Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator music, light music, mood music, and Muzak are other terms that overlap with this format and the style of music that it featured. Beautiful music can also be regarded as a subset of the middle of the road radio format.

History

Beautiful music initially offered soft and unobtrusive instrumental selections on a very structured schedule with limited commercial interruptions. It often functioned as a free background music service for stores, with commercial breaks consisting only of announcements aimed at shoppers already in the stores. This practice was known as "storecasting" and was very common on the FM dial in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of these FM stations usually simulcast their AM station and used a subcarrier (

SCA SCA may refer to: Biology and health * Sickle cell disease, also known as sickle cell anaemia * Spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurological condition * Statistical coupling analysis, a method to identify covarying pairs of amino acids in protein mult ...

) to transmit a hitch-hiker signal to a store receiver by subscription. The signal was usually a slow-moving audio tape of "background music" or Muzak-type service, which was independent of the simulcast AM signal. Some FM stations made more income from these music subscriptions than from their main programming. WITH-FM, in

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(1950s and 1960s), had to keep its FM carrier on the air until 2AM for restaurant subscribers, and could not sign-off the main FM carrier until that time and thus had to run a repeat of its previous day's evening concert on its main FM program line.

Growth as a radio format

One of the first beautiful music radio stations in the US was KIXL in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, area. As early as 1947 it played orchestral music on AM radio (1040), and later on FM (104.5). KIXL changed to KEZL (as in "easy listening") in 1973, but ended with a change to adult contemporary in 1976. In 1959, Gordon McLendon, who had interests in Top-40 radio in Dallas as well as other markets, decided to "counter-program" in San Francisco since several Top-40 stations were already there. McLendon established beautiful music AM station KABL (a tribute to the San Francisco cable cars, named by McLendon's executive assistant Billie Page Odom) which was successful through the 1990s. It then experimented with combining elements of Big Bands and soft rock until its demise in the early 21st century. It was reborn as an Internet radio station where it can be heard today. In the early 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a standard for transmitting and receiving

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

signals on a single channel of the FM band. In addition to delivering stereo sound, FM broadcasting provided clearer sound quality and better resistance to interference than AM, thus being ideal for broadcasting the beautiful music format. In Baltimore, Maryland, programmer

Art Wander Art Wander is a television and radio sports analyst, and former radio format programmer, from Buffalo, New York. Life and career Raised on the East Side of Buffalo, Wander took an early interest in radio, skipping classes to watch Foster Brooks a ...

developed a beautiful music format for the 50,000-watt NBC affiliate WBAL/1090. The station format launched in the fall of 1960 featured music sweeps of lush instrumentals with subtle comments from their staff announcers. The format changed to sports and talk when competing FM stations broadcast beautiful music and easy listening. In 1963, Marlin Taylor created a custom-designed beautiful music format at Philadelphia's WDVR. Within four months, WDVR became the #1 rated FM station in the Philadelphia market. This was one of the first big successes in FM broadcasting, and was instrumental in establishing the viability of FM. WDVR was a resource for mature listeners who were driven from AM radio at the time when WFIL and WIBG (and others) switched to rock 'n' roll programming. WDVR's billboards made the adult audience aware of the new station.

Airtime resell practice. Libraries of music for radio stations

Others, such as Jim Schulke, devised a method of buying air time on FM

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in bulk and reselling the blocks to interested advertisers. Schulke formed ''Stereo Radio Productions'' (SRP) to help his stations get better ratings and pull in more agency advertising dollars. His stations used six hundred reels of

reel-to-reel tape set on multiple machines so that 15 minute segments would play at a time, alternating from one player to another, allowing a varied programming format in which no half-hour was repeated within a two-week period. One of Schulke's stations using this "matched flow" concept was WDVR's chief competitor in the beautiful music format in Philadelphia, WWSH-FM. ''Peters Productions'' in San Diego, California was active throughout the late 1960s through the early 1980s. At one time ''Peters Productions'' offered 7 different syndicated radio formats plus radio/television "station image" packages (custom jingle and integrated promotional graphics packages.) The most popular syndicated radio format was a beautiful music format on a library of 100 reel-to-reel tapes, with 6 new reels provided per month. It originated when founder Ed Peters was station manager of San Diego radio station KFMB-FM. The format aired on over 120 stations during its peak, and was known originally as "Music Only For A Woman." Later the name was changed to "Music Just For The Two of Us."

Stereotypical instrumental-vocal mixes, related to BM/EZ

Many beautiful music programmers constructed their own style of sets, incorporating some vocal songs, usually one to each 15-minute set. Most stations adopted a 70-80% instrumental - 20-30% vocal mix, a few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. Initially, the vocalists consisted of artists such as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

, Nat King Cole,

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

, Tony Bennett,

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

, and others. By the 1970s, softer songs by artists like The Carpenters, Anne Murray,

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

, Barbra Streisand,

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, Nancy Wilson and others were added to the mix on many stations. Also, some of these stations even played soft songs by artists like Elvis Presley,

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

, and other rock-based artists. The main test for the vocals played was not the background of the artist but whether or not the song is extremely soft. All vocals on such stations had to be extremely soft. Therefore, on one hand a song like " She's Out Of My Life" by a non-core artist like Michael Jackson would be heard on some of these stations; similarly, " Crazy for You" or " Live to Tell" by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

. On the other hand, even uptempo jazzier songs by standards artists, such as " Detour" by

, would not be heard on beautiful music stations except during specialty shows. Also, during weekday morning drive times, most beautiful music stations increased the vocals to as much as 50 percent to accommodate a broader audience. While these stations were mostly playing instrumentals, some had a couple of specialty programs that were vocal-based such as a Big Band program on Saturday nights, a Frank Sinatra show sometime on the weekends, and maybe a program featuring Broadway showtunes. Generally, the recordings heard on beautiful music stations were newly orchestrated arrangements of the songs of the day. These were available from the major record labels and performed by such artists as Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith, Mantovani, the

101 Strings 101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding 150 albums and a creative lifetime of around 30 years beginning in 1957. 101 Strings had a trademark sound, focusin ...

Billy Vaughn Richard Smith "Billy" Vaughn (April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records. Biography Vaughn was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, United States, where his father, ...

The Living Strings The Living Strings were a studio orchestra founded in 1959 by RCA Victor for a series of easy listening recordings issued on the RCA Camden budget label. There were also related groups called the Living Voices, Living Brass, Living Guitars, Living ...

, Frank Chacksfield, among others. When the record companies cut back on releasing this material, syndicators of the format had custom recordings produced for them, performed by many different orchestras from around the world. These new custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or

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hit songs, a move intended to give the stations more mass appeal without selling out, but also disgusted some longtime listeners of the format. Some stations would also occasionally play earlier big band-era recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s. Many beautiful music stations would air a few Christmas songs per hour beginning around Thanksgiving each year, increasing their frequency as the month of December progressed. The stations' vocal content would typically increase to about 40 to 60 percent of the playlist during this period, as well. There would then be a special marathon of seasonal music on December 24 and December 25. After the 25th, most continued to play wall-to-wall Christmas music until the first of the year. This concept was later borrowed (and expanded upon) by Soft AC, Oldies, and even some country music and Hot AC stations. Today, the average wall-to-wall Christmas format begins on Thanksgiving ends around midnight on the 26th of December. The predominantly instrumental-vocal mix is still in use today, mainly by smooth jazz stations.

Declining years

''Peters'' was the first beautiful music syndicator to sell its library in the late 1980s to Broadcast Programming, Inc., which then bought several other syndicators. (BPI, later part of Jones Radio Networks, is part of Dial Global as of 2012.) Bonneville, which had acquired the SRP and Century catalogs in the 1980s, sold its beautiful music assets to Broadcast Programming in November 1993. Some beautiful music stations (especially on AM) successfully transitioned to adult contemporary formats, often with call letter changes to shed the " elevator music" identity. Many of these stations marketed themselves as playing many of the same songs from the original artists; adult contemporary had the benefit of having core acts that could much more easily be marketed and were more familiar to listeners, as opposed to the lesser-known and poorer-selling studio acts that made up the majority of the beautiful music format. Beautiful music stations declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s as country music became popular and moved to the FM dial (formerly, country was relegated to AM). Many beautiful music stations, especially in rural areas, switched to country around that time.

List of instrumental artists associated with "beautiful music" radio format era

* Some instrumental artists associated with beautiful music have included: **

101 Strings Orchestra 101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding 150 albums and a creative lifetime of around 30 years beginning in 1957. 101 Strings had a trademark sound, focusing ...

12 Girls Band 12 Girls Band (, sometimes abbreviated to 女樂 or 女乐) are an all female Chinese musical group that initially consisted of twelve members before the addition of a thirteenth. Twelve Girls Band use traditional Chinese instruments to play both ...

André Kostelanetz Andre Kostelanetz (russian: Абрам Наумович Костелянец; December 22, 1901 – January 13, 1980) was a Russian-born American popular orchestral music conductor and arranger who was one of the major exponents of popular orche ...

** Anne Murray ** Arthur Fiedler **

Arthur Greenslade Arthur Greenslade (4 May 1923 – 27 November 2003) was a British conductor and arranger for films and television, as well as for a number of performers. He was most musically active in the 1960s and 1970s. Greenslade was born in Northfle ...

** Arthur Lyman ** Bert Kaempfert **

and his Orchestra ** Bob James ** Bradley Joseph **

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

** Caravelli ** Carl Doy ** Charles Williams **

Cyril Ornadel Cyril Ornadel (2 December 192422 June 2011) was a British conductor, songwriter and composer, chiefly in musical theatre. He worked regularly with David Croft, the television writer, director and producer, as well as Norman Newell and Hal Sh ...

** David Rose **

Enoch Light Enoch Henry Light (August 18, 1907 – July 31, 1978) was an American classically trained violinist, danceband leader, and recording engineer. As the leader of various dance bands that recorded as early as March 1927 and continuing through at le ...

** Eric Coates ** Ernest Tomlinson ** Felix Slatkin ** Ferrante & Teicher ** Floyd Cramer ** Francis Lai ** Franck Pourcel ** Frank Chacksfield ** Frank Cordell ** Frank De Vol ** Frank Perkins ** Geoff Love ** George Melachrino ** George Shearing Quintette ** Geraldo (and his New Concert Orchestra) ** Henry Mancini ** Hollyridge Strings ** Hugo Winterhalter ** Jackie Gleason ** James Galway ** James Last ** Joe Harnell ** John Barry **

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

** Johnny Douglas ** Johnny Pearson ** Lawrence Welk ** Leroy Anderson ** Les Baxter ** Lex de Azevedo ** Liberace **

Living Strings The Living Strings were a studio orchestra founded in 1959 by RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship ...

Longines Symphonette ''The Longines Symphonette'' was a pre-recorded classical music program broadcast nightly on many Mutual Broadcasting System stations from 1943 to 1949. It then moved to CBS where it was heard Sundays at 2 pm from 1949 to 1957. The initial conducto ...

** Mantovani ** Morton Gould **

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Records ...

and his Orchestra ** Nick Ingman ** Norrie Paramor ** Paul Mauriat ** Paul Weston ** Percy Faith ** Peter Nero **

Peter Yorke Peter Christopher Yorke (13 August 1864 – 4 April 1925) was an American Irish Catholic priest and an Irish Republican and Labor activist in San Francisco. Early life Born on Galway's Long Walk on 13 August 1864, he was the youngest child ...

** Ray Martin ** Richard Clayderman ** Richard Hayman ** Robert Farnon ** Robert Maxwell **

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...

** Ron Goodwin **

Ronald Binge Ronald Binge (15 July 1910 – 6 September 1979) was a British composer and arranger of light music. He arranged many of Mantovani's most famous pieces before composing his own music, which included ''Elizabethan Serenade'' and '' Sailing By''.A ...

** Ronnie Aldrich ** Sidney Torch **

Stanley Black Stanley Black OBE (14 June 1913 – 27 November 2002) was an English bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores, recording prolifically for the Decca label (including their subsidiaries ''Lond ...

Syd Dale Syd Dale (20 May 1924 – 15 August 1994) was an English self-taught composer and arranger of funk, easy listening and library music. His music played an important role on television, radio and advertising media of the 1960s and 1970s and is sti ...

** Tony Mottola ** Victor Young ** Wes Montgomery

List of vocal artists associated with "beautiful music" radio format era

* Among the vocal artists featured on beautiful music stations may include many of the same ones featured on the adult standards format and others: ** ABBA (softer selections) **

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

Anita Kerr Anita Jean Kerr (née Grilli, October 13, 1927 – October 10, 2022) was an American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and music producer. She recorded and performed with her vocal harmony groups in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Eur ...

Singers ** Anne Murray **

B.J. Thomas Billy Joe Thomas (August 7, 1942 – May 29, 2021) was an American singer widely known for his pop, country and Christian hits of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Popular songs by Thomas include "Hooked on a Feeling" (1968), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' ...

** Barbra Streisand **

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

** Captain & Tennille **

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

** Connie Francis ** Dan Fogelberg **

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

** Diana Krall **

** Elvis Presley (softer selections) ** Engelbert Humperdinck **

** Harry Connick, Jr. **

Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a showbusiness family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on rad ...

Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer *Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971) *Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...

** Jo Stafford **

** John Gary ** Johnny Mann Singers **

** Linda Ronstadt ** Matt Monro ** Melissa Manchester ** Michael Bublé ** Nana Mouskouri ** Nancy Wilson ** Nat King Cole **

** Norah Jones ** Olivia Newton-John **

** Petula Clark ** Ray Charles Singers **

Ray Conniff Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United St ...

Singers **

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", ...

** Sérgio Mendes **

Snatam Kaur Snatam Kaur Khalsa ( pa, ਸਨਾਤਮ ਕੌਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, born 1972 in Trinidad, Colorado), is an American singer, songwriter and author. Kaur performs new age Indian devotional music, kirtan, and tours the world as a peace acti ...

** Steve Lawrence ** The Association ** The Beatles (softer selections) ** The Carpenters ** The Lettermen ** Vic Damone

Today

The beautiful music format has not yet died completely. Today's smooth jazz radio stations maintain the structure and style of the beautiful music format. The format continues on a few non-commercial radio stations, including KCEA (89.1 FM) in

Atherton, California Atherton () is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 7,188 as of 2020. Atherton is known for its wealth; in 1990 and 2019, Athe ...

; (KWXY) (1340 AM) in Cathedral City, California (KLUX) (89.5 FM) in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

; KHOY (88.1 FM) in Laredo, Texas; KNCT-FM (91.3 FM) in

Killeen, Texas Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. It is the principal city ...

; ,,

KGUD KGUD (90.7 MHz) is a non-commercial, non-profit FM radio station licensed to Longmont, Colorado. The station is owned and operated by Longmont Community Radio. It airs an easy listening/ adult standards radio format, supported by listener dona ...

(90.7 FM) in

Longmont, Colorado The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder and north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Longmont ...

. Jones College of Jacksonville operated

WKTZ-FM WKTZ-FM is a Classic Hits formatted Broadcasting, broadcast radio station licensed to Loch Lynn Heights, Maryland, serving Oakland, Maryland, Oakland and Westernport, Maryland, Westernport in Maryland and Terra Alta, West Virginia, Terra Alta an ...

, a beautiful music noncommercial station, from its 1964 founding until 2014, when it sold the station (and sister station WJAX) to national Christian broadcaster

Educational Media Foundation Educational Media Foundation (formerly EMF Broadcasting, abbreviated EMF) is an American nonprofit Christian media ministry based in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. EMF is the parent company of K-LOVE and Air1—the world's largest ...

for $3.375 million. EMF ended the beautiful music format and switched WKTZ-FM to WJKV, broadcasting its in-house satellite K-Love network. Some commercial beautiful music stations still exist, often in areas with large retiree populations. These are often popular in their markets. An annual influx of vacationers from colder climates has helped such stations as KAHM (102.1 MHz) in Prescott, Arizona, and, until 2021 KWXY (1340 kHz) in Cathedral City, California. Most of the remaining commercial beautiful music stations are primarily in markets with major resorts. An exception is

WGCY WGCY is an American FM radio station broadcasting at 106.3 MHz, licensed to Gibson City, Illinois. The station is locally owned and operated by the McCullough family (d/b/a F&G Broadcasting) and began broadcasting on November 28, 1983. The station' ...

in Gibson City, Illinois which serves rural areas in Central Illinois with mostly instrumental beautiful music. Today most stations that play beautiful music are either characterized as nostalgia, smooth jazz or easy listening. In Canada, Evanov Communications' "Jewel"-branded stations in Ontario and Quebec (including CKDX-FM in metro Toronto, CJWL-FM in Ottawa, and CHSV-FM in metropolitan Montreal, among others), which play soft adult contemporary music during the day and standards in the evening, feature an hour of traditional beautiful music from 11:00 p.m. to midnight, dubbing the program "The Instrumental Concert Series". The Cleveland market features non-profit

WKHR WKHR (91.5 FM) – branded WKHR FM 91.5 – is a non-commercial educational adult standards/MOR radio station licensed to Bainbridge, Ohio. Owned by the Kenston Local School District, the station serves Geauga County and eastern parts ...

91.5, which plays many classic beautiful and light jazz instrumentals from the 1930s through the 1960s, as well as timeless pop and jazz vocals. Radio production veteran Jason 'Jake' Longwell, currently produces and hosts a weekly hour long radio program devoted to Beautiful Music called ''Something Beautiful'' based out of his own studios in Geneva, New York.

Beautiful music without FM radio

Sirius XM Satellite Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...

programs a dedicated beautiful music channel, Escape, for its subscribers, and such services as Music Choice and

DMX Earl Simmons (December 18, 1970 – April 9, 2021), known professionally as DMX, was an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s and released his debut album ''It's Dark and Hell Is Hot'' in 1998, to both critical acclaim ...

provide the format as part of their offerings to cable and satellite television subscribers. Muzak also provides several beautiful music channels which are described as "environmental" background music channels. After financial difficulties forced a sale and subsequent format change of KNXR in Rochester, Minnesota, the original owner in 2016 revived its easy listening format on the internet, at 97five.com. Instrumental beautiful music can also be found on a number of Internet radio feeds. * Many FM stations above have Internet "doubles". * Some "internet radios" have dedicated smartphone apps. Most apps would play music as a background task. * On a similar note: Seeburg 1000's libraries of light music (which are considered to be background music of 60's) are also recreated as a bm/ez-like internet "radio" (seeburg1000.com). It also comes as a mobile app for smartphones that plays music while minimized, hidden from the screen into background. An experience similar to "beautiful music" format of aired music may be achieved by using ad-blocking software on some popular sites with ads and free access. * Most simplistic example for mobile users is to use Firefox Focus kind of Firefox web browser to enter a video streaming site and find a video featuring a compilation of music tracks. This way, it will be possible to play, say, "'' WGER Beautiful Music Radio Station Aircheck early 1970s''", "''WJBR 995 FM Wilmington Delaware early 1970s''" or "''WJOI FM 97 Beautiful Music aircheck around 1987''" video on YouTube without dealing with ads. * For PC version of Firefox web browser, there are easy ways to add "extensions", such as "UOrigin" or "Ad Nauseam".

Antipractice, opposite to BM/EZ

Some radio stations in Europe are notorious for botching up their blocks of ad-free music, ruining the "beautiful music/easy listening"-like experience. While there are no ads indeed, DJs of those radio stations interrupt, break their music streaming with loud announcements on how ad-free their music currently is. This practice may be either an aggressive search for ad time buyers or an unintended failure to deliver the experience of uninterrupted ad-free BM.

List of radio stations, related to BM/EZ

As mentioned above, many radio stations have Internet doubles and some even have own mobile apps. Therefore, it may be possible to listen to a town-scale or city-scale BM/EZ-like radio station from another state. This very list also may come in useful for listening to "airchecks" - old, archived and posted on YouTube compilations of music. * WVTL in Amsterdam, New York * WPCH in Atlanta, Georgia * KGFM in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

* KICE-FM in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U.S ...

* WLIF and Art Wander-programmed WBAL-AM in

* WHDH-FM, WHUE-AM/FM, WJIB-FM, and

WWEL WWEL (103.9 FM, "SAM 103.9") is a radio station licensed to serve London, Kentucky. The station is owned by Forcht Broadcasting, a Forcht Group of Kentucky Company and licensed to F.T.G. Broadcasting, Inc. The station has been assigned these ...

-AM/FM in Boston, Massachusetts *

WEZN WEZN-FM (99.9 MHz, "Star 99.9") is a commercial radio station, licensed to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and serving Southern Connecticut. The station is owned by Connoisseur Media and it airs a hot adult contemporary radio format. The WEZN studios a ...

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

* WHBC-FM in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

WEZC WEZC (95.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Clinton, Illinois. It is owned by the Miller Media Group and the broadcast license is held by Kaskaskia Broadcasting, Inc. WEZC has a soft oldies - adult standards radio fo ...

, WBT-FM and WRLX in Charlotte, North Carolina * WDEF-FM in Chattanooga, Tennessee * WLAK, WLOO, WCLR, WNUS-FM and WAIT-AM in Chicago, Illinois * KPAY-FM in Chico, California * WWEZ, WLVV and

WAEF AEF may refer to: * Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship, Australia * Afrique Équatoriale Française or French Equatorial Africa * Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation * Air Experience Flight * Allied Expeditionary Force in World War II * A ...

(later WLQA) in Cincinnati, Ohio * WDOK, WKSW,

WDBN WDBN (107.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting an urban contemporary format. Licensed to Wrightsville, Georgia, United States, it serves the Dublin, Georgia area. The station is currently owned by Dowdy Partners. (Until 1988, WDBN was the call ...

, WBEA, WNOB, and WQAL in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

* KRDO-FM in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

* WBUK (later WTVN-FM) and WBNS-FM in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

* KBOX (later KTLC and KMEZ-FM), KIXL (later KEZT) and KOAX in Dallas/Fort Worth * WDAQ in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

WHIO The blue duck or whio (''Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos'') is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus ''Hymenolaimus''. Its exact taxonomic status is still unresolved, but i ...

in Dayton, Ohio * KLIR and

KOSI KOSI (101.1 FM) is a commercial radio station in Denver, Colorado. KOSI is owned by Salt Lake City–based Bonneville International and airs an adult contemporary music format. Its studios and offices are located on East Orchard Road in Greenwo ...

in Denver, Colorado * WJR-FM and WWJ-FM (later WJOI) in Detroit, Michigan * KPNW-FM in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

* WAVV in

Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

* WFRE in Frederick, Maryland * KLTA and KKNU in Fresno, California * WOOD-FM in Grand Rapids, Michigan * WGLD in Greensboro, North Carolina * WWMD in

Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstown metropolitan area (exten ...

* WRCH and WKSS in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

* KYND-FM, KODA-AM/ FM, KXYZ in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

* WRSA-FM in Huntsville, Alabama * WXTZ-FM in Indianapolis, Indiana * WKTZ in Jacksonville * KONA-FM in

Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

* WFYN in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

* WEZK in Knoxville, Tennessee *KBMI-AM and KXTZ in Las Vegas, Nevada * KPOL-FM,

KNOB Knob or KNOB may refer to: Objects * A round handle ** Doorknob ** Control knob, controls a device ** Brodie knob, on a steering wheel * Tow ball or hitch ball * Dorset knob, a biscuit Landforms * A rounded hill or mountain, particularl ...

, KJOI, KOST and KBIG-FM in Los Angeles, California *

WVEZ WVEZ (106.9 FM) is a commercial hot adult contemporary radio station licensed to serve St. Matthews, Kentucky. Owned by SummitMedia, the station covers much of the Louisville metropolitan area. The WVEZ studios are located in Downtown Louisvill ...

in Louisville, Kentucky * KTMT-FM in Medford, Oregon *

in Medina, Ohio (served Akron, Canton, and Cleveland markets) * WLYF in Miami, Florida * WEZW in Milwaukee, Wisconsin * WAYL and KEEY in Minneapolis-Saint Paul * WZEZ in Nashville, Tennessee *

WVNJ WVNJ (1160 AM) is a religious formatted radio station licensed to Oakland, New Jersey and serving Bergen County, New Jersey and parts of the New York City area. The station is owned-and-operated by Relevant Radio, Inc. and broadcasts Catholi ...

in Newark, New Jersey * WKCI-FM in New Haven, Connecticut * WBFM (later WPIX-FM), WTFM and WRFM in New York City * KNPT-FM in Newport, Oregon * WDBO-FM and WSSP in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

* KWXY in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

* WPAT-AM/ FM in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.WEAZ-AM and WDVR (later WEAZ-FM) and WQAL (later WWSH) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *

KRFM KRFM is a commercial adult contemporary music radio station in Show Low, Arizona Show Low is a city in Navajo County, Arizona. It lies on the Mogollon Rim in east central Arizona, at an elevation of 6,345 feet (1,934 m). The city was establish ...

(later KQYT), KMEO-FM and KDOT in Phoenix, Arizona * WKJF (later WKOI and WJOI) and WSHH in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * KXL-FM, KUPL-FM, KJIB and KQFM in Portland, Oregon * WHJY and WLKW-FM in Providence, Rhode Island * WPVR (now

WSLC WSLC-FM (94.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia and serving the New River Valley. WSLC-FM is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc. It airs a country music radio format, using the moniker "94.9 Star Country." WS ...

) in Roanoke, Virginia * WEZO in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

* KAER, KCTC and KEWT in Sacramento, California * WGER in Saginaw, Michigan *

KQXT KQXT-FM (101.9 MHz, "Q101.9") is a commercial radio station in San Antonio, Texas. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, airing an adult contemporary radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. On weekdays, it c ...

is San Antonio, Texas * KSDO-AM, K-JOY, KFMB-FM and XTRA in San Diego, California * KOIT-FM and KFOG in San Francisco * KEUT, KIXI-AM/FM, KEZX, KSEA and KBRD in Seattle-Tacoma *

WJYW WJYW ("Star 88.3") is a local radio station licensed to Union City, Indiana and broadcasting from neighboring Union City, Ohio at 88.9 MHz. WJYW also operates the following FM translator in the Richmond, Indiana Richmond is a city in ...

Southport, North Carolina Southport is a city in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. Its population was 3,828 as of the 2018 census. The mayor is Joseph P. Hatem. Southport is the location of the North Carolina Fourth of ...

* KXLY-FM in Spokane, Washington * KEZK in St. Louis, Missouri *

WFLA-FM WFLA-FM (100.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Midway, Florida, and serving the Tallahassee metropolitan area. It broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are on John Knox Road in ...

, WDUV and WWBA-FM in Tampa/St. Petersburg * WLQR in Toledo, Ohio * WGAY-FM in Washington, D.C. * WWYZ in Western Connecticut * WEAT in West Palm Beach, Florida *

KUEZ KUEZ (104.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Fallon, Nevada serving the Reno metropolitan area. It is owned by John Burkavage, with Big Horn Media, Inc. as the licensee. It broadcasts a soft adult contemporary radio format. KUEZ has a ...

in Yakima, Washington

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beautiful Music 20th-century music genres Easy listening music