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Adult contemporary music (AC) is a broad style of popular music, ranging from 1950s and 1960s vocal music^[1] to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence.^[2] The term is also used to describe or categorize radio formats that play such music.

AC radio plays mainstream music, excluding "hip hop", "heavy metal", youth-oriented "hard rock", some "teen pop" music and rhythmic "dance tracks" as they are less popular amongst the target demographic of these radio stations, which is intended for an adult audience. Radio stations playing this format will often target the 18–54 age group, also the demographic that has received the most attention from advertisers since the 1960s^[3].

Over the years, AC has spawned numerous sub-genres: "hot AC", "soft AC" (also known as "lite AC"), "modern AC", "urban AC", "rhythmic AC", "smooth AC" (i.e., smooth jazz), and "Christian AC" (i.e., a softer type of Contemporary Christian music). Some radio stations play only "hot AC", whilst some play only "soft AC"; and then there are others that explicitly play a variety of sub-genres. Therefore, it is not usually considered a specific genre of music; it is merely an assemblage of selected tracks from musicians of many different genres.

Hot adult contemporary[link]

Hot adult contemporary, or hot AC, is a format designation given to various radio stations which play a variety of music from the previous thirty years or so, although classic hits predominate, compared to newer songs. In the Philippines, it is a very popular format. The exact playlist composition will vary from station to station.

Today, hot AC radio stations tend towards some soft rock, such as ballads from Goo Goo Dolls, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Aerosmith. They may play dance hits, such as those by Kylie Minogue and some of Madonna's more upbeat, dance-oriented songs, such as "Music" and "Ray of Light". Some Hot AC stations concentrate slightly more on alternative than soft AC, to target the Generation Y audience; examples of alternative or harder-edged artists played on hot AC but unlikely to be heard on soft AC stations include Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 30 Seconds to Mars, All-American Rejects, Linkin Park, Third Eye Blind and Fall Out Boy. However, the line between hot and soft AC continues to blur, as alternative and rock artists such as Kelly Clarkson ("Because of You"), Lifehouse ("You and Me"), Nickelback ("Far Away"), Avril Lavigne ("Complicated"), 3 Doors Down ("Here Without You"), and The Fray ("How to Save a Life") have all released singles which received substantial soft AC airplay, and somewhat blurred the line between the formats.

Since the 2000s, some hot AC stations have begun phasing out 80s music, for a more Generation Y centric audience than a Baby Boomer and Generation X centric audience; with some adding R&B and hip hop music to their playlists, to Universal Music's benefit also.

Hot AC is reasonably successful in the United States and Canada. WPLJ in New York City, KBIG in Los Angeles, KHMX in Houston, and WTMX in Chicago are four of the best-known hot AC stations in the US. The Sirius XM Satellite Radio channel The Pulse also offers the format.

Modern adult contemporary can be a variation of hot AC, and includes modern rock titles in its presentation. In 1997, Mike Marino of KMXB in Las Vegas described the format as reaching "an audience that has outgrown the edgier hip-hop or alternative music but hasn't gotten old and sappy enough for the soft ACs."^[4] The target audience was 25 to 39, and the format's artists included The Cranberries, Better Than Ezra, Alanis Morissette, Seal, The Wallflowers, Hootie & the Blowfish, Modern English, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Gin Blossoms, Blues Traveler, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel and Sheryl Crow.^[4] Unlike modern rock, which went after 18-34 men, modern adult contemporary appealed to women. Many of the stations played 80s music at first just to make people notice, but dropped the music later. Among the early modern AC stations were KTNP in Omaha, Nebraska, KBBT Portland, Oregon, and KPEK Albuquerque.^[5]

Another variation of hot adult contemporary is adult hits, also called variety hits.

Soft adult contemporary[link]

Termed "the acoustic equivalent to Prozac",^[6] soft AC, a more adult-oriented version of AC, was born in the late 70s and grew in the early 80s. Greater Media introduced "Magic" as an AC format name at WMGK in Philadelphia in 1975. WEEI-FM in Boston was the first station to use the term "soft rock", with ad slogans such as, "Fleetwood Mac...without the yack" and "Joni...without the baloney". The longest-running AC format in the top ten markets in America is "103.7 Lite FM" KVIL in Dallas-Fort Worth. "KVIL" in DFW first went on the air in 1962, and adopted its current format in 1969. In 1982, WMJX "Magic 106.7" in Boston made its debut with a soft adult contemporary format and within a few years became the most popular music-formatted station in the market. The following year, the "Lite" format made its debut in New York WLTW, Chicago WLIT, and many other major markets. KOST in Los Angeles, a onetime "Beautiful Music" station, also switched to soft AC that year. Other popular names for the format include "Warm", "Sunny", "Bee" (or "B") and (particularly in Canada) "EZ Rock". The format can be seen as a more contemporary successor to and combination of the middle of the road (MOR), beautiful music, easy listening and soft rock formats. Many stations in the soft AC format capitalize on its appeal to office workers (many of them females aged 25–54, a key advertiser demographic), and brand themselves as stations "everyone at work can agree on" (KOST originated that phrase as a primary tagline, and other soft AC stations have followed suit).

In 1995, Broadcast Programming introduced a syndicated format called AC45+. BP programmer and consultant Mike Bettelli said adult contemporary stations in recent years had dropped Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Anne Murray and Barry Manilow while adding Take That and Bon Jovi. Adult standards and easy listening were for older listeners, and women 45-54 were being left out. A sample hour of the format included Chicago, Olivia Newton-John, Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Bobby Darin, Christopher Cross, Vanessa L. Williams, Simon & Garfunkel, Manilow, Whitney Houston, Charlie Rich, Billy Joel, Maureen McGovern, and Lionel Richie. Some songs by Frank Sinatra, Mariah Carey and Michael Bolton were also played.^[7]

One example of soft AC is Sirius XM Satellite Radio channel called Sirius XM Love (formerly Sirius Love) . Prior to the Sirius/XM channel merger on November 12, 2008, XM had its own soft AC channel called The Heart.

Some easy listening stations such as WDUV in the Tampa, Florida market are categorized as soft AC, though WDUV's playlist has evolved into a very soft version of AC which leans heavily toward older songs.

Mainstream adult contemporary[link]

In recent years, most "Soft Rock" or "Lite" stations, such as WMJX in Boston, KOSI in Denver, WLTW in New York City, WLIT in Chicago, WSB-FM in Atlanta, and KOST in Los Angeles have started to mix in more hot AC songs into their playlists and dropped the older, softer AC artists, such as Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow, who may be perceived as campy. The majority of these stations no longer play large amounts of 1960s music, and select stations play little or no 1970s music. This is somewhat common in markets with strong Classic Hits stations, which often focus on playing 1970s, taking away the audience for traditional AC formats, especially when both are owned by the same company. One such market is Dallas, where AC KVIL shares much of the same audience as Classic Hits KLUV, which is also owned by CBS Radio. Artists such as Daughtry, Nickelback, and Kelly Clarkson, who were played exclusively on hot AC as recently as 2006, are staples on what is now known as mainstream AC. These stations often have the highest ratings among adults 25-54. Some AC stations in Canada, such as CHQM-FM Vancouver, CFQR-FM Montreal, CHFM-FM Calgary and CJMJ-FM Ottawa have mixed in hot AC material to the playlist. In addition, the Sirius XM Satellite Radio channel The Blend is one of the examples of a mainstream AC format. Prior to the Sirius/XM channel merger on November 12, 2008, Sirius had a separate AC channel called StarLite.

During most of the 2000s, Canadian adult contemporary radio stations have been dropping in the ratings due to the recent addition of top 40 and hot AC content on the playlist. Stations such as CJEZ-FM Toronto and CFQR-FM Montreal dropped from the top spot and lost several listeners. Most recent adult contemporary stations in Canada have dropped the format entirely, including CJUK-FM in Thunder Bay (which moved to hot AC) back in 2006, and for 2007, CFLY-FM in Kingston (which also moved to hot AC, causing Corus to launch a new AC station for that market) and CJTN-FM in Trenton (which became classic rock, also causing My Broadcasting Corporation to launch another new AC station for that market). In addition, 2008 marked the flip of CKCL-FM Vancouver from adult contemporary to classic hits, leaving Vancouver as the largest Canadian market with only one adult contemporary station (which is CHQM-FM), as well as for CFQM-FM in Moncton (the market's only AC station) changing formats to classic hits for 2009. The final adult contemporary station in Canada of the 2000s to flip formats was CJEZ-FM in Toronto, which became adult hits CHBM-FM on Boxing Day 2009. CHFI-FM in Toronto remains the most-listened-to radio station in Canada, most likely because of its heritage adult contemporary format.

AC stations in the Canadian province of Quebec include the Rythme FM and RockDétente networks. The jocks are French-speaking, though English music may also be played, as on all music-based FM radio stations in Quebec, except Sur La Route, which excludes English music from their playlist. Satellite radio French AC equivalents are XM's Sur La Route and RockDétente's satellite radio counterpart on Sirius Canada called RockVelours. CFGL-FM, a Rythme FM station in Montreal is the most-listened to French-language station in North America.

Urban and rhythmic adult contemporary and related formats[link]

Urban AC is a form of AC music geared towards adult African-American audiences, and therefore, the artists that are played on these stations are most often African-American, such as Des'ree, whose album I Ain't Movin' was massively popular amongst both African American audience as well as the wider national audience. The urban AC stations resemble soft AC rather than hot AC; they play predominantly R&B and soul music with little hip-hop. This is reflected in many of the urban AC radio stations' taglines, such as "Today's R&B and classic soul", "The best variety of R&B hits and oldies" and "(City/Region)'s R&B leader". Some popular nicknames for urban AC stations include "Magic" (borrowed from Soft AC), "Mix" (borrowed from hot AC), and "Kiss" (borrowed from Top-40). Urban AC's core artists include Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton, Kem, Whitney Houston, Regina Belle, Robin Thicke, Sade, Aretha Franklin, Janet Jackson, Brian McKnight, Teena Marie, Mary J. Blige, Gerald Levert and Mariah Carey. Examples of urban AC stations include WBLS in New York, WHUR in Washington D.C., and KJLH in Los Angeles. Sirius XM Satellite Radio features the format on its Heart & Soul channel.

The rhythmic adult contemporary format, often branded as "MOViN", is closer to hot AC. This variant focuses on uptempo hits such as disco, early hip-hop and R&B, and dance music, and it caters to African-American, Hispanic and white audiences. Noteworthy examples of Rhythmic AC stations include WKTU in New York, WISX in Philadelphia, and KQMV in Seattle (which pioneered the MOViN format).

A more elaborate form of urban AC is the rhythmic oldies format, which focuses primarily on "old school" R&B and soul hits from the 1960s to the 1990s, including Motown and disco hits. At its peak of nationwide popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the format was often referred to as "jammin'" or "groovin'" oldies. The concept of jammin' oldies was pioneered in 1997 by KCMG-FM "Mega 100" in Los Angeles (1). The format, which included white soul or disco artists such as ABBA and the Bee Gees in addition to Black artists, spread to many major markets, but its popularity has since cooled; the decline of jammin' oldies popularity is often attributed to overly tight playlists which increased listener burnout. Rhythmic oldies stations still exist today, but target African-Americans as opposed to a mass audience; examples include WRBO-FM in Memphis, TN, and WWWS-AM in Buffalo, NY.

A format called quiet storm is often included in urban adult contemporary, and is often played during the evening, blending the urban AC and soft AC styles of music. The music that is played is strictly ballads and slow jams, mostly but not limited to Black and Latino artists. Popular artists in the quiet storm format are Teena Marie, Whitney Houston, Angela Bofill, Miki Howard, Regina Belle, Howard Hewett, Freddie Jackson, Johnny Gill, Anita Baker, Sade, Patti LaBelle, Tamia, Lalah Hathaway, Vanessa L. Williams, Dru Hill, Toni Braxton, and En Vogue among others. Another of the genre's core artists, Keith Sweat, hosts a nightly syndicated "quiet storm" program titled The Keith Sweat Hotel which is featured on many urban AC stations.

History[link]

Early radio stations played top-40 hits regardless of genre; although, most were in the same genre until the mid-1970s when different forms of popular music started to target different demographic groups, such as disco vs. hard rock. This evolved into specialized radio stations that played specific genres of music, and generally followed the evolution of artists in those genres.

One big impetus for the development of the AC radio format was the fact that when rock and roll music first became popular in the mid-1950s, many more conservative radio stations wanted to continue to play current hit songs while shying away from rock. These stations also frequently included older, pre-rock-era adult standards and big band titles to further appeal to adult listeners who had grown up with those songs. In those days, middle of the road or "MOR" was the formatic term used to describe such stations, which included powerhouse broadcasters like WJR in Detroit, WGN and WBBM in Chicago, KGO in San Francisco, WNEW in New York, and WCCO in Minneapolis. Billboard magazine first published an adult-contemporary music chart in 1961, although it was not until 1979 that the chart took on the name "Adult Contemporary".

While most popular MOR stations were, like Top 40 stations of the day, on the AM dial, another big impetus for the evolution of the AC radio format was the popularity of easy listening or "beautiful music" stations, stations with music specifically designed to be purely ambient, listened to while at work or otherwise in the background. These stations were largely found on the FM dial alongside classical music stations because the music they played sounded better on FM. Whereas most easy listening music was instrumental, created by relatively unknown artists (except for occasional MOR vocal hits), and rarely purchased, AC was an attempt to create a similar "lite" format by choosing certain tracks (both hit singles and album cuts) of popular artists.

The growth of AC was also a natural result of the generation that first listened to the more "specialized" music of the mid-late 70s growing older and not being interested in the heavy metal, rap and hip-hop music that a new generation helped to dominate the top-40 charts (this effect has also altered the oldies format; as there are now two kinds of oldies stations, those who will not play songs from after the early 1970s vs. those who will play songs up to the early 1980s while still having occasional pre-1964 songs in rotation). Fans of harder rock music often derogatorily referred to AC stations in the early days of the format as "chicken rock".

Among the earliest examples of the Adult Contemporary format as it is known today (as opposed to MOR) included such stations as WHAS in Louisville, KY, and KDKA in Pittsburgh, former MOR stations which in the late 1960s and early 1970s began to play fewer standards and more contemporary music without venturing all the way into hard rock. WHAS in the mid-1970s called its format "Good and Gold" and also included many rock and roll oldies in its mix; the station also eventually moved into playing some harder rock songs on weekends. The mid-1970s also saw the emergence of so-called "mellow rock" stations on the FM band, such as WMGK in Philadelphia, WBBM-FM in Chicago, KNX-FM in Los Angeles, and WCCO-FM in Minneapolis, which mixed current AC chart hits with album tracks by singer-songwriters such as James Taylor, Carly Simon, Carole King, Janis Ian, Paul Simon, and Elton John. These stations pioneered the concept of "soft rock" or "lite rock" that would become an AC hallmark.

The music video channel VH1 began as an AC version of MTV. Originally, it was strictly soft AC, as it strove to appeal to people who were in their 30s and 40s during its early years in the mid 1980s. For similar reasons as explained above with radio, in the mid 1990s, it reformed itself as something closer to hot AC, during which time it began to play videos by Hootie & The Blowfish, the Gin Blossoms, Alanis Morissette, Melissa Etheridge, the Spin Doctors, Amy Grant, Ace of Base, and some other artists that were slightly harder rock or more avant garde than they had previously played.

Mainstream AC itself has evolved in a similar fashion over the years; traditional AC artists like Barbra Streisand, the Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Captain & Tennille, and Olivia Newton-John found it harder to have hits (on AC as well as top 40) as the 1980s wore on, and due to the influence of MTV, artists who were staples of the contemporary hit radio format, such as Madonna, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Tears for Fears, and Whitney Houston, began crossing over to the AC charts with greater frequency.

However, with the combination of MTV and AC radio, adult contemporary appeared harder to define as either, established soft-rock artists of the past (who were still charting pop hits), or the mainstream radio fare from newer artist at the time, such as Madonna, Sheena Easton, Cyndi Lauper and Whitney Houston. In 1989, Linda Ronstadt recorded Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, described by critics as the first true adult contemporary album and featuring American soul singer Aaron Neville on four of the twelve tracks. It had duets including "Don't Know Much" (Billboard Hot 100 chart No. 2 hit) and "All My Life" (Billboard Hot 100 chart No. 11 hit), these singles were also equally long-running number 1 adult contemporary hits. With the mixture of radio friendly AC tunes with some rock and pop fare also landing on the pop charts, the album won over many critics in the need to define AC, and appeared to change the tolerance and acceptance of AC music into mainstream day to day radio play.

In recent years, VH1 has moved away from its AC format by playing artists such as Destiny's Child, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg. With this popular rap, and R&B, VH1 resembles top 40 Rap radio. Led by Toronto powerhouse CHUM-FM, Canadian Hot AC radio has also taken steps towards a similar diverse and top 40-inclusive position.

Part of the reason why more and more hot AC stations are forced to change is that less and less new music fits their bill. Most new rock is too alternative for mainstream radio, including hot AC, and only gets played on modern rock radio; and most new pop is now influenced heavily by hard rock, in an attempt to become upbeat and rhythmic crossover hits, if not featuring guest vocals from singers. One example is that "Look What You've Done" by Jet is played on Hot AC stations, but other tracks like "Cold Hard Bitch" are played on modern rock stations. However, soft AC, which has never minded keeping songs in high rotation literally for years in some cases, does not appear necessarily to be facing similar pressures to expand its format. Soft AC includes a larger amount of older music, especially classic R&B, soul, and 60s and 70s music, than hot AC.

However, several soft AC stations have begun to add more guitar-driven (but still relatively quiet) music into their playlists, such as "Broken" by Seether, "You and Me" by Lifehouse, "Here Without You" by 3 Doors Down, "Complicated" and "I'm with You" by Avril Lavigne, "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling, "My Immortal" by Evanescence, "Home" and "It's Not Over" by Daughtry and "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith, somewhat resembling the Hot AC stations of the 1990s. Stations like WSB-FM in Atlanta play songs such as "Hella Good" by No Doubt, "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba, and "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind.

In this sense, the soft AC format may soon be facing the demographic pressures that the jazz and big band formats faced in the 1960s and 1970s and that the oldies format is starting to face today, with the result that one may hear soft AC less on over-the-air radio and more on satellite radio systems in coming years. Much of the music and artists that were traditionally played on soft AC stations has been relegated to the adult standards format, which is itself disappearing because of aging demographics. Some soft AC stations have found a niche by incorporating more oldies into their playlists and are more open to playing softer songs that fit the "traditional" definition of AC. Examples include the former WLTM-FM in Atlanta (which added many oldies titles to its playlist after the death of oldies sister station WLCL) and the former WSNI in Philadelphia with soft rock station WBEB.

In the meantime, such artists as Nick Lachey and Josh Groban have become successful thanks to a ballad heavy sound. So, adult contemporary may likely not go anywhere since it is still prevalent on recording artists' albums in almost every music style including dance music. Another popular trend of remixing dance music hits into adult contemporary ballads—mostly piano ballads but sometimes keyboard ballads—is now popular, especially in the US (for example, the "Candlelight Mix" versions of "Heaven" by DJ Sammy, "Listen To Your Heart" by D.H.T., and "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada).

Much as some hot AC and modern rock artists have crossed over into each other, so too has soft AC crossed with country music, more commonly among the female artists. Musicians such as Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride, Jewel, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and Carrie Underwood have had success on both charts, as have male artists such as Rascal Flatts, Kid Rock (primarily a rock musician, though "All Summer Long" has been played on rock, AC, pop and country formats), co-ed trio Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, and Darius Rucker (who had pop and AC hits as lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish and is currently having a successful solo career as a country artist). This crossover has its roots in the countrypolitan/Nashville sound pop styles of years past.

Also in response to the pressure on Hot AC, a third kind of AC format has cropped up among American radio recently. The aforementioned urban adult contemporary format (a term coined by Barry Mayo) usually attracts a large number of African Americans and sometimes Caucasian listeners through playing a great deal of R&B (without any form of rapping), gospel music, classic soul and dance music (including disco).

A fourth AC format, "rhythmic AC", in addition to playing all the popular hot and soft AC music, past and present, places a heavy emphasis on disco as well as 1980s and 90s dance hits, such as those by Amber, C&C Music Factory and Black Box, and includes dance remixes of pop songs, such as the Soul Solution Mix of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart". The format also occasionally features popular 80s and early 90s rap songs that were popular mainstream, rhythmic, or club hits. New York City's WKTU and the now-defunct WNEW-FM are examples of this evolving format. The rapidly growing MOViN format, pioneered at Seattle's KQMV and now in use at stations such as WMVN St. Louis, and KMVQ San Francisco, is another example of rhythmic AC, and has spawned imitators such as WISX in Philadelphia.

In its early years of existence, the smooth jazz format was considered to be a form of AC, although it was mainly instrumental, and related a stronger resemblance to the soft AC-styled music than it did to what purists call "real jazz"^{[original research?]}. For many years, artists like George Benson, Kenny G and Dave Koz had crossover hits that were played on both smooth jazz and soft AC stations. In addition, David Sanborn had a saxophone solo on James Taylor's remake of the Marvin Gaye classic, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)"; and Grover Washington, Jr. teamed up with Bill Withers to perform a classic hit song, entitled "Just the Two of Us". This song has gone on to become one of the most-played radio hits of all time - in particular the most acclaimed and modern cover by Regina Belle/George Duke/Steve Cole - as it frequently shows up on soft AC, urban AC and smooth jazz playlists. Anita Baker, Sade, Regina Belle, and Luther Vandross are other examples of artists who appeal to mainstream AC, urban AC and smooth jazz listeners. Some soft AC and urban AC stations like to play smooth jazz on the weekends, in cities that currently do not have a full-time smooth jazz station. Warm 98 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Majic 95.5 in Austin, Texas, WCXT in South Haven, Michigan, 103.7 Lite FM in Dallas, Texas, WMAG in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Q101.9 in San Antonio, Texas are soft AC stations that also play smooth jazz; and V101.9 in Charlotte, North Carolina and Majic 104.9 in St. Louis, Missouri, are urban AC stations that play smooth jazz on the weekends as well. (However, a new smooth jazz station had served the Cincinnati area, under the call letters WCIN.) In recent years, the Smooth Jazz format has been renamed to Smooth AC, as an attempt to lure younger listeners, and some stations, like WLOQ in Orlando, Florida, have dropped the "Jazz" part from their nicknames; on the other hand, KWJZ in Seattle, Washington has completely abandoned the "Smooth Jazz" title in its branding.

Some soft AC (and a few urban AC) stations, like Sunny 99.1 in Houston, Texas and Magic 106.7 in Boston, Massachusetts, also have the smooth jazz format on their HD2 subchannels. This is far more common in recent years, as full-time smooth jazz stations are being discontinued in US markets where the format once thrived. In addition, these HD2 stations are basically expanded (24/7) versions of weekend programming as offered by their traditional FM/HD1 counterparts.

Contemporary Christian music (CCM) has several sub-genres, one being "Christian AC". Radio & Records, for instance, lists Christian AC among its format charts.^[8] Too, there has been crossover to mainstream and hot AC formats by many of the core artists of the Christian AC genre, notably Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kathy Troccoli, Steven Curtis Chapman, Plumb, and more recently, MercyMe.

Since the mid 2000s, the mainstreaming of bands like Wilco and Feist have pushed indie rock into the adult contemporary conversation.^[9]

Christmas music[link]

In recent years it has become common for many AC stations, particularly soft AC stations, to play primarily or exclusively Christmas music during the Christmas season in November and December. While these tend mostly to be contemporary seasonal recordings by the same few artists featured under the normal format, most stations will also air some vintage holiday tunes from older pop, MOR, and adult standards artists – such as Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, The Carpenters, Percy Faith, Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams – many of whom would never be played on these stations during the rest of the year.

These Christmas music marathons typically start during the week before Thanksgiving Day (individual station practices vary) and end after Christmas Day, or sometimes extending to New Year's Day. Afterwards, the stations usually resume their normal music fare. Several stations begin the holiday format much earlier, at the beginning of November, with a few stations (KOSY-FM in Salt Lake City, and WNIC in Detroit, Michigan being among them, although neither was in 2010) having a reputation of regularly being among the "first in the nation" to change to the format. It is extremely rare for stations to change on or before Halloween (although WSMM in South Bend, Indiana switched a week before Halloween in 2010, and WEZW in Ocean City, New Jersey did so in 2011); stations that do so generally receive backlash from listeners, as this is generally recognized to be well outside the accepted Christmas and holiday season, though it is common as a stunt.

The roots of this tradition can be traced back to the beautiful music and easy listening stations of the 1960s and '70s. Until the early 21st century, however, radio stations typically began introducing only some Christmas music into their regular playlists around Thanksgiving, and moved to an all-Christmas playlist, if at all, only for 36 hours (sometimes 48 hours) around Christmas. Such all-Christmas programming usually was broadcast between Noon local time on Christmas Eve (sometimes starting as early as 00:00) and ending at 00:00 on December 26. The practice of moving to a 24/7 Christmas format as early as (or even before) Thanksgiving began at a few stations in the mid-1990s; becoming a widespread phenomenon in 2001, with many stations promoting their Christmas music marathons as a sort of musical comfort in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Some such stations may also extend their Christmas music format as late as New Year's Day, although in the US this is most commonly a stunt which signals that the station will relaunch in January with a different format than it held before going all-Christmas. (British broadcasters, by contrast, have a Christmas holiday schedule from First Monday of the school holidays to New Year's Day.) Stations that are not stunting may mix in some holiday songs, particularly those that do not explicitly mention Christmas (such as winter songs like "Let It Snow!" and "Jingle Bells") or that have mainstream appeal (such as "Same Old Lang Syne" and "Better Days"), into their regular format between Christmas and the new year.

Syndicated radio shows and networks carrying the adult contemporary format[link]

• Delilah - One of America's most popular radio shows, Delilah airs primarily in the evening.
• John Tesh Radio Show - Hosted by John Tesh, this show also airs evenings and also on weekends.
• Your Weekend with Jim Brickman - A weekly three-hour weekend radio show syndicated by Impact Radio Networks.
• American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest - One version of AT40 airs on hot AC stations, which is a little different from its Top-40/CHR counterpart.
• Rick Dees Weekly Top 40/Weekly Top 30 - Began offering Hot AC versions of the popular countdown show in June 1996. These shows feature the top 20 Hot AC songs in the nation along with about 10 past hits from the '80s, '90s and early 2000s. A softer "AC" version was added in July 2009 to try to fill in the void left by Casey Kasem ending his AC countdown.
• Backtrax USA with Kid Kelly - Weekend programs focusing on the 80s and 90s, targeted for hot AC stations.
• Absolutely 80s with Nina Blackwood - A three-hour weekend program, hosted by the former MTV VJ, that also takes requests, a fairly rare occurrence for a taped program.
• ABC and Dial Global both offer AC 24-hour networks programming soft and hot AC.
• Tom Joyner and Steve Harvey have popular morning shows that air on urban AC (and sometimes Hip-Hop) stations. Both shows are often heard on competing stations in the same city, such as St. Louis, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Joyner's show is syndicated by ABC Radio, and Harvey's show by Premiere Radio Networks.
• Retro Rewind with Dave Harris is weekend based radio show highlighting a massive playlist of songs from the 80s and 90s, interviews, spotlights and contests. The show is done LIVE across the nation on Saturday nights, taking audience requests. The show is targeted towards HOT AC and AC radio stations.
• The EZ Rock network is a brand/network of soft AC heard in Canada.
• Heart FM Network A radio network in the UK that grew throughout 2009 as more stations were rebranded as "Heart".
• Smooth Radio A UK wide radio network that formed from six regional Smooth Radio stations.

See also[link]

• Adult Contemporary, a chart appearing in Billboard since 1961. This chart is typically (but not exclusively) closer to soft AC.
• Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks, a chart appearing in Billboard since 1996. This chart is typically (but not exclusively) closer to hot AC.
• Soft rock
• Easy Listening

References[link]

External links[link]

• StudioEast Recording Inc.
• Rebirth Music Productions
• GAD Music Company

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Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan at the Independent Music Awards, Webster Hall, New York City.
Background information
Born	(1975-07-01) July 1, 1975 (age 36)
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Indie folk, baroque pop, indie pop, electronica
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, piano, xylophone, vibraphone, English Horn, oboe, drums, recorder[1]
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Asthmatic Kitty Sounds Familyre Orchard
Associated acts	Cryptacize, Danielson Famile, Denison Witmer, Marzuki, My Brightest Diamond, Rosie Thomas, The Welcome Wagon, The National, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner
Website	www.asthmatickitty.com/sufjan-stevens

Sufjan Stevens ( /ˈsuːfjɑːn/ SOOF-yahn; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came. He is best known for his 2005 album, Illinois, which hit number one in the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, and for the song "Chicago".

Stevens has released albums of varying styles, from the electronica of Enjoy Your Rabbit and the lo-fi folk of Seven Swans to the symphonic instrumentation of Illinois and Christmas-themed Songs for Christmas. Stevens makes use of a variety of instruments, often playing many of them himself on the same recording,^[2] and writes music in various time signatures. Though he has repeatedly stated an intent to separate his beliefs from his music,^[3][4] Stevens also freely draws from the Bible and other spiritual traditions, incorporating mystical elements into his music often.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Stevens was born in Detroit and lived there until the age of nine, when his family moved to Petoskey, Michigan. In Petoskey he attended the Petoskey High School, the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy and graduated from Harbor Light Christian School. He went on to attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan and earned a Master of Fine Arts from The New School in New York City.^[5]

Sufjan is an Arabic or Persian name^[6] meaning "comes with a sword".^[7] It predates Islam and most famously belonged to Abu Sufyan, a figure from early Islamic history. The name was given to Stevens by the founder of Subud, an inter-faith spiritual community to which his parents belonged when he was born.^[8]

A multi-instrumentalist, Stevens is known for his use of the banjo, but also plays guitar, piano, drums, and several other instruments, often playing all of these on his albums through the use of multitrack recording. While in school, he studied the oboe and English horn, which he also plays on his albums. This multitude of instruments, including string and horn orchestrations, figure prominently in his compositions, giving his music a symphonic sound.

Stevens currently lives in Kensington, Brooklyn, in New York City,^[9] where he makes up the Brooklyn staff of Asthmatic Kitty Records.^[10] His brother Marzuki Stevens is a nationally recognized marathon runner.^[11]

Career[link]

Stevens performing at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee

Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which he released on Asthmatic Kitty Records. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.

While in New York, Stevens composed and recorded the music for his second album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, a song cycle based around the animals of the Chinese Zodiac that delved into electronica.

Stevens followed this with the first album to be released as a part of his "Fifty States Project", a collection of folk songs and instrumentals inspired by his home state of Michigan. The result, the expansive Michigan included odes to cities including Detroit and Flint, the Upper Peninsula, and vacation areas such as Tahquamenon Falls. Melded into the scenic descriptions and characters are his own declarations of faith, sorrow, love, and the regeneration of Michigan.

Following the release of Michigan, Stevens compiled a collection of songs recorded previously into a side project, the album Seven Swans, which was released in March 2004.

Next he released the second in the 50 states project, titled Illinois. Among the subjects explored on Illinois are the cities of Chicago, Decatur and Jacksonville; the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the state's observance of a holiday in honor of Casimir Pulaski, the poet Carl Sandburg, and the serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Over the 2005 winter holidays, Stevens recorded an album with Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer playing banjo and providing vocals. In April 2006, Pitchfork erroneously announced that Stevens and Thomas were having a baby together, but were forced to print a retraction.^[12][13][14] Witmer and Thomas later admitted it was an April Fools' prank.^[15] In December 2006, the collaborative recordings were digitally released by Nettwerk as a Rosie Thomas album titled These Friends of Mine. The album was released in physical form on March 13, 2007.

On September 11, 2006, in Nashville, Tennessee, Stevens debuted a new composition, a ten minute-plus piece titled "Majesty Snowbird".^[16][17] On November 21, 2006, a five CD box set Songs for Christmas was released, which contains originals and Christmas standards recorded every year since 2001 (except 2004). Stevens undertook in the project initially as an exercise to make himself 'appreciate' Christmas more.^[18] The songs were the work of an annual collaboration between Stevens and different collaborators, including minister Vito Aiuto; the songs themselves were distributed to friends and family.

In April 2007, in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, Stevens made unannounced appearances on Thomas's tour in support of this album. In 2007 he did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon standing on a roof in Cincinnati.^[19] In 2007, he played shows sporadically, including playing at the Kennedy Center to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Stage concerts.^[20] He was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to create a "music and film work" titled The BQE, described as "a symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway".^[21] It premiered at BAM's Next Wave festival on November 1–3, 2007.^[22] Stevens has also worked as an essayist, contributing to Asthmatic Kitty Records' "Sidebar" feature and Topic Magazine.^[23] He wrote the introduction to the 2007 edition of The Best American Nonrequired Reading, a short story about his early childhood education and learning to read titled How I Trumped Rudolf Steiner and Overcame the Tribulations of Illiteracy, One Snickers Bar at a Time.^[24][25] That winter, he hosted an "Xmas Song Exchange Contest" in which winner Alec Duffy won exclusive rights to the original Stevens song "The Lonely Man of Winter." The track has never been uploaded, and can now only be heard by attending private listening parties at Duffy's home in Brooklyn.^[26][27]

Stevens has contributed to the music of Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, Will Stratton, Shannon Stephens, Clare & the Reasons, and Liz Janes. In 2007 alone, Stevens played piano on The National's album Boxer, produced and contributed many instrumental tracks to Rosie Thomas's album These Friends of Mine, multiple instruments on Ben + Vesper's album All This Could Kill You and oboe and vocals to David Garland's new album Noise in You.

He has contributed covers of Tim Buckley ("She Is"), Joni Mitchell ("Free Man in Paris"), Daniel Johnston ("Worried Shoes"), John Fahey ("Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park"), The Innocence Mission ("The Lakes of Canada"), Bob Dylan ("Ring Them Bells") and The Beatles ("What Goes On") to various tribute albums. His versions of "Free Man in Paris" and "What Goes On" are notable for only retaining the lyrics of the original, as Stevens has taken his own interpretation on the melody and arrangement. His rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" has a similar rearranged melody and arrangement as well as a whole new verse.^[28]

His song "The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders" was featured in the 2006 British comedy-drama Driving Lessons, starring Harry Potter's Julie Walters and Rupert Grint. In 2008, he produced Welcome to the Welcome Wagon, the debut album of Brooklyn-based husband and wife duo Vito and Monique Auito, The Welcome Wagon.

In February 2009, Stevens contributed "You Are the Blood" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization. In April 2009, Stevens uploaded a song about director Sofia Coppola online.^[29] This song was written while Stevens was in college, from a series of songs about names.

Stevens recalled:

"[...] A few weeks later, our dog got hit by a snowplow and I forgot all about the problem of names. Until college, when I learned to play the guitar, and, as an exercise, started writing songs (very poorly executed) in the same way that Henry Ford produced the automobile: assembly-line-style. I wrote songs for the days of the week (poor Monday!). Songs for the planets (poor Pluto!). Songs for the Apostles (poor Judas!). And, finally, when all else failed, I started a series of songs for names. [...] Each piece was a rhetorical, philosophical, musical rumination on all the possible names I had entertained years before when my parents had given me the one chance to change my own. Oh fates! I sang these songs in the privacy of my dorm room, behind closed doors, pillows and cushions stuffed in the air vents so no one would hear. And then I almost failed Latin class, my grades plummeted, my social life dissolved into ping pong tournaments in the residence halls, and, gradually, my interest in music (or anything divine, creative, fruitful, enriching) completely waned. I turned to beer. And cigarettes. And TV sitcoms. And candy bars. Oh well! A perfectly good youth wasted on junk food! That is, until a few months ago, when I came across some of the old name songs, stuffed onto tape cassettes, 4-track recorders, forgotten boxes, forgotten shelves, forgotten hard drives. It was like finding an old diary, or a high school yearbook, senior picture with lens flare and pockmarks, slightly cute and embarrassing. What was I thinking? [...]"^[30]

In September 2009, Stevens began performing four new songs while on his Fall tour, "All Delighted People", "Impossible Soul", "Too Much" and "Age of Adz".^[31] That year Stevens contributed to an album with his step father, Lowell Brams, entitled Music For Insomnia. The album was released December 8, 2009.^[32]

In November 2009, Stevens admitted to Exclaim! Magazine, in regard to the fact that he recently called his fifty-state project a joke, that "I don't really have as much faith in my work as I used to, but I think that's healthy. I think it's allowed me to be less precious about how I work and write. And maybe it's okay for us to take it less seriously."^[33]

In June 2010, The National's Bryce Dessner claimed Stevens is currently at work on his next full length album and stated the band is playing on the new album.^[34]

The Fifty States Project[link]

Beginning with Michigan, Stevens announced an intent to write an album for each of the fifty U.S. states.

Stevens spent the second half of 2004 researching and writing material for the second of these projects, this time focusing his efforts on Illinois. As with Michigan, Stevens used the state of Illinois as a leaping-off point for his more personal explorations of faith, family, love, and location. Though slated for general release on July 5, 2005, the album was briefly delayed by legal issues regarding the use of Superman in the original album cover artwork. In the double vinyl release, a balloon sticker has been placed over Superman on the cover art of the first 5,000 copies. The next printings had an empty space where the Superman image was, as with the CD release.^[35]

The widely acclaimed Illinois was the highest-rated album of 2005 on the Metacritic review aggregator site, based on glowing reviews from Pitchfork Media, The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, KEXP, and The Guardian.^[36] The 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards awarded Stevens with the Album Of The Year, Best Album Art/Packaging, and Male Artist Of The Year. Pitchfork Media, No Ripcord, and Paste Magazine named Illinois as the editors' choice for best album of 2005 and Stevens received the 2005 Pantheon prize, awarded to noteworthy albums selling fewer than 500,000 copies, for Illinois.^[37] In April 2006, Stevens announced that 21 pieces of music he had culled from the Illinois recording sessions would be incorporated into a new album, called The Avalanche,^[38] which was released on July 11, 2006.

The next states to be taken on in the project have been reported as Oregon and Rhode Island.^[39] In late 2005 and early 2006 Stevens played a new instrumental track titled "The Maple River". There are various Maple Rivers in the U.S., in Minnesota, Iowa, North or South Dakota. There is also evidence to suggest the possibility of a New York album. Not only is Stevens's current residence in New York City, but at the footnote of his writing piece titled "Friend Rock", Stevens stated that he was reading a biography on Robert Moses, who is a notable New Yorker.^[40] In late 2007, Stevens debuted several new songs about New York, including "BQE", a track about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, one of many urban developments designed and spearheaded by Robert Moses.

Stevens made brief mention to a possible collaboration with Asthmatic Kitty labelmate Rafter on an album about California.^[41] Stevens also recorded "The Lord God Bird"^[42] about the reported sighting of an ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct, in Arkansas (known as the 'lord god' or 'great god' bird because of its breathtaking appearance). This was in connection with a National Public Radio piece in which "independent radio producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister were curious about how Stevens writes his songs."

"Sufjan Stevens is not going to write a record for each of the 50 states after all" was the original text included on the online liner notes for their Mews Too: An Asthmatic Kitty Compilation disc released on February 7, 2006.^[43] This statement was possibly included as a joke, as the text has since been removed and the current liner notes related to Stevens reads, "18. Sufjan Stevens can fold a fitted-sheet (he once worked as a professional folder in a commercial laundromat)."

In an article published on February 24, 2008, in New York Magazine, Stevens implied that New Jersey could be the target of his next state project. After he gave a brief quote about the New Jersey Turnpike, he was asked, "So is this the next musical project?" Sufjan joked, "New Jersey, the musical—an ode to the turnpike."^[44]

The Guardian published an interview with Stevens on October 27, 2009, in which he stated in relation to the Fifty States Project: "I have no qualms about admitting it was a promotional gimmick".^[45]

[edit] The BQE

On May 31, 2007, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would be premiering a new project titled The BQE in early November 2007. The project, dubbed a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway", was manifested in a live show. The BQE featured an original film by Stevens (shot in Super 8 mm film and standard 16 mm), while Stevens and a backing orchestra provided the live soundtrack. The performance used 36 performers which included a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, horn players, and hula hoopers. There were no lyrics to the music. The BQE was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival and performed on three consecutive nights from November 1–3, 2007.

The performance sold out the 2,109 seat BAM Opera House without any advertising.^[46] After three weeks of rehearsing the piece with the three dozen musicians^[47] involved, he presented the 30-minute composition. The BQE was followed by an additional one hour of concert by Stevens and his orchestra. The BQE won the 2008 Brendan Gill Prize.^[48]

The multimedia package was released on October 20, 2009. The release included a CD of the show's soundtrack, a DVD of Brooklyn-Queens Expressway footage that accompanied the original performance (not a film of the performance itself), a 40-page booklet with liner notes and photos, and a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel. A limited edition version that features the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl and a 40-page BQE-themed comic book starring the show's hula hooping wonder women, the Hooper Heroes, was also released.

[edit] Run Rabbit Run

On October 6, 2009 Stevens' label released an album of versions of his 2001 album Enjoy Your Rabbit rearranged for strings and performed by the Osso String Quartet, entitled Run Rabbit Run.^[49]

[edit] All Delighted People and The Age of Adz

Stevens returned to recording and touring in 2010 after a hiatus—he's pictured here performing in 2011

In 2010, Stevens was featured on The National's album High Violet, released in May, and sang backing vocals for the band on The Late Show with David Letterman.^[50] Following the release of High Violet, band frontman Matt Berninger mentioned that Stevens was recording a new album in the band's studio and that The National would appear on some of the tracks. In early August, Stevens announced North American tour dates across dozens of cities. On August 20, 2010, Stevens suddenly and unexpectedly released a new collection of tracks, the All Delighted People EP, for digital download. The EP is built around two versions of the title track, "All Delighted People."^[51] The EP surprisingly rose to #27 on the Billboard 200 albums solely through its digital sales.^[52] On August 26, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would release his newest full length album, The Age of Adz, on October 12.^[53] NPR streamed the album until it was released on October 12, 2010.^[54]

The two albums featured a wide range of arrangements, from orchestral to electronic. Song lengths were also extended; the track "Djohariah" from All Delighted People is 17 minutes long, while "Impossible Soul" from The Age of Adz is 25 minutes long. The albums also feature many styles from disco to folk.

Stevens has stated in interviews that in 2009/10, he suffered from a mysterious debilitating virus infection that affected his nervous system. He experienced chronic pain and was forced to stop working on music for several months.^[55] He said: "The Age of Adz, is, in some ways, a result of that process of working through health issues and getting much more in touch with my physical self. That's why I think the record's really obsessed with sensation and has a hysterical melodrama to it."^[56]

On October 12, 2010, Stevens began his North American tour in Montreal, featuring virtually all new material. The tour lasted just over a month and ended on November 15, 2010 in New York.

Stevens toured Australia and New Zealand in early 2011, featured as part of The Sydney Festival, and appeared on-stage with The National during the last of three sold-out Auckland shows.^[57] He also toured Europe and the United Kingdom in April and May 2011, playing there for the first time in five years.^[58] His shows mostly consisted of new material, but he did play many older tracks from Seven Swans and Illinois. Stevens ended the Age of Adz tour with two shows in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York.

On February 27, 2012, it was announced Stevens would release a collaborative EP called Beak & Claw on March 20th with artists Son Lux and Serengeti under the name s / s / s on the Anticon record label.^[59]

Themes[link]

Stevens' stage shows feature elaborate lighting, costumes, and choreography

Many of his songs have spiritual allusions. He says he does not try to make music for the sake of preaching. "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."^[4]

Such themes are most notable on his album Seven Swans, the songs "Abraham", "Seven Swans", "To Be Alone with You", "He Woke Me Up Again", "We Won't Need Legs to Stand" and "The Transfiguration" refer to Christian themes. In "Abraham", Stevens recounts the Old Testament story in the Book of Genesis. The lyrics of "The Transfiguration" appear to follow the Biblical accounts of Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9: 1–8, and Luke 9:28–36. The title of "All the Trees of the Fields Will Clap Their Hands" is a quote from Isaiah 55:12.^[60]

During a 2004 interview with Adrian Pannett for Comes with a Smile magazine, when asked how important faith was to his music, he responded, "I don't like talking about that stuff in the public forum because, I think, certain themes and convictions are meant for personal conversation."^[3]

Sufjan's most recent music features less clear statements about religion and spirituality, arousing question of his current ideas on spirituality. In an interview released on October 12, 2010 (the same day as Sufjan's album The Age of Adz released), Sufjan confirmed he is a Christian.^[61]

Discography[link]

References[link]