Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid-1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop, R&B, pop, house, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass (often with hip hop vocalists or rappers) and Caribbean music such as reggae, reggaeton, zouk, and sometimes Soca (In Toronto, London, New York City, Boston and Miami). Urban contemporary was developed through the characteristics of genres such as R&B and soul. Virtually all Urban contemporary formatted radio stations are located in cities that have sizeable African-American populations, such as New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Memphis, New Orleans and Charlotte.
The term "urban contemporary" is heavily associated with African-American music, particularly for Contemporary R&B in African-American contexts. For the Latinos, the music is more Latin urban, such as Reggaeton, Latin hip hop, or bachata.
These stations focus primarily on marketing to African-Americans between the ages of 18 and 34. Their playlists are dominated by singles by top-selling hip hop and R&B performers. On occasion, an urban contemporary station will play classic soul songs from the '70s and early '80s to satisfy the earlier end of the genre.
Most Urban formatted stations such as KJLH, KPRS, KMEL, KDAY, WRBP, UTN, and WVEE will play gospel music or urban contemporary gospel music on Sundays.
Mainstream urban is a branch of urban contemporary, and rhythmic contemporary is also a branch.
Other articles related to "contemporary, urban, urban contemporary":
... WDOQ was sold and adopted the new calls WCFI, with a satellite-fed adult contemporary format from Transtar (now Dial Global), using the "I-4" (a tribute to Miami's WINZ-FM) and later Sunny 102 monikers ... were changed to WJHM and the station adopted an CHR/Urban format targeting a multicultural audience as "102 Jamz" under the direction of Program Director Duff Lindsey and consultant Jerry ... Soon after, it started adding urban based songs to its playlist ...
... a debated topic amongst radio experts about its format classification as a Rhythmic Contemporary Hit radio station even though it really operates ... ability to attract more mainstream advertisers as Rhythmic, rather than Urban, is the real reason ... be evolving towards a Top 40/CHR direction or back to its former urban-leaning Rhythmic format similar to sister station WZMX ...
... See also Rhythmic contemporary Rhythmic Contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio and "Rhythmic Crossover" is a music radio format that includes of a mix of dance ... composed of that mentioned above, some tend to lean very urban with current hip-hop, urban pop, and R B hits that gain mainstream appeal ... That station was classified as urban but played a blend of disco, dance music, and pop crossovers ...
... that they could "hold their own against most of urban contemporary's secular female vocal groups" ... Brownstone, En Vogue" and "TLC", in that it "is urban contemporary/neo-soul with hip-hop elements", but was keen to stress that "it does combine an ...
1975, the FM call letters was changed to WWDM to solidify its change to full-time urban contemporary ... This contributed to WWDM's dominance over most Urban stations in the market that came and went ... outranked in listenership by newcoming Urban stations WXBT, WLXC (the only other Urban AC) and WHXT ...
Famous quotes containing the words contemporary and/or urban:
“Eclecticism is the degree zero of contemporary general culture: one listens to reggae, watches a western, eats McDonald’s food for lunch and local cuisine for dinner, wears Paris perfume in Tokyo and “retro” clothes in Hong Kong; knowledge is a matter for TV games. It is easy to find a public for eclectic works.”
—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)
“I have misplaced the Van Allen belt
the sewers and the drainage,
the urban renewal and the suburban centers.
I have forgotten the names of the literary critics.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)