1.
Adult contemporary music
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Adult contemporary is rather a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music. Adult contemporary tends to have lush, soothing and highly polished qualities where emphasis on melody and it is usually melodic enough to get a listeners attention, and is inoffensive and pleasurable enough to work well as background music. Like most of pop music, its songs tend to be written in a basic format employing a verse–chorus structure, the format is heavy on romantic sentimental ballads which mostly use acoustic instruments such as acoustic guitars, pianos, saxophones, and sometimes an orchestral set. The electric guitars are normally faint and high-pitched, however, recent adult contemporary music may usually feature synthesizers. An AC radio station may play mainstream music, but it excludes hip hop, dance tracks, hard rock, and some forms of teen pop, as these are popular among adults. AC radio often targets the 25–44 age group, the demographic that has received the most attention from advertisers since the 1960s, a common practice in recent years of adult contemporary stations is to play less newer music and more hits of the past. This de-emphasis on new songs slows the progression of the AC chart, over the years, AC has spawned subgenres including hot AC, soft AC, urban AC, rhythmic AC, and Christian AC. Some stations play only hot AC, soft AC, or only one of the variety of subgenres, therefore, it is not usually considered a specific genre of music, it is merely an assemblage of selected tracks from musicians of many different genres. Adult contemporary traces its roots to the 1960s easy listening format, a few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. Billboard first published the Easy Listening chart July 17,1961, with 20 songs, the chart described itself as not too far out in either direction. Initially, the vocalists consisted of such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Nat King Cole, Perry Como. The custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or pop hit songs, some stations would also occasionally play earlier big band-era recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s. After 1965, differences between the Hot 100 chart and the Easy Listening chart became more pronounced, better reflecting what middle of the road stations were actually playing, the composition of the chart changed dramatically. As rock music continued to harden, there was much less crossover between the Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart than there had been in the half of the 1960s. Roger Miller, Barbra Streisand and Bobby Vinton were among the charts most popular performers and these middle of the road stations also frequently included older, pre-rock-era adult standards and big band titles to further appeal to adult listeners who had grown up with those songs. Another big impetus for the evolution of the AC radio format was the popularity of easy listening or beautiful music stations, stations with music specifically designed to be purely ambient, hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre by 1965. From the end of the 1960s, it common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock. Soft rock was often derived from rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody
2.
Call sign
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In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitter station. In North America, they are used for all FCC licensed transmitters, a call sign can be formally assigned by a government agency, informally adopted by individuals or organizations, or even cryptographically encoded to disguise a stations identity. The use of signs as unique identifiers dates to the landline railroad telegraph system. Because there was only one line linking all railroad stations. In order to time, two-letter identifiers were adopted for this purpose. This pattern continued in operation, radio companies initially assigned two-letter identifiers to coastal stations and stations aboard ships at sea. These were not globally unique, so a company identifier was later added. Merchant and naval vessels are assigned call signs by their national licensing authorities, in the case of states such as Liberia or Panama, which are flags of convenience for ship registration, call signs for larger vessels consist of the national prefix plus three letters. United States merchant vessels are given call signs beginning with the letters W or K while US naval ships are assigned callsigns beginning with N, leisure craft with VHF radios may not be assigned call signs, in which case the name of the vessel is used instead. Ships in the US wishing to have a radio licence anyway are under F. C. C, class SA, Ship recreational or voluntarily equipped. Those calls follow the land mobile format of the initial letter K or W followed by 1 or 2 letters followed by 3 or 4 numbers. U. S. Coast Guard small boats have a number that is shown on both bows in which the first two digits indicate the length of the boat in feet. For example, Coast Guard 47021 refers to the 21st in the series of 47 foot motor lifeboats, the call sign might be abbreviated to the final two or three numbers during operations, for example, Coast Guard zero two one. Call signs in aviation are derived from several different policies, depending upon the type of flight operation, in most countries, unscheduled general aviation flights identify themselves using the call sign corresponding to the aircrafts registration number. In this case, the sign is spoken using the International Civil Aviation Organization phonetic alphabet. Aircraft registration numbers internationally follow the pattern of a country prefix, for example, an aircraft registered as N978CP conducting a general aviation flight would use the call sign November-niner-seven-eight-Charlie-Papa. However, in the United States a pilot of an aircraft would normally omit saying November, at times, general aviation pilots might omit additional preceding numbers and use only the last three numbers and letters. This is especially true at uncontrolled fields when reporting traffic pattern positions, for example, Skyhawk eight-Charlie-Papa, left base
3.
Cordova, Tennessee
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Cordova is a community in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. Cordova lies east of Memphis, north of Germantown, south of Bartlett, the majority of Cordova has been annexed by the City of Memphis. The remainder of Cordova is in unincorporated Shelby County, in the Memphis Annexation Reserve area. The boundaries of the Cordova community are inexact, but are regarded as the Wolf River on the south, Whitten Road on the west, Interstate 40 on the north. Parts of Shelby Farms are considered part of Cordova, the Old Cordova Area is centered on Macon and Sanga Roads,3 miles east of Germantown Road. It consists of the town of Cordova, with some of the original structures still present. The Wolfchase Area is not actually a part of Cordova, but is referred to as part of the Cordova area by association. It contains major shopping centers, businesses and apartments, Cordova was a farming village east of Memphis with fewer than a dozen farms when it was founded in 1835. Cordova was renowned for the cut flowers that were shipped to Memphis, Tennessee thus the towns motto was Farms, Flowers. Cordova has changed its name several times, originally, it was known as Allentown, then Marysville, then Dexter. In 1888 the Dexter post office was opened, in 1900, the name was changed to Cordova. The town most likely changed its name to Cordova so not to be confused with another town named Dexter that was located on the same NC&St. L railroad line ran through town. Cordova was one of the small railroad stops along the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway route to Memphis. The original station which was built in 1889 is still standing and it is located on the corner of Macon Rd. and B St. in downtown. A train named the Memphian from Nashville to Memphis stopped at the former Cordova Railroad station, an important ammunition plant was near Cordova and was served by the railroad during World War II. Cordova has a line running parallel to the main street that was served by P&M division of the N. C. & St. L. Railroad that was chartered in Tennessee on December 11,1845, in March 1957 NC&StL was taken over by the L & N Railroad. Because this rail line was considered redundant, the mileage between Cordova and Jackson, Tennessee was abandoned and later scrapped in 1968, the remaining section was therefore made a spur line for the L&N, and later the CSX until 2002, when it was taken out of service
4.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
5.
Like a Prayer (song)
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Like a Prayer is a song by American singer Madonna, from her studio album of the same name. Sire Records released it as the lead single on March 3,1989. She co-wrote and co-produced the song with Patrick Leonard, the track denoted a more artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, who felt she needed to cater more to her adult audience. Like a Prayer is a pop song with elements of gospel music. A choir provides background vocals that heighten the songs spiritual nature, Madonna introduced liturgical words in the lyrics—inspired by her Catholic upbringing—but changed the context in which they were used. They have dual meanings of sexual innuendo and religion, like a Prayer was acclaimed by critics, and was a commercial success. The music video, directed by Mary Lambert, portrays Madonna as a witness to a murder of a girl by white supremacists. While a black man is arrested for the murder, Madonna hides in a church for safety seeking strength to go forth as a witness, the clip depicts Catholic symbols such as stigmata, Ku Klux Klan-style cross burning, and a dream about kissing a black saint. The Vatican condemned the video, while family and religious groups protested its broadcast and they boycotted products by soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which used the song for a commercial. Madonnas contract with Pepsi was then canceled, although she was allowed to retain her initial fee, the song has been featured on five of Madonnas concert tours, most recently the Rebel Heart Tour in 2015. Like a Prayer has been covered by many artists, the song is noted for the mayhem surrounding the music video, and the different interpretations of its content, leading to discussions among music and film scholars. Alongside its respective album, Like a Prayer has been considered a point in Madonnas career. 1988 was a year on the recording front for Madonna. Following the critical and commercial failure of her 1987 film Whos That Girl, however, unfavorable reviews once again caused her discomfort. Her marriage to actor Sean Penn ended and the couple filed for divorce in January 1989, Madonna turned 30, the age at which her mother had died, and thus the singer experienced more emotional turmoil. No matter how you try to get away from it, the sin is within you all the time and it was this fear that haunted me, it taunted and pained me every moment. My music was probably the only distraction I had, but she understood that as she was growing up, so was her core audience. Feeling the need to attempt something different, Madonna wanted the sound of her new album to indicate what could be popular in the music world and she had certain personal matters on her mind that she thought could be the musical direction of the album
6.
R.E.M.
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R. E. M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, that was formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist/backing vocalist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe. Released its first single—Radio Free Europe—in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone, the single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the bands first release on I. R. S. Following years of success, R. E. M. Achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single The One I Love, the group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide. By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience mainstream success, R. E. M. was viewed by subsequent acts such as Nirvana. The band then released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time and Automatic for the People, which veered from the established sound. R. E. M. s 1994 release, Monster, was a return to a more rock-oriented sound, the band began its first tour in six years to support the album, the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three of the band members. Re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history and its 1996 release, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, though critically acclaimed, fared worse commercially than expected. The following year, Bill Berry left the band, while Stipe, Buck, in 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. Disbanded amicably in September 2011, announcing the split on its website, in January 1980, Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in Wuxtry Records, the Athens record store where Buck worked. The pair discovered that they shared similar tastes in music, particularly in rock and protopunk artists like Patti Smith, Television. Stipe said, It turns out that I was buying all the records that was saving for himself, Stipe and Buck soon met fellow University of Georgia students Mike Mills and Bill Berry, who had played music together since high school and lived together in Georgia. The quartet agreed to collaborate on songs, Stipe later commented that there was never any grand plan behind any of it. Their still-unnamed band spent a few months rehearsing and played its first show on April 5,1980, at a friends birthday party held in a converted Episcopal church in Athens. After considering names like Twisted Kites, Cans of Piss, and Negro Wives, the band members eventually dropped out of school to focus on their developing group. They found a manager in Jefferson Holt, a store clerk who was so impressed by an R. E. M. performance in his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. R. E. M. s success was almost immediate in Athens and surrounding areas, the band drew progressively larger crowds for shows, over the next year and a half, R. E. M. Toured throughout the Southern United States, touring was arduous because a touring circuit for alternative rock bands did not then exist
