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Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the Top 40 music charts from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s with a focus on the 1980 are the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s and the nostalgia behind it is a major driver to the format. It has been considered the successor to the Oldies format^[1] which was extremely popular in the United States featuring top 40 songs from the late 1950s through the late 1970s. The term is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for the adult hits format, which uses a slightly newer music library stretching from all decades to the present with a major focus on 1990's and 2000's rock and alternative songs.^[2]

The Classic Hits format has become extremely popular in the last few years with stations like KRTH-FM in Los Angeles, WCBS-FM in New York and WLS-FM in Chicago having successful ratings with this model.^[3] Classic Hits was named "format of the summer of 2018"^[4] by Nielsen's research team emphasizing the huge popularity of the format. In addition the "Millennial" generation are listening to this format in record numbers according to a Nielsen audio report.^[5]

History

The term "classic hits" is believed to have its birth at WZLX Boston when the station converted from adult contemporary to a format composed of the hipper tracks from the oldies format and album tracks from popular classic rock albums. The goal was to attract and magnetize people who experienced adolescence in either the 1960s and 1970s and enjoyed the music of those eras, but did not favor the then-current heavy metal or top 40 music of the 1980s. These were people whose mindset was aging beyond AOR and Top 40, yet were still either too young for or disinterested in oldies.^[6]

Until the past few years the term Classic Hits was used by stations that played the softer or more hit oriented side of Classic Rock. Still today there are a few stations that identify as Classic Hits such as WROR in Boston or WJJK in Indianapolis, but in reality the playlist has more in common with Classic Rock than what this format has become.

This began to change in the mid 2000s when Oldies radio stations started having audience and ratings issues.^[7] They believed that they could not be successful with the oldies format and needed to update the music and presentation to stay relevant in the 25-54 demo which advertising agencies base ad purchases on. After several years of format transitions and changes, the industry needed a term that more defined the stations who were basing their libraries in the MTV era of music thus the term Classic Hits was accepted by the radio community as the official name, also recognized by Nielsen audio as an format classification. In addition many Adult Contemporary stations that featured a large library of 80s began to phase that music out as new artists like Adele, Pink, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5 and others became extremely popular thus making these stations much more current oriented. This factor created a situation where artists like Madonna, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Prince who are considered major superstars were no longer being played on Adult Contemporary radio stations. Most of these stations are now current intensive playing new artists verses 80's which is considered too old.

The recent appeal to this format has introduced format flips in major markets including the flip of WIAD from Adult Contemporary formatted "Fresh-FM" to Classic Hits "The Drive" in October of 2018. ^[8] Most of the current Classic Hits stations in many markets were simply slow evolutions from Oldies to Classic Hits. These stations include WOGL in Philadelphia, WRBQ in Tampa and WOCL in Orlando among many others. Scott Shannon who was the architect of the modern top 40 era at WHTZ in New York during the 1980s moved to the morning show on WCBS-FM in New York^[9] bringing many of the 80s style radio formatics to the station.

Jam Creative Productions in Dallas Texas who were the leader in station jingles during the 1980s era even created an updated jingle package^[10] for stations who moved to this presentation. Jingles in the CBS-FM update package include cuts from the popular "Flame Thrower" and "Warp Factor" packages made famous by WHTZ Z-100 in the 80s decade.

Musical definition

Today's Classic Hits format is a representation of the variety of music types ^[11]found on the radio in the 1980s spanning through Rock such as Bon Jovi and Def Leppard to Urban hits from Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind and Fire to Alternative Acts like Duran Duran and Simple Minds and pure pop songs from artists such as Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Wham. Together all these different music types still have mass appeal due to the origins of radio stations that played all these together when they were hits. Similar to the philosophy with Oldies radio most of the music is upbeat and edgy, staying away from too many slow ballads.

Songs from the mid to late 70's which had a influence on the MTV generation such as Queen, Foreigner, Elton John and The Bee Gees are still featured on many of these stations as the oldest part of the library. Recently some stations are also playing songs from the 90's and 2000's that have appeal to this audience such as Uncle Cracker's "Drift Away" and The Cranberry's "Linger."

See also

• Classic Hits (NZ)

References