In recent years many have bemoaned the fragmentation of radio airplay music formats. Much has been said about the loss of the "mass appeal" Top 40 format of the sixties. Then one could hear a song that today would only receive Adult Contemporary airplay back-to-back with one which today would only receive CHR exposure. Add in a title that now only is played by an Adult Hits (or Hot AC) station, and you had the "mass appeal" format that allowed one radio station to totally dominate its market -- not only in cumes but in AQH (average quarter hour) shares.

As the fragmentation has continued, now we have both "Adult Contemporary" and "Hot Adult Contemporary." There are titles in each which are not aired by the other. Yet, some studies have shown two radio stations in a given market with these two formats attract the same listeners on a shared basis. What if one station played ALL of the songs from each? Would AQH numbers increase significantly?

There are those who believe it is time to reverse the trend of recent years to ever-increasing format fragmentation. It is true that not every song on the Billboard Hot 100 could be played in one format (as was the case in the 1960's); however, the fragmentation of airplay mixes has now gotten to the point that stations are losing audience -- not gaining -- by the extremes of "specialization."

Many adults who enjoy Hot AC will also share their listening time with a Mainstream CHR station, with an occasional dial hop to the AC ("soft rock" or "lite rock") spot on their local dial. What if one radio station played all the hits in a carefully blended mix? No rap, no extreme album rock -- but otherwise all the hits now being aired on Hot AC and AC stations, with emphasis on those titles which also have strong Mainstream CHR appeal?

There are those who say that the younger demographics can only be garnered by a Mainstream CHR format. Nevertheless, there are many 12 to 25 listeners who spend some time tuning in to their local Hot AC station, if they listen to over-the-air radio at all.

With new technologies continuing to erode overall radio listenership, there is a "smaller pie" -- and the smaller slice any one station receives, the lower the numbers for total listenership. Even a large share is only based on a smaller total listener base. With a smaller share of a smaller base, a station with a fragment format is not able to fully serve the advertisers who pay the bills, and ultimately produce the profit -- if there is to be a profit.

Beyond format fragmentation (which results in audience fragmentation), there are those who have lamented ever-tighter, shorter playlists. This is necessitated by the extreme limits on currents which are played. As a result of shorter playlists, more older material from past years is aired to avoid extreme repetition of currents. This in itself often further reduces the station's audience stats beyond cumes. And let's be honest, cumes may produce numbers for bragging rights, but they don't produce advertising revenue!

What if there were a way to air a "mass appeal" format that included more current titles, with fewer songs from the 90's and 80's? What if there were a format that could garner larger AQH shares, and still grab all of the demographics that advertisers want and demand?

Now there is a way to accomplish all of these goals! It's the TPM format -- Total Popular Music! It's "mass appeal" for the 21st Century. It is for today what true "Top 40" (before the term CHR was coined) was for the 1960's and 1970's.