Active rock


Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis similar to mainstream rock and album-oriented rock on the hard rock end of the spectrum.

Format background

There is no concrete definition of the active rock format. Sean Ross, editor of Airplay Monitor, described active rock in the late 1990s as album-oriented rock "with a greater emphasis on the harder end of the spectrum". Radio & Records defined the format as based on current rock hits in frequent rotation and targeted to males ages 18-34, akin to the approach of contemporary hit radio stations.
An active rock station may include songs by classic hard rock artists whereas a modern rock or alternative station would not; such acts include AC/DC, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Van Halen. Additionally, an active rock station plays music by hard rock and heavy metal artists from the mid-1990s to the present day, particularly those artists which are often absent from alternative rock or classic rock radio playlists. These artists tend to be the main focus of the format, such as Three Days Grace, Shinedown, Slipknot, Breaking Benjamin, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Five Finger Death Punch, System of a Down, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Tool, Metallica, and Linkin Park. New and emerging artists have been given better exposure with this format being used, with artists like The Veer Union, Seasons After, Like a Storm, Burn Halo, Candlelight Red, and Messer. Some artists which are heard on modern rock stations also receive heavy active rock airplay, such as Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Offspring, Green Day, Bush, and Queens Of The Stone Age, albeit less frequently in rotation than newer acts like Imagine Dragons, Twenty One Pilots, Silversun Pickups, Nothing But Thieves, Rise Against, and Biffy Clyro. Alternative metal bands also enjoy airplay on active rock stations; examples of such acts include Red, Mudvayne, Nonpoint, Drowning Pool, Nothing More, Gemini Syndrome, Periphery, Bullet For My Valentine, Fire From The Gods, Egypt Central, Stitched Up Heart, Islander, Fair To Midland, Crossfade, and CKY.

Stations

A pioneering station of the active rock format in the late 1980s was WIYY in Baltimore. Early adopters of the format in the United States by the beginning of the 1990s also include WIIL in Kenosha, Wisconsin, KISS-FM in San Antonio, WLZX-FM in Northampton, Massachusetts, WXTB in Tampa, Florida, KRZN in Billings, Montana, KILO in Colorado Springs, Colorado, KEGL-FM in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, and WJJO in Madison, Wisconsin.
In Canada, active rock stations in Canada include CFPL-FM in London, Ontario, CJAY-FM in Calgary, CFBR-FM in Edmonton, CFGP-FM in Grande Prairie, Alberta, CHTZ-FM in St. Catharines, Ontario, CJKR-FM in Winnipeg, CFXY-FM in Fredericton, and CHKS-FM in Sarnia, Ontario.
Satellite radio channels in the US and Canada with the active rock format include Sirius XM Radio's Octane and the gold-based Ozzy's Boneyard. 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 also broadcasts an active rock format.