Rhythmic adult contemporary

Rhythmic adult contemporary is the name of a popular format used on radio stations in the United States and Canada. It is aimed at the demographic aged 25 to 54. Stations using this format play disco from the 1970s and early 1980s, dance/pop music, adult-friendly hip hop/old school tracks, R&B, dance/freestyle of the 1980s and house music of the late 1980s/early 1990s. Like many adult contemporary radio stations, rhythmic AC stations normally do not play rap. These stations often compete with rhythmic top 40 stations as well as other adult contemporary stations.

The first station to try this approach was WHBT/Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which lasted from 1986 to 1987, although it was more Hot AC in nature. But eight years later in 1996, another Milwaukee outlet, WAMG, "Magic 103.7", would be the first to pioneer the "Official" rhythmic AC format, calling itself "Rhythm & Romance" which featured Mid-tempo Rhythmic R&B/Pop tracks (ironically, Milwaukee would once again pick up a Rhythmic AC for the third time in December 2014, when WZTI filled the void after an eighteen-year gap, although that station leaned towards rhythmic oldies; they would flip to Oldies in August 2015 after dismal ratings).

In February 1996, WYNY in New York City flipped to the format under the name "103-5 The New KTU", utilizing a "Rhythmic Hot AC" approach with Dance-Pop tracks added to the mix. The station instantly skyrocketed to #1 in the New York City Arbitron ratings in the next book. Because of this, other stations, like WDRQ/Detroit (which likewise referred to itself as "93-1 The New DRQ") and KIBB/Los Angeles flipped to the format. While WDRQ was a moderate ratings success (the station's true ratings boom came after it evolved into a rhythmic-oriented Contemporary Hit format by 1999), KIBB was less successful, resulting in a flip to a format they pioneered: "rhythmic oldies", in November 1997.

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