Format names and the general public

Many of the format terms on this board, like "AC" and "CHR", are rarely used by the public at large. So in your experience what do people outside the industry call these formats? Does the public consider related formats like the various forms of CHR and Rock seperate formats, or do they consider all CHR/Rock formats the same?

I don't think listeners attach format descriptors of any kind to the stations they listen to. They just know whether a particular station fits what they want to listen to.

"Top-40" was pretty much the last industry tag the public used ... and they used it to describe whichever "flavor" of contemporary music radio they happened to prefer ... from soft AC's to rocking CHRs.

This is where station branding comes in. Because even within a particular format, you have local variation based on the competition in the market. So the general public tends to identify the station by whatever name the station uses. Z100, Hot 97, or Nash.

If you're talking CHR, most people would call it Top 40. A/C/Hot A/C probably Pop. Urban would be R&B/Hip Hop. Just my own thoughts, no documentation.

TheBigA said:

This is where station branding comes in. Because even within a particular format, you have local variation based on the competition in the market. So the general public tends to identify the station by whatever name the station uses. Z100, Hot 97, or Nash.

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Even stations with legendary calls fall into this category

Take KIMN for example. When KIMN was on 950 EVERYONE knew it as 95 KIMN or any one of the many other monikers the stations it used. Most people TODAY know it as just "Mix 100" (Which is just as well because KIMN's ORIGINAL home on FM was 98.5 (And EVEN THAT wasn't for very long) - NOT 100.3 as it is today). 100.3 was the home of "Beaurtiful Music" outlet KLIR back in the late 1960s & 1970s. Not sure what it was pre-1965 (That'd be interesting to know )

Cheers & 73

When I was a teenager I used to use the term "rock" to refer to what was actually Top 40. When the market got its first Top 40 FM, they called it "Charlotte's Best Rock". I didn't understand that rock was something different. After all, the station played Chuck Mangione and Carly Simon.

I'm not a radio pro, but I tend to have a set of stations with the formats I like and tend to go to those stations, and keep up with format changes in the area. On the other hand yesterday I was telling my wife that WASL in Dyersburg, TN had changed to the Jack format and she said that it really didn't matter to her, and that she tuned the radio looking for a song she liked and would stop there regardless of the format. All she generally knows is rock, oldies, country, Christian, etc. Then when they go to either a song she doesn't like, talk, or advertising, she changes stations. I think that pretty well fits the way a lot of people look at formats. They may know the general format, but not the precise format names, like AC, CHR, etc.

installLSC said:

Many of the format terms on this board, like "AC" and "CHR", are rarely used by the public at large.

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Most people I know don't know those terms either.

I agree. Another term I never heard anyone outside the radio biz use was MOR (Middle-Of-The-Road). Top 40 and "Beautiful Music" were sometimes used by the general public back when pop stations published chart leaflets and placed them in the record shops, and "beautiful" stations used that term in their advertising.

And though David Eduardo and others may disagree, I've often heard non-Spanish-speaking people refer to "the Spanish station," whether the music is Mexican banda or Puerto Rican salsa.

In my area, most AM stations go by their call letters, while music stations tend to use slogans like "Kool," "Mix," "Lite," "Beat," etc.

JeffM said:

I agree. Another term I never heard anyone outside the radio biz use was MOR (Middle-Of-The-Road). Top 40 and "Beautiful Music" were sometimes used by the general public back when pop stations published chart leaflets and placed them in the record shops, and "beautiful" stations used that term in their advertising.

And though David Eduardo and others may disagree, I've often heard non-Spanish-speaking people refer to "the Spanish station," whether the music is Mexican banda or Puerto Rican salsa.

In my area, most AM stations go by their call letters, while music stations tend to use slogans like "Kool," "Mix," "Lite," "Beat," etc.

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"Middle of the Road" has pretty much been gone completely for 40 years but in its day, it was a household term. "MOR" was probably more of an industry one.

semoochie said:

"Middle of the Road" has pretty much been gone completely for 40 years but in its day, it was a household term.

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But it also related to a lifestyle, not just a radio format.

anotherguy said:

I'm not a radio pro, but I tend to have a set of stations with the formats I like and tend to go to those stations, and keep up with format changes in the area. On the other hand yesterday I was telling my wife that WASL in Dyersburg, TN had changed to the Jack format and she said that it really didn't matter to her, and that she tuned the radio looking for a song she liked and would stop there regardless of the format. All she generally knows is rock, oldies, country, Christian, etc. Then when they go to either a song she doesn't like, talk, or advertising, she changes stations. I think that pretty well fits the way a lot of people look at formats. They may know the general format, but not the precise format names, like AC, CHR, etc.

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I personally like station names which transcend formats, because they can just continue to use the same name across several formats. SL-100 was definitely one such example. That said, however, I was still surprised when the format change to Jack did not also include a call-letter change, since most of these Jacks tend to have "Jack-like" call letters, even though listeners typically only hear them once an hour in the station's legal ID.

TheBigA said:

But it also related to a lifestyle, not just a radio format.

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I agree; people used "middle of the road" to refer to their politics (whether they were or not) or moderation in habits, etc., but I don't think I ever heard anyone say they listened to "middle of the road" music. They might use the term "easy listening," again whether accurate or not; in the 70's, some folks' idea of easy listening might include, say, Tony Orlando & Dawn and Diana Ross; while others might interpret it as Lawrence Welk and Jim Nabors. It's easier to define what it isn't (hard rock, gangsta rap, heavy metal) than what it is.

semoochie said:

"Middle of the Road" has pretty much been gone completely for 40 years but in its day, it was a household term.

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And then, of course, we have the Pretenders' song of the same name ...

Most talk stations, news stations and sports stations identify themselves as, respectively, a talk station, news station or sports station. (Do they honestly think the listeners can't figure it out?) Most jazz stations include the word "jazz" in their slogans. Most hip-hop and r&b stations use a slogan such as "Today's hip-hop and r&b." Many country stations use a slogan such as "today's hot country." Many years ago in Los Angeles, KRTH's jingle was "Oldies radio, K-Earth one-oh-one." KRLA's was "Oldies, all oldies, KRLA." KLSX promoted "Howard Stern in the morning, classic rock all day." However, the terms "adult contemporary" and "middle of the road" are two that I have never heard used by any station. I also can't recall hearing any top-40 station calling itself "top 40" but I can't say that none did.

Jeff notes that it's easier to say what "easy listening" is not than what it is. Perhaps we could make the same observation about "new age" music.

LARadioRewind said:

However, the terms "adult contemporary" and "middle of the road" are two that I have never heard used by any station. I also can't recall hearing any top-40 station calling itself "top 40" but I can't say that none did.

Jeff notes that it's easier to say what "easy listening" is not than what it is. Perhaps we could make the same observation about "new age" music.

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Both good observations, Steve.

I would say that when a station's format identifier is popularly descriptive -- "talk", "jazz", "country" -- then there becomes a natural tendency to incorporate that into station branding. But in virtually all such cases, the format identifier simply followed the uniqueness of its programming. In the case of AC or MOR, there really wasn't a name for the music. Remember that most early ACs either transitioned contemporary from MOR, evolved to all-vocals from Beautiful Music, or created a softened approach to Top-40. Even the station owners who owned MOR stations rarely used the term, preferring the euphemistic "good music" moniker for their listings in SRDS or the Broadcasting Yearbook.

New Age is one of those genres where a lot of individual songs by artists "fit" but much of their catalog doesn't, so that may be where the feeling of "definition by what it isn't" comes from.

I remember my grandmother using the term "Middle of the road" to refer to M.O.R. stations and she never worked in radio. She'd use all the common terms, like country, rock, classical, etc. She refered to Easy Listening stations as elevator music stations. She liked stations that played popular music and had good news departments, even into her 80's. When oldies stations started to gain traction, she migrated to them, but not exclusively. It was cool as a teen to have a grandparent who knew current music. She was a dedicated radio listener, even DXed a bit for content she couldn't hear locally. She liked the M.O.R. stations but was also interested in other formats. She just enjoyed music of all kinds and when she felt like listening to the radio, she had her favourite stations, but would also scan the whole dial to see what was on, and who was playing what. When she moved out to a town east of Vancouver, she liked to listen to KNX at night to hear the hollywood news, but was frustrated by Victoria's CFAX, which was a regional station. She knew how to null CFAX. That came from growing up in an era before tv, and radio was still very new. Today she'd be considered a dxer, but in her day, she was an average listener.

Your grandmother was quite a hip lady! In fact, so was mine; she loved music and though she preferred softer sounds, stayed current. No Lennon Sisters for her; she liked best the Bee Gees and Cher.

I'm not sure if Top 40 stations used that phrase as a slogan; but as I think I mentioned, those that published their charts and put copies in the stores (several here did) would refer on air to songs as being "number 19 this week on our Big 30 Survey" or something similar. And of course, some featured Casey Kasem's countdown or did local ones of their own.

What's the opposite of easy listening, anyway? Hard listening? Difficult listening?? (No doubt, for example, speed-metal fans would find "easy listening" downright intolerable listening...)

JeffM said:

In my area, most AM stations go by their call letters, while music stations tend to use slogans like "Kool," "Mix," "Lite," "Beat," etc.

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Do any use a combination? Like Kool Mix Lite 95?