Variety is 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 broadcasting, ...

that plays music across numerous genres. Free-form variety is associated with a wide range of programming including talk, sports, and music from a wide spectrum. This format is usually found on smaller,

non-commercial A non-commercial (also spelled noncommercial) activity is an activity that is not carried out in the interest of Profit (economics), profit. The opposite is Commerce, commercial, something that primarily serves profit interests and is focused on bu ...

public broadcasting Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

stations such as

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

high school radio High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first li ...

stations. If a variety-formatted station has a

program director In service industries, such as education, a program manager or program director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services. For example, in education, a program director is responsible for developing ...

, that person exerts little if any influence on the music or other programming choices beyond the normal regulatory control required by that country's licensing regulations. Variety is also associated with

full-service radio Full-service radio is a type of radio format characterized by a mix of music programming and a large amount of locally-produced and hyperlocal programming, such as news and discussion focusing on local issues, news, sports coverage, interviews, cal ...

. This format is primarily found in the rural United States, on commercial AM stations, and on a few FM public radio stations (usually those that play jazz). These stations tend to favor older listeners and play a mix of music that focuses more on older mainstream music, although much broader than the typical suburban

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

or classic hits station; a full-service station will often play music from the

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

, classic country,

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

or ethnic formats as well. Full-service radio also regularly includes room for local news and talk.

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

and similarly formatted stations often brand with "mix" and "variety" to demonstrate the fact that they play music from several decades. However, these stations have much more restrictive playlists than true variety stations such as those in the freeform and full-service categories. An example is

WBNW-FM WBNW-FM (105.7 MHz) -- branded "Now 105-7" -- is a commercial radio station in Binghamton, New York. The station airs a Top 40-CHR radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. On weekdays, it carries several nationally syndicated programs in ...

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

or www.varietyradio.co.uk. The phrase "variety hits" is a synonym for the adult hits format (typified by the " ''Male First Name'' FM" branding), which indeed usually has a larger variety than a typical hot AC station.

References

Radio formats {{radio-comm-stub