Today formats and 90's formats comparison.

[e-dawg]

Here is my opinion of today format would be classified if this were 1995.
2005(today) 1995 (format that fits in the 90's)
CHR-POP = CHR-RHYTHMIC
CHR-RHYTHMIC = URBAN
URBAN = URBAN AC
URBAN AC = URBAN OLDIES
HOT AC = CHR-POP
AC = HOT AC
ADULT STANDARDS = SOFT AC
ALTERNATIVE = ACTIVE ROCK
OLDIES = CLASSIC HITS
AAA = ALTERNATIVE

Did I miss anything?
Did I notice a trend that most radio station formats today sound so differently back in the 90's. Such as TOP 40 station. I remember that TOP 40 (CHR-POP)plays a lot of pop hits and variety of other genre, but today most of the TOP 40's radio station sounds like Rhythmic station back in the 90's and most of the Rhythmic stations back in the 90's doesn't sound all Urban, they play a lot of Dance, R&B tunes, and few crossover pop/rock hits such as No Doubt "Don't Speak" or Green Day "When I come around.". Also take a look at AC stations these days, they don't sound "LITE" or "soft" like they used to back in the 90's. You won't hear Bread, James Taylor, Christopher Cross, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Streidsand. Today soft rock tends to be upbeat music, and the term soft rock means anything but, alternative or rock or Urban. Also for hot ac stations, back in the 90's they play a lot of Todays CHR mixed with hits of 80's and 90's without the hard stuff, and rap, but with R&B crossovers, today HOT-AC stations sounds like TOP 40, but without the URban sound, either playing more alternative or more CHR.


Geez radio format these days suck.

 

[Keith_Lake]

> Here is my opinion of today format would be classified if
> this were 1995.
> 2005 1995
> CHR-POP CHR-RHYTHMIC
> CHR-RHYTHMIC URBAN
> URBAN URBAN AC
> URBAN AC URBAN OLDIES
> HOT AC CHR-POP
> AC HOT AC
> ADULT STANDARDS SOFT AC
> ALTERNATIVE ACTIVE ROCK
> OLDIES CLASSIC HITS
> AAA ALTERNATIVE
>
> Did I miss anything?
> Time has change and so do formats.


I must be too old. To my ears there's not a nickel's worth of difference between any of them.

KL

<a href="http://home.nc.rr.com/gttyson/lastradio.html">The Last Radio Station<a>



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[whyhellothere]

A lot of that has to deal with what is available to radio stations. 2005 has been called "the year of hip-hop" so CHR stations will naturally sound more hip-hop leaning since there is so much out there that is popular.

The other part is that the window of people within the demograph has moved. 50's and 60's based oldies stations are getting harder and harder to find because the demographic is getting so much older. An 18 year old in 1960 is now 63, and not as desireable to advertisers. An 18 year old in 1970 is 53, and is still appealable.

Alternative and Active Rock is a source of a lot of discussion. The way I see, true alternative such as what existed in 1991 is dead. Today it's a product of record corporations hoping to gets bigs hits as quickly and efficiently as possible. There is no time to develop bands and be patient. Those two formats appeal to almost the same type of people and with the lack of music that has been available it has been almost a natural movement that those two have all but officially merged into one.

With AC, you're still looking at a changing demographic. The target 35 year old female in 2005 was 18 in 1988. Let's play the fun, top 40 music of that time and play the songs that were really familiar. Soft AC kind of died because there was less of a demand for it. The more stations got brighter, the better they saw themselves in ratings. They are no longer billed as a place to "relax" but radio for the lifestyle of the listener. Let's play fun, upbeat music that both mom and kids can enjoy plus play all day in the office without falling asleep.

There are a lot of factors that come into play as to why radio is what it is today. Between coporate ownership both on radio and record sides, a demand for anything less than success with minimal resources has become the standard. That's why I see so many IPODS and other alternatives cropping up, because people can have it their way...not someone else's.



> Here is my opinion of today format would be classified if
> this were 1995.
> 2005(today) 1995 (format that fits in the 90's)
> CHR-POP = CHR-RHYTHMIC
> CHR-RHYTHMIC = URBAN
> URBAN = URBAN AC
> URBAN AC = URBAN OLDIES
> HOT AC = CHR-POP
> AC = HOT AC
> ADULT STANDARDS = SOFT AC
> ALTERNATIVE = ACTIVE ROCK
> OLDIES = CLASSIC HITS
> AAA = ALTERNATIVE
>
> Did I miss anything?
> Did I notice a trend that most radio station formats today
> sound so differently back in the 90's. Such as TOP 40
> station. I remember that TOP 40 (CHR-POP)plays a lot of pop
> hits and variety of other genre, but today most of the TOP
> 40's radio station sounds like Rhythmic station back in the
> 90's and most of the Rhythmic stations back in the 90's
> doesn't sound all Urban, they play a lot of Dance, R&B
> tunes, and few crossover pop/rock hits such as No Doubt
> "Don't Speak" or Green Day "When I come around.". Also take
> a look at AC stations these days, they don't sound "LITE" or
> "soft" like they used to back in the 90's. You won't hear
> Bread, James Taylor, Christopher Cross, Kenny Rogers,
> Barbara Streidsand. Today soft rock tends to be upbeat
> music, and the term soft rock means anything but,
> alternative or rock or Urban. Also for hot ac stations,
> back in the 90's they play a lot of Todays CHR mixed with
> hits of 80's and 90's without the hard stuff, and rap, but
> with R&B crossovers, today HOT-AC stations sounds like TOP
> 40, but without the URban sound, either playing more
> alternative or more CHR.
>
>
> Geez radio format these days suck.
>

 

[endacaldwell]

Hey from Ireland,

Try checking out how our radio sounds!
www.bci.ie are mainly to blame for the blandness of formats,that, coupled with greed,a laxey-daisey attitude and a thing called "The Celtic Tiger"...
We had Atlantic 252 and they closed that down!

As for you guys in the states,you have nothing to complain about.
You have lots of different radio at the touch of a button.

Enda

 

[dave73]

> Here is my opinion of today format would be classified if
> this were 1995.
> 2005(today) 1995 (format that fits in the 90's)
> CHR-POP = CHR-RHYTHMIC
> CHR-RHYTHMIC = URBAN
> URBAN = URBAN AC
> URBAN AC = URBAN OLDIES
> HOT AC = CHR-POP
> AC = HOT AC
> ADULT STANDARDS = SOFT AC
> ALTERNATIVE = ACTIVE ROCK
> OLDIES = CLASSIC HITS
> AAA = ALTERNATIVE
>
> Did I miss anything?
> Did I notice a trend that most radio station formats today
> sound so differently back in the 90's. Such as TOP 40
> station. I remember that TOP 40 (CHR-POP)plays a lot of pop
> hits and variety of other genre, but today most of the TOP
> 40's radio station sounds like Rhythmic station back in the
> 90's and most of the Rhythmic stations back in the 90's
> doesn't sound all Urban, they play a lot of Dance, R&B
> tunes, and few crossover pop/rock hits such as No Doubt
> "Don't Speak" or Green Day "When I come around.". Also take
> a look at AC stations these days, they don't sound "LITE" or
> "soft" like they used to back in the 90's. You won't hear
> Bread, James Taylor, Christopher Cross, Kenny Rogers,
> Barbara Streidsand. Today soft rock tends to be upbeat
> music, and the term soft rock means anything but,
> alternative or rock or Urban. Also for hot ac stations,
> back in the 90's they play a lot of Todays CHR mixed with
> hits of 80's and 90's without the hard stuff, and rap, but
> with R&B crossovers, today HOT-AC stations sounds like TOP
> 40, but without the URban sound, either playing more
> alternative or more CHR.
>
>
> Geez radio format these days suck.
>
In many markets, Hot AC was almost considered the CHR-Pop station since many markets didn't have CHR-Pop in the early 1990's, and Chicago didn't get a CHR-Pop station on a city grade signal until January 2001. As for AC, I noticed some sound more like Hot AC, and the only reason WLIT in Chicago can get away with it is because right now, they have heritage, and WILV (a new AC station that sounds like a rhythmic AC station) is still fairly new and results from that aren't known if it's a success oir not. Windy 100 from the late 1990's was an upbeat AC station, but still sounded AC, which WLIT was too lite for that time. Now WLIT sounds like a Hot AC station, which seems to be competing with WTMX, the heritage Hot AC station in Chicago, the only Hot AC station on a city stick. But in Milwaukee, it ended up a different story, WLTQ (Light 97.3) went the hot route and ratings dropped because Milwaukee already has 2 Hot AC stations (WKTI & WMYX), and Milwaukee doesn't have an AC station on a city stick or a nearby suburban stick with primary contour over Milwaukee. In fact, Light 97.3 used to be in the 5 range, but when they went hot, they were rated less than the 2 hot ac stations. Now Milwaukee has an 80's Classic Rock station, The Brew, which is billing more than Light 97.3 did for heritage.