Starting in the 1980’s several radio stations began playing tracks from rock albums. This new programming format came to be known as Classic Rock. These radio stations concentrated on playing rock hits from the 1960’s and 1970’s by major rock singers from that era.

With the introduction of FM broadcasting the rock and roll format underwent a drastic change. “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” released by the Beatles was the first album that did not produce single recordings of select songs. As a result radio stations, both AM and FM, began playing individual tracks from the album. Subsequently, the stations and the artists discovered that by playing various tracks from albums, they could attract and retain more and more listeners. These stations eventually became known as “Classic Rock” stations and the music they played was classified as Classic Rock music.

In the late 1960’s and 1970’s, radio stations devoted to playing Top Forty songs came to be known as Alternative Rock stations. A major characteristic of these radio stations was the fact that the music being played was selected by disc-jockeys. In the late 1980’s with the introduction of compact discs, the stations playing album-oriented Rock no longer gave airtime to new music types such as New-Wave music and remained true to the Classic Rock format.

WYSP in Philadelphia was the first radio station in the country to call itself a Classic Rock station. Soon other stations followed in Minneapolis, Dallas, Boston, and many other cities across the country. By 1987, there were more than forty such stations in the United States.

In the present format, Classic Rock stations play a permanent list of songs performed by Rock artists of the past and refrain from playing current hits. These play lists are sometimes influenced by regional music traditions. However, in an effort to increase audience shares, some stations periodically introduce songs by other artists only distantly related to Classic Rock.

Classic Rock radio stations have a play list composed of groups and singers of the past from the Classic era of Rock music. Their audience is comprised of both older listeners who were contemporaries of the original artists and younger generations who have come to appreciate the works of these classic rock performers. In addition to The Beatles, other British bands, such as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Black Sabbath, The Who and Dire Straits represent the British branch of Classic Rock. American artists such as Jimi Hendricks, Aerosmith, The Doors, The Eagles, Janis Joplin, Alice Cooper, Tom Petty, Styx, Journey, Foreigner, and Supertramp fall into the American branch of this genre of music.