Active rock
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Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays the popularly demanded new and recent hard rock and heavy metal and some alternative rock songs.
Format background
Sean Ross, editor of Billboard Airplay Monitor, described active rock in the late 1990s as album-oriented rock (AOR) "with a greater emphasis on the harder end of the spectrum".[1]
An active rock station may include songs by classic rock artists due to popular demand whereas an alternative rock station would not (e.g., Boston, Thin Lizzy, Styx, The Cars). Conversely, unlike classic rock stations, an active rock station also plays music by popular demand of new and recent hard rock and heavy metal artists, which are also usually absent from modern rock radio playlists (e.g., Escape the Fate, Nothing More, Islander, Devour the Day, Tyler Bryant, Failure Anthem, Heartist). Active rock station playlists may often include some popular alternative rock songs that have crossed over from modern rock radio (e.g., Awolnation, Foals, Atlas Genius, The Neighbourhood).
Similar to active rock stations, mainstream rock stations play current rock music, but emphasize classic rock songs more than current rock songs.
A pioneering station of this format in the late 1980s was WIYY "98Rock" in Baltimore, Maryland. Other early adopters of this format by the beginning of the 1990s include stations WIIL "95 WIIL Rock" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, KISS "99.5 KISS Rocks" in San Antonio, Texas, WLZX "Lazer 99.3" in Northampton, Massachusetts, WXTB "98Rock" in Tampa, Florida, KRZN "96.3 The Zone" in Billings, Montana, KEGL "97.1 The Eagle", in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, and WJJO "Solid Rock 94.1 JJO" Madison, Wisconsin. Satellite radio channels include Sirius XM Radio's Octane, and the gold-based Ozzy's Boneyard channel, also on Sirius XM Radio. Former counterparts prior to the November 12, 2008 Sirius/XM channel merger were XM's Squizz and Sirius's BuzzSaw. Australian radio network Triple M Network also uses this format. A later Internet radio station, Frogbox Radio, also began playing an Active rock format as well as in 2013 the launch of ROCK RAGE RADIO.
Active rock stations in Canada also include CFPL-FM in London, Ontario, CJAY 92 in Calgary, Alberta, CFBR-FM in Edmonton, Alberta, CHTZ-FM in St. Catharines, Ontario, CJKR-FM in Winnipeg, Manitoba and CFXY-FM in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
See also
- Classic rock – some tracks heard on active rock will also appear in the classic rock format, especially older tracks
- Mainstream rock – similar to active rock, it is a mix of classic rock and modern rock, though it tends to feature a higher proportion of older tracks and avoids hard rock or other loud rock or metal tracks
- Modern rock – some tracks heard on active rock will also appear in the modern rock format (more so from tracks featured on classic rock)
References
- ↑ Toby Eddings, "Active rock finds an Asylum at 93.5," The Sun News, Feb. 7, 1999.
