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Classic Adult Contemproary??

J

Joseph_Gallant

With many Adult Contemporary stations in recent months having tweaked their formats to be "hotter", with more recent and uptempo songs, I wonder if the time is coming where there could be a "spin-off" format which for lack of a better term can be called Classic Adult Contemporary.

What exactly is Classic Adult Contemporary (or "Classic AC")??

Think of the music that AC stations played during the 1980's and 1990's; perhaps even into the early 2000's.

This would target older listeners, and would probably be heard on the AM dial in most places. It also might be more likely to be broadcast by stations in markets where the percentage of people over 50 is higher than the national average (read: Cape Cod, parts of Florida, parts of Nevada, and parts of Arizona, etc.).
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
With many Adult Contemporary stations in recent months having tweaked their formats to be "hotter", with more recent and uptempo songs, I wonder if the time is coming where there could be a "spin-off" format which for lack of a better term can be called Classic Adult Contemporary.

What exactly is Classic Adult Contemporary (or "Classic AC")??

Think of the music that AC stations played during the 1980's and 1990's; perhaps even into the early 2000's.
T
This would target older listeners, and would probably be heard on the AM dial in most places. It also might be more likely to be broadcast by stations in markets where the percentage of people over 50 is higher than the national average (read: Cape Cod, parts of Florida, parts of Nevada, and parts of Arizona, etc.).
Click to expand...

As you say, it would skew very old. The center of the target from when soft continuous hits debuted is now 70.

Here in Phoenix, KOY already fills that niche, running what used to be the "AM Only" satellite service...and although it's called nostalgia, a large chunk of the music is now 70s and 80s AC.
 
Actually the America's Best Music format still has plenty of "standards" mixed in.

I would be nice to see a "70's AM gold" format (Elton John, Starbuck, Orleans, James Taylor, Firefall Boz Scaggs, EWF etc. With some of the 80's hits (Gloria Estefan, Lionel Richie, Doobie Brothers, Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Little River Band, Paul Davis, pointer sisters Etc.

One of the syndicated tape services (Not Drake Chenault)in the mid 90's offered something like it called Heart of rock, Heart Of America?. I remember hearing it on WWUS FM in Big Pine Key. It was very much like today's classic hits station, but more AC. I almost picked it up for a station we had back then.

As said, this might work in selected markets.
 
Clear Channel's "Sunny" format is essentially classic AC, or "AC Gold" as it's more commonly called... soft pop hits from the '70s through the '90s, with a handful of '60s (and maybe '00s) songs here and there:

http://www.iheart.com/#/live/5014/

CC may or may not have this format on-air... the last station I knew who tried it was 94.5 "Lite FM" WLQT in Dayton, Ohio, back in 2011, but after less than a year they switched to a mainstream AC format. You can hear a brief sample from WLQT in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTpNpHkp178
 
The "Sunny" format is on a couple of Clear Channel's HD2s, including WNIC-HD2 in Detroit and WLIT-HD2 in Chicago. I don't know if it's on any analog/HD1s.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
With many Adult Contemporary stations in recent months having tweaked their formats to be "hotter", with more recent and uptempo songs, I wonder if the time is coming where there could be a "spin-off" format which for lack of a better term can be called Classic Adult Contemporary.

What exactly is Classic Adult Contemporary (or "Classic AC")??

Think of the music that AC stations played during the 1980's and 1990's; perhaps even into the early 2000's.

This would target older listeners, and would probably be heard on the AM dial in most places. It also might be more likely to be broadcast by stations in markets where the percentage of people over 50 is higher than the national average (read: Cape Cod, parts of Florida, parts of Nevada, and parts of Arizona, etc.).
Click to expand...

the Dial Global "AC Pure" format via Storq definately leans a bit classic... well.. in the middle of the day during the week, the very much lean more AC Gold.

hear an example of them.. the station I work at

www.wkbiradio.com
 
This isn't over the air but my grocery store has a very classic-leaning music mix. It may be FM-1 from the company once called Muzak, but no one has confirmed this.
 
Our local college station is playing what they call "Adult Contemporary Oldies" , but it sounds like classic hits without the heavy rock. "Go Deep" by Janet Jackson isn't really AC to me, but it is a interesting mix. It has a lot of 80s pop. I've noticed however that the playlist changes about once a month, so they could be attempting more AC and less classic hits. It is nothing like it used to be during the TM Century Gold Disc days before they switch to Scott Studios automation. It was awesome.

It may be a work in progress. http://wvcp.net is the address and they do stream, but the stream the last I heard didn't sound too great.
 
Classic AC? Try WDUV 105.5 Tampa. Loads of 70s/80s/90s stuff there. Also 92.5 KSRW Independence CA is an interesting soft rock station - with smooth jazz, some 1990s album cuts, and they don't play most of the newer stuff that most mainstream AC stations air.

-crainbebo
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
With many Adult Contemporary stations in recent months having tweaked their formats to be "hotter", with more recent and uptempo songs, I wonder if the time is coming where there could be a "spin-off" format which for lack of a better term can be called Classic Adult Contemporary.

What exactly is Classic Adult Contemporary (or "Classic AC")??

Think of the music that AC stations played during the 1980's and 1990's; perhaps even into the early 2000's.

This would target older listeners, and would probably be heard on the AM dial in most places. It also might be more likely to be broadcast by stations in markets where the percentage of people over 50 is higher than the national average (read: Cape Cod, parts of Florida, parts of Nevada, and parts of Arizona, etc.).
Click to expand...

I like that idea.
 
The real issue from the radio side is how many sub-genres can a community support? There are only a certain number of radio stations in town, and the narrower you make the niche, the smaller the audience you end up with. When the operating funds come from advertisers, and they pay based on audience size, the formats that attract the largest shares will win.
 
I'd love for a classic AC station with about 900-1000 songs maybe. 1-3 smooth jazz cuts every hour as well. If not, I'd go full board smooth jazz with a few of those Sade, Anita Baker and soft Kenny Loggins songs.

-crainbebo
 
"Classic" implies music that has withstood the test of time, and remains popular despite its age. Synonyms for "classic" would include "ageless", "timeless", or "evergreen".

"Adult" implies appealing to adults as opposed to primarily appealing to children or teenagers.

"Contemporary" implies current music of the immediate now, the opposite of "classic", though the best contemporary music can eventually become classic if it withstands the test of time.

So, given that "classic" and "contemporary" are almost antonyms, the phrase "Classic Adult Contemporary" is fundamentally an oxymoron.
 
satech said:
Clear Channel's "Sunny" format is essentially classic AC, or "AC Gold" as it's more commonly called... soft pop hits from the '70s through the '90s, with a handful of '60s (and maybe '00s) songs here and there:

http://www.iheart.com/#/live/5014/

CC may or may not have this format on-air... the last station I knew who tried it was 94.5 "Lite FM" WLQT in Dayton, Ohio, back in 2011, but after less than a year they switched to a mainstream AC format. You can hear a brief sample from WLQT in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTpNpHkp178
Click to expand...
Iheartradio's "Sunny" (WNIC HD2) is actually traditional soft AC...or as many of those stations now refer to themselves..."soft oldies". Our station offers a similar format but includes music post-2000 and even some currents in the mix, albeit very sparingly. Since soft AC today and what was soft AC 25 years ago (now traditional soft AC) are no longer one and the same, I prefer the name "Classic MOR" for the latter.
 
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Avid Listener said:
So, given that "classic" and "contemporary" are almost antonyms, the phrase "Classic Adult Contemporary" is fundamentally an oxymoron.
Click to expand...

"Adult Contemporary" is a term of art (in the strictest legal definition thereof) and has specific meaning in the broadcast industry.

It's not just a juxtaposition of two words... it is a term that describes a format that plays adult appeal pop music as opposed to adult appeal country music or adult appeal mariachi music.

As such, music which is harvested from the past which fits the mold of Adult Contemporary and which qualified for "hit" status back then is correctly labeled "Classic Adult Contemporary" in the context of a discussion of radio formats.
 
DavidEduardo said:
"Adult Contemporary" is a term of art (in the strictest legal definition thereof) and has specific meaning in the broadcast industry.
Click to expand...

Which does not change the fact that the "term of art" Classic Adult Contemporary is an oxymoron.
 
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