Terriberriez asked this question in a different forum and I would like some clarification, too, if anyone has it. I realize there probably isn't an exact definition, but I'd like to hear what people here think about what constitutes the differences.

B.C.E. (Before the Common Elliott-era) I used to pretty much only listen to Old School R&B stations. (Luther Vandross, Freddie Jackson, Johnny Gill, Earth Wind and Fire, Rick James, etc.) I miss them, but know I can't go back if I want to hear Elliott. But what IS an old school R&B station considered? HAC? Urban? What?

Does anyone know where I look to find out what stations in the Phoenix area would be possibilities for Elliott besides the top 40 stations? I'd call and make requests at different stations if I knew where to look. I still can get requests in at KISS here now and then too, but I'm looking for something to add.

Great question, from a theoretical and practical standpoint. Movin will have the most thorough answer here, but here are my thoughts:

I think the closest match for your tastes would nowadays be classified as "Urban AC." I'm not sure if they have a station there.

The primary categories, IMO, seem to be pop/hits, urban, adult contemporary, and rock. Then you start to get hybrids and offshoots of these categories. Rhythmic is basically a blend of urban and pop; it's often called "crossover" since it is the transition zone between pop hits that get taken up by urban stations and vice versa. (We're hoping Elliott goes this route.) Hot AC is a hybrid of pop and AC, and Urban AC is sort of a blend of, well, urban and AC. Rock has a whole bunch of manfestations (alternative, mainstream, etc.)

If you want to find Mediabase monitored stations in your area, I recommend typing in your city here:

http://www.mmr247.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/StationLookup7.asp

I actually wish we had this link posted more prominently somewhere on this site. It's very useful.

JackieB - One of the first sources I would direct you to is the list you can find right here on our boards - Station Contact Info.

I started compiling this list about a year ago. The purpose was to do the research to find all possible E-friendly stations in the Top Radio Markets in the country. I started with the R&R website and checked out the websites and playlists of all possible top-rated E-friendly stations, to see if it looked likely that they would play E at some point. That's why the list contains way more than Pop stations. This was before Wait for You was even released and all we heard was Moody's Mood. But we knew what kind of music E would be making and the list is made for the long haul of E's career, not just the first stages that we are still in.

So the list has the highest-rated stations first and then the next highest station and on down. I only listed those at the top and mid level of the audience impression scale. As you'll see, Pop stations are not always the top-rated stations in a city. Overall, those tend to be AC stations, but it changes depending on what city you're in.

You'll find Phoenix at the very top of the list as it is in alphabetical order by state and city.

As far as old school R&B, the formats where you'll find this type of music can vary. Yes, I'd start with UAC which is Urban Adult Contemporary. There is also a category called RAC, Rhythmic Adult Contemporary that might work. Then, some Smooth Jazz stations have a good mix. I'm just starting to add Smooth Jazz stations to the Contact List as they now seem more likely to add E - eventually.

Pop stations are simply where E started. Certainly not the end game. He coming to all the formats listed on the contact list in time. My view is that it's not too early to contact these other formats now to let them know you'd like to hear E. The next rollout of stations seems to be AC, HAC and Rhythmic. You'll find a top rated station of each format listed on the Contact List for Phoenix.

Feel free to drop me a PM if you have any other Radio questions.

Thank you, this was a huge help! I didn't find any rhythmic, rhythmic-AC, Hot AC or Mainstream AC stations that are playing WFY right now, but I did find 5 stations that I believe WFY would fit their playlists, so now at least I have a place to start. Thanks a bunch - I know I've seen this chart before but I didn't know where to find it myself.

This is a really great list to have access to. All the contact info is right there, too. I guess the reason I never looked before is because Elliott was still getting constant play on KISS and I was only listening for him there. Thank you so much.

Also, from the other list, I found three other possibilities that aren't on this list. They are :

KMVA 97.5 Rhythmic AC
KZON 101.5 Rhythmic
KNRJ 92.7 Rhythmic

Before I was thrust into "Lipgloss Land" I loved my station 104.3 in Phoenix - they play just what I love, but I don't think Elliott would fit there. So I got KISSed and am anxiously awaiting the day I can jump ship.

Those 3 stations you found don't have nearly the size signal or audience as the ones listed on the Station Contact Info List (for example, KNRJ has a 10 Watt signal versus KZZP's 100,000 Watts, per wikipedia). I figured we want to focus our efforts on the large audience stations and assumed that most people didn't have the time to research which ones those were - so that's what this list offers, in addition to all the contact info you need for requesting.

Check it out on the front page along E's Myspace, etc!! I suggested it to MC and voila!! This was the most prominent place we agreed or we had place for!!

It's pretty hard to tell what stations will play WFY just by going by genres. IMHO, if a station is described as Old School R&B it is a waste of time and energy to request there. I know that my station here in Atlanta, WALR 104.1, is Old School R&B and they rarely play any music past 1999. There is less than a zero chance that they would play Elliott's song.

If not familiar with a radio station, it's a good idea to listen to the station for a while before requesting.

Cool! Thanks for the quick change! I hope people check out the link, in addition to Movin's lists.

Pleasure!! ^^

No, I wasn't suggesting that the OLD School station would play Elliott. I was saying that before Elliott came along, that's about the only station I listened to. Since WFY, I've been listening to top 40. So now that WFY is expanding into AC, Hot AC, Rhythmic, etc. I wanted to know if there was a link or list for us. I shouldn't be a bit surprised to find that it's all right here for us already. And much appreciated, I might add.

Jackie, I was revising my post as you were quoting it. LOL. I meant that it's hard to tell by genres what stations would play WFY so it's best to listen to the station first. I understood what you meant. Sorry that my first post was unclear.

Thanks a lot for bringing the list to our attention again. I thought about it hte other day and then couldn't find it. Great information.

Thanks for all the great answers!!

THANKS for putting that up there! What a useful tool for all of us!