Urban contemporary facts for kids
Urban contemporary or urban music is a kind of music played on the radio. It comes from cities. The first person to use this word was the now dead New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations play only hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, more urban-styled pop, and on occasion, Caribbean music such as reggae and reggaeton. Urban contemporary came from R&B and Soul. Almost all Urban contemporary type radio stations are found in cities that have lots of African-American people. Some cities that have Urban contemporary stations are; Los Angeles, California, New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Charlotte, and Norfolk, Virginia, etc.
The words "urban contemporary" make people think of African American music, like R&B. For Latino people, the music is more like music from Latin neighborhoods, such as Reggaeton, Hip hop from South America, or bachata.
These stations try to sell their music to African-Americans between the ages of 18 and 34. Their playlists are mainly singles by popular hip hop and R&B artists. Sometimes, an urban contemporary station will play classic soul music songs from the '70s and early '80s to make old people happy.
Some radio stations in cities, like KJLH, KMEL, KDAY, and WVEE, will play gospel and Christian R&B/hip-hop music on Sundays.
See also
In Spanish: Urban para niños
