Latest Articles
New Age, Relaxation, and Easy Listening Radio: The Calm End of the Dial
Not every radio listener wants energy and excitement. A significant slice of the audience — working from home, studying, or winding down — wants something that does not…
Heavy Metal, Punk, and Hard Rock Radio: Loud Music on the Airwaves
Heavy metal and punk are two of the most passionate music communities in the world, and radio has always had a complicated relationship with them. Neither has dominated…
R&B and Urban Radio: The Sound of Black Music on the Airwaves
R&B — rhythm and blues — is one of the most enduring formats in radio, and one of the most influential. It is also one of the most…
Dance, Disco, and Eurodance Radio: A Guide to the Dancefloor Formats
Dance music radio covers formats that share one purpose: making people want to move. From disco in the 1970s to the bass-heavy club music of the 2000s to…
Pop Radio Explained: Top 40, Hit Formats, and How Charts Shape the Dial
Pop radio is the most listened-to format on earth. Whether you call it Top 40, CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio), Hit Music, or simply “the charts”, pop radio plays…
Radio in the 1970s: FM Takes Over and the Modern Dial Takes Shape
The 1970s was the decade FM won. At the start of it, FM was still mostly where you went for classical music and late-night experiments. By the end,…
Radio in the 1960s: Pirates, Top 40, and the Birth of FM
The 1960s was the decade radio got loud. Top 40 radio reached peak excitement, Britain’s airwaves were stormed by pirate ships, and in America an almost forgotten band,…
Radio in the 1950s: How Television Almost Killed It — and How Radio Fought Back
At the start of the 1950s, radio looked finished. Television was arriving in living rooms, and the big network shows, the comedies, westerns, and soap operas families had…
Indian Radio Explained: Akashvani, Private FM, and the Story of Vividh Bharati
Indian radio is one of the great stories in broadcasting. It serves a country of more than a billion people, dozens of major languages, and a mix of…
The US Radio Landscape: Commercial Stations, Public Radio, and the American Dial
American radio is huge. There are more than 15,000 licensed AM and FM stations in the United States, more than in any other country. Drive across it and…
The UK Radio Landscape: BBC, Commercial Stations, and How People Listen
If you switch on a radio anywhere in Britain, you are stepping into one of the most crowded and carefully regulated radio markets in the world. It can…
Oldies Radio: The 50s, 60s, and 70s on the Modern Dial
Oldies radio is one of the most enduring formats in broadcasting, and it is also one that has shifted its boundaries with every passing decade. What counted as…