Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on their playlists, and generally include some mix of

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

and traditional R&B (while urban oldies stations emphasize only the latter). Urban adult contemporary playlists generally consist of many different genres that originated amongst

Black Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensla ...

including R&B,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

, hip-hop, electro,

quiet storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album ''A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lin ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

, new jack swing, and hip-hop soul.

Summary

The format usually plays some classic R&B hits, as well as hits that are ten years old or more. Classic dance music also has a great impact in this format.

Disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobil ...

s use a more relaxed sound than their younger counterparts. News and current events have a major impact on the older audience. Around the evening, urban AC stations play

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

and during the

Quiet Storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album ''A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lin ...

program. Many of the urban AC radio stations implement slogans such as "Classic Soul & Today's R&B", "(City/Region)'s Old School and R&B Station", "The Best Mix of R&B", and "(City/Region)'s R&B Leader." Some popular nicknames for urban oldies stations include "Magic" (borrowed from the

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 ...

format), "Mix" and "Star" (both borrowed from the Hot AC format), and " KISS-FM" (borrowed from top 40/CHR). WBLS in New York City, which is the flagship station of the urban contemporary format, was one of the first stations to introduce the urban AC format in 1994. WRKS-FM (also in New York City) introduced the first 24-hour classic soul radio station in the country. Urban AC stations usually target the 18-49 and 25-54 age groups. Many urban AC stations rely heavily on syndicated programming such as '' The Steve Harvey Morning Show'' and '' The D. L. Hughley Show''.

Cumulus Media Networks Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...

also operates a 24/7 urban AC format delivered to affiliated stations via satellite, called " The Touch", which is common on smaller- and medium-market stations featuring the urban AC format. KJLH in Los Angeles is one urban AC station whose playlist heavily emphasizes current material.

Urban oldies

"Urban oldies" refers to R&B music dating back to the late 1950s/early 1960s through the early 1990s. Although

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

are the primary audience, radio stations playing this type of music often attract

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

listeners because R&B is one of the roots of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

. A more mass-appeal version of the format is

rhythmic oldies Rhythmic oldies is a radio format that concentrates on the rhythmic, R&B, disco, or dance genres of music. Playlists can span from the 1960s through the 2000s and, depending on market conditions, may be designed for African-American or Hispan ...

, which attracts both white and black listeners, as well as Latino listeners (particularly in the

Southwest United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...

). One of the first stations to play this type of music was WRKS-FM (98.7 Kiss FM). In December 1994, Emmis Broadcasting transformed Kiss FM into the first station to play urban oldies music on a regular basis. The format was an instant hit with black and white listeners around the Greater New York area, reaching to number two on the Arbitron ratings. Before WRKS, many of the stations playing this music were on AM radio. Primary artists included The Isley Brothers,

McFadden & Whitehead McFadden and Whitehead were an American R&B duo, best known for their signature tune " Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now". They wrote and produced some of the most popular R&B hits of the 1970s, and were primarily associated with the Gamble and Huff r ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in '' Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Wit ...

, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations. One of the first stations to try the format was WSID in Baltimore in the late 1950s/1960s/1970s. WDGS-AM in the Louisville market had a full-range urban AC format, with no rap music, as early as 1985. WDGS neatly substituted jazz, blues and urban/soul gold for the 35% of the playlists that were rap/hip-hop at the time, while playing 65% non-rap urban currents, to wide acclaim. WJMO in Cleveland and WVOL in Nashville were some of the early converts. KHYS in Houston switched to the format in 1999. KCJZ in San Antonio followed suit 7 months later. Early in 1994, '' M Street Journal'' reported 33 radio stations in the format, compared to 14 a year earlier. Many of these were affiliates of the Satellite Music Network format

Urban Gold Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

, which had 27 stations six months after starting October 1, 1993. Steve Harris, the SMN manager for urban radio, said no black radio stations had targeted adults over 35. Consultant Tony Gray said older adults did not like contemporary music, which had few tunes that had proved they could stand the test of time. And hip hop was becoming a bigger part of contemporary radio. Another factor was the availability of older records in remastered form. Hurricane Dave Smith of WJJJ in Pittsburgh, which had switched from

, doubted the format would succeed on

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

, but he believed listeners who enjoyed older songs were used to AM.

Sean Ross Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...

of WGCI-AM in Chicago believed the format could work either place, but stations that selected it would be those desiring something different. The satellite format focused on the years 1967 to 1978, but also played songs from as far back as 1963 and as recent as the early 1980s. Included were both

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

and uptempo songs. WGCI even played songs from the 1950s, including

Unforgettable Unforgettable may refer to: Film * ''Unforgettable'' (1996 film), a thriller starring Ray Liotta * ''Unforgettable'' (2014 film), a Bollywood film * ''Unforgettable'' (2016 film), a South Korean film * ''Unforgettable'' (2017 film), an America ...

by Nat King Cole, though Ross said even teenagers liked the station because they had learned about older songs from their parents, and because newer versions of old songs were being recorded. Other stations included WRBO 103.5 in Memphis, WNPL in Nashville, KMEZ in New Orleans and WPLZ in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

. In addition to WRBO, urban oldies stations include WATV (AM) in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...

, and KAJM in Phoenix. Some urban oldies stations refer to this format as "old school,"Search results for "old school" o
Radioinsight.com
Retrieved 7 September 2014. for example, WOSL in Cincinnati.

Name controversy

There is disagreement in the music industry over the use of the term ''urban'' in describing music genres and formats. In June 2020, Republic Records and artist management company Milk & Honey stated that they would drop the use of the word in relation to music of a black origin. These decisions came in the wake of the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

at the hands of police and the subsequent protests. Lance Venta of radio industry publication ''RadioInsight'' claimed that the term ''urban'' is outdated in that R&B and hip hop music have gained massive popularity outside the inner cities and the descriptor should not serve as a euphemism for "black music". He recommended substituting the terms ''adult R&B'' for the urban adult contemporary format and ''hip hop'' for urban contemporary. Myron Fears, operations manager and program director of the black owned Carter Broadcast Group in Kansas City, defended the use of the ''urban'' tag. Responding to Republic's elimination of the term, he expressed concern that the action diminishes the status of black music executives within record companies and the industry as a whole:

References

{{reflist Radio formats

Summary

Urban oldies

Name controversy

See also

References