Weekend Update

WTF Is 'Hot Adult'? Or What's the Difference Between 'Hot AC' and 'Adult Top 40'? As we often mention that our Total Popular Music charts are based on total airplay at the CHR/Top 40 and Hot Adult components of pop music, we are inevitably asked, "What the **** is 'Hot Adult'?" Although we've gone into this in the past (but not for some time), and we've since gained hundreds of new followers, we thought it's time to again explain our reasoning. Both BDSRadio and (to only a slightly lesser degree) Mediabase lump together radio stations airing either Hot AC or Adult Top 40 formats. Many of those who report on radio airplay formats use the two terms interchangeably. But are they actually the same? Not really. Yes, for the most part stations with either formula air the same songs (although not fully). For example, "Same Love" (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert) is currently ranked #48 on the "published" Mediabase "Hot AC" chart with 161 "spins" (as they call plays), and #44 on Mediabase's "all stations" listing for "Hot AC" with 242 "spins." I can say for sure that none of those spins comes from a true "Hot AC" formatted radio station! All of them are courtesy of those who actually are airing "Adult Top 40" formats and delve more into CHR/Top 40 hits. It bears repeating here that while both BDSRadio and Mediabase call their charts for their Hot Adult charts by the "Hot AC" nametag, Billboard (which uses BDSRadio's airplay charts), labels the Hot AC listing as "Adult Top 40" (claiming a trademark on the term!). Mark Harris created the catchall term "Hot Adult" for the airplay charts lumping the two (significantly different) segments of "Hot Adult Contemporary Top 40" into a single chart. The upfront difference between "Hot AC" and "Adult Top 40" is in the rotations scheduling of hit music from the mainstream pop category. Most HAC stations are "80s, 90s and Now" while AT40s stick more with currents, recurrents and gold-based titles from the 2000s, possibly with some major hits from the 1990s. Rotations also vary in the frequency of currents/recurrents. While the two segments are in some ways similar, they are as much different when actually programming them. Currently a significant hit at Hot AC, "Brave" by Sara Bareilles is (for now) still an exclusive at Hot Adult radio airplay, although it is currently being promoted to CHR/Top 40. When we did our own separating study recently on airplay samplings of HACs versus AT40 stations, we found the song is receiving two-thirds of its radio plays (or "spins") from the true Hot AC stations, and only a third from AT40s -- although the latter are quicker to respond to the label push for Top 40 stations to add it than (so far) have been Mainstream Top 40 stations. (Currently at TPM, "Brave" is ranked by total airplay at #27.) One other factor needs to be mentioned. Some stations that I consider "ultimate Adult Top 40s" are currently classified for airplay reporting by either/both BDS as CHR/Top 40, or Mediabase as Mainstream Top 40. This, of course, further weakens any case that could be made for separate airplay charts for HAC and AT40. I've been told many times that is influenced more by the desires of the recorded music industry than the radio world, although the airplay reporting services themselves will offer different explanations. My old friend (and sometimes self-declared competitor) Sean Ross, to his credit, launched his short-lived (and now defunct) "25+" (or "25-Plus") chart using a panel of his own creation that he said was comprised of CHR/Top 40 stations that seek to be adult-friendly and more aggressive Adult Top 40 stations. Although he still denies it, the publication for which he wrote his excellent (and recommended) "Ross On Radio" column at the time (which for unknown reasons declared "war" on my TotalPopularMusic.com) asked him to create a chart that would directly compete with MHBC's "Total Popular Music" format. Actually, I welcomed the competition and was among those most disappointed to see its untimely demise. It ended when his airplay source, Mediaguide, stopped offering airplay monitoring services -- quite some time before "Ross On Radio" was unceremoniously kicked off that site ahead of a sale to a new owner who would go on to destroy it fully. Especially because Sean's methodology was different from mine, I valued it as a radio programmer and programming consultant as an added resource. Our two weekly charts were often similar but almost always showed some interesting differences. So to answer the question "WTF Is Hot Adult?" directly, it is our (my) catchall term for its two components, which combined is one of our two components for the "Total Popular Music" Mass Appeal Hit Music radio format. But in unpublished comments I often say my TPM is actually comprised of three components: Adult Top 40, Mainstream CHR/'Top 40, and Hot AC (in that order). When I coined the term "Hot Adult," I surprised myself. Many years ago -- before there was a Hot AC format -- I was named the third Program Director in a year's time of a station offering a "full-service AC" format. The station, though, was rated third in its market and was hard to sell to local advertisers. I also was named to host afternoon drive. I spent my first three weeks doing my show and hiring a top-notch staff for other dayparts, while analyzing the station's weakness with both audience and potential ad clients. Then, it hit me like a ton of vinyl 45rpm hit records! I created a totally new music formula that I called "Contemporary Adult" (as opposed to Adult Contemporary) to go along with our full-service news and local information offerings (which I beefed up somewhat while spacing elements of them better to eliminate overly-long stops from the music at certain points in the hour). The result, our next full quarterly book, my station was Number One, and it remained there for the next year until the owner decided the station's value now was such that he'd sell it (and the format would go bye-bye along with the entire staff!) "Contemporary Adult" was very much like today's Hot AC (or more so, "Adult Top 40"). I had planned to use that term at TPM until a ton of CDs hit me and the term "Hot Adult" was embedded into my brain's RAM (even though the change in thinking resulted in extremely high CPU readings). A final thought. As Hot Adult stations continue to out-rate traditional AC in many markets, and Adult Contemporary itself is becoming far more contemporary than ever before, I renew my secondary description of "Total Popular Music" as the future of the AC radio format. ("But why wait when you can have it now from MHBC?") For now let's just say (once again), "Total Popular Music is More Contemporary than Adult Contemporary, Hotter than Hot AC, and More Mainstream than Mainstream CHR." And the best part is that it's not only for adults, but for the full 6+ hit music radio audience (while nabbing the adult demos sought by advertisers).