Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s and the nostalgia behind it is a major driver to the format. It is considered the successor to the oldies format, a collection of top 40 songs from the late 1950s through the late 1970s that was once extremely popular in the United States and Canada. The term is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for the adult hits format, which uses a slightly newer music library stretching from all decades to the present with a major focus on 1990s and 2000s pop, rock and alternative songs. In addition, adult hits stations tend to have larger playlists, playing a given song only a few times per week, compared to the tighter libraries on classic hits stations. For example, KRTH , a classic hits station in Los Angeles, and KSPF , a classic hits station in Dallas, both play power songs up to 30 times a week or more, which is another differentiator compared to other formats that share songs with classic hits libraries.
41-499: WSGT (107.1 MHz) is a Classic Hits formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Patterson, Georgia , serving Waycross and Jesup in Georgia . WSGT is owned and operated by John Higgs' Broadcast South, through licensee Higgs Multimedia Group, LLC. This article about a radio station in the state of Georgia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Classic Hits The classic hits format saw growth in
82-573: A classic hits radio format . The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, at ( 40°2′30″N 75°14′10″W / 40.04167°N 75.23611°W / 40.04167; -75.23611 ). The station's studios and offices are co-located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City Philadelphia . The station features mostly hits from
123-563: A Nielsen report. As of December 2019, there are now over 1,100 classic hits stations in the United States, the largest amount in format history. The term "classic hits" is believed to have its birth at WZLX in Boston , when the station hired programming consultant Gary Guthrie to convert the station from adult contemporary to a format composed of the hipper tracks from the oldies format and album tracks from popular classic rock albums. The goal
164-413: A couple of weeks to a month or so. [...] And then as we move through the spring and into the summer, we will add some additional hosts for mid-day afternoon and evening." The change also resulted in the unannounced departure of the station's longtime weekend program "Bob Pantano’s Dance Party", which had been heard on the station on Saturday nights and would move to the station's HD2 subchannel after being on
205-636: A decade-based collection, as opposed to a single style of music. There are theories about why the music of the 1980s continues to be popular, especially to younger generations such as Millennials. The advent of music in video games such as the Grand Theft Auto , Rock Band , and Guitar Hero series introduced younger audiences to 1980s songs from artists such as The Police, Queen, Duran Duran, The Cars , R.E.M. , Billy Joel , and hundreds of others . Another theory includes TV shows and movies on Netflix and other streaming video services that are set in
246-543: A deep playlist, playing a larger number of songs than most oldies stations. For the next year, WOGL and WIOQ competed for Philadelphia's FM oldies audience, until WIOQ dropped the format early in 1989. Scott Walker, who programmed Hot Hits WCAU-FM, remained as Program Director . Originally, WOGL was known as "Oldies 98". By 1992, WOGL incorporated more soul oldies. The station still played artists such as Elvis , The Beatles and The Rolling Stones , but in addition, it focused on soul, including Philadelphia-only hits. The mix
287-447: A major shift in radio programming. According to these reports, the 1970s and 1980s were the last decades that a typical top 40 radio station played all music types; by the 1990s, top 40 began splintering into various genres such as rap and alternative rock, and each station was reformatted to focus on one type of music. Millennials also grew up in an era when music radio formats featuring older music were becoming widespread, something that
328-586: The CHR/Top 40 format from WEGX , "Eagle 106". CBS decided that WCAU-FM could be more profitable appealing to an older, more desirable demographic of 25-to 54-year-olds. On November 9, 1987, at 7 p.m., after playing " Another One Bites the Dust " by Queen , WCAU-FM returned to the oldies format as WOGL (which stood for "Old Gold"). The first song on WOGL was " Good Golly, Miss Molly " by Little Richard . Eleven hours later, however, 102.1 WIOQ shifted to oldies as well. WOGL had
369-624: The call sign W73PH. Beginning the next month the station was issued a series of special authorizations to operate commercially with a temporary antenna, followed by its first full license on March 2, 1943. William Penn Broadcasting also operated AM station WPEN (now WKDN ) in Philadelphia, and on November 1, 1943, W73PH was assigned the WPEN-FM call sign. After the FCC created the current FM broadcast band on June 27, 1945, William Penn Broadcasting applied to
410-467: The "Hot Hits" format. WCAU-FM found a great deal of success with this programming for much of the mid-1980s, although the original "Fusion" jingles from TM were dropped in the summer of 1982 and replaced with a package from JAM to increase appeal to older listeners. Some notable DJs on the station in this period included Paul Barsky , Rich Hawkins, Billy Burke, Terry Young and Christy Springfield. In 1987, WCAU-FM found itself with stiff competition in
451-414: The 1970s and 1980s in favor of new artists and more current-based music rotations . This created a void in which gold-based music was not being played on radio in certain markets, thus creating a new opportunity for classic hits stations. WOGL WOGL (98.1 FM ) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts
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#1732856018784492-542: The 1970s came to a close, the music became more diversified with the addition of jazz , pop and R&B . The station experimented briefly with a format called "Mellow Rhythm" at this time, hosted primarily by Dr. Perri Johnson (now a music therapist in Los Angeles ). Program consultant Mike Joseph was brought into WCAU-FM in April 1981 to develop a new format to replace the struggling "Mellow Rhythm". Joseph recommended that
533-484: The 1970s to the 1990s, with the first song being " Don't Stop Believin' " by Journey . With the move, the station temporarily suspended most of their airstaff with the exception of morning host Sean 'Coop' Tabler; Audacy Philadelphia market manager David Yadgaroff disclosed to the Philadelphia Business Journal that the mostly-jockless launch is expected to last, by his estimation, "a short period of time —
574-435: The 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with some 2000s hits. WOGL uses HD Radio , and broadcasts a classic dance format on its HD2 subchannel. The talk radio programming of sister station WPHT is simulcast on its HD3 subchannel, while the programming on its HD4 subchannel was all related to Philadelphia Phillies baseball . The HD4 subchannel has since been turned off. Prior to 2018, the station played Christmas music during
615-646: The 1980s and feature music from that era. Examples include Netflix's popular series Stranger Things (whose soundtrack features songs from Cyndi Lauper and Toto ), Wet Hot American Summer , Glow , and The Goldbergs on ABC . Movies with box office success that are set in the 1980s have also been contributed to the popularity of the music of that era, including Guardians of the Galaxy , The Wedding Singer , Hot Tub Time Machine , and Ready Player One . Studies suggesting that millennials prefer older music have also been published with theories regarding
656-797: The 1980s which have aged out of the AC format. The recent appeal to this format has introduced format flips in major markets, including the flip of WIAD , Washington D.C. from adult contemporary-formatted "Fresh-FM" to classic hits as "The Drive" in October 2018. Most of the current classic hits stations were simply slow evolutions from oldies, including WOGL in Philadelphia, WRBQ-FM in Tampa, KSPF in Dallas, and WOCL in Orlando, among many others. WOGL changed their slogan to "Nobody plays more 80s" whereas WRBQ-FM changed to "Hits of
697-440: The 1980s, such as U2 and Michael Jackson . Together, all of these variations of musical genres still have mass appeal due to the origins of radio stations that played them together when they were hits. Similar to the philosophy with oldies radio, most of the music is upbeat and edgy. While these music types can be found in other formats, what makes this format unique is the variety of genres being played together on one station as
738-664: The 2010s, with stations like KRTH, WCBS-FM in New York, WLS-FM in Chicago, WROR-FM in Boston and Greatest Hits Radio in the UK having successful ratings with this model. Classic hits was named "format of the summer of 2018" by Nielsen Audio 's research team emphasizing the huge popularity of the format. In addition, the Millennial generation is listening to this format in record numbers, according to
779-439: The 80s and more". Radio programmer Scott Shannon , the architect of the modern top 40 era at WHTZ (Z100) in New York during the 1980s, moved his morning show to WCBS-FM, bringing many of the 1980s-style radio formats to the station. Dallas-based JAM Creative Productions , a major producer of radio station jingles in the 1980s, created an updated jingle package for stations that moved to a classic hits presentation. Jingles in
820-491: The CBS-FM update package include cuts from the popular "Flame Thrower" and "Warp Factor" packages made famous by WHTZ in the 1980s. Today's classic hits format is a representation of the variety of music types found on the radio in the 1980s including these core artists. These were a few examples that were more commonly used on most classic hits stations. Rock: Alternative and new wave : Pop: R&B and dance: Songs from
861-487: The FCC for a construction permit on January 21, 1946, to install a new transmitter and antenna for operation on 99.5 MHz, and the FCC approved this application on October 24, 1946. The station's license and construction permit were voluntarily assigned to the Philadelphia Record Company, owners of AM station WCAU (now WPHT ) in Philadelphia, on November 28, 1947. This was effective December 18, 1947, and
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#1732856018784902-403: The FCC granted WCAU, Inc. a construction permit to relocate the station's transmitter and antenna to the Roxborough section of Philadelphia. The station's license was renewed by the FCC with the new facilities on October 19, 1954. The FCC granted a voluntary assignment of the station's license to Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. on July 23, 1958. Until 1966, WCAU-FM simulcast the middle of
943-627: The frequency of 1980s and 1990s hits per day and is also adding music from the 2000s. On April 28, 2022, at 8:30 a.m., after playing " Got My Mind Set on You " by George Harrison and going into a commercial stopset, the station began a half-hour stunt with songs that featured the word "big" in the title or artist name, such as " To Be with You " by Mr. Big , " Big Pimpin' " by Jay Z featuring UGK , " Mr. Big Stuff " by Jean Knight , " Big Girls Don't Cry " by Fergie and " Big Me " by Foo Fighters . At 9:00, WOGL relaunched as "Big 98.1", readjusting their classic hits format to focus primarily on songs from
984-551: The holiday season; this practice was discontinued after WBEB , which also broadcasts Christmas music during the season, was acquired by Entercom (forerunner of Audacy). On January 13, 1942, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the William Penn Broadcasting Company a construction permit for a new FM station on 47.3 MHz on the original 42-50 MHz FM broadcast band, with
1025-538: The main frequency as far back as WOGL's launch in 1987. From the late 1980s through the early 1990s, WOGL used jingles from Frank Gari Productions, Otis Connor, and TM Studios . From the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, the station used the Do It Again jingle package by JAM Creative Productions and the Super Hits package by Tony Griffin, both of which were also used by sister station WCBS-FM . From 2003 to 2017,
1066-578: The mid- to late 1970s which had an influence on the MTV generation from artists such as Queen , Foreigner , Elton John , and the Bee Gees are still featured on many of these stations as the oldest part of the library. Additionally, stations have started to play songs from the 1990s and 2000s that have appeal to this audience such as " Linger " by The Cranberries and Uncle Kracker 's version of " Drift Away ", along with later releases by artists that were successful in
1107-635: The official name and recognized by Nielsen Audio as a format classification. In addition, many adult contemporary (AC) stations that had featured a large library of 1980s music began to phase it out as new artists like Adele , Pink , Bruno Mars , Maroon 5 , and others became very popular, thus making these stations much more current oriented. This factor created a situation where artists like Madonna , George Michael , Michael Jackson , and Prince , who are considered major superstars, were no longer being played on AC stations. Most of these stations are now current-intensive, playing newer artists versus those from
1148-446: The oldies format and needed to update the music and presentation to stay relevant in the 25-54 demographic on which advertising agencies base ad purchases. After several years of format transitions and changes, the industry needed a term that better defined the stations who were basing their libraries in the MTV era of music. Thus, the term classic hits was accepted by the radio community as
1189-526: The road music heard on AM 1210 WCAU . Along with other CBS FM stations, WCAU-FM began airing "The Young Sound," a prerecorded format of instrumental easy listening songs based on contemporary hits. In the fall of 1970, WCAU-FM replaced "The Young Sound" with an automated oldies format. For prerecorded announcements, the station used the voice of Jim Nettleton, a disc jockey on top-rated WABC in New York City . Prior to working for WABC, Jim Nettleton
1230-986: The station go Top 40 . On September 22, 1981, at midnight, the new format at WCAU-FM debuted: an all-current-hits, high-energy, jingle -intensive Top 40 sound dubbed " Hot Hits ". Joseph first put Hot Hits on the air in 1977 at WTIC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut , with a significant increase in ratings. Joseph called the station "98 Now". WCAU-FM's ratings showed an immediate improvement, and subsequently, FM stations in major radio markets such as WBBM-FM in Chicago, WHYT in Detroit, WMAR-FM in Baltimore, CKOM in Saskatoon, WFEC in Harrisburg, WNVZ in Norfolk, and KITS in San Francisco picked up
1271-430: The station used jingles from a variety of different JAM packages, most of which were resings of 1970s-80s top 40 station jingles. Since late 2017, the station has been using jingles from Reelworld Productions. On February 2, 2017, CBS agreed to merge CBS Radio with Entercom (now Audacy). The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on November 17. Though CBS shareholders own 72 percent of Entercom,
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1312-412: The station's call sign was changed to WCAU-FM the same day. On December 23, 1947, the FCC reassigned the station to 98.1 MHz, modifying the construction permit. The FCC granted a licensee name change from Philadelphia Record Company to WCAU, Inc. on March 3, 1948. The commission granted WCAU, Inc. a new license for the station for operation on 98.1 MHz on September 27, 1949. On December 4, 1953,
1353-440: Was a very popular DJ on WFIL from 1966 to 1969 before he was heard on WABC in late 1969. Live air personalities were eventually heard, with Nettleton moving from New York to host middays. The station played the hits from 1955 up to and including some current product. At the end of 1975, the oldies format was replaced by disco music , a hot trend at the time. As disco cooled, the station called its format "Fascinatin' Rhythm". When
1394-565: Was about 2/3 R&B and 1/3 rock and pop, with the rock and pop songs that were played being the big hits typically heard on oldies stations. WOGL played about 15% 1950s, 15% early 1960s, 55% mid-to-late 1960s, 13% 1970s, and 2% 1980s. WOGL aired specialty shows such as the "Hot Lunch Special" request show, "The Weeknight Hall Of Fame," "Top 20 Oldies Countdown," "Elvis & Friends," "The Saturday Night Dance Party," "Brunch With The Beatles," and "Street Corner Sunday" (a Doo Wop music program). In 2001, all specialty shows were dropped. The playlist
1435-495: Was let go after 14 years with the station. In 2017, Frank Lewis and Bill Zimpfer, co-hosts of WOGL's morning show "The Breakfast Club", were also let go. As of 2018, WOGL no longer plays 1960s and early 1970s music, with its playlist shifting towards focusing on hits from the 1970s through the early 1990s, with a heavy focus on the 1980s. On January 21, 2018, "Street Corner Sunday" was discontinued after 29 years in favor of regular programming. As of April 2022, WOGL has increased
1476-439: Was moved away from soul and Philadelphia-only hits (though a few remained), and moved towards a more traditional playlist as found on other oldies stations. The music was about 70% 1960s, 10% 1950s, 15% 1970s, and 5% 1980s. Scott Walker left the station in 2001. By 2002, some of the specialty shows were brought back, including a modified version of "Street Corner Sunday". While it was strictly doo wop in its previous incarnation, it
1517-439: Was not necessarily true for Generation X; much of the classic hits library was included in adult-contemporary stations of the era, while classic rock was only beginning to split from more modern rock stations in the late 1980s, around the same time oldies emerged as a standalone format. During the late 2010s, many stations in the adult contemporary, adult R&B , and alternative formats either reduced or eliminated songs from
1558-574: Was roughly 50% mid and late 1960s and 50% 1970s music. In 2004, the playlist was tightened to about half 1960s and half 1970s. Their slogan also changed to "Greatest Hits of the '60s and '70s." In late 2007 and early 2008, more 1980s music was added to the rotation, and effective July 6, 2008, WOGL's slogan was changed to "The Greatest Hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s," which is also used on sister station WCBS-FM when it returned to an Oldies/Classic Hits format in July 2007. In late 2016, morning co-host Valerie Knight
1599-401: Was to attract and magnetize people who experienced adolescence in the 1960s or 1970s and enjoyed the music of those eras, but did not favor the then-current heavy metal or top 40 music of the 1980s. These were people whose mindset was aging beyond album-oriented rock and top 40, yet were still either too young for or uninterested in oldies . Until the mid-2000s, the term "classic hits"
1640-407: Was updated to play all types of pre-1964 oldies. In addition, more 1970s music was added and even some 1980s tracks were heard. In 2003, the name "Oldies 98" was downplayed and the station became known as "Motown Soul Rock & Roll: 98.1 WOGL". At that point, the station cut to one 1950s song per hour and one pre-'64 song per hour. It also played a couple of 1980s songs per hour. The rest of the music
1681-530: Was used by stations that played the softer or more hit-oriented side of classic rock . Today, there are a few stations that identify as classic hits, such as WROR-FM in Boston and WJJK in Indianapolis, but whose playlists have more in common with classic rock. The classic hits format as it is known today began to take shape in the mid 2000s when oldies radio stations started having audience and ratings issues. They believed that they could not be successful with