''Billboard Radio Monitor'' was a weekly music
trade publication
A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular tradesman, trade or industry. The collective te ...
that followed the
radio industry and tracked the monitoring of current songs by format, station and audience cumes. The magazine was a spinoff of ''
Billboard magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...
'' and was mostly available through subscription to people who work in the radio industry as well as
music chart
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often ...
enthusiasts. It was developed in Columbia, Maryland, initially by Alan Smith and Jonas Cash, principals of the music company called AIR. AIR created music listening competitions for radio programmers in five different musical genres and were looking for a "qualifier" for the contests. The contests involved testing new songs' potential by having radio programmers listen to and respond to each song's hit potential using a national chart as the qualifier. After using Radio and Records chart for the first 10 years of the competition, AIR developed the BAM, and went into partnership with ''Billboard Magazine'' to produce and market the magazine. As members of the Board of Directors, the AIR principals continued to improve its features over the next eight years under the new name of ''Billboard Radio Monitor''.
It started out in 1993 as one 8-page publication covering Top 40, Rhythm 40, Crossover, Urban, AC, Hot AC, Rock, Alternative and Country formats. Eventually, four different publications under the ''Airplay Monitor'' title appeared and became the #1 source of hit music information. They were combined in 2001 and later changed their name to ''Billboard Radio Monitor'' in 2003. On July 14, 2006, publication ceased and was relaunched under the ''
Radio & Records
''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
'' banner on August 11, 2006. The move was a result of a merger between the current ''R&R'' and ''Radio Monitor'' after VNU Media acquired ''R&R'' on July 6, 2006. The relaunched ''
R&R'' would later cease publication on June 5, 2009.
History
Prior to 1993, the radio stations playlists and radio music charts were featured in Billboard. But with the addition of monitored airplay from
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems
Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...
in 1990 and the fragmentation of music formats, the need for a magazine that would focus on one format would come to the forefront. That move resulted in the spinoff of Airplay Monitor, a publication that would the monitor songs or tracks being played on radio station by the number of spins, which in turn are added and tabulated to the corresponding chart the station reports to. The charts and the number of spins featured on the chart are also used to factor in the main
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, as well as the
Hot 100 Airplay
The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout ...
,
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles s ...
,
Pop 100 Airplay
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles sa ...
,
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...
and
Hot Country Singles & Tracks
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
music charts.
Airplay Monitor (1993-2003)
At the start of Airplay Monitor's first issue on January 9, 1993, the publication was available in four editions, which would last until 2001, when they were consolidated into one publication as ''Airplay Monitor'':
*Top 40 Airplay Monitor
**Mainstream Top 40
**Rhythmic Top 40 (originally Top 40 Rhythm-Crossover from 1993 to 1997)
**Crossover (1997–2002)
**Adult Contemporary
**Adult Top 40
**Modern Adult
*R&B Airplay Monitor
**Mainstream R&B
**Adult R&B
**Rap (based on playlists from both Rhythmic Top 40 and Mainstream R&B reporters)
*Rock Airplay Monitor
**Active Rock
**Heritage Rock
**Mainstream Rock (combined playlists from Active and Heritage Rock)
**Modern Rock
**Triple-A
*Country Airplay Monitor
**Country Tracks (based on airplay)
''Billboard Radio Monitor'' (2003-2006)
On January 6, 2003, just ten years after its debut, Billboard renamed the publication ''Billboard Radio Monitor''. The change was to reflect to growing landscape of the radio industry as it began to incorporate more articles involving programmers, markets, formats and artists into the magazine. They also expanded the number of format airplay panels as well and in 2004 became the first music trade to include satellite and audio networks in its reporting panels.
The monitored radio panels are:
*
Mainstream Top 40
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...
*
Rhythmic Top 40
The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine.
The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...
*
Dance airplay
*
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...
*
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
*
R&B/Hip-Hop airplay
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (previously known as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay) is a chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the top R&B and hip hop songs in the United States, based on audience impressions from a panel of radio stations monitored ...
*
Adult R&B airplay
The Adult R&B Songs chart (formerly called Adult R&B Airplay) is an airplay chart that is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on urban adult contemporary radio stations, whose playl ...
*
Rap airplay
Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...
*
Country Airplay
Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990.
This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...
*
Modern Rock airplay
*
Active Rock airplay
*
Heritage Rock airplay
*
Triple-A airplay
*
Smooth Jazz airplay
*
Contemporary Christian airplay
*
Christian AC airplay
*
Gospel airplay
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...
*
Latin Rhythm Airplay
Latin Rhythm Airplay is an airplay-only chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs being played on Hispanic rhythmic/hurban radio stations in the United States. The music typically heard on these stations include r ...
*
Latin Pop Airplay
Latin Pop Airplay (also referred to as Latin Pop Songs) is a record chart published on ''Billboard'' magazine and a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. The chart focuses on Latin pop music, namely Spanish-language pop music. It was established b ...
*
Regional Mexican Airplay
Regional Mexican Airplay (also referred to as Regional Mexican Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. It was established by the magazine on October 8, 1994, with "La Niña Fresa" by Banda Zeta being the first number-one so ...
*
Tropical/Salsa airplay
The merger with ''Radio & Records''
On July 6, 2006 VNU, the parent company of ''Billboard Radio Monitor'', announced the acquisition of ''
Radio & Records
''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
'' (''R&R''), which became a part of the Billboard Information Group a month later on August 1. ''R&R'' had been considered a rival to ''Billboard'' and ''BRM'' for more than 33 years (since 1973, the year ''R&R'' started) and like ''BRM'' also used radio airplay to determine chart activity.
In a statement on both ''R&R'' and ''Billboard Radio Monitors websites:
“This acquisition is in line with VNU's strategy to further strengthen its services to the radio and record industries,” said Michael Marchesano, president and CEO of VNU Business Media and Nielsen Entertainment. “With the added resources of VNU, especially our music services, including the Billboard Information Group, Nielsen BDS, and Nielsen SoundScan, ''R&R'' will continue to grow as a vibrant brand.”
With the purchase of ''R&R'' it was announced on July 12, 2006 that their operations were integrated into ''R&R'' after the transition was completed, since both ''BRM'' and ''R&Rs charts and radio reporting panels were identical to each other, thus resulting in ''Billboard Radio Monitor'' ceasing publication with its July 14 issue. However they continued issuing weekly charts and report on radio industry news online during the turnover, as ''R&R'' started integrating their articles and columns into the Billboard Information Group.
Once the merger was completed both trades was relaunched on August 11 under the "
R&R" name, which combined the features and format articles from the current ''R&R'' but continues to use the same BDS charts and format reporting panels that was featured in ''Radio Monitor'', starting with the week ending August 6. The change also ended ''R&Rs partnership with
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...
after the August 4, 2006 issue.
Use In Countdown Shows
From January 9, 1993 up until its last first-run show on January 28, 1995, ''
American Top 40
''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...
'' used the
Top 40 Mainstream
Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the Un ...
chart as its main source.
See also
*''
Radio & Records
''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
''
*
''R&R'' magazine
{{Billboard
*
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines about the media
Magazines established in 1993
Magazines disestablished in 2006
Mass media monitoring
Music magazines published in the United States
VNU Business Media publications
Weekly magazines published in the United States