Music radio
Music radio is radio programming devoted primarily to broadcasting recorded or live music, often organized by genre, audience, or format.
Radio format: A station’s recurring programming identity, defined by its music, presentation, and intended audience. Formats give music radio a recognizable sound, from classic hits to contemporary pop.
Radio broadcasting history: The development of radio transmission, programming, and institutions from the late nineteenth century onward. Music radio emerged as broadcasting shifted from experimental transmissions to regular public programming.
Adult contemporary music: A mainstream radio-oriented music format featuring accessible pop and soft rock, often aimed at adult listeners. Adult contemporary stations use familiar, broadly appealing songs to define a major music-radio format.
Talk radio: Radio programming centered on spoken discussion, commentary, interviews, or call-in conversations. Talk radio contrasts with music radio’s emphasis on musical performances and recordings.
Radio playlist: A selected sequence of recordings scheduled for broadcast by a radio station or program. Playlist choices shape the songs listeners hear and how often they recur.
Commercial radio: Radio broadcasting financed primarily through advertising and other commercial revenue. Advertising helped make music programming a sustainable mass-market business.
Classic rock: A radio format built around established rock songs, commonly drawn from the 1960s through the 1990s. Classic rock demonstrates how music radio packages a musical era as a continuing identity.
Music streaming service: An online service that delivers on-demand or curated music through internet-connected devices. Streaming services offer more listener control than a scheduled radio broadcast.
Radio programming: The planning and scheduling of content broadcast by a radio station. Music radio is one kind of programming, built around music rather than speech.
Radio disc jockey: A radio personality who selects, introduces, and presents recorded music. Disc jockeys turned records into continuous, hosted radio entertainment.