What was middle of the road?

[vchimpanzee]

I hope I'm asking this in the right place.

WBT Charlotte NC was probably a full-service MOR station before it switched to Top 40 and made a lot of people mad. However, the format was usually described as "adult contemporary" after a year or so had passed. Still enough of a difference that we couldn't say that MOR became adult contemporary (despite Broadcasting Yearbook's definition of MOR).

I did see a list of artists played on WBT before the change that resembled what would later be called "adult standards".

 

[Gregg.]

Middle of the Road was a format that tried to straddle the line between Adult Standards and Adult Contemporary. It was nothing TOO old, no Bing Crosby or Benny Goodman. And nothing too uptempo either. It was popular adult music, that may have hit someplace on the Top 40 chart.

So we'd include Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett. And also The Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Neil Diamond.

But also, we should mention the non-music elements. There would be bright, cheerful DJs, who didn't shout like on Top 40, but tried to add some personality between each song or two. There'd be news on the hour, maybe both network and local. There'd be weather forecasts and maybe live sports, too.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

MOR used to mean American Songbook or Standards, along with Broadway show tunes. As Gregg said, it was pop artists like Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Dionne Warwick, Patti Page, Steve and Eydie, etc. MOR tends to include ballads, but not rock n' roll or country. So if a typically rock act recorded a ballad, it might be played, but not the rock act's rock songs. An example might be "Let It Be", a ballad from the Beatles. But Beatles' rock music would not be played.

The most popular MOR station I can think of was KMPC 710 in L.A. Another station was KGIL, who covered the San Fernando Valley, but their transmission range wasn't very far. I don't think they reached Pasadena or Orange County.

I used to think that MOR stations were "lame", because my parents listened to them. But they could have cool DJ's. Wink at KMPC used to talk about his friendship w/ Elvis in Memphis; and even though Elvis was really not part of their format, sometimes he played Elvis ballads.

Wink used to talk about record producers, like how Jimmy Bowen produced songs for Sinatra ( on Capitol Records, I think), and that was very interesting.

Johnny Magnus was on KMPC at night, and he talked about standards tunes as if they were very jazzy and hip. Johnny used to do a feature called "Weather With a Beat", where he gave temps and weather conditions around the nation to a Count Basie song, I think.
He had a very ethereal, mellow kind of a voice. I used to lie in the dark with my radio under my pillow, think of all the far away towns with their buildings lighted up in the still of the night, and what fun it would be to travel there.

MOR stations can succeed with age 18-34 demographic, but it depends on the DJ. It needs a "with it" DJ who really can interpret those records, artists, songwriters, and producers.

I'm sure that someone will show up at any minute and grumpily, angrily, debunk everything I just wrote.
That's okay. I still liked KMPC and KGIL.

 

[TheBigA]

MOR stations can succeed with age 18-34 demographic, but it depends on the DJ. It needs a "with it" DJ who really can interpret those records, artists, songwriters, and producers.

That was the line that caught my attention. If it did, I'd like to know where. Certainly not at KMPC.

They used to talk about something called 'the generation gap.' Many things fit that description. But music was one of them. MOR music was very different from Top 40. Even though MOR stations might mix in a pop hit. Just as AC does now. The generation gap also played a part in personalities. The DJs has styles that fit their music and audience.

 

[KeithE4]

Middle of the Road was a format that tried to straddle the line between Adult Standards and Adult Contemporary. It was nothing TOO old, no Bing Crosby or Benny Goodman. And nothing too uptempo either. It was popular adult music, that may have hit someplace on the Top 40 chart.

So we'd include Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett. And also The Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Neil Diamond.

And instrumentals, especially in the 1960s. Not WW2-era Big Band, or real Jazz, but artists like Al Hirt, Bert Kaempfert, Mr. Acker Bilk, Vincent Guaraldi, Dave Brubeck, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Sergio Mendez and Brasil '66, and the like. Many of those artists also charted on the Hot 100.

 

[davideduardo]

Middle of the Road was a format that tried to straddle the line between Adult Standards and Adult Contemporary. It was nothing TOO old, no Bing Crosby or Benny Goodman. And nothing too uptempo either. It was popular adult music, that may have hit someplace on the Top 40 chart.

Of course, MOR began when stations lost network shows one by one in the early 50's and it was based totally on the tail end of the Big Band / Crooners era. Over time, it evolved to include songs that the new-fangled Top 40 stations played, too, like Bobby Darin and Nat "King" Cole.

As MOR evolved going into the 70's it had less and less of the very old artists... less Sinatra and more "The Morning After" and the like.

So we'd include Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett. And also The Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Neil Diamond.

But as the 60's ended, those traditional MOR artists became fewer and fewer, and the new ones you mention became the whole format. When MOR pretty much died later in the 70's, we got a resurgance of traditional music via Al Hamm's "Music of your Life" format which reversed the clock by 20 to 25 years.

But also, we should mention the non-music elements. There would be bright, cheerful DJs, who didn't shout like on Top 40, but tried to add some personality between each song or two. There'd be news on the hour, maybe both network and local. There'd be weather forecasts and maybe live sports, too.

But that was the same thing AC stations did then. I programmed one of the early AC stations, WERC (AM) in Birmingham in the earlier 70's and we had WAPI, a true MOR, as a competitor. Our announcers were a bit tighter and quicker, but as to personality all in the same area. And we did the news and service elements, just like WAPI but demanded a bit brighter pacing and more condensed, vigorous writing.

AC was for Boomers, and MOR was for their parents.

We played "Ben" and WAPI did not. That says it all.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

That was the line that caught my attention. If it did, I'd like to know where. Certainly not at KMPC.

They used to talk about something called 'the generation gap.' Many things fit that description. But music was one of them. MOR music was very different from Top 40. Even though MOR stations might mix in a pop hit. Just as AC does now. The generation gap also played a part in personalities. The DJs has styles that fit their music and audience.

I don't think KMPC's main demographic was 18-34. For sure, there was a generation gap. As I said, that was my parents' station. But I think that there are teens or late adolescents who are into show tunes, jazz band at high school, or into ballads who will listen.
I hung out with kids in jazz band and school orchestra, and the teacher assigned those kind of pop songs.

 

[TheBigA]

WNEW-AM was once considered Middle of the Road. Then it became Standards. And nothing really changed.

I think that there are teens or late adolescents who are into show tunes, jazz band at high school, or into ballads who will listen.

LA had an actual jazz station at that time.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

WNEW-AM was once considered Middle of the Road. Then it became Standards. And nothing really changed.

LA had an actual jazz station at that time.

Yes they did ! We listened to that also.

 

[johnbasalla]

Where would the likes of Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, maybe Ronnie Dove and Peggy Lee land? MOR? "Beautiful Music"?, Adult-whatever? Instrumentally, Roger Williams? Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra? Jackie Gleason is pure "Beautiful Music" to me.

 

[davideduardo]

Where would the likes of Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, maybe Ronnie Dove and Peggy Lee land? MOR?

Yes. Not just in the 50's, but in the 60's and into the 70's.

"Beautiful Music"?,

Maybe a rare song or two, but most Beautiful Music syndicated formats in the 70's and into the 80's did not play those "old sounding" artists.

Adult-whatever? Instrumentally, Roger Williams? Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra? Jackie Gleason is pure "Beautiful Music" to me.

By 1970, when Beautiful Music FMs began being market leaders, the old sound of Jackie Gleason and most of Billy Vaughn was gone. It was more Percy Faith and Franck Pourcel with a much more contemporary sound.

 

[johnbasalla]

By 1970, when Beautiful Music FMs began being market leaders, the old sound of Jackie Gleason and most of Billy Vaughn was gone. It was more Percy Faith and Franck Pourcel with a much more contemporary sound.

Thank you for the learned response. This helps me as I am hoping to do a special "Beautiful Music" edition of "Sunday Night @ The Oldies" radio show on WBWC 88.3 FM (wbwc.com) sometime in the future and I'll keep this in mind. I'm sad about it, as I like Billy Vaughn and have some of his LPs because one of the things I collect are remakes of Beatles songs.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Middle of the Road was a format that tried to straddle the line between Adult Standards and Adult Contemporary.

For the time period I am describing, neither term existed yet.

It was nothing TOO old, no Bing Crosby or Benny Goodman. And nothing too uptempo either. It was popular adult music, that may have hit someplace on the Top 40 chart.

Yeah, adult standards (21st century) reached the point where both of them were gone, except Crosby showed up at Christmas.

So we'd include Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett. And also The Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Neil Diamond.

For the time period I am referring to, The Carpenters had not had any hits yet. Barbra was singing different music from what eventually showed up on AC. Diamond was more of a rocker.

But also, we should mention the non-music elements. There would be bright, cheerful DJs, who didn't shout like on Top 40, but tried to add some personality between each song or two. There'd be news on the hour, maybe both network and local. There'd be weather forecasts and maybe live sports, too.

 

[vchimpanzee]

By 1970, when Beautiful Music FMs began being market leaders, the old sound of Jackie Gleason and most of Billy Vaughn was gone. It was more Percy Faith and Franck Pourcel with a much more contemporary sound.

All four of them show up on WERT, believe it or not.

 

[davideduardo]

All four of them show up on WERT, believe it or not.

You keep bringing up a tiny station in a tinier market. It's not relevant.

 

[Larry]

I used to listen to 610 WIP in Philadelphia (sister station to WNEW-AM) when Ken Garland was THE morning show. I remember being irritated they only played maybe 6 or 8 songs an hour, but between news reports, traffic updates, commercials (many read by Ken Garland) and general chatter, there wasn’t a lot of time for music

 

[michael hagerty]

As VChimp notes, the term "Adult Standards" wasn't around then (1960s-70s). I think the first time I saw it used was in the 1980s, referring to what had been called "Big Band/Nostalgia".

And "MOR" or "Middle-of-the-Road" didn't really exist as a format description until the 60s.

If you go back before Bill Haley and Elvis, to 1952-53, radio stations that played popular music were playing Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Nat "King" Cole and Patti Page. Essentially---those stations---KMPC, KSFO and KFI included---played the hits.

When rock and roll took over the charts, those stations started playing only some of the hits. The type of hits they'd been playing all along.

What those stations weren't were nostalgia machines. At most, they played two old songs an hour---and those were rarely more than five years old (exceptions---Dick Whittinghill would slip in a big band thing once a morning, Chuck Cecil had an entire show (The Swingin' Years) devoted to it).

As time went by, rock and roll's dominance of the charts became undeniable and even the pop stuff began to drift in that direction, in search of sales. Steve Lawrence may have wanted to be Frank Sinatra, but by 1962, he was singing a Carole King song ("Go Away Little Girl") and hitting #1. And as the 60s progressed, other artists (especially those signed to Columbia Records, like Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett and others) simply covered the pop hits of the day with (slightly) more adult orchestration and production.

At the same time, the earliest Beautiful Music stations (KPOL, KGBS, KABL) were showing up. So the KMPCs, KFIs and KSFOs of the world, looking for a way to describe where they fell (not KPOL, not KHJ), wound up with Middle of the Road---MOR.

 

[vchimpanzee]

As VChimp notes, the term "Adult Standards" wasn't around then (1960s-70s). I think the first time I saw it used was in the 1980s, referring to what had been called "Big Band/Nostalgia".

What I remember is that "Big Band/Nostalgia" was something different. "Adult standards" was the name for the format where AC and oldies were mixed in. Though standards were still dominant.

They called it "Middle of the road" when a station in Charlotte did the same thing in 1981, but the format that mixed the various styles didn't last and it evolved into something more like AC before the station switched entirely.

 

[michael hagerty]

What I remember is that "Big Band/Nostalgia" was something different. "Adult standards" was the name for the format where AC and oldies were mixed in. Though standards were still dominant.

They called it "Middle of the road" when a station in Charlotte did the same thing in 1981, but the format that mixed the various styles didn't last and it evolved into something more like AC before the station switched entirely.

Nope. "Adult Standards" was coined while these stations were still in a pre-rock universe---in the 80s.

Just checked---earliest reference to "Adult Standards" as a format description in R&R was February of 1985. First reference in Billboard was two months after that.

 

[michael hagerty]

As for demographics, the stated target of MOR stations was 18-49. Center of that target is 33 1/2---and that's probably too low. It really was radio for 40-somethings. Sure, they'd get some younger and some older, but the 40s were kinda the sweet spot for that format in the 60s and early 70s before it morphed to Adult Contemporary.