Radio formats are living, breathing, animated entities. Your brand should be on a path of constant improvement and evolution. The Japanese call this practice – Kaizen. Literally “change for the better”. If you’re not in the practice of addressing your format, where your brand fits in the market and the moving ageism of your target audience, make 2026 your year to do so.
In gold-based formats, the prevailing thought among programmers remains that the format(s) are stuck in an “era ice age”. There’s little they can do to chase demos below 50ish.
Adult Contemporary has the luxury of wrapping themselves in a moniker that prevents the format from being “caged” or locked into ears. However, there’s also evolution in AC. We’ll look inside Classic Formats in Adult Contemporary in this week’s column.
Classic Rock and Classic Hits were all the darling of Nielsen Ratings two decades back. Both formats were flourishing. The vast majority of Oldies brands have somewhat evolved to Classic Hits, incorporating later 1980’s and even early 1990’s product.
Here’s a bit of perspective. In the mid-1980’s, when the Oldies format was birthed “Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones was only 20 years old. It was a staple of the Oldies format.
Flash forward 40 years and it remains a song that reaches the air in gold-based formats sometimes once a day. The flip side? How does the 20 year old song fit up against the bulk of the Classic Rock or Classic Hits playlist?
The formats are not seeing the explosive growth witnessed in the earl to mid-2000’s. It’s also not despair as thoughtfully outlined in Barrett Media Colleague Mike Stern’s piece.
With a deep dive into Mediabase, you’ll find what the brightest are doing to remain relevant to those solidly in the heart of the money demo while not alienating their core. Stations are actively evolving their formats as the core listener demographic ages and as younger listeners enter the 35-54 target.
Here are trends in adaptation in the larger markets. Also included is the “newer” music that is being incorporated in an attempt to stay contemporary.
Expand “Classic” Through Imaging
- Forward thinking programmers are moving the playlist era forward and away from the ‘60s and ‘70s to incorporate ‘90s and in some cases early 2000s. In select cases like Cumulus Media’s KQRS 92.5 FM in Minneapolis, they rebranded earlier this year promising “newer songs and a promised emphasis on Minnesota artists” and dropping a typical positioning statement altogether.
1990s -2000s Rock and Alternative Product
- Programmers are testing songs in their Music Matrix from Alternative Rock, Post-Grunge and Modern Rock. In 2024 Mediabase reflects atypical Classic Rock product appearing on major market Classic Rock stations from atypical artists:
- 311
- Modest Mouse
- The Killers
- Eminem
- Goo Goo Dolls
Partial Rebrands
- Other stations are pivoting aggressively. For example, suburban Chicago’s 95.9 The River moved from “Classic Hits” to a “Classic Alternative” format. They describe it as a “natural extension of Classic Rock… for the alternative hits of the 90s.” Others keep the “classic rock” feel but lean more contemporary while keeping the heritage base. The KQRS/Minneapolis example above is executing this.
There are also cases where older material (early 60s/70s) is being deemphasized because its audience is aging out of the desirable demo. On The Classic Hits side, surprising titles are slowly appearing on heritage playlists. Examples you’ll find include:
- Bush
- Smashing Pumpkins
- Offspring
- Evanescence
- Nelly
Five thought-leading Classic Rock/Classic Hits brands you should follow and monitor who are on top of this evolution trend include:
- KLOS/Los Angeles
- KZOK/Seattle
- WDRV/Chicago
- KQMT/Denver
- WMGK/Philadelphia
These brands provide solid insight into how the format is evolving. Also note that not all Classic Hits and Classic Rock brands are on-board – yet. While the core of format demos remain 45+, songs that are now 25 or so years old seem to fit as the “classic” horizon is fluid.
Adult Contemporary stations are a different cake of fish. Barrett Media covered thoughts of the greatest Adult Contemporary minds this spring. Twice. See the June piece on the State of Adult Contemporary and our column featuring legends of the format.
Historically, AC brands have sat in the shadows of jumping on newer tunes. In the past, AC allowed CHR and Hot AC break in the newer tunes for the market. Now, AC is often on a time-line playlist par with artists like Benson Boone, Teddy Swims and Ed Sheeran.
When it comes to gold, it would have been unthinkable twenty years ago for Adult Contemporary stations to add sonically harder titles from Bon Jovi and Def Leppard to their gold mix. We asked if AC could go further during the summer.
How are gold-based AC’s adapting to their aging core? What are the best doing to serve the contemporary listener while not divorcing themselves from the older core?
Increase Current Exposure
- There’s a clear trend toward giving more audio real estate to current product that bridges the gap to invite in younger listeners. Some have called AC today as a two formats within one – current product with an anchor of Gold titles as their base. Along with the newer artists mentioned above, AC is early on Taylor Swift, Lady GaGa, Miley Cyrus and like artists.
Tweaking Format/Imaging Rather Than Full Flip
- AC stations are slowly evolving their playlist, creating contemporary atmospherics in branding and slowly shifting the balance of songs, rather than nuking the format entirely. The vast majority of Adult Contemporary brands have deep market heritage and AC overall has remained one of the healthier radio formats across the country.
The Not So Secret Weapon
- The strategic use of holiday programming has increased in early coverage every year. Several articles on differing Christmas Music Programming are sitting on the Barrett Media Platform. AC stations leverage Christmas Music to expose the multigenerational and huge cume to their playlist evolution during the holidays.
A list of thought-leading Adult Contemporary brands you should follow and monitor who are on top of their game include:
- WLIT/Chicago
- WBEB/Philadelphia
- WJXA/Nashville
- WRAL/Raleigh
- WASH/Washington D.C.
Successful Classic Rock and Classic Hits stations are attempting evolution as a lead to stay relevant to younger demos. If a format is a living, breathing and animated entity, revisiting playlists often throughout the seasons for opportunities for contemporary updates is key to sounding alive and not archival.
Adult Contemporary stations are also facing a crossroads. How do you balance deep market heritage while staying musically relevant?
Leading AC brands are accelerating the shift toward a fresh current playlist while others stay anchored in the familiar – gold libraries and conservative strategic philosophies. Branding evolution is taking place with playlist modernization, fresh atmospherics and kinetic imaging.
Fill your format with life by revisiting the entire depth several times throughout the year.
Hard to believe the following titles are now 20 years old. That’s the same age “Satisfaction” from the Rolling Stones was when the Oldies format was launched:
- Green Day – “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
- Kelly Clarkson – “Since U Been Gone”
- Foo Fighters – “Best of You”
It sneaks up on you.
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Kevin Robinson is a passionate award-winning programmer, consultant and coach – with multi-formats success all over the country. He has advised numerous companies including Audacy (formerly Entercom Communications), Beasley Broadcast Group, Westwood One, Midwest Communications, Townsquare Media, Midwest Family Broadcasting Group, EG Media Group, Federated Media, Kensington Media, mediaBrew Communications, Starved Rock Media, and more. He specializes in strategic radio cluster alignment, building lean-forward tactics and talent coaching – legacy and entry-level – personalities.
Known largely as a trusted talent coach, Kevin is the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different brands in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, and he has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi Award-winning talent. He is also in The Zionsville High School Hall of Fame as part of the 2008 inaugural class. Kevin is an Indiana native – living near Zionsville with his wife of 39 years, Monica and can be reached at kevin@robinsonmedia.fm.
