, not "mainstream rock" as we know it today (today's mainstream rock was the "alternative" back then). This was around the time that prog rock became big (as a result of AOR, not a cause of AOR), and prog rock was an AOR staple, but AOR wasn't limited to prog rock. 96 Rock for most of its existence (or at least until the mid-80s when classic rock became a discrete thing) was considered AOR.

Atlanta's first AOR station was WPLO-FM, Progressive 103.3. I one time heard an aircheck of WPLO-FM and a couple of songs included "Hush" by Deep Purple and "In A Gadda Da Vida" by Iron Butterfly, both classic rock standards. Plough let GSU students run the station as a charity writeoff in the late 60s and early 70s, when FCC rules prevented them from simulcasting country WPLO-AM, and before the days of 96 Rock (1974) and Album 88 (RIP). Plough dropped the format when the FCC got rid of the no-simul rule and 96 Rock and 94Q came along. 94Q occasionally experimented with a semi-AOR format that is nowadays sometimes called "Rock 40".

The term AOR is tricky nowadays because "album rock" has gotten so fragmented among (rock) classic hits (many of which to this day have never been released on a single, like Stairway), classic rock, alt, AAA, active, mainstream, etc. I generally use it as a catchall for any "rock" (vs. CHR/AC/other pop) format that traces its lineage back to the original album rock format.

One other thing I would add is that by the late 60s Top 40 had gotten rigidly programmed (e.g., Drake-Chenault), but AOR wouldn't see that until the Abrams "Superstars" programming of the late 70s.

 

[davideduardo]

AOR, or "album oriented rock", became a thing in the late 60s/early 70s when some "experimental pop" stations would veer away from the Top 40/singles and play album cuts. The "mainstream" they were opposing was Top 40, not "mainstream rock" as we know it today (today's mainstream rock was the "alternative" back then). This was around the time that prog rock became big (as a result of AOR, not a cause of AOR), and prog rock was an AOR staple, but AOR wasn't limited to prog rock. 96 Rock for most of its existence (or at least until the mid-80s when classic rock became a discrete thing) was considered AOR.

My recollection is that the term "AOR" was originated by R&R Magazine... the same folks who changed "Top 40" to "CHR" in the same era as a point of differentiation between their magazine and Billboard and other music magazines.

The first use of "AOR" was in the May 16, 1975 issue of R&R where Mike Harrison said,

"We've changed the name of this column to AOR Radio from "FM Rock Radio" because it is Album Oriented Rock Radio that I write about. There are all sorts of Rock formats on FM, as well as AM, so this is a lot more definitive and less discriminatory. As far as "Progressive" is concerned, to describe this kind of radio, the word is still, and hopefully will always be valid. The difference is that "AOR" is an objective description or label and "Progressive" is a subjective one. The stations that report to this section run the gamut from nighttime only FM's to daytime only AM's. They are all Album Oriented Rock. Perhaps "Top 40" radio should be referred to as the more appropo "Single Oriented Rock" (SOR)."

The AOR term, in my view, was a reaction to the tighter formatting of stations using Lee Abrams' "Superstars" consultancy or those who were imitating the Superstars focus on rock hits.

AOR was a refinement of "progressive rock" which was a style and program philosophy that originated soon after the FCC required far less simulcasting of sister AM and FM station in medium and small markets. That event spawned new formats, one of which was free-form hard rock with deep cuts and slow, if any, stratified rotations.

AOR stations were definitely not offshoots of Top 40 stations. In the late 60's and early 70's, there were essentially no independent Top 40 FMs that could transition to AOR; the first independent FM Top 40 stations began to spring up around 1972 (WMYQ, KSLQ, WDRQ, etc). AOR stations were either progressive rockers that wanted more discipline and bigger ratings or conversions of under-performing FMs that were impressed by the success of the Abrams stations.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Yes, R&R coined the terms AOR and CHR. Billboard's pop chart was the Hot 100, but the Top 40 descriptor was generally used in the industry until the CHR term came along (and now seems to be used pretty much exclusively).

After the FCC's non-duplication rule went into effect, "Underground" was used for rock in that anti-Vietnam War era (along with "psychedelic" for drug-oriented songs). FM Underground stations in those days were kind of free form. Then, Progressive Rock was used to describe a more disciplined, formatted sound. And then came AOR, as you say probably a reaction to the Abrams/Burkhart Superstars format that was sweeping the nation.

WMYQ-FM was probably the first of the really top-notch FM CHR's; they were on the air in 1971. KSLQ launched in 1973; not sure when WDRQ started, but it was around the same time. All 3 stations were part of the Bartel chain, which did the Q format at KCBQ-AM in San Diego.

 

[davideduardo]

WMYQ-FM was probably the first of the really top-notch FM CHR's; they were on the air in 1971. KSLQ launched in 1973; not sure when WDRQ started, but it was around the same time. All 3 stations were part of the Bartel chain, which did the Q format at KCBQ-AM in San Diego.

My recollection was that WMYQ went on in Miami in late 1971. I spent a lot of time in Miami when I was with WUNO, and even more when I was briefly working with a station in Quito in early '72. I missed the sign-on by just a few days.

The other two followed quite closely. I was watching them since I was converting WERC-FM in Birmingham to Top 40 in 1972.