Can you name the commercial radio station formats (U.S. - 2008)?

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Radio Station Formats Quiz

Rating:	Report a mistake
Published: March 26th, 2009
Category: Music
Plays: 18,471

Tags: station, 2008, radio, format, commercial, operating, primary

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	bringer of spice:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:32 GMT	18 points
	good quiz, but i have no clue what the difference between 5,9, and 10 are.

	MovieDynamic:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:34 GMT	-2 points
	Always Oldies.

	Beldasnoop:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:37 GMT	12 points
	Good quiz, but I am a little surprised Classical isn't on this list.

	Bailey:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:38 GMT	-4 points
	I wonder why country is the number one format by such a large margin? Is it because the average country listener tends to lag a little behind the times when it comes to technology, so they haven't gotten as much into the new formats? Is it because they're smaller stations covering the many smaller, rural communities? Is it because there's not as much representation of Country in other media as there is hip/hop and rock?

	Klingsta:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:40 GMT	-3 points
	the fact that country is first and by such a huge margin, sends anger down my spine.

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	Bailey:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:52 GMT	9 points
	Personally I wasn't bashing country. There are good and bad forms of every musical genre. It's just curious why it's so highly represented on radio, but not in other media.

	marpocky:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 05:53 GMT	4 points
	@Bailey: What exactly do you mean by "the new formats"?

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	leob:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 06:05 GMT	7 points
	"Latino" should be accepted for "Spanish".

	Bailey:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 06:06 GMT	13 points
	@ Andy B I know where I live now (rural Arkansas) there's a much bigger country following than where I am used to living, and many of the people here are still listening to the radio and cds. Whereas, by a completely unscientific measure, it seems to me the people who listen to rock and rap are more likely to use mp3 players and stuff. I just thought it might be a reason why there are more country stations... because it's still a really viable format for that genre.

	Dodge:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 06:29 GMT	9 points
	Thank you for clarifying, Bailey. I appreciate it - and I appreciate not having to hear the typical country music fan insults. I was thinking about the things you've been commenting on and I agree that there is some sort of mystery there. We'll have to figure that out.

	swellwrench:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 06:47 GMT	11 points
	sounds like the start of a beautiful relationship

	Loud:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 07:36 GMT	3 points
	Hmm... I tried Latin, Latino and Mexican. Kind of seems like it should take any of those for #3.

	NickD:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 07:39 GMT	3 points
	Same here Loud. I figured it had to be on there somewhere, but you hardly ever hear it called Spanish music. I'm still not sure what the last two mean.

	onetheta:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 07:44 GMT	37 points
	I tried AM, FM and DAB before I realized I was hopelessly on the wrong track.

	IHateRegistering:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 07:53 GMT	20 points
	I was so confused. I tried AM, FM, etc. Then I switched and typed in sports and news so I got those. Since I got those I thought it was referring to the types of shows. I then typed in music, public, and call-in but didn't get any. Oh well.

	adal:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 08:02 GMT	18 points
	It should be clearer what is meant by format. I had no idea until I looked at the comments.

	Jwillier:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 17:54 GMT	4 points
	How is Jazz and Classical not on this list?

	happyjoe5:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 17:59 GMT	8 points
	As people have said, format is a confusing way of describing it. I though it meant something technical to do with broadcasting frequencies or something. Should be called radio station genres or styles or something like that. Even 'types' would be clearer than formats.

	Jaspers:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:04 GMT	6 points
	Elvis Costello had it right. Radio dug it's own grave with Payola, over-commercialization and censorship, and with the digital revolution, it's in its last legs.

	Sanchopanza65:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:07 GMT	4 points
	Finally got to do this one after this morning's technical difficulties. Sadly, Blortash Contemporary is not a valid format

	tcalleen:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:23 GMT	18 points
	I think part of the reason that country music has more stations than anything else is that it is less divided or segmented than "rock" or "popular" music. Really, what is shown are subdivisions - adult contemporary, adult standards, hot adult contemporary, rock, classic rock, oldies, and top 40 have a lot of overlap. I've seen country music stations divide their formats similarly (hot country, classic country, country hits, etc), but here it is all lumped together as country.

	lulubelles:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:23 GMT	2 points
	I put in golden oldies and it wouldn't let me have it! Surely thats just as good. mean sporcle

	AdamL:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:24 GMT	0 points
	I tried Latin which I think is good enough for Spanish, no?

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	tcalleen:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:27 GMT	7 points
	Oh, even though this is from the World Almanac, this is actually the US commercial radio station top formats. As for classical and jazz, in the US those formats are most frequently represented on NPR or National Public Radio, which is, at least in part, government-funded and therefore not "commercial".

	melissa:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:31 GMT	4 points
	Interesting quiz (once I figured out that "format" meant something besides AM & FM!) I found two bonuses (#12 & #13) - any others out there ? Perhaps jazz and classical could be added as bonuses, along with their rankings?

	Cuthbert_Twilley:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:34 GMT	8 points
	Of course Jazz and Classical are not on here. And it's for the same reason major symphonies require donations to stay in business and jazz musicians are only found in small numbers in a few large cities. Americans in general don't listen to it. Sad, but true.

	montecarlo:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:37 GMT	1 point
	i got bonuses 13, 18, and 19. hints: 13 starts with R, 18 starts with C, and 19 has the letters B and R, but i won't give away in what order.

	Cuthbert_Twilley:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:38 GMT	10 points
	@Kenneth: I hate country music but it isn't from ignorance. One of my coworkers puts it on all the time (I can hear some right now, in fact). I admit, I hated country music before I'd listened to very much of it, but now that I have I feel quite justified in my opinion. Popular country music is inane, saccharine pulp with no musical merit or value. There have been some great musicians who played country music (I still love Willie Nelson), and there are even a few today, but you'll never hear them on country music radio stations.

	Flavio:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:39 GMT	2 points
	hello there! I was curious as to what the bonus answers were, so I searched online and found the current "M Street Radio Directory" list (http://www.insideradio.com/formatcounts.asp). I noticed that there were some differences between this list and the quiz results. For one, News/Radio was the #1 format, it had more stations than Country. Strange . . .

	tcalleen:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 18:46 GMT	2 points
	@Flavio: The website gives the Feb. 2009 totals; the quiz is for the 2008 totals.

	davidr:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:01 GMT	2 points
	@Cuthbert T.: So you actually hate country music radio stations, rather than country music itself, right?

	Hetch:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:04 GMT	3 points
	Latin for spanish?

	Cuthbert_Twilley:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:04 GMT	8 points
	@davidr: Sort of. I hate country music stations because they play country music that I hate. As I said, there is some great country music out there, but the vast majority of is utter tripe.

	isaac:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:05 GMT	5 points
	I wish I was in Tijuana, eatin barbecued iguana...

	ShepherdBook:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:08 GMT	0 points
	#18 popped up for me. Way too high, if you ask me. Also - wish "Top 40" would've been accepted for #9.

	spum66:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:19 GMT	3 points
	Seriously, can someone explain the difference between "adult contemporary", "hot adult contemporary" and "adult standards"?

	tcalleen:	Mar 26th, 2009 at 19:30 GMT	11 points
	All three play older popular music or music that was top 40 "back in the day". The real difference is the target audience age. Adult contemporary is lighter rock targeted towards those in their 30s or 40s (music from the 70s and 80s). Hot adult contemporary is targeted a bit younger - those in their 20s or 30s (music from the 80s and 90s). Adult standards is targeted a bit older - those in their 40s or 50s (music from the 60s and 70s). This is a general breakdown, but there is considerable overlap, and the interpretation is really up to the individual radio stations.