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Beautiful musicBeautiful Music was a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in U.S. FM radio from the 1960s through the 1980s. The format (in many ways a form of Easy Listening) was mostly initiated by Jim Schulke, a former executive for Paramount Pictures' TV division. He designed the format to match the individual listener's appeal at a particular time of day, hence the "matched flow" construction. The original objective of the Beautiful Music format in the 1960s was to compete with the more popular-at-the-time AM format. The so-called "matched flow" construction (in 15-minute increments) made the music seem to play as if it were done continuously. Disc jockeys were limited to station IDs and/or top-of-the-hour newsbreaks in order to present as much music as possible to appeal to audiences. Generally, the music heard on Beautiful Music stations were newly orchestrated arrangements of the songs of the day, performed by many different orchestras around the world. Many Beautiful Music programmers constructed their own style of sets, eventually incorporating vocal songs, generally one to each 15-minute set. In the latter years of the format, Beautiful Music stations also showcased Christmas music during the holidays, programming special marathons commonly known as A Christmas In Stereo (fueled by the music of The Carpenters, Mannheim Steamroller, Perry Como, and Johnny Mathis, among others). These marathons would usually air on the day after Thanksgiving, and all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This tradition continues on many of today's soft rock stations. Some of the most notable and highest-rated Beautiful Music stations included WLIF in Baltimore, WPCH in Atlanta, WJOI in Detroit, WLAK in Chicago, KBIG in Los Angeles, WKTZ in Jacksonville, KEWT & KCTC in Sacramento, KABL in San Francisco, WSNI in Philadelphia, and K-JOY & XTRA in San Diego. KWXY in Cathedral City, California has retained their beautiful music format since taking to the air in 1965 and remains one of Palm Springs' most highly-rated stations thanks to an annual influx of older vacationers from cold climates. WGAY and WQMR (Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Maryland) programmed an independent, non-Schulke, Beautiful Music format beginning in the early 1960s and ending in the early 1990s. Bob Chandler, a leading exponent of the genre, was Operations Director. He organized repeated trips to Europe to make instrumental "cover" recordings of popular vocal music, which were made available to Beautiful Music stations in other markets. By the end of the 1980s, listening habits changed, and so did popularity of other music formats such as Top 40, Adult Contemporary, Album Rock, and Classic Rock. Stations soon dropped the Beautiful Music format and switched to whatever seemed more appropriate for audiences. But the Beautiful Music format did not die completely. The spirit and construction of the format can now be found on today's Smooth jazz FM stations. And although there are today only a handful of true Beautiful Music stations still on the air, XM Satellite Radio programs a dedicated Beautiful Music channel for its subscribers called Sunny. Also, the Music Choice digital satellite service now has a permanent music channel devoted to the once mighty FM radio format that relaxed and soothed radio audiences for decades. Artists and music
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