Dance Top 40

Dance radio is a format that consists of current and recent dance and electronic music.

While the format is popular in Europe and Asia, it has yet to make an impact in North America, although there are several top 40 and rhythmic radio stations which include current dance music in their playlists. As of June 2014, there were six stations (four full-time and three part-time) on FM in various US markets. Dance radio is also present on secondary HD radio streams, satellite, cable and Internet. In much of Europe there are national and local dance stations and it is a popular pirate radio format.

It's a valid observation to note that American commercial radio's definition of dance music has almost always been marginal, consisting primarily of mainstream music and artists who are firstly pop and urban acts.

Most of dance radio's origins can be traced to the early days of disco in the late 1970s, when both WKTU and KIIS-FM made the format a staple on the airwaves. But by the end of the decade, the format began to experience a backlash when sentiments over the music began to force several stations to move on to other genres, with most of them moving to what would become urban contemporary, led by such stations as WAMO-FM Pittsburgh, WLUM Milwaukee and WHRK Memphis. These stations kept the dance sound alive while at the same time mixed it in with the R&B, hip hop, and pop songs of the 1980s. At the same time, another former disco outlet, WXKS-FM Medford/Boston, became very successful in taking the urban-dance sound into a top 40 format.

By the mid-1980s, more stations began to adopt the same formula that has worked for WXKS-FM, while at the same time more artists were incorporating dance styles into their hits. The concept would go a bit further in 1986, when KPWR Los Angeles debuted a "Crossover" format, thus paving the way for more stations to jump onto this genre, which would become Rhythmic Contemporary.

In the USA, the nation's first full-time dance radio format began airing in August 1991 when Los Angeles college radio station KSCR controversially changed its format from alternative rock to the "Pulse of the 90's" techno/rave format. KSCR continued airing this format until September 1993, when it switched back to alternative rock.

The USA's first commercial full-time dance radio format was MARS-FM, airing in Los Angeles and Orange County, California on 103.1 FM KSRF/KOCM from late 1991 to late 1992. The rave-inspired format was created by KROQ DJs Swedish Egil and Freddy Snakeskin. 103.1 FM would later be the home of several subsequent Los Angeles dance radio formats: "Groove Radio" (1996–1998), "Groove 103.1" (1998) and "KDL" (2003).

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