Radio format

A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and are subject to often change.^[1] Music radio, old time radio, all-news radio, sports radio, talk radio and weather radio describe the operation of different genres of radio format and each format can often be sub-divided into many specialty formats.

List of formats

Formats constantly evolve and each format can often be sub-divided into many specialty formats. Some of the following formats are available only regionally or through specialized venues such as satellite radio or Internet radio.^[2]

• Active rock^[2]
• Adult album alternative (or just adult alternative) (AAA or Triple-A)^[2]
• Adult contemporary music (AC)^[2]
• Adult standards / nostalgia (pre-rock)^[2]
• Adult hits / variety hits
• Album rock / album-oriented rock (AOR)^[2]
• Alternative rock^[2]
• Americana^[2]
• Beautiful music
• Big band^[2]
• Bluegrass
• Blues
• Caribbean (reggae, soca, merengue, cumbia, salsa, etc.)
• Children's
• Christmas music (usually seasonal, mainly December)
• Classic hits
• Classic rock^[2]
• Classical^[2]
• College radio
• Comedy
• Contemporary Christian (which is also known as CCM)
• Contemporary hit radio (CHR), occasionally still informally known as top-40 / hot hits^[2])^[2]
• Contemporary classical music
• Country music: ^[2]
  • New country/Young country
  • Classic country
• Dance (dance top-40)^[2]
• Eclectic
• Ethnic/International^[2]
• Educational
• Experimental
• Folk music
• Full-service (talk and variety music)
• Freeform radio (DJ-selected)
• Hot adult contemporary (Hot AC)^[2]
• Hispanic rhythmic
• Indian music
• Jazz^[2]
• Lite adult contemporary (Lite AC)^[2]
• Mainstream rock
• middle of the road (MOR)
• Modern adult contemporary (Modern AC)
• Modern rock^[2]
• All-news radio
• Oldies - Primarily 1955-early '80s pop music^[2]
• Progressive rock
• Psychedelic rock
• Quiet Storm (most often a "day-part" format at Urban Stations, i.e. 7p-12 midnight,)
• Radio documentary
• Radio drama
• Ranchera
• Regional Mexican (Banda, corridos, ranchera, conjunto, mariachi, norteño, etc.)
• Rhythmic adult contemporary
• Rhythmic contemporary (Rhythmic Top 40)
• Rhythmic oldies
• Rock^[2]
• Rock en español
• Romántica (Spanish AC)
• Smooth jazz^[2]
• Soft adult contemporary (soft AC)
• Soft rock
• Soul music
• Space music
• Sports
• Spanish sub-formats: ^[2]
  • Tejano music (Texas/Mexican music)
  • Also see: Ranchera, Regional Mexican, Romántica, and Tropical
• Talk radio
  • Conservative talk radio
  • Progressive talk radio
  • Public talk radio
  • Hot talk/shock jocks
• Traditional pop music
• Tropical (salsa, merengue, cumbia, etc.)
• Urban: ^[2]
  • Urban contemporary (mostly rap, hip hop, soul, and R&B artists)
  • Urban adult contemporary (Urban AC)^[2] - R&B, soul and sometimes gospel music, without rap
• Variety
• World music^[2]

See also

Radio portal

• Radio broadcasting
• Television format
• Top 40

References