Active Rock - Format Background

Format Background

Sean Ross, editor of Billboard Airplay Monitor, described active rock in the late 1990s as album-oriented rock (AOR) "with a greater emphasis on the harder end of the spectrum".

An active rock station may include songs by "Mainstream" artists in its playlist such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, whereas a modern rock station would not. Conversely, unlike classic rock stations, an active rock station also plays music by popular current and new rock artists such as Three Days Grace, Staind, Trapt, Puddle of Mudd, Stone Sour, Seether, Chevelle, Godsmack, Hinder, Crossfade, Saving Abel, System of a Down, 10 Years, Submersed, Hed PE, Mudvayne, Korn, Bullet for My Valentine, Slipknot, Tool, Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, Deftones, and Sevendust. They are also known for playing New Hard Rock such as Cavo, Adelitas Way, The Veer Union, Art of Dying, Pop Evil, Rev Theory, Egypt Central, Evans Blue, Volbeat, Hurt and Young Guns.

Similar to active rock stations, mainstream rock stations play current rock music, but concentrate more on Classic Hard Rock more than what active rock stations play.

A pioneering station of this format in the late 1980s was WIYY "98Rock" in Baltimore, Maryland. Other early adopters of this format by the beginning of the 1990s include stations KISS "99.5 KISS Rocks" in San Antonio, TX, WAAF in Boston, Massachusetts, WXTB "98Rock" in Tampa, Florida, WGIR (FM) "Rock 101" in Manchester, New Hampshire, KEGL "97.1 The Eagle", in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, and WJJO "Solid Rock 94.1 JJO" Madison Wisconsin. Satellite radio channels include Sirius XM Radio's Octane, and the gold-based Ozzy's Boneyard channel, also on Sirius XM Radio. Former counterparts prior to the November 12, 2008 Sirius/XM channel merger were XM's Squizz and Sirius's BuzzSaw. Australian radio network Triple M Network also uses this format. A later Internet radio station, Frogbox Radio, also began playing an Active rock format.

Active rock stations in Canada also include CFPL-FM in London, Ontario, CKQB-FM in Ottawa, Ontario, CJAY 92 in Calgary, Alberta, CFBR-FM in Edmonton, Alberta, CHTZ-FM in St. Catharines, Ontario and CJKR-FM in Winnipeg.