Urban oldies refers to R&B music dating back to the 1960s through the early 1970s. Although African-Americans are the primary audience, radio stations playing this type of music often attract White listeners because R&B is the root of rock and roll. A more mass-appeal version of the format is rhythmic oldies, which attracts both white and black listeners. One of the first stations to play this type of music was WRKS-FM (98.7 Kiss FM). In December 1994 Emmis Broadcasting transformed Kiss FM as the first station to play classic soul music on a regular basis. The format was an instant hit with black and white listeners around the Greater New York area, reaching to number two on the Arbitron ratings.
Before WRKS, many of the stations playing this music were on AM radio. Primary artists included The Isley Brothers, McFadden & Whitehead, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations. One of the first stations to try the format was WSID in Baltimore in the late 1970s. WJMO in Cleveland was another of the early converts. KHYS in Houston switched to the format in 1999. KCJZ in San Antonio, Texas followed suit 7 months later.
Early in 1994, M Street Journal reported 33 radio stations in the format, compared to 14 a year earlier. Many of these were affiliates of the Satellite Music Network format Urban Gold, which had 27 stations six months after starting October 1, 1993. Steve Harris, the SMN manager for urban radio, said no black radio stations had targeted adults over 35. Consultant Tony Gray said older adults did not like contemporary music, which had few tunes that had proved they could stand the test of time. And rap was becoming a bigger part of contemporary radio. Another factor was the availability of older records in remastered form. Hurricane Dave Smith of WYJZ in Pittsburgh, which had switched from jazz, doubted the format would succeed on FM radio, but he believed listeners who enjoyed older songs were used to AM. Sean Ross of WGCI-AM in Chicago believed the format could work either place, but stations that selected it would be those desiring something different. The satellite format focused on the years 1967 to 1978 but also played songs from as far back as 1963 and as recent as the early 1980s. Included were both ballads and uptempo songs. WGCI even played songs from the 1950s, including "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole, though Ross said even teenagers liked the station because they had learned about older songs from their parents, and because newer versions of old songs were being recorded. Other stations included WRBO "Soul Classics 103.5" in Memphis, WNPL in Nashville, KMEZ in New Orleans and WPLZ in Richmond.
In addition to WRBO, urban oldies stations today include WATV (AM) in Birmingham, Alabama, KAJM in Phoenix, WALR-FM in Atlanta, KOCN in Salinas.
Read more about this topic: Urban Adult Contemporary
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