Adult album alternative

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Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format broadcast mostly on FM. A spinoff from the album-oriented rock format, its roots may have been established sometime during the 1960s from what was called freeform and later progressive. The radio format has a broader, more diverse playlist than most other formats and tends to appeal more to adults than to teenagers. Less-played tracks are also common. Musical selection tends to be on the fringe of mainstream pop and rock as well as many other music genres such as indie rock, alternative rock, alternative country, jazz, folk, world music and blues. The musical selections tend to shy away from hard rock and rap music. Some Triple-A stations bill themselves under such slogans as "World Class Rock," "Quality Rock," or "Finest Rock." Music selection also includes tracks from albums that are not singles, which leads to the enhanced and larger playlist.

Many stations are now focused on playing new music from late seventies and eighties, calling it classic alternative. The soundtrack to the video age has become the newest movement in the adult alternative, bringing up new wave, as well as classic album tracks mixed in with today's current songs. Most of the songs seem to be aimed at a female audience, which was not played much in the last few years. But at its best, the style gained significant exposure for artists who were ambitious, intellectual, and/or idiosyncratic, yet still accessible enough to meet the requirements of mainstream radio programmers who wanted more sophisticated music that wasn't loud or overly disturbing. Modern adult alternative is a musical gumbo that works with fans of the MTV age of the eighties that are tired of classic rock radio.

Triple-A songs sometimes do manage to chart on the Adult Top 40, modern rock, or an adult contemporary chart, since they may be the first to play a first breakout on AAA. Additionally, Radio and Records, a news magazine devoted to radio and the music industry, charts stations in various formats including Triple-A. Its sister publication Billboard also began a Triple-A chart using Radio and Records' information on July 10, 2008. Rival Mediabase 24/7 also does a Triple-A chart. As of mid-2009, Radio and Records publications were discontinued along with the accompanying charts. As of late 2009, Billboard does not publish Triple A Charts on its website, leaving the only major industry publication to publish these Charts to Mediabase.

Radio stations

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Canada

• CKPK 100.5 Vancouver, British Columbia, "100.5 The Peak FM"
• CHHR 104.1 Vancouver, British Columbia, "The Shore 104 FM"
• CFML 107.9 Burnaby, British Columbia, "Evolution 107-9"
• CJSU 89.7 Duncan, British Columbia, "Sun FM"
• CIDR 93.9 Windsor, Ontario "The River" (also serves the Detroit, Michigan market)

United States

Terrestrial radio

• KBAC 98.1 Las Vegas/Santa Fe, New Mexico "Radio Free Santa Fe"
• KBCO 97.3 Boulder/Denver, Colorado
• KBHR 93.3 Big Bear City, California
• http://www.indie1031.com/
• KBXR 102.3 Columbia, Missouri
• KCLC 89.1 St. Louis, Missouri "The Wood" (Non Commercial, Lindenwood University)
• KCMP 89.3 Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, "The Current" (noncommercial, service of Minnesota Public Radio)
• KCSC-HD-2 90.1 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, "Ed 90.1" (noncommercial, service of University of Central Oklahoma)
• KDBB 104.3 Bonne Terre, Missouri
• KDEC-FM 100.5 Decorah, Iowa "FM 100.5"
• KZPS-HD-2 92.5 Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas "The Summit"
• KDTR 103.3 Florence, Montana
• KEEP 103.1 Bandera, Texas
• KENZ 101.9 THE END Salt Lake City, Utah "Everything Alternative"
• KEOL 91.7 La Grande, Oregon
• KFAN 107.9 Johnson City, Texas
• KFFG 97.7 Los Altos, California (Simulcast of KFOG in San Francisco)
• KFJM 90.7 Grand Forks, North Dakota (noncommercial, service of North Dakota Public Radio)
• KFOG 104.5 San Francisco, San Jose, Los Altos, California
• KGSR 107.1 Austin, Texas
• KHUM 104.7 Humboldt County, California
• KINK 101.9 Portland, Oregon
• KKRM 96.7 Montevideo, Minnesota "KRAM 96.7"
• KKXT 91.7, Dallas, Texas (non-commercial) "KXT 91.7 Music to the Core"
• KLRR 101.7 Bend, Oregon, "Clear 101.7"
• KMTN 96.9 Jackson Hole, Wyoming, "Your Mountain of Music"
• KMTT 103.7 Seattle, Washington, "The Mountain"
• KNBA 90.3 Anchorage, Alaska, "Alaska's Native Voice"
• KNTI 99.5 Lakeport, California "The Tee"
• KOHO-FM 101.1 Leavenworth, Washington
• KOZT 95.3 and 95.9 Fort Bragg, California, "The Coast"
• KPIG 107.5 Monterey/Salinas/Santa Cruz, California and simulcast on:
  • San Francisco Bay Area, California (KPIG AM 1510)
  • San Luis Obispo, California (KPYG 94.9)
  • Chico, California (KZAP 96.7)
• KPND 95.3 Sandpoint, Idaho
• KPRI 102.1 San Diego, California
• KPTL 106.3 Des Moines, Iowa "Capital 106.3"
• KQMT 99.5 Denver, Colorado, "The Mountain"
• KRKY-FM 102.1 Estes Park, Fort Collins, Colorado, "Radio Without Rules"
• KROK 95.7 South Fort Polk, Louisiana, "World Class Radio"
• KRSH 95.9 Santa Rosa, California, "The Krush"
• KRVB 94.9 Boise, Idaho, "94.9 The River"
• KRVM-FM 91.9 Eugene, Oregon, "Keeping Real Variety in Music"
• KSLU 90.9 Hammond, Louisiana
• KSPN-FM 103.1, 100.1, 97.3, 98.3, 107.5 Aspen, Colorado, "The Valley's Quality Rock"
• KSRQ 90.1 Thief River Falls, Minnesota, "Pioneer 90.1"
• KSWD 100.3 Los Angeles, California, "100.3 The Sound"
• KTAO 101.9 Taos, New Mexico
• KTBG 90.9 Warrensburg, Missouri, "The Bridge"
• KTCZ 97.1 Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, "Cities 97"
• KTHX 100.1 Reno, Nevada, "The X"
• KDAL 95.7 Duluth, Minnesota, "The Bridge"
• KUMD 103.3 Duluth, Minnesota non-commercial "Duluth Independent Public Radio"
• KVSF-FM 101.5 Pecos/Santa Fe, New Mexico "Indie 101.5 - The Clear Alternative"
• KWMT 92.9 Tucson, Arizona, "The Mountain"
• KWYS 102.9 Eastern ID Western WY Southern MT "Mountain 102Nine"
• KXLY 99.9 Spokane, Washington/Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, "The River"
• KYEN 103.9 Severance, Colorado, 100% Commercial-free
• KZEL 96.1 Eugene, Oregon "Oregon's Quality Rock"
• KZGL 103.7 Flagstaff, Arizona "Eagle 103.7, Flagstaff's Radio Station"
• WAPS 91.3 Akron, Ohio "The Summit"
• WBSD-FM 89.1 Burlington, Wisconsin, "Great Rock, Real Variety, 89 BSD"
• WBJB 90.5 Lincroft, New Jersey "Brookdale Public Radio, 90.5 The Night"
• WCBE 90.5 Columbus, Ohio "NPR Columbus Board of Education"
• WCOO 105.5 Charleston, South Carolina "The Bridge"
• WDMT 102.3 Pittston, Pennsylvania, "102.3 The Mountain"
• WDST 100.1 Poughkeepsie, New York "Radio Woodstock"
• WEHM 92.9 Southampton, New York "Progressive Radio for Long Island"
• WERU 89.9 East Orland, Maine "A Voice of Many Voices"
• WESU 88.1 Middletown,Connecticut "Where Free Form Radio Lives"
• WEXT 97.7 Albany, New York "EXIT 97.7"
• WFIV [1] 105.3 Farragut, Tennessee Independent Radio
• WFPK 91.9 Louisville, Kentucky
• WFUV 90.7 New York City (noncommercial)
• WGFR 92.7 Glens Falls, New York, "The Revolution" (noncommercial)
• WHFC 91.1 Bel Air, Maryland, "The Crossroads," (noncommercial)
• WJHS [http://www.wjhs915.org 91.5 Columbia City, Indiana, "The Eagle" (noncommercial)
• WLGE 106.9 Ephraim, Wisconsin, "The Lodge"
• WLKK 107.7 Buffalo, New York, "The Lake"
• WLKR-FM 95.3 Norwalk, Ohio, "95-3 WLKR"
• WMMM 105.5 Madison, Wisconsin "Triple M"
• WMVY 92.7 Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts "mvyradio"
• WNCS, WDOT, WRJT 93.3, 95.7, 100.3, 103.1, 104.7, and 107.7 Burlington, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, White River Junction, Vermont "Vermont's Independent Radio Network, The Point"
• WNCW 88.7 Spindale, North Carolina
• WNKU [2] 89.7 Highland Heights, Kentucky - Cincinnati, OH, 94.5 Port Union - West Chester, OH "Your Natural Alternative"
• WNNX 100.5 Atlanta, Georgia "Rock 100.5"
• WNRN 91.9 Charlottesville / 88.1 Shenandoah Valley / 103.1 Richmond / 95.1 Harrisonburg / 95.9 Lexington, Virginia (noncommercial)
• WNTI 91.9 Hackettstown, New Jersey "Where Great Music Lives"
• WOCM 98.1 Ocean City, Maryland "Ocean 98"
• WOXL-HD2 98.1 96.5HD Asheville, North Carolina "The River"
• WQKL 107.1 Ann Arbor, Michigan, "Ann Arbor's 107one"
• WPUP 103.7 Athens, Georgia "Bulldog 103-7"
• WPVM 103.5 Asheville, North Carolina "the Progressive Voice of the Mountains"
• WRLT 100.1 Nashville, Tennessee "WRLT Lightning 100"
• WRNR-FM 103.1 Annapolis, Maryland "WRNR"
• WRNX 100.9 Amherst, Massachusetts "WRNX"
• WRSI 93.9 and 101.5 Northampton, Massachusetts "WRSI the River"
• WRQQ 97.1 Nashville, Tennessee "Quality Rock"
• WRUR 88.5 Rochester, New York "Different Radio"
• WRXP 101.9 New York, New York "101.9 RXP - The New York Rock Experience"
• WTIP 90.7 Grand Marais, Minnesota "A Member of Independent Public Radio"
• WTMD 89.7 Baltimore, Maryland "WTMD" (noncommercial)
• WTTS 92.3 Bloomington-Indianapolis, Indiana"World Class Rock for a World Class City"
• WTYD 92.3 Williamsburg, Virginia "92.3 The Tide"
• WUIN 106.7 Wilmington, North Carolina... The Penguin "We've Got The Music Down Cold"
• WUKY 91.3 Lexington, Kentucky
• WVJW-LP 94.1 Wheeling, West Virginia, "The Voice of Dissent" (noncommercial)
• WVOD 99.1 Outer Banks, North Carolina, "99.1 The Sound"
• WWMM 100.5 Birmingham, Alabama, "live100.5 - Birmingham's Modern Music"
• WXPK 107.1 White Plains, New York, "The Peak"
• WXPN 88.5 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (noncommercial)
• WXRT 93.1 Chicago, Illinois, "93-XRT, Chicago's Finest Rock"
• WXRV 92.5 Boston, Massachusetts, "The River"
• WXRY-LP 99.3 Columbia, South Carolina, "The Independent Alternative"
• WYCE 88.1 Grand Rapids, Michigan (noncommercial)
• WYEP-FM 91.3 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (noncommercial)
• WYMS 88.9 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, "88Nine Radio Milwaukee" (noncommercial)
• WZEW 92.1 Fairhope/Mobile, Alabama
• WZGC 92.9 Atlanta, Georgia, "Dave FM"

Internet radio

• http://indiesf.com/
• The Lobo! World Class Progressive Rock Gleneagle, CO
• Tel Aviv Alternative Rock: Alternative rock
• WORJ.com Internet radio USA
• SlothRadio Internet radio Salt Lake City, UT
• Omemo Radio Tel Aviv, Israel
• Radio Paradise Paradise, CA
• Radio Pig (99.3 The PIG) Memphis, TN
• errorFM Indie Pop Music Los Angeles, CA
• Radio Oasis USA
• Pulse Radio Idaho, USA
• 103.5 Progressive Voice of the Mountains Asheville, NC
• AOL Radio and Pandora have Adult Alternative stations.
• KOHO 101.1 Wenatchee, WA
• Legato Cafe Cleveland, OH.
• [3] Fredericksburg, TX
• Wave 1049 Online Savannah, Georgia

Satellite radio

• The Spectrum (Sirius 18/XM 45)
• The Loft (Sirius 29/XM 50)
• The Coffee House (Sirius 30/XM 51)

National Radio Programs

• The syndicated program World Cafe, carried on non-commercial radio stations across the U.S., airs a triple-A format.

• The syndicated program UnderCurrents, carried on non-commercial radio stations across the U.S., airs a triple-A format. www.undercurrentsradio.net

• The syndicated program Classic Artists Today, carried on Non-commercial/Commercial/Internet radio stations across the U.S., airs a triple-A format. www.classicartiststoday.com

Television

• Music Choice has about three Adult Alternative stations.

See also

• List of adult alternative artists
• Adult contemporary, a format with a much more pop-oriented playlist, that is much softer and not too adventurous.

External links

• triplearadio.com - website devoted to the triple-A format
• RadioAndRecords.com - Radio and Records website, complete format news and charts