History
The format resulted largely from changes in the sound of country music in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as it began moving to FM radio stations in and around major cities and absorbing some of the electric sound of rock music. These new FM country stations excluded older "classic" country artists from their playlists, despite the fact that artists such as Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Emmylou Harris were still actively performing and releasing new recordings, some of which were significant hits. When mainstream country radio began this practice in the mid-1990s, a large segment of older country fans felt alienated and turned away from mainstream country. Whereas modern country began moving to FM around this time, classic country remained (and still remains) one of the few formats that has proven ideal for AM radio, particularly in rural areas; prior to this transition, country was primarily an AM radio phenomenon and was most widely popular in rural areas.
In 1998, Robert Unmacht, editor of the M Street Journal, said that thirty stations around the United States had switched to the format because many longtime country fans did not like what country radio was doing.
The same practice has seemed to follow to television, where Country Music Television and Great American Country rarely play any music videos produced before 1996, leaving heritage and "classic" artists to networks such as RFD-TV, which features a heavy complement of older programming such as Pop! Goes the Country, Porter Wagoner's programs and Hee Haw, along with newer performances from heritage acts. CMT Pure Country, the all-music counterpart to CMT, relegates its classic country programming to a daily half-hour block known as "Pure Vintage." (Complicating matters somewhat is a relative lack of music videos for country music songs prior to the 1980s.)
Classic country remains a popular block format on mainstream country stations, usually on weekends.
Read more about this topic: Classic Country
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