WHAT IS ADULT CONTEMPORARY?

Adult Contemporary in the simplest form is a radio station format that appeals to adults aged 25-54 who like a mixture of music from the 60's all the way up through today.

AC in 2007 is very much a song driven format versus an artist driven format. Some core artists are still around and they include Elton John, Faith Hill, Rod Stewart, & Fleetwood Mac. New contemporary artists such as Train, The Fray and John Mayer take up many slots on today's AC radio playlists. Some of Americas most successful AC stations are Fresh 102.7/ New York, WMJX/Boston, WEAT-FM/West Palm Beach, KEZK, St. Louis, WLIF, Baltimore, WKQC, Charlotte and many others in major and small markets across the nation.

Morning and Night personalities are a big part of AC radio. Some of the most successful today in Morning Drive are Mark and Kim on KOST, LA, Trapper Jack on WDOK, Cleveland, Allan Camp on WRCH in Hartford, and Michael Waite on WJBR in Wilmington, DE. Nighttime personalities who host Love Songs type shows are also very important to this format. Delilah (heard nationwide) and David Allen Boucher on WMJX in Boston are two of America's most successful Nighttime personalities.

WHEN DID IT ALL START?

AC radio got it's first start in the mid 70's when the demand for better adult ratings was put on radio stations by advertisers. In those days, the biggest stations were the Top-40 radio stations that were very teen based. The advertisers quickly made it known that they wanted more adults to listen. 

At this point many Top-40 stations started playing more adult driven music and calmed down their DJ's to start a format that would be referred to as "Chicken-Rock." The real birth of AC radio took place in the late 70's, early 80's when the format moved to FM on pioneer stations such as KVIL in Dallas and WROR in Boston. 

Today, AC Radio is one of the steadiest and most listened to formats in American Radio. 

TYPES OF AC RADIO

Today there are two versions of AC radio available in most markets: Soft/Mainstream and Hot AC

SOFT/MAINSTREAM

This version features mostly music, and as the name says, it is still a softer rock driven music format. Mainstream AC continues to stress "at work" listening, with their more music strategy. These stations still offer a wide variety of music from the 60's (only the evergreen classics) all the way up to today's sound. Yesterday's core artists such as Elton John, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston and Phil Collins, have been replaced by Fray, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Natasha Beddingfield, Daniel Powter and Rob Thomas. The majority of mainstream AC's do not have major personalities, although some do. Most run love songs at night. The syndicated "Delilah" continues to be on many of these stations with fewer and fewer local night hosts.

The most popular positioning statement for Soft AC radio continues to utilize the "Softrock" name. Another popular position for these stations is "Favorites of Yesterday and Today".

Most AC's use names to identify themselves versus call letters. The most used soft AC names are Lite, Magic and Sunny. Other names that are frequently used are alpha numerics such as B98.5.

Leading Mainstream/Soft AC stations are Fresh 102.7, New York, WMJX, Boston, WRCH, Hartford, WLIF, Baltimore, and KEZK, St. Louis.

HOT AC

Hot AC is just what it's name says, HOT. Hotter music, Hotter presentation and hotter personalities. It's often referred to as Adult CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio). Core artists on Hot AC would be Daughtry, Fray, John Mayer, Nickleback and Gwen Stefani.

Leading Hot ACs today are WBMX, Boston, Mix 107.3 in Washington and KFMB, in San Diego.

BERKOWITZ BROADCAST CONSULTING IS AMERICA'S LEADING ALL AC CONSULTANCY REPRESENTING AMERICA'S HIGHEST RATED AC RADIO STATIONS.

Improved 25-54 results for your station is our bottom line at Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting. 

Put the Berkowitz Broadcast Consulting "Difference" on your team.

AC IS OUR ONLY FORMAT! We're specialists.

BERKOWITZ CONSULTED AC'S WIN. The majority of our stations consistently place #1  25-54.

WE WORK FOR AMERICAS MOST SUCCESSFUL AC'S. Fresh 102.7, New York, WMJX, Boston, WEAT-FM, West Palm Beach, and WKQC, Charlotte are examples of our winning AC client stations.

WHEN YOU HIRE GARY BERKOWITZ, YOU GET GARY BERKOWITZ. No Associates. No "second stringers."