Album-oriented rock (abbreviated AOR) is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.

History

Freeform and Progressive

The roots of the Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) radio format began with programming concepts rooted in 1960s idealism. The Freeform or Progressive formats developed the repertoire and set the tone that would dominate AOR playlists for much of its heyday.

In the mid to late 1960s, the FCC enacted a non-duplication rule prohibiting FM radio stations from merely running a Simulcast of the programming from their AM counterparts. Owners of AM/FM combo stations fought these new regulations vigorously, delaying the new rules for eighteen months. When finally enacted, station owners were pressed to come up with alternate programming options quickly.

The Freeform format in commercial radio was born out of this desperate need to program the FM airwaves, inexpensively. Programmers like Tom Donahue at KMPX developed stations where DJs had freedom to play long sets of music, often covering a variety of genres. Songs were not limited to hits or singles; indeed the DJs often played obscure or longer tracks by newer or more adventurous artists than heard on Top 40 stations of the day. This reflected the growth of albums as opposed to singles as rock's main artistic vehicle for expression in the 1960s and 1970s.

With a few exceptions commercial Freeform had a relatively brief life. With more and more listeners acquiring FM radios, the stakes became higher for stations to attract market share so that they could sell more advertising at a higher rate.

By 1970 many of the stations were moving to institute programming rules with a "clock" and system of "rotation". With this shift, Stations formats in the early 1970s were now billed as Progressive. DJs still had much input over the music they played, and the selection was deep and eclectic, ranging from folk to hard rock with other styles such as Jazz fusion occasionally thrown in.

A broad cross section of rock music that gained popularity during this time came to be called Progressive rock, likely because the wide recognition and success of artists could be attributed to airplay on Progressive stations; much the way the College rock label was given to bands that received air play on student-run college stations during the 1980s.

Album-oriented rock

In the mid-1970s, as program directors began to put more controls over what songs were played on air, Freeform and Progressive stations evolved into the album-oriented rock format. Stations still played longer songs and deep album tracks (rather than just singles), but program directors and consultants took on a greater role in song selection, generally limiting airplay to just a few “focus tracks” from a particular album and concentrating on artists with a slicker-produced, "commercial" sound than what had been featured a few years earlier. Noted DJ "Kid Leo" Travagliante of influential station WMMS in Cleveland observed the changes in a 1975 interview: "I think the '60s are ending about now. Now we are really starting the '70s. The emphasis is shifting back to entertainment instead of being 'relevant'...In fact, I wouldn't call our station progressive radio. That's outdated. I call it radio. But I heard a good word in the trades, AOR. That's Album-Oriented Rock. That's a name for the '70s".

The "rock" in album-oriented rock came in the late 1970s, when AOR music libraries and playlists discarded the wide range of genres embraced earlier on to primarily focus on a rock-centric sound. The occasional folk, jazz, and blues selections became rarer and most black artists were effectively eliminated from airplay. Where earlier soul and R&B artists like Stevie Wonder, War, Sly Stone and others had been championed by the format, AOR was no longer representing these styles, and took a stance against disco. In 1979, Steve Dahl of WLUP in Chicago destroyed disco records on his radio show, culminating in the notorious Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park. Steve Slaton of KISW in Seattle had a similar on-air bit which was included on the station’s Epic Rock record album, as did Jay Preston of station WLBJ in Bowling Green, Kentucky, who would play a few lines of a current disco hit, then unceremoniously run the stylus across the record numerous times and break the record on the air.

What links the Freeform, Progressive, AOR and ultimately the Classic rock formats are the continuity of rock artists and songs carried through each phase. Programmers and DJs of the Freeform and Progressive phases continued to cultivate a repertoire of rock music and style of delivery that were foundations of AOR and now Classic rock. Those AOR stations, which decided to stay "demographically-rooted", became classic rock stations by eschewing newer bands which their older listeners might tune out. Those that didn't fully evolve into classic rock generally attempt to hold onto their older listeners through careful dayparting—playing large amounts of classic rock during the 9-5 workday with more adventurous, newer songs "baked into the mix" as the listener base skews younger at night.

Burkhart/Abrams

The radio consultants, Kent Burkhart and Lee Abrams had a huge impact on AOR. Beginning in the early 70s they began contracting with what would become hundreds of stations by the 1980s. Lee Abrams had developed a “Super Stars” format, pioneering it at WQDR in Raleigh NC, and had been very successful in delivering large ratings. Basically, Abrams took Top 40 principles and applied them to AOR. While his “Super Stars” format was not quite as tight as Top 40 radio, it was considerably more restricted. This company controlled playlists for a substantial segment of AOR stations all over the US. This might be considered somewhat ironic, considering the format’s origins were based on a free-form approach without playlists. Lee Abrams is now Chief Programming Officer for XM Satellite Radio.

Criticism

In the early 1980s, AOR radio was criticised for the lack of black artists included in their programming. AOR programmers responded that the lack of diversity was the result of increased specialization of radio formats driven by ratings and audience demographics. Indeed, many AOR stations had embraced harder rock while also cultivating a bad boy image. In 1983, the undeniable success of Michael Jackson's album Thriller led some AOR stations to soften their stance by adding Jackson's "Beat It", which featured Eddie Van Halen, to their playlists. At the same time other black artists also made inroads into AOR radio—Prince's "Little Red Corvette", Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue" and "Beat It" all debuted on Billboard's Top Tracks chart the same week in April 1983.

The relative success of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" did not open the floodgates for other black artists on album-oriented rock stations. However, the door was cracked and through the remainder of the 1980s Jon Butcher, Tracy Chapman, Living Colour, Prince and Lenny Kravitz did manage to receive AOR airplay of varying magnitude.

Spin-off Formats

The phenomenal success of the album-oriented rock and the highly competitive battle for ratings likely contributed to the format splintering to reflect different stylistic perspectives. The 1980s saw some stations adding glam metal bands such as Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses, while others embraced modern rock acts such as The Fixx, INXS and U2. But by the end of the decade, AOR stations were playing fewer and fewer new artists and the rise of Grunge, Alternative and Hip-hop accelerated the fadeout of the album-oriented rock format. By the early 1990s many AOR radio stations switched exclusively to the classic rock format or segued to other current formats with somewhat of an AOR approach:

• Adult Album Alternative (known as Triple A) echoed a softer AOR without the hard rock or heavy metal. For a time Seattle's KMTT even promoted Freeform Fridays, and the Grey Pony Tail Special to highlight the halcyon days of FM radio.
• Modern Rock/Alternative A pioneer in this format was KROQ in LA, taking the AOR programming approach to music with New Wave, Punk, College rock and Grunge/Alternative leanings.
• Active Rock Today’s mainstream album rock, playing acts such as Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters, and Linkin Park. The active rock format was pioneered by the formerly broadcast (now internet only) KNAC-FM out of Long Beach, California in 1986, the Nationally Syndcated Z Rock Network (which lasted from 1986-1996) and expanded upon by WXTB-FM out of Clearwater, Florida in January 1990.

AOR Radio Stations

The radio stations in the following list were successful with the AOR format. In the 1970s some were considered progressive, with programing that evolved to what became known as AOR. Many of these stations have switched from AOR to another format—in some cases Classic rock or one of the other AOR spin-offs mentioned above.

Call Letters	Market	Frequency	AOR Years	Current Format
KZRR	Albuquerque, NM	94.1 FM	1980-present	AOR
WZZO	Allentown, PA	95.1 FM	1975-present	AOR
WKLS	Atlanta, GA	96.1 FM	1974-2003	Active Rock
WAAF	Boston, MA	107.3 FM	1969-1989	Active Rock
WBCN	Boston, MA	104.1 FM	1968-1995	Hot Adult Contemporary as WBMX
WLBJ	Bowling Green, KY	96.7 FM	1974–1980	Country
WCLX	Burlington, VT	102.9 FM	1992–present	AOR
WDAI	Chicago, IL	94.7 FM	1972-1978	Oldies as WZZN
WLUP	Chicago, IL	97.9 FM	1977-present	AOR
WMET	Chicago, IL	95 1/2 FM	1976-1986	Smooth Jazz as WNUA
WEBN	Cincinnati, OH	102.7 FM	1967-present	AOR
WMMS	Cleveland, OH	100.7 FM	1968–1994	Active Rock
WWWM	Cleveland, OH	105.7 FM	1975–1982	Classic Hits as WMJI
WLVQ	Columbus, OH	96.3 FM	1977-present	AOR
WTUE	Dayton, OH	104.7 FM	1975-present	AOR
WLLZ	Detroit, MI	98.7 FM	1980-1995	Smooth Jazz as WVMV
WRIF	Detroit, MI	101.1 FM	1971-c.1994	Active Rock
WNIK	Indianapolis, IN	Online	1960-present	Rock
KYYS	Kansas City, MO	102.1 FM/99.7 FM	1974-1997, 1997-	Classic rock
KOMP	Las Vegas, NV	92.3 FM	1981-present	Active Rock
WZZQ	Jackson, MS	102.9	1968-1981	Country
WKQQ	Lexington, KY	98.1 FM	1974-1998	Active Rock on 100.1 FM
KSMB	Lafayette, LA	94.5 FM	1973-1984	CHR/Top-40
KLOS	Los Angeles, CA	95.5 FM	1969-1995	Classic rock
KMET	Los Angeles, CA	94.7 FM	1968-1987	Smooth Jazz as KTWV
WMC-FM	Memphis, TN	99.7 FM	circa 1969-circa 1981	Hot Adult Contemporary
WRNO-FM	Metairie, LA (New Orleans)	99.5 FM	1968-1997	talk radio
KQRS-FM	Minneapolis, MN	92.5 FM	1968-present	AOR
KZOQ	Missoula, MT	101.1 FM	not sure	Classic rock
WDHA	Morristown, NJ	105.5 FM	1979-present	AOR
WKDF	Nashville, TN	103.3 FM	1970-1999	Country
WNEW	New York, NY	102.7 FM	1967-1995	Adult Contemporary as WWFS
WPLJ	New York, NY	95.5 FM	1971-1983	Hot Adult Contemporary
WVOK	Oxford, AL (Birmingham)	99.5 FM	1977-1983	Classic rock as WZRR
WMMR	Philadelphia, PA	93.3 FM	1968-present	Active Rock
WQDR	Raleigh, NC	94.7 FM	1973-1984	Country
WQBK	Rensselaer, NY	103.9 FM	1972-present	AOR
KISW	Seattle, WA	99.9 FM	1971-1996	Active Rock/Talk
KXRX	Seattle, WA	96.5 FM	1987-1994	Jack FM
KZOK	Seattle, WA	102.5 FM	1974-1986	Classic rock
KOL	Seattle, WA	94.1 FM	1968-1973	Country as KMPS
WAOR	South Bend, IN	95.3 FM	?-present	Classic Rock
KEZE	Spokane, WA	105.7 FM	1973-1996	Active Rock as KZBD
KWK	St. Louis, MO	106.5 FM	1979-1984	Adult Hits as WARH
KSHE	St. Louis, MO	94.7 FM	1967-present	AOR
KWFM	Tucson, AZ	92.9 FM	1970-1983	Adult Album Alternative as KWMT
KICT	Wichita, KS	95.1 FM	1975-Present	AOR

Music played

Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles. The best example is Top 40, though other formats Country, Smooth Jazz, and Urban, all utilize the same basic principles, with the most popular songs repeating every 2 to 6 hours, depending on their rank in rotation. Generally there is a strict order or list to be followed and the DJ does not make decisions about what selections are played.

AOR, while still based on the rotation concept, focused on the album as a whole (rather than singles). In the early 1970s many DJs had the freedom to chose what track(s) to play off a given album – as well as latitude to decide what order to play the records in.

Later in the 1970s AOR formats became tighter and song selection shifted to the Program Director or Music Director, rather than the DJ. Still, when an AOR station added an album to rotation they would often focus on numerous tracks at once, rather than playing the singles as they were individually released.

These short lists represent only a sampling of what became staples of American radio through a long history of airplay on Album-oriented rock stations. As AOR stopped playing new music and died out in the late 1980s the core repertoire of AOR became that of the Classic Rock format.

References

1. Scott, Jane. "Rock reverberations" The Plain Dealer November 28, 1975: Action Tab p.26
2. Goldstein, Patrick. "FM Radio: Redneck Rock?" Los Angeles Times September 21, 1980: T80
3. Thompson, Bill. "As Formats Change, Cries of Bias Arise" Philadelphia Enquirer February 15, 1982: D1
4. Heron, Kim and Graff, Gary. "Racism in the World of Rock/On Some Stations, Blacks Hardly Ever Make the Airwaves" Detroit Free Press January 9, 1983: 1C