Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s.

Easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

, elevator music, light music, mood music, and

Muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments. The name has been in use since 1934, and has been owned by a division or subsidiary of one or another company ever since. In 1981, Westingh ...

are other terms that overlap with this format and the style of music that it featured. Beautiful music can also be regarded as a subset of the middle of the road radio format.

History

Beautiful music initially offered soft and unobtrusive instrumental selections on a very structured schedule with limited commercial interruptions. It often functioned as a free background music service for stores, with commercial breaks consisting only of announcements aimed at shoppers already in the stores. This practice was known as "storecasting" and was very common on the FM dial in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of these FM stations usually simulcast their AM station and used a subcarrier ( SCA) to transmit a hitch-hiker signal to a store receiver by subscription. The signal was usually a slow-moving audio tape of "background music" or Muzak-type service, which was independent of the simulcast AM signal. Some FM stations made more income from these music subscriptions than from their main programming. WITH-FM, in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

(1950s and 1960s), had to keep its FM carrier on the air until 2AM for restaurant subscribers, and could not sign-off the main FM carrier until that time and thus had to run a repeat of its previous day's evening concert on its main FM program line.

Growth as a radio format

One of the first beautiful music radio stations in the US was KIXL in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, area. As early as 1947 it played orchestral music on AM radio (1040), and later on FM (104.5). KIXL changed to KEZL (as in "easy listening") in 1973, but ended with a change to adult contemporary in 1976. In 1959, Gordon McLendon, who had interests in Top-40 radio in Dallas as well as other markets, decided to "counter-program" in San Francisco since several Top-40 stations were already there. McLendon established beautiful music AM station KABL (a tribute to the San Francisco cable cars, named by McLendon's executive assistant Billie Page Odom) which was successful through the 1990s. It then experimented with combining elements of

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

s and soft rock until its demise in the early 21st century. It was reborn as an Internet radio station where it can be heard today. In the early 1960s, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

adopted a standard for transmitting and receiving stereo signals on a single channel of the FM band. In addition to delivering stereo sound, FM broadcasting provided clearer sound quality and better resistance to interference than AM, thus being ideal for broadcasting the beautiful music format. In Baltimore, Maryland, programmer Art Wander developed a beautiful music format for the 50,000-watt NBC affiliate WBAL/1090. The station format launched in the fall of 1960 featured music sweeps of lush instrumentals with subtle comments from their staff announcers. The format changed to sports and talk when competing FM stations broadcast beautiful music and easy listening. In 1963, Marlin Taylor created a custom-designed beautiful music format at

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

's WDVR. Within four months, WDVR became the #1 rated FM station in the Philadelphia market. This was one of the first big successes in FM broadcasting, and was instrumental in establishing the viability of FM. WDVR was a resource for mature listeners who were driven from AM radio at the time when WFIL and WIBG (and others) switched to rock 'n' roll programming. WDVR's billboards made the adult audience aware of the new station.

Airtime resell practice. Libraries of music for radio stations

Others, such as Jim Schulke, devised a method of buying air time on FM

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in bulk and reselling the blocks to interested advertisers. Schulke formed ''Stereo Radio Productions'' (SRP) to help his stations get better ratings and pull in more agency advertising dollars. His stations used six hundred reels of stereo reel-to-reel tape set on multiple machines so that 15 minute segments would play at a time, alternating from one player to another, allowing a varied programming format in which no half-hour was repeated within a two-week period. One of Schulke's stations using this "matched flow" concept was WDVR's chief competitor in the beautiful music format in Philadelphia, WWSH-FM. ''Peters Productions'' in San Diego, California was active throughout the late 1960s through the early 1980s. At one time ''Peters Productions'' offered 7 different syndicated radio formats plus radio/television "station image" packages (custom jingle and integrated promotional graphics packages.) The most popular syndicated radio format was a beautiful music format on a library of 100 reel-to-reel tapes, with 6 new reels provided per month. It originated when founder Ed Peters was station manager of San Diego radio station

KFMB-FM KFBG (100.7 FM, "100.7 Big FM") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to San Diego, California and broadcasts an adult hits format. The station is owned by Local Media San Diego. It shares studios with LMSD's other stations in the ...

. The format aired on over 120 stations during its peak, and was known originally as "Music Only For A Woman." Later the name was changed to "Music Just For The Two of Us."

Stereotypical instrumental-vocal mixes, related to BM/EZ

Many beautiful music programmers constructed their own style of sets, incorporating some vocal songs, usually one to each 15-minute set. Most stations adopted a 70-80% instrumental - 20-30% vocal mix, a few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. Initially, the vocalists consisted of artists such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Doris Day, and others. By the 1970s, softer songs by artists like The Carpenters,

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

, John Denver, Barry Manilow,

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

, Dionne Warwick, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Nancy Wilson and others were added to the mix on many stations. Also, some of these stations even played soft songs by artists like

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

, Beatles, Billy Joel, and other rock-based artists. The main test for the vocals played was not the background of the artist but whether or not the song is extremely soft. All vocals on such stations had to be extremely soft. Therefore, on one hand a song like " She's Out Of My Life" by a non-core artist like

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

would be heard on some of these stations; similarly, " Crazy for You" or " Live to Tell" by Madonna. On the other hand, even uptempo jazzier songs by standards artists, such as " Detour" by Patti Page, would not be heard on beautiful music stations except during specialty shows. Also, during weekday morning drive times, most beautiful music stations increased the vocals to as much as 50 percent to accommodate a broader audience. While these stations were mostly playing instrumentals, some had a couple of specialty programs that were vocal-based such as a Big Band program on Saturday nights, a Frank Sinatra show sometime on the weekends, and maybe a program featuring Broadway showtunes. Generally, the recordings heard on beautiful music stations were newly orchestrated arrangements of the songs of the day. These were available from the major record labels and performed by such artists as Andre Kostelanetz, Percy Faith, Mantovani, the 101 Strings,

Billy Vaughn Richard Smith "Billy" Vaughn (April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records. Biography Vaughn was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, United States, where his father, ...

, The Living Strings, Frank Chacksfield, among others. When the record companies cut back on releasing this material, syndicators of the format had custom recordings produced for them, performed by many different orchestras from around the world. These new custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

hit songs, a move intended to give the stations more mass appeal without

selling out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal g ...

, but also disgusted some longtime listeners of the format. Some stations would also occasionally play earlier

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

-era recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s. Many beautiful music stations would air a few Christmas songs per hour beginning around Thanksgiving each year, increasing their frequency as the month of December progressed. The stations' vocal content would typically increase to about 40 to 60 percent of the playlist during this period, as well. There would then be a special marathon of seasonal music on December 24 and December 25. After the 25th, most continued to play wall-to-wall Christmas music until the first of the year. This concept was later borrowed (and expanded upon) by Soft AC,

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as w ...

, and even some

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

and Hot AC stations. Today, the average wall-to-wall Christmas format begins on Thanksgiving ends around midnight on the 26th of December. The predominantly instrumental-vocal mix is still in use today, mainly by

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

stations.

Declining years

''Peters'' was the first beautiful music syndicator to sell its library in the late 1980s to Broadcast Programming, Inc., which then bought several other syndicators. (BPI, later part of

Jones Radio Networks Jones Radio Networks & Jones Media Group were branches of Jones International before being sold to Triton Media Group. JRN and JMN provide local radio stations with satellite-delivered formats. They also offer other services to local radio such ...

, is part of Dial Global as of 2012.) Bonneville, which had acquired the SRP and Century catalogs in the 1980s, sold its beautiful music assets to Broadcast Programming in November 1993. Some beautiful music stations (especially on AM) successfully transitioned to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

formats, often with call letter changes to shed the " elevator music" identity. Many of these stations marketed themselves as playing many of the same songs from the original artists; adult contemporary had the benefit of having core acts that could much more easily be marketed and were more familiar to listeners, as opposed to the lesser-known and poorer-selling studio acts that made up the majority of the beautiful music format. Beautiful music stations declined in the late 1980s and early 1990s as

became popular and moved to the FM dial (formerly, country was relegated to AM). Many beautiful music stations, especially in rural areas, switched to country around that time.

List of instrumental artists associated with "beautiful music" radio format era

* Some instrumental artists associated with beautiful music have included: ** 101 Strings Orchestra **

12 Girls Band 12 Girls Band (, sometimes abbreviated to 女樂 or 女乐) are an all female Chinese musical group that initially consisted of twelve members before the addition of a thirteenth. Twelve Girls Band use traditional Chinese instruments to play both ...

André Kostelanetz Andre Kostelanetz (russian: Абрам Наумович Костелянец; December 22, 1901 – January 13, 1980) was a Russian-born American popular orchestral music conductor and arranger who was one of the major exponents of popular orche ...

** Arthur Fiedler **

Arthur Greenslade Arthur Greenslade (4 May 1923 – 27 November 2003) was a British conductor and arranger for films and television, as well as for a number of performers. He was most musically active in the 1960s and 1970s. Greenslade was born in Northfle ...

** Arthur Lyman **

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the m ...

and his Orchestra ** Bob James ** Bradley Joseph ** Burt Bacharach ** Caravelli ** Carl Doy ** Charles Williams **

Cyril Ornadel Cyril Ornadel (2 December 192422 June 2011) was a British conductor, songwriter and composer, chiefly in musical theatre. He worked regularly with David Croft, the television writer, director and producer, as well as Norman Newell and Hal Sha ...

David Rose David Rose may refer to: Business * David Rose (real estate developer) (1892–1986), American real estate developer and philanthropist * David L. Rose (born 1967), American business executive and scientist at MIT Media Lab * David S. Rose (bor ...

** Enoch Light ** Eric Coates ** Ernest Tomlinson ** Felix Slatkin ** Ferrante & Teicher **

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

** Francis Lai ** Franck Pourcel ** Frank Chacksfield ** Frank Cordell **

Frank De Vol Frank Denny De Vol (September 20, 1911 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor, and using the name De Vol was an arranger and composer. As a composer he was nominated for four Academy Awards. Early life and career De Vol was born in Mounds ...

** Frank Perkins ** Geoff Love **

George Melachrino George Melachrino (born ''George Miltiades''; 1 May 1909 – 18 June 1965) was a musician, composer of film music, and musical director who was English born of Greek and Italian descent. He was an accomplished player of the violin, viola, oboe, cla ...

** George Shearing Quintette ** Geraldo (and his New Concert Orchestra) ** Henry Mancini ** Hollyridge Strings ** Hugo Winterhalter **

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

** James Galway ** James Last ** Joe Harnell ** John Barry ** John Williams ** Johnny Douglas ** Johnny Pearson ** Lawrence Welk ** Leroy Anderson ** Les Baxter ** Lex de Azevedo **

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...

Living Strings The Living Strings were a studio orchestra founded in 1959 by RCA Victor for a series of easy listening recordings issued on the RCA Camden budget label. There were also related groups called the Living Voices, Living Brass, Living Guitars, Living ...

** Longines Symphonette ** Mantovani ** Morton Gould ** Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra ** Nick Ingman ** Norrie Paramor ** Paul Mauriat ** Paul Weston ** Percy Faith ** Peter Nero ** Peter Yorke ** Ray Martin ** Richard Clayderman ** Richard Hayman ** Robert Farnon ** Robert Maxwell ** Roger Williams ** Ron Goodwin ** Ronald Binge ** Ronnie Aldrich ** Sidney Torch ** Stanley Black **

Syd Dale Syd Dale (20 May 1924 – 15 August 1994) was an English self-taught composer and arranger of funk, easy listening and library music. His music played an important role on television, radio and advertising media of the 1960s and 1970s and is st ...

Tony Mottola Anthony C. Mottola (April 18, 1918 – August 9, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville. Career Like many of his contemporaries, Mottola began ...

** Victor Young ** Wes Montgomery

List of vocal artists associated with "beautiful music" radio format era

* Among the vocal artists featured on beautiful music stations may include many of the same ones featured on the adult standards format and others: **

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

(softer selections) ** Andy Williams ** Anita Kerr Singers **

** B.J. Thomas **

** Barry Manilow ** Bing Crosby ** Captain & Tennille ** Carly Simon ** Connie Francis ** Dan Fogelberg ** Dean Martin ** Diana Krall ** Doris Day **

(softer selections) ** Engelbert Humperdinck ** Frank Sinatra ** Harry Connick, Jr. ** Helen Reddy **

Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer *Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971) *Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...

** Jo Stafford ** John Denver ** John Gary ** Johnny Mann Singers ** Johnny Mathis **

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

** Matt Monro ** Melissa Manchester ** Michael Bublé ** Nana Mouskouri ** Nancy Wilson ** Nat King Cole ** Neil Diamond ** Norah Jones **

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one s ...

** Patti Page ** Perry Como ** Petula Clark ** Ray Charles Singers ** Ray Conniff Singers ** Rosemary Clooney ** Sérgio Mendes **

Snatam Kaur Snatam Kaur Khalsa ( pa, ਸਨਾਤਮ ਕੌਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, born 1972 in Trinidad, Colorado), is an American singer, songwriter and author. Kaur performs new age Indian devotional music, kirtan, and tours the world as a peace acti ...

** Steve Lawrence **

The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and " Along Comes Mary") a ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

(softer selections) ** The Carpenters ** The Lettermen ** Vic Damone

Today

The beautiful music format has not yet died completely. Today's

radio stations maintain the structure and style of the beautiful music format. The format continues on a few non-commercial radio stations, including KCEA (89.1 FM) in Atherton, California; (KWXY) (1340 AM) in Cathedral City, California (KLUX) (89.5 FM) in Corpus Christi, Texas;

KHOY Khoy (Persian and az, خوی; ; ; also Romanized as Khoi), is a city and capital of Khoy County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2012 census, its population was 200,985. Khoy is located north of the province's capital and largest ci ...

(88.1 FM) in

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the Flag of th ...

; KNCT-FM (91.3 FM) in Killeen, Texas; ,, KGUD (90.7 FM) in Longmont, Colorado. Jones College of Jacksonville operated

WKTZ-FM WKTZ-FM is a Classic Hits formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Loch Lynn Heights, Maryland, serving Oakland and Westernport in Maryland and Terra Alta and Keyser in West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, ...

, a beautiful music noncommercial station, from its 1964 founding until 2014, when it sold the station (and sister station WJAX) to national Christian broadcaster Educational Media Foundation for $3.375 million. EMF ended the beautiful music format and switched WKTZ-FM to WJKV, broadcasting its in-house satellite K-Love network. Some commercial beautiful music stations still exist, often in areas with large retiree populations. These are often popular in their markets. An annual influx of vacationers from colder climates has helped such stations as KAHM (102.1 MHz) in Prescott, Arizona, and, until 2021 KWXY (1340 kHz) in Cathedral City, California. Most of the remaining commercial beautiful music stations are primarily in markets with major resorts. An exception is WGCY in Gibson City, Illinois which serves rural areas in Central Illinois with mostly instrumental beautiful music. Today most stations that play beautiful music are either characterized as nostalgia, smooth jazz or easy listening. In Canada, Evanov Communications' "Jewel"-branded stations in Ontario and Quebec (including CKDX-FM in metro Toronto,

CJWL-FM CJWL-FM (98.5 MHz ''Lite 98.5'') is a Canadian radio station in Ottawa, Ontario. It is owned by Evanov Communications and broadcasts a soft adult contemporary format (with evening specialty shows focusing on pop standards and instrumental easy li ...

in Ottawa, and CHSV-FM in metropolitan Montreal, among others), which play soft adult contemporary music during the day and standards in the evening, feature an hour of traditional beautiful music from 11:00 p.m. to midnight, dubbing the program "The Instrumental Concert Series". The Cleveland market features non-profit WKHR 91.5, which plays many classic beautiful and light jazz instrumentals from the 1930s through the 1960s, as well as timeless pop and jazz vocals. Radio production veteran Jason 'Jake' Longwell, currently produces and hosts a weekly hour long radio program devoted to Beautiful Music called ''Something Beautiful'' based out of his own studios in Geneva, New York.

Beautiful music without FM radio

Sirius XM Satellite Radio programs a dedicated beautiful music channel,

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some s ...

, for its subscribers, and such services as Music Choice and

DMX Earl Simmons (December 18, 1970 – April 9, 2021), known professionally as DMX, was an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s and released his debut album ''It's Dark and Hell Is Hot'' in 1998, to both critical acclaim ...

provide the format as part of their offerings to cable and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

television subscribers.

also provides several beautiful music channels which are described as "environmental" background music channels. After financial difficulties forced a sale and subsequent format change of KNXR in Rochester, Minnesota, the original owner in 2016 revived its easy listening format on the internet, at 97five.com. Instrumental beautiful music can also be found on a number of Internet radio feeds. * Many FM stations above have Internet "doubles". * Some "internet radios" have dedicated smartphone apps. Most apps would play music as a background task. * On a similar note:

Seeburg 1000 The Seeburg 1000 Background Music System is a phonograph designed and built by the Seeburg Corporation to play background music from special 16 RPM vinyl records in offices, restaurants, retail businesses, factories and similar locations. Seebur ...

's libraries of light music (which are considered to be background music of 60's) are also recreated as a bm/ez-like internet "radio" (seeburg1000.com). It also comes as a mobile app for smartphones that plays music while minimized, hidden from the screen into background. An experience similar to "beautiful music" format of aired music may be achieved by using ad-blocking software on some popular sites with ads and free access. * Most simplistic example for mobile users is to use

Firefox Focus Firefox Focus is a free and open-source privacy-focused mobile browser based on Firefox from Mozilla, available for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Firefox Focus was initially a tracker-blocking application for mobile iOS devices, rele ...

kind of Firefox web browser to enter a video streaming site and find a video featuring a compilation of music tracks. This way, it will be possible to play, say, "'' WGER Beautiful Music Radio Station Aircheck early 1970s''", "''WJBR 995 FM Wilmington Delaware early 1970s''" or "''WJOI FM 97 Beautiful Music aircheck around 1987''" video on YouTube without dealing with ads. * For PC version of Firefox web browser, there are easy ways to add "extensions", such as "UOrigin" or "Ad Nauseam".

Antipractice, opposite to BM/EZ

Some radio stations in Europe are notorious for botching up their blocks of ad-free music, ruining the "beautiful music/easy listening"-like experience. While there are no ads indeed, DJs of those radio stations interrupt, break their music streaming with loud announcements on how ad-free their music currently is. This practice may be either an aggressive search for ad time buyers or an unintended failure to deliver the experience of uninterrupted ad-free BM.

List of radio stations, related to BM/EZ

As mentioned above, many radio stations have Internet doubles and some even have own mobile apps. Therefore, it may be possible to listen to a town-scale or city-scale BM/EZ-like radio station from another state. This very list also may come in useful for listening to "airchecks" - old, archived and posted on YouTube compilations of music. *

WVTL WVTL (1570 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a classic country radio format to the Mohawk Valley in the U.S. state of New York. It is licensed to Amsterdam, New York, and is owned by Roser Communications Network, Inc. WVTL's r ...

Amsterdam, New York Amsterdam is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The City of Amsterdam is surrounded on the northern, east ...

* WPCH in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

* KGFM in Bakersfield, California * KICE-FM in Bend, Oregon *

WLIF WLIF (101.9 FM, "Today's 101.9") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Baltimore, Maryland. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. through licensee Audacy License, LLC and broadcasts an adult contemporary format. Its studios are located ...

and Art Wander-programmed WBAL-AM in

* WHDH-FM, WHUE-AM/FM, WJIB-FM, and

WWEL WWEL (103.9 FM, "SAM 103.9") is a radio station licensed to serve London, Kentucky. The station is owned by Forcht Broadcasting, a Forcht Group of Kentucky Company and licensed to F.T.G. Broadcasting, Inc. The station has been assigned these ca ...

-AM/FM in Boston, Massachusetts * WEZN in Bridgeport, Connecticut * WHBC-FM in Canton, Ohio *

WEZC WEZC (95.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Clinton, Illinois. It is owned by the Miller Media Group and the broadcast license is held by Kaskaskia Broadcasting, Inc. WEZC has a soft oldies - adult standards radio format and ...

, WBT-FM and WRLX in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

WDEF-FM WDEF-FM (92.3 MHz "Sunny 92.3") is a commercial radio station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The station is owned by Bahakel Communications and airs an adult contemporary radio format. WDEF-FM advertises itself as the "listening at work" station. F ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

* WLAK,

WLOO WLOO (channel 35) is a television station licensed to Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States, serving the Jackson area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tougaloo College, it has a joint sales agreement (JSA) with Fox affiliate WDBD (ch ...

, WCLR, WNUS-FM and WAIT-AM in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

* KPAY-FM in Chico, California * WWEZ, WLVV and WAEF (later WLQA) in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

* WDOK, WKSW, WDBN, WBEA, WNOB, and WQAL in Cleveland, Ohio * KRDO-FM in Colorado Springs, Colorado * WBUK (later WTVN-FM) and WBNS-FM in Columbus, Ohio * KBOX (later KTLC and KMEZ-FM),

KIXL KIXL (970 AM) is a Catholic talk radio station in Del Valle, Texas, United States, broadcasting to the Austin-Round Rock area. KIXL has been a Relevant Radio owned-and-operated station since 2005. Prior to ownership by Relevant Radio, KIXL was ...

(later KEZT) and KOAX in Dallas/Fort Worth * WDAQ in Danbury, Connecticut *

WHIO The blue duck or whio (''Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos'') is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus ''Hymenolaimus''. Its exact taxonomic status is still unresolved, b ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...

* KLIR and KOSI in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

* WJR-FM and WWJ-FM (later WJOI) in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

* KPNW-FM in Eugene, Oregon * WAVV in Fort Myers, Florida *

WFRE WFRE (99.9 FM) is a radio station located in Frederick, Maryland, in the United States. It plays Country music and is owned by Connoisseur Media along with its sister station 930 WFMD. Despite the station being located approximately 45 mil ...

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...

* KLTA and KKNU in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

* WOOD-FM in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is th ...

* WGLD in Greensboro, North Carolina * WWMD in Hagerstown, Maryland * WRCH and WKSS in Hartford, Connecticut * KYND-FM, KODA-AM/ FM, KXYZ in Houston, Texas * WRSA-FM in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

* WXTZ-FM in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mar ...

* WKTZ in Jacksonville * KONA-FM in

Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

* WFYN in Key West, Florida * WEZK in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the stat ...

*KBMI-AM and KXTZ in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

* KPOL-FM, KNOB, KJOI, KOST and

KBIG-FM KBIG (104.3 FM, 104.3 MYfm) is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Los Angeles, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts a hot AC format heavy on music from the 2000s to t ...

in Los Angeles, California * WVEZ in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

KTMT-FM KTMT-FM (93.7 MHz, "Joy! 93.7") is a commercial Christian contemporary music radio station in Medford, Oregon, United States, broadcasting to the Medford-Ashland, Oregon area. The station is currently owned by Stephens Media Group. History KT ...

Medford, Oregon Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824 and a metropolitan area population of 223,259, making the Me ...

* WDBN in

Medina, Ohio Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Cleve ...

(served Akron, Canton, and Cleveland markets) * WLYF in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

WEZW WEZW (93.1 FM) is an FM radio station based in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey and serving the Ocean City, Cape May and Atlantic City markets. Its studios are located at the Bayport One complex in West Atlantic City, and its transmitter is located in ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

WAYL WAYL (91.9 MHz) is an FM radio station licensed to St. Augustine, Florida. The station is currently owned by Delmarva Educational Association and airs a Christian talk and teaching radio format using the moniker "The Truth." It is simulcast on ...

and KEEY in Minneapolis-Saint Paul * WZEZ in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

* WVNJ in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

* WKCI-FM in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

* WBFM (later WPIX-FM), WTFM and WRFM in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

* KNPT-FM in

Newport, Oregon Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868. Newport was named for Newport, Rhode Island. As of the 2010 census, the city h ...

* WDBO-FM and

WSSP WSSP (1250 AM) is a Milwaukee-based sports talk station owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios and transmitter are co-located in Hales Corners. History The 1250 AM facility went on the air as WMAW on March 24, 1948. On August 16, 1948, the 5,00 ...

in Orlando, Florida * KWXY in Palm Springs, California * WPAT-AM/ FM in Paterson, New Jersey * WEAZ-AM and WDVR (later WEAZ-FM) and WQAL (later WWSH) in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

* KRFM (later KQYT), KMEO-FM and KDOT in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

* WKJF (later WKOI and WJOI) and

WSHH WSHH (99.7 FM) is a commercial radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is the flagship of Renda Broadcasting and airs an adult contemporary radio format. From mid-November through December 25, WSHH switches to all Christmas mu ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

* KXL-FM,

KUPL-FM KUPL (98.7 FM) is a commercial radio station in Portland, Oregon. The station is owned by Alpha Media and airs a country music radio format, known as "98.7 The Bull." KUPL's studios and offices are located in Downtown Portland on SW 5th Av ...

, KJIB and KQFM in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

* WHJY and WLKW-FM in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

* WPVR (now

WSLC WSLC-FM (94.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia and serving the New River Valley. WSLC-FM is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc. It airs a country music radio format, using the moniker "94.9 Star Country." W ...

) in Roanoke, Virginia * WEZO in Rochester * KAER, KCTC and KEWT in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

* WGER in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greate ...

* KQXT is

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

* KSDO-AM, K-JOY,

and

XTRA Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

* KOIT-FM and KFOG in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

* KEUT, KIXI-AM/FM, KEZX, KSEA and KBRD in Seattle-Tacoma * WJYW in Southport, North Carolina * KXLY-FM in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

* KEZK in St. Louis, Missouri * WFLA-FM, WDUV and WWBA-FM in Tampa/St. Petersburg * WLQR in Toledo, Ohio * WGAY-FM in Washington, D.C. * WWYZ in

Western Connecticut Western Connecticut is a geographic region of Connecticut located in the southwest corner of the state. Numerous towns are part of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments (or WestCOG), one 9 regional councils of governments in Connecticu ...

* WEAT in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

KUEZ KUEZ (104.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Fallon, Nevada serving the Reno metropolitan area. It is owned by John Burkavage, with Big Horn Media, Inc. as the licensee. It broadcasts a soft adult contemporary radio format. KUEZ ha ...

in Yakima, Washington

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beautiful Music 20th-century music genres Easy listening music