Radio Resources

Guide to radio station formats

Symbol	Format Name	Description	Demographics
AC	Adult Contemporary	An adult-oriented pop/rock station with no hard rock, often with a greater emphasis on non-current music and softer hits from the 1980s and 1990s	Women ages 25 to 54
AH	Hot AC, Adult Contemporary Hits	A more up-tempo, contemporary hits format, with no hard rock and no rap	Adults ages 25 to 34
AP	Adult Alternative	Eclectic rock, often with wide variations in musical style	Adults ages 25 to 44
AR	Album Rock	Mainstream rock & roll, which can include guitar-oriented "heavy metal"	Men ages 25 to 44
AS	Adult Standards	Standards and older, non-rock popular music from the 1940s to the 1980s, which can include softer current popular music	Adults ages 35+
BG	Black Gospel	Current gospel songs and sermons geared toward African-Americans	Adults ages 35+
CH	Contemporary Hits, Top-4O	Current popular music, often encompassing a variety of rock styles, with CH-RB indicating dance contemporary hits, CH-AR indicating rock-based contemporary hits and CH-NR indicating new rock or modern rock based contemporary hits	Teens & Adults ages 20 to 24
CR	Classic Rock	Rock oriented oldies, often mixed with album cuts from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s	Men ages 25 to 44
CW	Country	Country music, including contemporary and traditional styles, CW-OL is country oldies	Adults ages 25+
CZ	Classic Hits	A rock-based oldies format, focusing on the 1970s	Adults ages 25 to 44
EZ	Easy Listening	Primarily instrumental cover versions of popular songs, with more uptempo varieties of this format including soft rock originals, which may be mixed with "smooth jazz" or adult standards	Adults ages 35 +
ET	Ethnic	Programs geared to various ethnicities, primarily in languages other than English	Variety of Ages
FA	Fine Arts — Classical	Fine arts "classical" music often includes opera, theater and/or culture-oriented news and talk	Adults ages 35+
JZ	Jazz	Mostly instrumental, often mixed with Soft AC, which includes both traditional jazz and "smooth jazz" or "new AC"	Adults ages 25+
MA	Modern AC	An adult-oriented softer modern rock format with less heavy, guitar-oriented music than the younger new rock	Mostly Women ages 25 to 44
MT	Financial Talk	All financial or "money-talk"	Adults ages 35+
NR	New Rock, Modern Rock	Current rock, mainstream "alternative" and heavier guitar oriented hits	Teens & Adults ages 20 to 35
NX	News	All-news, either local or network in origin, with stations also having this description if a significant block of time is devoted to news	Adults ages 35+
OL	Oldies	Popular music, usually rock-oriented, with 80% or more, non-current music, with CW-OL indicating country oldies and RB-OL indicating R & B oldies	Adults ages 25 to 55
PT	Pre-teen	Music, drama or readings intended primarily for a pre-teen audience	Children ages 12 & under
RB	R&B, Urban	Covers a wide range of musical styles geared toward African Americans, which can also be called "urban contemporary" or “hip-hop”	Teens & Adult ages 20 to 24
RC	Religious Contemporary	Modern and rock-based religious music	All ages
RG	Religious Gospel	Traditional religious music	Adults ages 25+
RL	Religion	Local or syndicated religious programming, often spoken-word, sometimes mixed with music	Adults ages 25+
SA	Soft Adult Contemporary	A cross between adult contemporary and easy listening, primarily non-current, soft rock originals	Mostly Women ages 25+
SB	Soft Urban Contemporary	Soft R&B, sometimes mixed with smooth jazz, often heavy in oldies	Adults ages 35+
SG	Southern Gospel	Country flavored gospel music, also includes the "Christian country" or "positive country" format	Adults ages 25+
SS	Spanish	Spanish-language programming, often paired with another type of programming, with equivalents of English formats including: SS-EZ (easily listening); SS-CH (contemporary hits); SS-AC ("modern" music); SS-NX-TK (news-talk); SS-RA (ranchero music); SS-TP (salsa, tropical); SS-TJ (tejano); SS-MX (regional Mexican); or SS-VA (variety)	All ages
SX	Sports	Listed only if all or a substantial block of a broadcast day is devoted to play-by-play, sports news, interviews or telephone-talk	Men ages 25+
TK	Talk	Talk, either local or network in origin, which can be telephone-talk, interviews, information or a mix	Adults ages 25+
VA	Variety	Incorporating four or more distinct formats, either block-programmed or airing simultaneously	All ages

Updated August of 2011