Definition
The term "classic hits" is believed to have its birth at WZLX Boston when the station converted from "adult contemporary" to a format composed of the hipper tracks from the oldies format and album tracks from popular classic rock albums. The goal was to attract and magnetize two groups of baby boomers: those who didn't want the doo-wop and pop they found on the oldies stations, and those who didn't like the more heavy metal side of AOR stations.
Over time, the "classic hits" format has evolved into more of a station's slug line than of a tightly focused music library shared by the stations who use the term. The first branching-off in the late '80s led to stations becoming more "classic rock"-based, and the second reincarnation manifested itself in the premises of the "Jack FM" and the "Arrow" formats. Some of the 21st-century versions are based on a music library mostly consisting of classic rock-style hits from the 1970s, along with R&B and pop hits from the late 1960s through the mid 1980s. In many of the cases, the stations are merely oldies stations that evolved into a more up-tempo sound with more newer songs, and the term is now considered a more appealing name than "oldies" to listeners and advertisers alike.
Variations of the core playlist vary greatly and include playlists composed of only pop-leaning classic rock. Others, while indeed leaning rock, also feature some soul, and Motown music as well. Most "classic hits" stations are heavy on music from the 1970s, with a moderate amount of music from the 1960s, and a decent amount of hits from the 1980s.
Until the past few years, most classic hits stations have either leaned towards pop hits of the 60s through the 80s or were actually classic rock stations without a lot of hard rock. Classic hits stations typically do not play pre-1964 music, except for a few especially popular or enduring songs such as early Beach Boys hits. In most cases, more pop-leaning classic hits stations evolved quietly and gradually from being traditional oldies outlets.
Notable classic hits stations include WCBS-FM in New York City; WOGL in Philadelphia; KLUV in Dallas, Texas; WKLH in Milwaukee; WODS in Boston, Massachusetts (until it flipped formats to Top 40 on June 28, 2012); WOCL (105.9 Sunny FM) in Orlando, Florida, KOMA-FM in Oklahoma City and WMJI (Majic 105.7) in Cleveland, Ohio.
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