Hits & Favorites
Encyclopedia
Hits & Favorites, also known as ABC AC, is one of the 24-hour live radio formats produced by Cumulus Media Networks (through Cumulus Media
). ABC AC combines a highly-researched Adult Contemporary music mix targeted to women aged 25-49.
Citadel Broadcasting
purchased ABC Radio Networks (now Cumulus Media Networks) and the ABC owned-and-operated radio stations from The Walt Disney Company
in February 2006. The Citadel acquisition has been completed and did not include Radio Disney
or the ESPN Stations
. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
, with studios in Mokena, Illinois
, outside of Chicago
. After being acquired by ABC/Capital Cities
, the format moved to studios in Dallas, Texas
, along with many of the other SMN formats
.
Other former hosts have included:
announcer and is the brother of another Squares announcer and American Top 40
host, Shadoe Stevens
.
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
). ABC AC combines a highly-researched Adult Contemporary music mix targeted to women aged 25-49.
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country...
purchased ABC Radio Networks (now Cumulus Media Networks) and the ABC owned-and-operated radio stations from The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
in February 2006. The Citadel acquisition has been completed and did not include Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
or the ESPN Stations
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
History
Starstation, as it was formerly known, was part of the original Satellite Music NetworkSatellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
, with studios in Mokena, Illinois
Mokena, Illinois
Mokena is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,583 at the 2000 census, with a special census conducted in 2007. The 2007 census showed that the population of the village increased to 18,669 people residing within the corporate limits...
, outside of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. After being acquired by ABC/Capital Cities
Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital .Capital Cities Communications was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985...
, the format moved to studios in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, along with many of the other SMN formats
Satellite Music Network
Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered network to provide complete live 24-hour a day music programming to local stations, under several different formats...
.
Weekday hosts
- Frank Welch (also hosts Saturday 80's Show)
- Richard Stevens
- Mike Wade
- Mary Rose
- Donny OsmondDonny OsmondDonald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
(midday)
Former hosts
- Citadel Media Networks had a mass firing on November 12, 2009. Those let go from the AC format include: Peter Stewart - the 20-year program director of the format, Tom Kennedy - assistant program director, Brian Kane - night time host and webmaster, and Lori St. James - longtime morning show co-host. St. James's co-host Richard Stevens now hosts a solo show on the format.
- John McCarty hosted the Saturday 70's (later changed to 80's) Show for about a decade on the format. He died suddenly at the age of 55 on May 26, 2008 due to complications with diabetes. John was concurrently employed as the local operations manager for Traffic.com in Dallas, and had worked in local Dallas-Fort Worth radio since 1979. McCarty began his radio career in his hometown of Hopkinsville, KY in 1968.
- Bob Leonard was the original morning man on the format, and spent nearly 25 years with the ABC Radio Networks. Leonard did many of the smooth-voiced promos for The Star Station as well. Next, Leonard became a host on the short-lived financial online talk radio site mn1.com, then afternoon news anchor at WBAP-AM in Fort Worth-Dallas before relocating to Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, where he worked as a traffic reporter. He has since retired due to health reasons.
Other former hosts have included:
- Tom Rodman
- John Calhoun
- Karen Williams
- Rocky Martini
- Robert Hall
- Dean RichardsDean Richards (reporter)Dean Richards is a Chicago film critic and entertainment reporter for WGN-TV and a longtime radio host for WGN in Chicago.- Early life and education :...
- Tim Spencer
- "VLJ"
Trivia
Richard Stevens is a former Hollywood SquaresHollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
announcer and is the brother of another Squares announcer and American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
host, Shadoe Stevens
Shadoe Stevens
Shadoe Stevens is an American radio host, voiceover actor, and television personality. He was the host of American Top 40 from 1988 to 1995...
.
Sample hour of programming
- "Dancing In The DarkDancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen song)"Dancing in the Dark" is a 1984 song, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. Adding up-tempo synthesizer riffs and some syncopation to his sound for the first time, it became his biggest hit and, as the first single released from Born in the U.S.A., started it off to...
" - Bruce SpringsteenBruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band... - "HomeHome (Michael Bublé song)"Home" is a song recorded by Canadian pop-jazz musician Michael Bublé. It was released on March 31, 2005, as the second single from his album It's Time. The song was written by Bublé, along with Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Gillies. "Home" was a hit for Bublé in both Canada and the United States,...
" - Michael BubléMichael BubléMichael Steven Bublé is a Canadian singer. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards and multiple Juno Awards. His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found worldwide commercial success with his 2005 album It's Time, and his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible was... - "This I Promise YouThis I Promise You"This I Promise You" is a ballad by 'N Sync, released as the third single in America and the fourth single in Europe from their fourth studio album, No Strings Attached, in 2000...
" - 'N Sync'N SyncN Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick... - "Dream WeaverDream Weaver (song)"Dream Weaver" is a song by Gary Wright that was a hit single in the US, reaching #2 in the Billboard charts while it reached #1 in the Cash Box charts in 1976. Taken from the album The Dream Weaver released the previous year, it features Wright on vocals and keyboards, and Jim Keltner on drums...
" - Gary WrightGary WrightGary Malcolm Wright is an American musician, best known for his song, "Dream Weaver". He was the piano player on Harry Nilsson's version of "Without You".-Early life:... - "KokomoKokomo (song)"Kokomo" is a song written by John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Mike Love and Terry Melcher and recorded by The Beach Boys in spring 1988. Its lyrics describe two lovers taking a trip to a relaxing Caribbean island called Kokomo. It was released as a single in July 1988 by Elektra Records and became a...
" - The Beach BoysThe Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962... - "This Love" - Maroon 5Maroon 5Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...
- "The Long and Winding RoadThe Long and Winding Road"The Long and Winding Road" is a ballad written by Paul McCartney that originally appeared on The Beatles' album Let It Be. It became The Beatles' 20th and last number-one song in the United States on 23 May 1970, and was the last single released by the quartet...
" - The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr... - "Because Of YouBecause of You (Kelly Clarkson song)"Because of You" is a ballad written by pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson with David Hodges and Ben Moody, and produced by Hodges and Moody, both formerly of Evanescence. It is the fourth single from Clarkson's second album, Breakaway...
" - Kelly ClarksonKelly ClarksonKelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,... - "Without You" - Harry NilssonHarry NilssonHarry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
- "Bad DayBad Day (Daniel Powter song)"Bad Day" is a song written and performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Powter. It was released as the first single from his second album Daniel Powter and achieved the #1 spot in the U.S. and Ireland. In the U.S...
" - Daniel PowterDaniel PowterDaniel Richard Powter is a Canadian recording artist. He is known for his hit "Bad Day", which spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Powter became the only act to register the #1 hit of the year but chart no other Hot 100 hit.- Life and career :Powter grew up in Vernon, in the... - "DreamsDreams (Fleetwood Mac song)"Dreams" is a song written by singer Stevie Nicks, for the group Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, Rumours. The song was the only U.S. number one hit for the group, and remains one of their best known songs.-Background and writing:...
" - Fleetwood MacFleetwood MacFleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood... - "Takes a Little Time" - Amy GrantAmy GrantAmy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop"...
- "We've Only Just BegunWe've Only Just Begun"We've Only Just Begun" is the signature song of The Carpenters, written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams , and is often used as a wedding song. The song was ranked at #405 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".The song was recorded by Smokey Roberds, a friend...
" - The CarpentersThe CarpentersCarpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and... - "Live Like You Were DyingLive Like You Were Dying (song)"Live Like You Were Dying" is a song written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman and performed by American country music artist Tim McGraw. The song appears on his Live Like You Were Dying album. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard country music charts, and held that position for a total of seven...
" - Tim McGrawTim McGrawSamuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the... - "Another Day in ParadiseAnother Day in Paradise"Another Day in Paradise" is a song by Phil Collins released as the first single from his number-one album But Seriously . As with his song from Genesis, "Man on the Corner" "Another Day in Paradise" was written to bring attention to the problem of homelessness; as such, the song was a substantial...
" - Phil CollinsPhil CollinsPhilip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....