List of Formats
Formats constantly evolve and each format can often be sub-divided into many specialty formats. Some of the following formats are available only regionally or through specialized venues such as satellite radio or Internet radio.
- Active rock
- Adult album alternative (or just adult alternative) (AAA or Triple-A)
- Adult contemporary music (AC)
- Adult standards / nostalgia (pre-rock)
- Adult hits / variety hits
- Album rock / album-oriented rock (AOR)
- Alternative rock
- Americana
- Beautiful music
- Big band
- Bluegrass
- Blues
- Caribbean (reggae, soca, merengue, cumbia, salsa, etc.)
- Children's
- Christmas music (usually seasonal, mainly December)
- Classic hits
- Classic rock
- Classical
- College radio
- Comedy
- Contemporary Christian (which is also known as CCM)
- Contemporary hit radio (CHR), occasionally still informally known as top-40 / hot hits)
- Contemporary classical music
- Country music:
- New country/Young country
- Classic country
- Dance (dance top-40)
- Eclectic
- Ethnic/International
- Educational
- Experimental
- Folk music
- Full-service (talk and variety music)
- Freeform radio (DJ-selected)
- Hot adult contemporary (Hot AC)
- Hispanic rhythmic
- Indian music
- Jazz
- Lite adult contemporary (Lite AC)
- Mainstream rock
- Middle of the road (MOR)
- Modern adult contemporary (Modern AC)
- Modern rock
- All-news radio
- Oldies - Primarily 1955-early '80s pop music
- Polka
- Progressive rock
- Psychedelic rock
- Quiet Storm (most often a "day-part" format at Urban Stations, i.e. 7p-12 midnight,)
- Radio documentary
- Radio drama
- Ranchera
- Regional Mexican (Banda, corridos, ranchera, conjunto, mariachi, norteño, etc.)
- Rhythmic adult contemporary
- Rhythmic contemporary (Rhythmic Top 40)
- Rhythmic oldies
- Rock
- Rock en español
- Romántica (Spanish AC)
- Smooth jazz
- Soft adult contemporary (soft AC)
- Soft rock
- Soul music
- Space music
- Sports
- Spanish sub-formats:
- Tejano music (Texas/Mexican music)
- Also see: Ranchera, Regional Mexican, Romántica, and Tropical
- Talk radio
- Conservative talk radio
- Progressive talk radio
- Public talk radio
- Hot talk/shock jocks
- Traditional pop music
- Tropical (salsa, merengue, cumbia, etc.)
- Urban:
- Urban contemporary (mostly rap, hip hop, soul, and R&B artists)
- Urban adult contemporary (Urban AC) - R&B, soul and sometimes gospel music, without rap
- Variety
- World music
Read more about this topic: Radio Format
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