Key contributors
 | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (December 2024) |
Christian contemporary hit radio (sometimes abbreviated as Christian CHR, also known as contemporary Christian hits, Christian hit list, current Christian hits, Christian hit music, Christian top 40, or Christian pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries (mainly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) that focuses on playing current and recent music as determined by the contemporary Christian music Top 40. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on Christian rock, Christian pop, or urban gospel music. Used alone, Christian CHR most often refers to the Christian CHR-pop format. The term Christian hit radio was coined in the early 1980s by CCM Magazine (shortly after the term contemporary hit radio was coined by Radio & Records magazine) to designate Christian Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all Christian music genres as contemporary Christian music splintered into Christian adult contemporary, Urban contemporary gospel and other formats.
The term "Christian top 40" is also used to refer to the actual list of hit songs, and, by extension, to refer to contemporary Christian music in general.
Also known as Christian CHR/pop or Christian teen CHR. Plays Christian pop, and Christian dance, and sometimes urban gospel, Christian alternative, Christian rock, and Christian country crossover as well. Often referred as "Christian Top 40"; in terms of incorporating a variety of genres of Christian music, Christian CHR/pop is the successor to the original concept of Christian top 40 radio which originated in the 1960s.
These stations typically are hybrids of the contemporary Christian hit radio (CHR/pop) and Christian hot AC formats. This format contains a strong focus on current Christian charts, contemporary and recurrent Christian hits as well as placing a minority of older, classic Christian hits from the 2000s and early to mid 2010s onto the playlist. Christian adult CHR stations play pop-friendly Christian rhythmic, Christian dance and Christian hip hop titles alongside standard Christian pop and pop rock fare, and often shying away from the most rhythmic Christian CHR titles until they are established hits on the format.
Also known as Christian CHR/rhythmic, or Christian CHR/urban. These stations focus on Christian hip hop and Christian dance-pop. There are differences between Christian CHR/rhythmic and the urban contemporary gospel format; urban gospel stations will often play Christian R&B and gospel songs that Christian CHR/rhythmic stations will not, and Christian CHR/rhythmic stations, despite playlists heavy with urban gospel product, sometimes have white disc jockeys and will include CEDM and rhythmic Christian pop music that urban gospel outlets will not.
Bilingual Spanish Christian CHRs combine current and recent Christian and rhythmic CHR hits with recent Latin Christian pop hits, targeting young Latina listeners. Similarly, bilingual French Christian CHRs are common in some Canadian markets, and combine anglophone and French Christian pop hits. Filipino-based Christian CHR stations are also common in major Philippine market areas, which feature current Christian and rhythmic CHR hits with recent Christian OPM and P-Pop hits.
Gold-based Christian CHRs combine a more limited base of currents and recurrents from the Christian, rhythmic and/or adult CHR formats with a broader playlist of gold from the 2000s and 2010s. Similar to gold-based mainstream CHR, stations from this format may also be called Christian rhythmic hot AC if their library is particularly rhythmic-leaning.
Playing Christian dance remixes of popular Christian songs with perhaps current Christian hits from the dance charts. As with pure mainstream dance-music radio stations (as opposed to CHR/rhythmic and rhythmic AC formats), pure Christian dance-music radio stations (as opposed to Christian CHR/rhythmic and Christian rhythmic AC formats) are not very common but tend to have loyal audiences in the markets where they do exist.
Stations with this format, a modernized Christian Rock 40 format, are similar in some ways to the Christian Adult CHR and Christian CHR/pop formats, but also incorporate Christian modern rock/Christian alternative/Christian active rock and Christian modern AC titles in an upbeat presentation.
There are also variations targeting minority ethnic groups, such as Christian CHR/español (Latin Christian pop), and Christian CHR/Tejano (Christian Tex-Mex and Tejano) which are commonly found in Arizona, Texas, California, and Mexico.
| | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (December 2024) |
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of Black genres such as R&B, pop-rap, quiet storm, urban adult contemporary, hip hop, Latin music such as Latin pop, Chicano R&B and Chicano rap, and Caribbean music such as reggae and soca. Urban contemporary was developed through the characteristics of genres such as R&B and soul.
WPGC-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Morningside, Maryland, and serving the Washington metropolitan area. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs an urban contemporary format.
Contemporary hit radio is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts. There are several subcategories, dominantly focusing on rock, pop, or urban music. Used alone, CHR most often refers to the CHR-pop format. The term contemporary hit radio was coined in the early 1980s by Radio & Records magazine to designate Top 40 stations which continued to play hits from all musical genres as pop music splintered into Adult contemporary, Urban contemporary, Contemporary Christian and other formats.
A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelled to develop new and exclusive ways to programming by competition with television. The formula has since spread as a reference for commercial radio programming worldwide.
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on their playlists, and generally include some mix of contemporary R&B and traditional R&B. Urban adult contemporary playlists generally consist of many different genres that originated amongst Black Americans including R&B, soul, funk, disco, jazz, pop, hip-hop, electro, quiet storm, gospel, new jack swing, and hip-hop soul.
WDVD is a hot adult contemporary radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned and operated by Cumulus Media, WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center district near downtown, while its transmitter is located in Royal Oak Township at 8 Mile Road and Wyoming Avenue.
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses hard rock or country in its airplay, but it may occasionally use a reggae, Latin, reggaeton, or an urban contemporary gospel hit. Essentially, the format is a cross between the mainstream radio and urban contemporary radio formats.
Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adult contemporary formats in practice. It typically focuses on genres such as disco, classic hip-hop, dance pop, and house music of the late 1980s/early 1990s.
WRCL is a commercial broadcast radio station serving the mid Michigan area. It plays rhythmic contemporary hits, naming itself Club 93-7. The transmitter is in Tuscola County, but the studios are in Burton, east of Flint. It station is owned by Townsquare Media.
Billboard Radio Monitor was a weekly music trade publication that followed the radio industry and tracked the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. The magazine was a spinoff of Billboard magazine and was mostly available through subscription to people who work in the radio industry as well as music chart enthusiasts. It was developed in Columbia, Maryland, initially by Alan Smith and Jonas Cash, principals of the music company called AIR. AIR created music listening competitions for radio programmers in five different musical genres and were looking for a "qualifier" for the contests. The contests involved testing new songs' potential by having radio programmers listen to and respond to each song's hit potential using a national chart as the qualifier. After using Radio and Records chart for the first 10 years of the competition, AIR developed the BAM, and went into partnership with Billboard Magazine to produce and market the magazine. As members of the Board of Directors, the AIR principals continued to improve its features over the next eight years under the new name of Billboard Radio Monitor.
KQMV is a commercial radio station licensed to Bellevue, Washington, and serving the Seattle-Tacoma-Puget Sound radio market. The Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. outlet airs a top 40 radio format.
WMIA-FM is a radio station in Miami Beach, Florida. Owned by iHeartMedia, the station broadcasts a Spanish-language format with a focus on Latin pop and English-language adult contemporary music.
KDHT is a commercial FM radio station in Denver, Colorado. KDHT broadcasts a top 40 format branded as "Hits 95.7", and is owned by iHeartMedia. The station has studios and offices on South Monaco Street in the Denver Tech Center, while the transmitter site is atop Lookout Mountain in Golden.
R&R was a weekly music trade publication that followed the radio industry and tracked the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. The magazine was a sister publication to Billboard magazine and was mostly available through subscription to people who work in the radio industry and music chart enthusiasts, as well as various record stores and newsstands. On June 5, 2009, parent company AC Nielsen ceased operations on R&R just short of three years after acquiring the former independent trade periodical. When it ceased publication in 2009, R&R was the successor-in-interest of publications that traced their operations back to 1973.
KFCO is a commercial radio station broadcasting a Christian hip hop format, licensed to Bennett, Colorado, and serving the Denver metropolitan area. It is owned by Pillar of Fire International with its radio studios and offices on Parker Road in Aurora.
KTFM is a commercial radio station licensed to Floresville, Texas, and serving Greater San Antonio. It broadcasts a sports radio format and is owned by Alpha Media. On weekdays it has local personalities hosting sports shows, with ESPN Radio heard nights and weekends. The studios are on Eisenhauer Road in San Antonio.
KUBT is a rhythmic contemporary radio station based in Honolulu, Hawaii. The station operates at 100 kW, is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.. It is also transmitting on Oceanic Spectrum digital channel 869 for the entire state of Hawaii. Its studios and transmitter are located separately in the Kalihi neighborhood of Honolulu.
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm and rock influence. Adult contemporary is generally a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music.
Christian adult contemporary, also known as Christian AC or CAC, is a form of radio-played contemporary Christian music, ranging from 1960s Jesus music and 1970s Christian soft rock music to predominately worship-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, CCM, gospel, Christian R&B, quiet storm and Christian rock influence. Primarily in the United States and Canada, Christian adult contemporary radio stations cater to a mostly adult audience and are similar to mainstream adult contemporary stations in that they play hits often and for long periods of time. Christian adult contemporary is generally a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style Jesus music that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of Christian pop/rock music.