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73-604: The Family Life Network is a Christian radio network, broadcasting on FM stations across Western and Central New York , as well as northern Pennsylvania , from flagship station WCIK (103.1) in Avoca, New York . It is owned and operated by the Family Life Ministries of Bath, New York . FLM is an accredited member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Family Life

146-437: A commercial. Time, traffic and weather are given just after. The engineer typically sets the station clocks to standard local time each day, by listening to WWV or WWVH (see atomic clock ). These segments are less valued by the most targeted market, young people, so many commercial stations shorten or omit these segments in favor of music. While most music stations that offer news reports simply "tear and read" news items (from

219-418: A different playlist . The way stations advertise themselves is not standardized. Some critical interpretation is needed to recognize classic formulas in the midst of the commercial glitz. See List of music radio formats for further details, and note that there is a great deal of format evolution (or, to borrow a television term, channel drift ) as music tastes and commercial conditions change. For example,

292-616: A fairly significant online listenership as well. Two very well known smooth jazz stations are WNUA in Chicago and 94.7 The Wave in Los Angeles , both of which were introduced in 1987, and still continue to enjoy tremendous success in the format today. Also, WUCF-FM in Orlando has been playing jazz music since 1978. Both traditional and smooth jazz stations have been in severe decline, both on commercial and noncommercial stations, since

365-509: A few times each hour, usually in the least commercially valuable slots of the hour, the disc-jockey can highlight new tracks that he or she thinks might interest the audience. The audience is encouraged to comment on the new tracks, allowing the station to track audience tastes. The freedom to introduce new artists can help a station develop its library. Significant AOR offshoots include classic rock and adult album alternative . Classic rock or oldies formats have been described as having

438-554: A greater variety of songs than a station bound to devote the majority of its spins to a limited list. The ideal "classic" station (of whatever format) finds the balance between playing listener favorites frequently enough to develop a base while at the same time cultivating a playlist broad enough not to breed contempt . Nevertheless, there seems to be a cottage industry of Internet stations specializing in specific forms of classic rock and oldies, particularly psychedelic rock and progressive rock . The oldies and classic rock formats have

511-594: A large number of dance music stations available both on the internet and on satellite radio, mostly specializing in various forms of electronica . Both major US satellite radio services include disco stations. Rock music has a long and honorable radio tradition going back to DJs like Wolfman Jack and Alan Freed , and as a result variations on rock radio are fairly common. The classic rock and oldies formats are discussed above; in addition to those, however, there are several genres of music radio devoted to different aspects of modern rock music. Alternative rock grew out of

584-584: A larger market-share. Arbitron contractually prevents mention of its name on the air. Promotions are the on-air equivalent of lotteries for listeners. Promotional budgets usually run about $ 1 per listener per year. In a large market, a successful radio station can pay a full-time director of promotions, and run several lotteries per month of vacations, automobiles and other prizes. Lottery items are often bartered from advertisers, allowing both companies to charge full prices at wholesale costs. For example, cruising companies often have unused capacity, and when given

657-420: A lasting modern influence. Variants and hybrids include the freeform-like Jack FM (mentioned below under Freeform Rock) and the "Mix" formats mentioned below under Oldies. Top 40 music is heavily criticized by some music fans as being repetitive and of low quality, and is almost exclusively dominated by large media conglomerates such as iHeartMedia and CBS Corporation . Top 40 tends to be underrepresented on

730-601: A playlist determined by the program director, arranged by blocks of time. Though practices differ by region and format, what follows is a typical arrangement in a North American urban commercial radio station. The first block of the day is the "morning drive time " block in the early morning. Arbitron defines this block between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., though it can begin as early as 5 a.m. (though usually not later than 6), and end as early as 9 a.m. or as late as 11 a.m. This block usually includes news bulletins and traffic and weather advisories for commuters, as well as light comedy from

803-551: A pleasant show, and try to keep the station sound predictable by listening to other jocks, and repeating some of their music selections. WNEW-FM in New York during the 1970s exemplified this approach to progressive rock radio. At their best, free-form stations have never been equaled for their degree of social activism, programmatic freedom, and listener involvement. However, to succeed, the approach requires genius jocks, totally in-tune with their audience, who are also committed to

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876-725: A radio station would otherwise be allowed and may not face the same restrictions on the number of signals a broadcaster can own within one geographic area. Most Christian radio stations transmit a mixture of Christian music and Christian talk and teaching. Christian music radio outlets mirror commercial radio in many ways, and music in a variety of different genres is available. Many stations play primarily gospel music , including Black Gospel and Southern Gospel , or contemporary worship music , while others play all formats of contemporary Christian music , including Christian pop, Christian rock , Christian rap , Christian country music , and Christian alternative rock . Many artists within

949-700: A sect whose place in Christianity is heavily debated , maintains some limited radio evangelical operations through BYU Radio , which owns a single FM station. The Seventh-day Adventists are most closely associated with Three Angels Broadcasting Network . Most Christian radio stations as well as programmers based in the United States are members of the National Religious Broadcasters , a Christian organization. There are reportedly 1,600 Christian broadcasting organizations in

1022-426: A short snippet of stand-up comedy ("5 O'Clock Funnies") around 5 o'clock when commuters leave work, or play specifically selected "car tunes" ideal for listening while driving. The evening block (defined by Arbitron as 7 p.m. to midnight), if present, returns to music. Syndicated programs such as Tom Kent or Delilah are popular in this shift. The overnight programming, from midnight to the beginning of drive time,

1095-420: A strong niche market, but as the audience becomes older the station becomes less attractive to advertisers. Advertisers perceive older listeners as set in their brand choices and not as responsive to advertising as younger, more impulsive listeners. Oldies stations must occasionally change to more youthful music formats; as a result, the definition of what constitutes an "oldies" station has gradually changed over

1168-534: A wide assortment of mostly top-40 music from a span of several decades; and podcast radio, a mostly talk format pioneered by Infinity Broadcasting's KYOU station in California and Adam Curry's Podcast show on Sirius Satellite Radio . AOR ( album-oriented rock ) developed as a commercial compromise between top-forties-style formulas and progressive rock radio/freeform. A program director or music consultant would select some set of music "standards" and require

1241-471: Is WLTW in New York City , better known as 106.7 Lite FM. Jazz stations generally play either traditional jazz forms or smooth jazz . The jazz station, more than any other except the college station, is stereotyped as having a small listenership and a somewhat overly highbrow on-air personality, and many are college-run stations. California State University Long Beach sponsors KJAZZ 88.1, which has

1314-477: Is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio 's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio . Music drives radio technology, including wide-band FM , modern digital radio systems such as Digital Radio Mondiale , and even the rise of internet radio and music streaming services (such as Pandora and Spotify ). When radio

1387-526: Is a Latin music radio format, typically including Banda, Conjunto, Corridos, Duranguense, Grupero, Huapango, Mariachi, New Mexico music, Norteña, Ranchera, and Tejano music. It is the most popular radio format targeting Hispanic Americans in the United States.[2] The large number of immigrants from Northern Mexico can lead to an emphasis upon Norteña on Regional Mexican radio stations,[1] though markets with larger Hispanic audiences can have multiple Regional Mexican stations, with variations in which region from which

1460-595: Is a listener-supported outreach with about 95% of its operating revenue coming directly from listeners, participants, and supporting churches. The Family Life Network airs a mix of Christian Contemporary music , presented by local DJs , along with Christian talk and teaching programs. National religious leaders heard on the Family Life Network include Jim Daly , Chuck Swindoll , Greg Laurie , Joni Eareckson Tada , David Jeremiah and John MacArthur . The Family Life Network should not be confused with

1533-408: Is a more freeform variant of this type of format. Full-service stations will often mix the oldies, classic rock, classic hits, and adult standards music, occasionally with music found in formats such as beautiful music , adult contemporary, or classic country . On weekends, specialty or niche programs focusing on formats such as Celtic music , polka and Italian music (depending on the ethnicity of

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1606-478: Is a niche, and so-called "rhythmic pop" stations have had a fierce but not always commercially sustainable following. There was a wide spectrum of disco-format radio stations during the late 1970s, but virtually all of them died out during the disco backlash ; WXKS in Boston is one of the few notable survivors, now a Clear Channel Communications -owned top-40 station of considerable influence. Nevertheless, there are

1679-460: Is a significant portion of most U.S. Christian radio stations' revenue, with stations regularly selling blocks of airtime to evangelists seeking an audience. Another revenue stream is solicitation of donations, either to the evangelists who buy the air time or to the stations or their owners themselves. In order to further encourage donations, certain evangelists may emphasize the prosperity gospel , in which they preach that tithing and donations to

1752-592: Is an international broadcasting and media company; radio stations are based in Albania, Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. Trans World Radio is an evangelical media distributor broadcasting Christian programs in 190 countries in more than 300 languages, TWR-UK can be heard in the United Kingdom on Sky, Freeview and online. Music radio Music radio

1825-413: Is designed for music radio stations. The BBC and ABC take a different approach, with all of its stations giving news updates ( BBC Radio 1Xtra produces its own news segments under the name TX.) Some well-known music-radio formats are Top 40 , Freeform Rock and AOR (Album Oriented Rock) . It turns out that most other stations (such as Rhythm & Blues) use a variation of one of these formats with

1898-471: Is generally low-key music with quiet, if any, announcing. Some stations play documentaries or even infomercials , while some others play syndicated or voicetracked DJs. Complete automation, with no jock, is very common in this day part. It is not uncommon to play more adventurous selections during late night programming blocks, since late night is generally not considered significant for ratings, and are not subject to federal restrictions as stringently as during

1971-461: Is often occupied by a "no-repeat workday;" stations that offer this feature usually target captive audiences such as retail workers, who have to listen to the station for long periods of time and can become irritated by repetition. In the early evening, or "afternoon drive " (defined by Arbitron as 3 to 7 p.m.), the evening rush-hour programming resembles the midday programming, but adds traffic and weather advisories for commuters. Some stations insert

2044-446: Is that closed-campus work environments, such as retail, foster an environment where listeners hear the station continuously for several hours, multiple days in a row, which can become unpleasant after a short amount of time. Oldies and related formats do have an inherent advantage in that they have a much broader time frame (up to 30 years, compared to the current hits of a top-40 station) from which to draw their playlist and can thus play

2117-770: The AM radio band. When presented with a right of first refusal to buy an AM station in Syracuse, it declined. It quickly spun off two other AM stations in Elmira and Salamanca two months after acquiring them in the wake of Waypoint Media's dissolution. All of Family Life's stations begin with call signs WCI, WCO, WCG or WCD. According to the company's station list, these abbreviations stand for Where Christ Is , Where Christ Offers , Where Christ Grants and With Christ Discover . Flagship WCIK, for example, represents "Where Christ Is King ". Christian radio Brokered programming

2190-469: The Beautiful music format that developed into today's Easy listening and Soft rock formats is nearly extinct due to a lack of interest from younger generations, whereas classic rock has become popular over the last 20 years or so and Jack FM has arisen only since 2000 or so. The most popular format in the U.S. is country music , but rock music sells the most. The original formulaic radio format

2263-535: The Bible Broadcasting Network are other notable examples in the world. Christian radio expanded in the early twenty-first century. It became available in the United Kingdom with changes to broadcasting regulations. Premier Christian Radio is based in the London area where it is available on medium wave and DAB; elsewhere, it is available digitally or by Internet. United Christian Broadcasters

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2336-490: The Christian music industry criticize Christian radio for only playing "safe" music, and not taking enough chances on new artists, or in some cases older artists, that may not be as appealing to the largely conservative Gospel Music Association . Many non-religious radio stations devote some of their weekend programming to Christian music; for example, Black Gospel programming is common on Sundays on many stations featuring

2409-671: The Putumayo World Music Hour. Stations may carry shows with different genres of music such as blues or jazz. Community affairs and religious programming is often on Sunday mornings, generally one of the least listened-to periods of the week. In addition, weekend evenings are particularly specialized; a dance station might have a sponsored dance party at a local club, or a classical station may play an opera. Saturday nights are also similar to this; request shows, both local and national (e.g. Dick Bartley ), are very popular on Saturday night. The longest running radio program in

2482-853: The Urban Contemporary format. Other Christian stations will present a no-music format that features talk radio -style programming (sometimes including live radio call-in shows) and/or long-form "preaching and teaching" programs. Notable examples include Focus on the Family with host Jim Daly , Amazing Facts , Living Way with pastor Jack Hayford , and Pastor Rick's Daily Hope ; an example of an inspirational program are Moments of Melody and The Voice of Prophecy . Radio drama programs, long dead in most other radio formats, continue to be transmitted on Christian radio; notable examples include long-running Adventures in Odyssey , Patch

2555-460: The 2000s, in part because of the formats' lower profitability compared to other formats (adult contemporary for commercial stations, NPR -driven news/talk for noncommercial ones). Blues programming is generally limited to niche programs on stations that primarily broadcast other formats. An exception to this is CIDG-FM , an all-blues station based in the Canadian city of Ottawa . Dance music

2628-510: The Internet and satellite radio scenes, broken down into genres such as punk, metal, classic rock, indie music , and the like. There is a general feeling among radio connoisseurs that rock radio is becoming badly watered down by big corporate ownership, leading to a considerable do-it-yourself spirit. While stereotyped as rural music, the Country music format is common and popular throughout

2701-634: The Internet, being mostly the domain of commercial broadcasters such as Virgin Radio UK . Some of the most famous Top 40 stations have been Musicradio 77 WABC / New York City , Boss Radio 93 KHJ / Los Angeles , The Big 89 WLS / Chicago , 1050 CHUM / Toronto , Famous 56 WFIL / Philadelphia , and The Big 68 WRKO / Boston . Today, there are popular Top 40 stations such as WHTZ-Z100 / New York City , 102.7 KIIS-FM /, and KAMP-97.1 AMP Radio / in Los Angeles , and Jovem Pan in Brazil A later development

2774-743: The Pirate , and Unshackled! and relative newcomers such as Down Gilead Lane and A Work in Progress . Christian radio, particularly in North America, is dominated by Protestant ministries, particularly those associated with evangelical Christianity . The predominant Roman Catholic radio services are the Eternal Word Network , founded by Mother Angelica as a spin-off of her television service EWTN , and Radio Maria USA . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ,

2847-427: The U.S. A minority of stations, typically music stations, use the traditional model for music radio and allow traditional commercial advertising. Numerous religious broadcasters own many of their own stations. In the U.S., religious radio stations are exempt from certain rules requiring radio stations to have some local operations, which allows them to have massive networks of transmitters covering far larger areas than

2920-606: The U.S. They range from single stations to expansive networks. It is common for religious broadcasters to purchase many small broadcast translators to create networks that stretch across large regions. Moody Radio was the first example, and still one of the largest, though most of its stations broadcast stand-alone programming as well as network feeds. Z88.3 in Orlando, Florida, the WAY-FM Network , K-LOVE , Air 1 , The Joy FM , Reach Radio , 3ABN Radio , Radio 74 , and

2993-552: The United States and in some other countries (particularly Canada and Australia, both of which share much of the same Anglo-Saxon and Celtic roots as the United States). Country has been a popular radio format since the early days of music radio, dating back to the early days of radio itself when barn dance radio programs were widely popular; however, the format was indeed originally a predominantly rural phenomenon, especially on AM radio. Decades worth of efforts at mainstreaming

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3066-445: The air. Many stations contract with agencies such as Smartraveler and AccuWeather for their weather and traffic reports instead of using in-house staff. Fewer radio stations (except on medium and major market, depending on daypart) maintain a call-in telephone line for promotions and gags, or to take record requests. DJs of commercial stations do not generally answer the phone and edit the call during music plays in non-major markets, as

3139-479: The area) are common. In addition to music, a limited amount of local talk programming is heard on most full-service stations. Full service tends to be heard primarily on rural stations. These formats all have small but very loyal audiences in the largest markets. Most follow formats similar to the above (Top 40s, Freeform, AOR and Oldies), except with a different playlist. Public service stations following these formats tend to be "freeform" stations. Regional Mexican

3212-421: The audience, and lost audience share. Also, freeform stations could lack predictability, and listeners' loyalty could then be put at risk. Progressive rock radio (not to be confused with the progressive rock music genre) was freeform in style but constrained so that some kind of rock music was what was always or almost always played. Responsible jocks would realize their responsibility to the audience to produce

3285-585: The birth of TV, it was discovered that a show was needed to simply play records and hire a disc jockey to host the program. One of the first disc jockeys (later called DJs) was Dick Clark. Others followed suit and today music radio is the most numerous format. The radio station provides programming to attract listeners. Commercial radio stations make profits by selling advertising. Public and community radio stations are sustained by listener donations and grants. Young people are targeted by advertisers because their product preferences can be changed more easily. Therefore,

3358-415: The choice, prefer to pay their bills by bartering cruise vacations. Since the ship will sail in any case, bartered vacations cost the cruise company little or nothing. The promotion itself advertises the company providing the prize. The FCC has defined a lottery as "any game, contest or promotion that combines the elements of prize, chance and consideration." Most music stations have DJs who play music from

3431-516: The commercial success of the radio station. This is a rare combination of traits. Even if such people are available, they often command extremely high salaries. However, this may be an effective approach for a new station, if talented jocks can be recruited and motivated at low salaries. Freeform radio is particularly popular as a college radio format; offshoots include the recent (and somewhat controversial, due to its lack of on-air personalities) eclectic-pop format known as variety hits , which plays

3504-493: The country, the Grand Ole Opry , has aired on Saturday night since its inception in 1925. Many music stations in the United States perform news and timechecks only sparingly, preferring to put more music on the air. News is often restricted to the talk-heavy commuting hours, though weather updates are still very common throughout the day, even on these stations. ABC FM News is an example of an American news network that

3577-796: The daytime. Stations are permitted to sign off during this time; in areas where AM radio is still significant (especially in the United States), local stations may be required to either sign off or cut to low-power to protect clear-channel stations . Weekends, especially Sundays, often carry different programming. The countdown show, ranking the top songs of the previous week, has been a staple of weekend radio programming since 1970; current hosts of countdown shows in various formats include Rick Dees , Ryan Seacrest , Jeff Foxworthy , Kix Brooks , Bob Kingsley , Crook & Chase , Randy Jackson , Walt Love , Al Gross, Dick Bartley , and (via reruns) Casey Kasem . Other types of weekend programming include niche programming, retrospective shows and world music such as

3650-479: The format eventually paid off when country radio became widely popular among a large number of FM radio stations that signed on in the suburban United States in the 1980s and early 1990s. For most mainstream country stations, the emphasis is generally on current pop country, following the same process as top 40; the remaining music in a particular station's library generally uses music from the past fifteen years (shorter for "hot country" or "new country" stations), with

3723-485: The grunge scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s and is particularly favored by college radio and adult album alternative stations; there is a strong focus on songwriters and bands with an outsider sound or a more sophisticated sound than the "three chord wonder" cliché. Meanwhile, other stations focus on heavy metal , punk rock , or the various post-punk and pop-influenced sounds known collectively as "modern rock". Narrow-interest rock stations are particularly common on

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3796-536: The late 1980s, Family Life rapidly expanded into a network. It began by acquiring WCID in Friendship, New York (now WCOV). Family Life actively buys and sells stations and translators in its coverage area, a practice that takes advantage of the ministry's status as a non-commercial religious broadcaster. That means it is not subject to Federal Communications Commission restrictions on the number of stations it can own in one broadcast region. It has largely avoided

3869-407: The ministry will result in financial blessings from God. Others may have special days of the year dedicated to fundraising, similar to many NPR stations. Although the solicitation of donations and the sale of airtime may resemble a commercial enterprise, such actions do not necessarily constitute a call to action , and thus this does not forbid them from airing on noncommercial licensed stations in

3942-488: The morning DJ team (many shock jocks started as or still work on drive-time radio). Some stations emphasize music, and reduce gags and call-ins in this period. The midday block (defined by Arbitron as 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., though often extended later to about 5 p.m.) is mostly music, and in many places is at least partially voicetracked from another market. For a period around noon a station may play nonstop music or go to an all-request format for people eating lunch. This block

4015-463: The most commercially successful stations target young audiences. The programming usually cycles from the least attractive item, to most attractive, followed by commercials. The purpose of this plan is to build listener interest during the programming. There are several standard ways of selecting the music, such as free-form, top-40, album-oriented rock, and Jack. These can be applied to all types of music. Because dead air does not attract listeners,

4088-530: The most popular singles. Top 40 radio would punctuate the music with jingles, promotions, gags, call-ins, and requests, brief news, time and weather announcements and most importantly, advertising. The distinguishing mark of a traditional top-40 station was the use of a hyperexcited disc-jockey, and high tempo jingles. The format was invented in the US and today can be heard worldwide. Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon invented Top 40 radio. Bill Drake and Rick Sklar have had

4161-444: The music is taken and where it is popular. Easy listening and adult contemporary are related formats that play largely down-tempo pop music of various styles. The difference is mostly in the era and styles covered -- Easy Listening is mostly older music done in the style of standards from the early 20th century (typical artists include Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra ) combined with Big Band music and more modern performers in

4234-456: The music. During the mid-to-late-1990s, the "Mix" format—a loosely defined mixture of Top-40 and classic rock with something of an emphasis on adult contemporary music—began to appear across the country. While the format has no particular standard identity, most "mix" stations have rotations consisting largely of pop and rock music from the 1980s and 1990s (and often the 1970s), with some current material mixed in. In addition, stations devoted to

4307-494: The newswires or the Internet), larger stations (generally those affiliated with news/talk stations) may employ an editor to rewrite headlines, and provide summaries of local news. Summaries fit more news in less air-time. Some stations share news collection with TV or newspapers in the same media conglomerate. An emerging trend is to use the radio station's web site to provide in-depth coverage of news and advertisers headlined on

4380-403: The playlist to be followed, perhaps in an order selected by the jock. The jock would still introduce each selection, but the jock would have available a scripted introduction to use if he was not personally familiar with a particular piece of music and its artist. Obviously a computer helps a lot in this process. A useful, relatively safe compromise with the artistic freedom of the jocks is that

4453-438: The pop music of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s on their own have developed as the audiences that grew up with that music grew older and nostalgic for the sounds of their youth. The continued play of such songs on such stations has also exposed the music to younger generations that can take a renewed interest in the music, prolonging its shelf life beyond what conventional wisdom in the industry may suggest. The full service format

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4526-571: The programming is either delivered via satellite, or voice-tracked using a computer. More and more stations take requests by e-mail and online chat only. The value of a station's advertising is set by the number, age and wealth of its listeners. Arbitron , a commercial statistical service, historically used listener diaries to statistically measure the number of listeners. Arbitron diaries were collected on Thursdays, and for this reason, most radio stations have run special promotions on Thursdays, hoping to persuade last-minute Arbitron diarists to give them

4599-566: The radio stations that carried these formats saw a sharp loss of ratings and revenue. This left them with no choice but to adopt more youthful formats, though the Standards format (also known as the Great American Songbook from the series of albums produced by rocker Rod Stewart ) has undergone something of an off-air revival, with artists such as Stewart, Tony Bennett and Queen Latifah putting their own interpretation on

4672-456: The same style such as Céline Dion and Josh Groban , while Adult Contemporary focuses more on newer pop music from the 1970s on. An ancestor to the easy listening format is Beautiful Music , a now-rare format (though XM features one channel of it, called Sunny) focusing mostly on smooth jazz or classical arrangements of pop music and original compositions in a similar vein. Perhaps the best-known Adult Contemporary station currently in operation

4745-556: The station announces time, station calls letters and frequency as often as six to twelve times per hour. Jingles and stingers (liners) help to give the station a branded sound in a pleasant, minimal amount of air-time. The legal requirement for station identification in the U.S. is once per hour, approximately at the top of the hour, or at the conclusion of a transmission. News, time-checks, real-time travel advice and weather reports are often valuable to listeners. The news headlines and station identification are therefore given just before

4818-740: The station tries to fill its broadcast day with sound. Audiences will only tolerate a certain number of commercials before tuning away. In some regions, government regulators specify how many commercials can be played in a given hour. Jingles are radio's equivalent of neon signs. Jingles are brief, bright pieces of choral music that promote the station's call letters , frequency and sometimes disc-jockey or program segment. Jingles are produced for radio stations by commercial specialty services such as JAM , in Texas. Jingles are often replaced by recorded voice-overs (called "stingers", also depending on region more often "liners"). In order to build station loyalty,

4891-597: The unrelated Family Life Radio (also known as International Life Media). Based in Tucson , it is a different chain of Christian radio stations in the South , Southwest and other regions of the U.S. Family Life Ministries was founded in 1957. For most of its first 30 years, FLN operated a single radio station at 103.1 FM in Bath. With the release of Docket 80-90 and the massive expansion of rural and suburban FM radio signals in

4964-432: The weakness of not playing new artists. This is true in a creative sense, but not a commercial one. Conventional wisdom in the radio industry is that stations will not get good ratings or revenue if they frequently play songs unfamiliar to their audience. This is why "Top 40" stations played only the biggest hits and why oldies and classic rock formats do the same for the eras they cover. An inherent danger to this philosophy

5037-414: The years (and the phrase "oldies" itself is falling out of use except for the stations that still regularly play music from the 1960s and earlier). This is why many oldies stations, like WCBS-FM in New York City and WJMK in Chicago , have switched over to the younger-oriented Jack FM format in recent years—although WCBS-FM adopted a Classic Hits format on July 12, 2007, and the "Jack FM" format

5110-467: Was Top 40 music, now known within the industry as contemporary hit radio or CHR . In this radio format, disc-jockeys would select one of a set of the forty best-selling singles (usually in a rack) as rated by Billboard magazine or from the station's own chart of the local top selling songs. In general, the more aggressive "Top 40" stations could sometimes be better described as "Top 20" stations. They would aggressively skirt listener boredom to play only

5183-556: Was freeform radio, later commercially developed as progressive rock radio, and still later even more commercially developed as AOR (Album-Oriented Rock), in which selections from an album would be played together, with an appropriate introduction. Traditional free-form stations prided themselves on offering their disc jockeys freedom to play significant music and make significant social commentary and humor. This approach developed commercial problems because disc jockeys attracted to this freedom often had tastes substantially different from

5256-427: Was moved to its HD2 subchannel. Unlike WCBS-FM's pre-JACK format which was centered on the 1955–1979 era, the post-JACK station was based on the 1964-1989 era because of the aging listener demographics of the original format. This preference for younger listeners caused the decline of the "Big Band" or "Standards" music formats that covered music from the 1930s to the 1950s. As the audience grew too old for advertisers,

5329-420: Was the main form of entertainment, regular programming, mostly stories and variety shows, was the norm. If there was music, it was normally a live concert or part of a variety show. Backstage sound engineers who jockeyed discs (records) from one turntable to another to keep up with the live programming were often called disc jockeys . With the mass production and popularity of records in the mid 1940s, as well as

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