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By Michele Kadison

Adult Contemporary music, also called AC, mix music online, or The Mix, is a category of mainstream music geared towards 25 to 54 year olds. The Mix is generally divided into three categories that satisfy sub-groups within this demographic: Soft (or lite) AC, Hot AC, and Urban AC. Individual tracks in streaming music “club mix” radio stations, for example, often overlap between categories, but on-the-air radio as well as Satellite radio stations, cater to each of these four categories, sometimes with overlaps as musical tastes evolve and as artists begin to cross over into multiple formats.

Before Mix Music Online: The Early Days

In the early days of radio, the top 40 was played on AM stations, regardless of what type of music it was, be it ballads, R&B, or more rock oriented styles. In the 1970s music began to become divided according to demographic groups and their preferences. Specialized radio stations began cropping up, playing music specific to various genres. As music and the listening demographic became more diverse, radio programmers had to find creative ways to classify sounds which appealed to maturing age groups. As listeners began to get older and evolve toward the mix music online listeners of todya, their tastes changed, gearing more towards vocal-based music from the 1960s and on. Adult Contemporary music was born out of this need to create a pocket for people looking for softer, less demanding sounds.

The FM dial was the first place to introduce “beautiful” music, which was also called “easy listening.” The FM stations featured popular vocal-based hits from the 60s as well as more current ballads. In 1961, Billboard published an Adult Contemporary music chart, which in 1979 became just plain Adult Contemporary. As the genre evolved, rhythmic dance tracks and teen pop were added, but still maintaining a mainstream feel that stayed away from hard rock, alternative, and hip hop.

The Mix: AC Evolution

After MTV made its debut, Vh3 was born as an Adult Contemporary version of its big brother. During the mid 80s you could see artists on Vh3 that fit into the AC category, which made it very inviting 30 to 40 year olds who did not feel as comfortable with the MTV format. Videos by Alanis Morissette, Hootie & the Blowfish, Melissa Etheridge, Ace of Base were in relatively heavy rotation, rivaling some of the harder rock videos seen on MTV. Eventually, mainstream AC music became infiltrated by artists with strong video exposure like Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club, Whitney Houston, and Tears for Fears. Additionally there began to be a profusion of artists who crossed over from one genre to another, helping to create what is called The Mix.

The Mix: Adult Contemporary Breakdown

Soft AC

Born in the 1970s and evolving through the 80s, this has been the longest running AC format, and is still popular today. A combination of middle-of-the-road (MOR), easy listening, and soft rock, its appeal is to an older demographic of listeners in mix music online.

Soft AC generally keeps songs in rotation for many years as there is limited listener pressure to expand the format. Lately newer guitar-driven sounds have been added to the classics to create a more diverse mix without compromising Soft AC standards. Some of the artists include Avril Lavigne, 2 Doors Down, The Fray, Hinder, and Fall Out Boy. Added to this are musicians who are considered “cross over”, which includes country artists such as Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flats, and Darius Rucker who are all finding success on both charts.

Hot AC

Hot AC is another area where the balance of music includes sounds from the early 60s to today’s mainstream hits. It seems that each Hot AC station has its own formula for determining format, where some stations include more classics than new mix music online, or visa versa. Today the format can often be harder to define as more and more music falls into “cross over” categories. Still, certain genres remain outside Hot AC programming such as Alternative, which is too far from the taste of mainstream listeners.

Since the 2000s however, Hot AC stations have added R&B as well as hip hop to their play lists. Artists like Akon, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Ne-Yo, and the Pussycat Dolls are heard on many of the Hot AC stations, as well as some conventional hard rock bands such as the Goo Goo Dolls, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith. Dance music artists like Kylie Minogue, Rihanna, Paula Abdul, and Madonna are also part of the mix. Slowly Hot AC is stretching its boundaries by introducing bands like Linkin Park, Third Eye Blind, Pink, and Red Hot Chili Peppers if programmers feel that local listeners are receptive.

Mix Music Online: The Current Phenomenon

The modern Adult Contemporary format is currently in a state of flux as it competes with many top 40 stations. Some AC stations are dropping soft artists in favor of harder sounds. Artists like Daughtry, Nickelback, and Kelly Clarkson are staples on mainstream AC stations, as well as ballad singers like as Josh Groban and Nick Lachey. Because of changing demographics, which alter the standards for an adult format as people age, additional categories are forming to embrace changing tastes. Streaming music “club” mix tracks also create shifts as remixes give a new energy or dimension to old favorites.

Mainstream Adult Contemporary is a format that often gets the highest ratings with listeners aged 24 to 54. Urban and rhythmic AC is geared towards adult African American audiences, where airplay favors R&B, soul, and some hip hop artists. Musicians like Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Sade, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, and Des’ree are popular in this format among mix music online listeners. Rhythmic AC or “MOViN” features dance music, remixes, R&B, and early hip hop and caters to African American, Hispanic, and white audiences. Here everything from soul and R&B hits featured during the 60s through the 90s, including the Motown sound and disco are in rotation.

A final AC category has emerged in the past years called Quiet Storm. Usually this format is heard from early evening until late at night and features Urban and Soft AC sounds. Whitney Houston, Angela Bofill, Toni Braxton, En Vogue, Johnny Gill, Anita Baker, and Howard Hewett are good examples of artists that fit into this pocket, appealing to an adult demographic of all ethnicities.

Radio programming, whether it is on-air or via satellite, will always be searching for better ways to satisfy listeners’ tastes and expectations. Programming will continue to eliminate and add artists as their popularity ebbs and flows. The one sure thing is that listeners are constantly aging, which creates a constant demand for music that falls in the Adult Contemporary category, whatever songs the format — and any mix music online radio — embraces in the future.

By Michele Kadison

Alternative music online, also known as “indie” music, emerged in the 80s as an alternative to music being played on commercial radio stations. It was first known as “college rock” as it was played by many college radio stations, reflecting the tastes of students who were tired of the typical classic rock format being played on FM radio. It wasn’t until the mid-80s that the name “Alternative” became standard.

Born of bands that rejected commercial, mainstream culture, Alternative artists began their careers playing in small local clubs and were signed to the new indie record labels such as SST Records, Twin/Tone Records, Touch & Go Records, and Dischord Records.

Spawning many sub-genres, this independent music scene became fertile territory for exploring forms of expression that would not necessarily be embraced by the mainstream. Thought Alternative was a catch-all word describing the general underground rock sound, there were many categories that defined the new artists coming out of the punk, new wave, and post punk scene.

Alternative Music: The Early Days

What we call today’s alternative music online originally evolved from the punk rock scene that was strong in the 1970s. Most of the first part of this phase gave birth to cult bands that found their way to listeners through word of mouth and local college stations. Many bands featured a fusion of sound, like the Feelies, the Violent Femmes, and the Velvet Underground who merged a punk sound with folk. The Paisley Underground created a more psychedelic sound, while groups like Husker Du and the Replacements appeared. Starting out as punk bands and then progressing to a more melody-driven sound over time. The Meat Puppets and the Minutemen had sounds that married punk with country and funk. Other early bands such as The Pixies, They Might Be Giants, Throwing Muses, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, and Big Black each had their own unique artistry which continued to expand the Alternative dimension, presaging the Alternative music we have online today.

Alternative radio stations began to crop up, playing a wide range of artists. Los Angeles’ KROQ FM and Boston’s WFNX were two of the most prominent. When R.E.M. and the Cure gained their huge fan base, commercial radio stations got up to speed, providing more airplay to many indie bands.

Meanwhile in Britain, Alternative music had given birth to Gothic Rock, which came out of the 70s British post-punk phase. Bands like Bauhaus, Siouxie & the Banshees, and the Cure enraptured listeners with their dark feel and big synthesizer and guitar sounds that created what is often called “epic soundscapes.” The Goth subculture grew as nightclubs like The Batcave gained popularity with disenfranchised kids looking for a new tribe. The mid-80s saw bands like the Sisters of Mercy and the Mission rise to success on the UK charts while indie rock and pop bands like the Smith’s, Orange Juice, and Aztec Camera were signed to labels such as Rough Trade Records. Morrisey, former lead singer from the Smiths, went on to create an important solo career and other bands like the Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, the Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine started getting more and more airplay, both in Brittan and elsewhere.

Alternative: The Evolution

In the Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and others entering mainstream radio play, helped Alternative music explode on the scene as a viable alternative to classic rock and pop. The end of the 80s saw many indie bands signing with major labels. R.E.M. and Jane’s Addiction both went gold, then platinum. The Pixies became a major success overseas; leading to the music industry increasingly becoming aware of the commercial possibilities of Alternative rock.

In 1991, Nirvana’s second album, “Nevermind” catapulted Alternative rock onto a level of visibility never imagined. Pearl Jam came out with “Ten”, Soundgarden with “Badmotorfinger”, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers with “Blood Sugar Sex Magik.”. Commercial radio stations were playing more indie music while more Alternative bands were signed to mainstream labels. The year also introduced a category called “Alternative Music” at the Grammy and MTV Video Awards. The new Lollapalooza festival featured indie bands. Created by Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, he coined the name “Alternative Nation” for the bands joining the tour. Nine Inch Nails, the Smashing Pumpkins, Hole and many others became popular and available to mainstream audiences, especially with visibility on MTV and Vh3.

At the same time there were Alternative bands still leery of mainstream culture. New indie labels cropped up to accommodate these artists, such as Matador Records and Merge.

Upheavals came with the death of Kurt Kobain in 1994 along with Pearl Jam’s lawsuit against Ticketmaster for their high prices. In 1998, Lollapalooza couldn’t find a headliner and stopped dead in its tracks. Many popular indie bands broke up at the end of the 90s such as Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, and Alice in Chains, making way for new sounds to break though like the White Stripes, the Strokes, the Killers, Interpol, and Death Cab for Cutie.

There was also enormous growth of the genre in Britain during the 90s with indie bands like Oasis, Blue, Suede, and Pulp. Australia brought forward Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Vines, and the Go-Betweens. Canada had its bevy of Alternative bands with Barenaked Ladies and Crash Test Dummies, and Iceland had the Sugarcubes, ultimately giving birth to Bjork’s solo career. Japan, Mexico, Argentina, and other countries generated their own versions of indie artists, which continue to this day.

Alternative Music Online: The Phenomenon Now

In 2009, Radiohead won best Alternative Music Album of the Year at the Grammys for their tour de force, “In Rainbows.” Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Gnarls Barkley, and My Morning Jacket were other award contenders who have received enormous attention from listeners, radio stations, and CD stores. With alternative music artists online and on TV receiving constant visibility through MTV, Vh3 and other music television venues along with heavy radio airplay, we can be sure to see upcoming artists enjoying the same kind of successes with alternative music online as their forebears did on the radio.

Radio formatting is a way for traditional radio stations — and your favorite online radio portal — to program and broadcast material in order to reach a particular listening public. Formats have changed and mutated as music has evolved, reflecting new styles as well as the growth of listeners’ musical tastes and preferences.

Through time, radio formatting has become close to an art form, with stations learning more about how to direct their play lists to a specific demographic. Understanding the age, background, and ethnicity of a particular listenership has everything to do with capturing a targeted group in order to increase a station’s revenue. Good radio formatting is a marketing tool to get more listeners to tune in and stay tuned in.

Radio formats can be straightforward or complex. Some stations just play Country, which is simple to understand. Others combine a variety of play lists because they include cross over musicians or a combination of formats that are closely linked in other ways, such as Adult Alternative, Adult Album Alternative, and Adult Contemporary.

Format labels are there to help each radio portal or station define their target audiences. Sometimes these labels are a boon to listeners, making it easier for them to know what they are getting when they hit the dial. Sometimes, however, the labels can be confusing, especially when the lines of distinction start to blur.

By Michele Kadison

The music you head when you tune in to Smooth Jazz internet radio takes its roots from standard jazz music, with the addition of pop, funk, and R&B influences. One of the trademarks of this new jazz offshoot is down-tempo melodies that incorporate electric guitar and (mostly) soprano saxophone. Smooth Jazz artists are solid jazz musicians exploring an alternative sound that does not require ardent listening, like that of conventional jazz. Whether it remains in the background or is the focus of the listener, Smooth Jazz internet radio creates a calm, romantic atmosphere that appeals to many mature music lovers.

Smooth Jazz: The Early Days

Smooth Jazz was born in the late 1960s when Creed Taylor, a producer working with the famed guitarist Wes Montgomery, released three records containing instrumental versions of various well-known pop songs. As founder of CTI Records, he signed many great artists to his label, including Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, Stanley Turrentine, and George Benson. The music contained beautiful string arrangements and emphasized the importance of melody, which went down very easily with both pop and jazz audiences.

In the 1970s, Smooth Jazz took hold as a radio format, finding its way to what was then called the “Beautiful Music” stations. One could hear the music on radio programs that aired during the weekends or at nights in cities like Atlanta, Miami, and San Antonio. New York’s station, WRVR FM, soon began playing the format full time as demand for artists such as Pat Metheny and George Benson heightened. With Russ Davis in Atlanta, “Sunday Morning Jazz” in Miami, “Lights Out San Diego” with Art Good, Breezin’ 100.7 in Milwaukee, and Los Angeles’ “The Wave” with Frank Cody, the Smooth Jazz that’s now on internet radio began to reach a wider audience. Artists like Grover Washington Jr, Spryo Gyra, Larry Carlton, George Benson, Chuck Mangione, Sergio Mendes, David Sanborn, Bob James, Joe Sample, Tom Scott, and Dave and Don Grusin began getting tremendous airplay, and soprano saxophonist Kenny G became the veritable poster boy for the form.

In the In late 80s “Smooth Jazz” became an official household name after the research firm Cody/Leach confirmed its viability.

Smooth Jazz: The Evolution

As music evolved and radio stations began to play more cross-over artists, Smooth Jazz’s popularity waned a bit. This drove musicians to create more collaborative work, with Bob James, Nathan East, and Dave Koz finding creative liaisons with other established artists. Groups like Pieces of a Dream, Acoustic Alchemy, and Fourplay emerged and female singers like Joyce Cooling, Sade, Pamela Williams, Anita Baker, and Regina Belle began getting more play on Smooth Jazz stations.

Many of Smooth Jazz’s well known musicians became cross-over artists themselves, with Dave Koz, Boney James, Bobby Perry, the Urban Jazz Coalition, Wayman Tisdale, Michael Ligton, Boggy Ricketts, Ken Navarro, Peter White, Brian Bromberg, and David Lanz landing on Urban Contemporary playlists. Smooth Jazz began to find new alliances with electronic music, creating a “chill” sound and expanding the possibility of airplay for both genres.

“The Quiet Storm” became a term that implied a fusion of Smooth Jazz and soft R&B music. Launched in 1998 out of WGDR in Plainfield, Vermont, host Skeeter Sanders stretched the genre farther afield as audiences showed appreciation for the easy, romantic sounds that worked well especially for the over 30 crowd.

Smooth Jazz: Mainstream

Smooth Jazz proved itself to be a successful radio format, growing from a new age type genre to a substantial category of its own. Popular in the United States for its melodic revival of standards, as well as in Europe and Eastern Asia where it is often played in late night cafes and bars, the music has been embraced for its relaxing and romantic effect.

In addition to being played on on-air radio stations throughout the country, this smooth and sassy music found its way into satellite radio when Broadcast Architecture launched its Smooth Jazz Network after the demise of its precursor, Jones Radio Networks. With famous musicians doubling as on-air hosts, artists such as Kenny G, Norman Brown, Dave Koz, Paul Hardcastle, Ramsey Lewis, and Brian Culbertson, more and more listeners began to tune in. Saxophone player Dave Koz is currently one of the most listened to Smooth Jazz hosts in the United States, as well as Ramsey Lewis who has an over 1.5 million listenership weekly. Other popular weekly shows are Art Good’s “Jazztrax” and the Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown with Allen Kepler.

Smooth Jazz Internet Radio: The Current Phenomenon

Challenges face the Smooth Jazz format as listeners become restless with instrumental covers. Due to so many cross-over stations, it is incumbent upon artists interested in maintaining the Smooth Jazz style to come up with new musical ideas. Many Smooth Jazz stations are moving farther away from the jazz roots that were the basis of the form, adding vocalists like Beyonce and Aretha Franklin to their play lists. As a result, many classic Smooth Jazz radio stations are now calling themselves Smooth Adult Contemporary. That being said, there are many new artists on the scene who are bringing a new vitality to Smooth Jazz and reigniting the interest of the listening public. Patrick Yandall, Freddie Fox, Jackiem Joyner, Ty Causey, Peter Belasco, Will Downing, Anton Fig, Nick Colionne, and Joyce Cooling are some of the names that are keeping Smooth Jazz internet radio fans coming back for more.

By Michele Kadison

Radio has come a long way since the days when formats included one genre, limiting the listening public to fans of that particular musical style. As on-air stations began to see artists crossing over from one type of material to another, formatting began to change, expanding listenership and creating more opportunities for what we now call “oldies music” radio to expand. Additionally, as artists began to explore fusions in musical styles while taking greater risks, radio stations began to create alternative formats that allowed new music to flourish and be heard.

Not to be overlooked is how some of the important early live concerts in oldies music have affected this important evolution. These concerts were actually the forerunners of inclusively, bringing a wide variety of artists together onstage and introducing new genres to primed and waiting audiences.

Three Days of Peace and Music

The most seminal concert of this kind was Woodstock. Born from a concept created by four enterprising men (the oldest of whom was 26), the concert was initially formulated to raise money for a recording studio in Woodstock, New York where artists such as Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix were looking to hang their hats now and then. The idea was to create a festival called the “Aquarian Exposition”, which took its name from “the age of Aquarius” out of the radical hit musical of the time, “Hair”.

The concert took place on August 15, 1969, officially beginning at 5:07 PM and heralding in what was called “three days of peace and music”. The idea was new and the set-up for artists was unprecedented as well, as the entrepreneurs had to guarantee paychecks to the bands in order to persuade them to play. Woodstock Ventures was thus able to engage some of the biggest acts of the time, including today’s oldies music hits such as the Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Who, Cream, Grateful Dead, and Ravi Shankar. Some of these bands were paid more than they’d ever received for a concert, which ended up costing the entrepreneurs a sum that was considered enormous for the time, a whopping $118,000 for talent alone. Once these big name artists were committed, the festival gained credibility luring more artists to sign up. After all was said and done, Woodstock eventually cost more than 2.4 million dollars.

What’s Going On

The 60′s was a decade that was chock full of political events. Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were assassinated, the war in Vietnam was taking a huge toll on the country and its youth, and racial issues created a mounting pressure cooker. The generation gap that formed due to the draft, political divisions, and new affirmations on questioning authority in every way became a force of nature.

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll also defined the generation, separating those “on the bus” from those off the bus. Woodstock and that era of oldies music became the emblem of what was seeded in the 60s and an eventual part of our cultural lexicon as it defined what it was to be a part of the growing protest, which included draft dodgers, black militants, gays and lesbians, and everyone in between.

Hear Me, Film Me

Roughly 500,000 people attended the Woodstock festival. A sound system large enough to accommodate this enormous oldies music audience spread out over a large outdoor space had to be created. This proved to be a challenge that eventually was solved and led the way to big business opportunities in the rock concert scene: the formulation of speaker systems that could handle overwhelming decibels while delivering clear sound to the people.

The festival promoters were smart enough to realize that they needed to chronicle the event, so they hired a cameraman/director of independent films to do so. Michael Wadleigh had never had an assignment quite like this. He got some New York filmmakers to help, including heavyweight director Martin Scorsese, but was still unable to get funding as film executives were gun-shy after the low box office profits from the filming of the Monterey Pop Festival. The deal they finally struck was to pay the filmmakers double or nothing once the film came out. The film, “Woodstock,” directed by Wadleigh and edited by Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature and a nomination for Best Sound. Rock concert documentation suddenly became big business.

Crossing Genres

How the Woodstock festival played out is the stuff of legend and has been documented by many. That it brought together not only so many people, but also so many diverse oldies music sounds – from folk to ballad, Indian to hard driving rock n roll, and more, helped pave the way for crossing genres over the air ways as radio stations saw the huge appeal as well as the revenues to be made from the combination.

The second time around – not necessarily a charm

In the 1990s, impresarios tried to exploit the Woodstock phenomenon again. But the festival lacked the authenticity and soul of the original, proving that if people do not share common beliefs and values, cohesiveness is difficult to achieve. It is rare that a true original can successfully be replicated.

Alternative Sounds Open the Market

Years later another type of revolutionary concert was envisioned and accomplished. The Lollapalooza festival, created in 1991 by Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band Jane’s Addition, managed to formulate a workable festival that unlike Woodstock, would bring itself to the people through touring.

Lollapalooza featured artists outside the mainstream such as alternative rock bands, hip hop and punk musicians, new generation artists, as well as dance and comedy performers. The festival exposed bands like Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Souxie & the Banchees, and Hole as well as new and as yet unsigned groups. Grunge was featured as a viable genre, and mosh pits and crowd surfing reached their heights as interactive elements that defined the concert experience beyond its oldies music beginnings.

More people saw and participated in Lollapalooza than any other musical festival to date. Farrell coined the term “Alternative Nation” to describe the musicians and their fans who were the emblem of new music forms bursting the conventional stereotypes. All went well until 1997 when the festival stopped touring. It was revived in 2003, but as with the Woodstock festival of the 1994, it too lacked soul and drove people away due to high ticket prices, a reflection of the big business roots it had grown. In 2005 Farrell partnered with the William Morris Agency to make it a fixed destination in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois where it has taken on a new success.

From the Concert Stage, to the Radio Play

Where we are today musically is due to the contributions of unique and ground-breaking festivals like the original Woodstock and Lollapalooza concerts. They set the stage for opening up the minds not only of people coming to hear the music, but also of studio executives, stadium impresarios, and most importantly, radio station programmers who recognize the importance of delivering the goods that stimulate listeners. As more bands and single artists appear on the stage, it is often through this type of concert exposure that they are able to make radio play; this approach has held true for artists from oldies music to the present. Opening up for a major act on a concert stage is a powerful way to get a record exec’s attention, especially if the fans are in full support. From there, if the radio stations are providing adequate venues to handle burgeoning sounds, everyone benefits.