Arrow is an American

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

that plays

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

from the 1970s through the 1990s. The format was popular in a number of markets in the 1990s and 2000s. The word "Arrow" is an extended acronym for "All Rock and Roll Oldies".

History

Originally, the Arrow format focused on rock-oriented

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 wel ...

music from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, excluding

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'' (G ...

bubblegum Bubble gum or bubblegum is a type of chewing gum, designed to be inflated out of the mouth as a bubble. Bubble gum flavor While there is a bubble gum "flavor" – which various artificial flavorings including esters are mixed to obtain – it ...

, disco, and

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

. It also kept

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

talk and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s to a minimum. Many Arrow stations were owned by

Infinity Broadcasting Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus ...

and located throughout the United States. The flagship and founding station for Arrow was

KCBS-FM KCBS-FM (93.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and broadcasts an adult hits music format branded as "93.1 Jack FM". Unlike most radio stations airing th ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

which created and launched the format in September 1993. In 1996, the station adjusted to a broad-based classic rock format that lasted until its flip to adult hits as "

Jack FM Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits format, in most cases not using DJs. Format characteristics Stations ...

" in 2005. Outside Los Angeles, the Arrow format has been used on KRRW in Dallas—Fort Worth, KKRW in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, WARW in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and

KRSP-FM KRSP-FM (103.5 MHz, "103.5 The Arrow") is a radio station in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is owned by Bonneville International, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, the for-profit arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. KR ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, Arrow Classic Rock airs a classic rock format similar (but independently) to that in the United States. Launched in 1996, Arrow originally broadcast on various AM and later FM frequencies, moving exclusively to

cable radio Cable radio or cable FM is a concept similar to that of cable television, bringing radio broadcasting into homes and businesses via coaxial cable. It is generally used for the same reason as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community ...

in 2009. Since 2004, the company that operates Arrow has also run a jazz station known as "Arrow Jazz FM" (now SubLime FM). In The Netherlands the name 'Arrow' developed further into a brandname for quality music with a number of 'vertical' non-presented music formats like Arrow Rock Radio (mix of Classic Rock, Modern Rock and Alternative), Arrow CAZ (Todays Hits), Arrow Bluesbox (Blues, Bluesrock, Americana and Country), Arrow High Voltage (Metal and Hard Rock). During 2017 als Arrow TV started as a 'proof of concept' with three channels Rock, Bluesrock and Metal.

References

Franchised radio formats {{radio-comm-stub