Radio Format - List of Formats

List of Formats

Formats constantly evolve and each format can often be sub-divided into many specialty formats. Some of the following formats are available only regionally or through specialized venues such as satellite radio or Internet radio.

• Active rock
• Adult album alternative (or just adult alternative) (AAA or Triple-A)
• Adult contemporary music (AC)
• Adult standards / nostalgia (pre-rock)
• Adult hits / variety hits
• Album rock / album-oriented rock (AOR)
• Alternative rock
• Americana
• Beautiful music
• Big band
• Bluegrass
• Blues
• Caribbean (reggae, soca, merengue, cumbia, salsa, etc.)
• Children's
• Christmas music (usually seasonal, mainly December)
• Classic hits
• Classic rock
• Classical
• College radio
• Comedy
• Contemporary Christian (which is also known as CCM)
• Contemporary hit radio (CHR), occasionally still informally known as top-40 / hot hits)
• Contemporary classical music
• Country music:
  • New country/Young country
  • Classic country
• Dance (dance top-40)
• Eclectic
• Ethnic/International
• Educational
• Experimental
• Folk music
• Full-service (talk and variety music)
• Freeform radio (DJ-selected)
• Hot adult contemporary (Hot AC)
• Hispanic rhythmic
• Indian music
• Jazz
• Lite adult contemporary (Lite AC)
• Mainstream rock
• Middle of the road (MOR)
• Modern adult contemporary (Modern AC)
• Modern rock
• All-news radio
• Oldies - Primarily 1955-early '80s pop music
• Polka
• Progressive rock
• Psychedelic rock
• Quiet Storm (most often a "day-part" format at Urban Stations, i.e. 7p-12 midnight,)
• Radio documentary
• Radio drama
• Ranchera
• Regional Mexican (Banda, corridos, ranchera, conjunto, mariachi, norteño, etc.)
• Rhythmic adult contemporary
• Rhythmic contemporary (Rhythmic Top 40)
• Rhythmic oldies
• Rock
• Rock en español
• Romántica (Spanish AC)
• Smooth jazz
• Soft adult contemporary (soft AC)
• Soft rock
• Soul music
• Space music
• Sports
• Spanish sub-formats:
  • Tejano music (Texas/Mexican music)
  • Also see: Ranchera, Regional Mexican, Romántica, and Tropical
• Talk radio
  • Conservative talk radio
  • Progressive talk radio
  • Public talk radio
  • Hot talk/shock jocks
• Traditional pop music
• Tropical (salsa, merengue, cumbia, etc.)
• Urban:
  • Urban contemporary (mostly rap, hip hop, soul, and R&B artists)
  • Urban adult contemporary (Urban AC) - R&B, soul and sometimes gospel music, without rap
• Variety
• World music