The Hottest Format Trend of 2026 Is…

It’s nearly 45 years since Michael McDonald and his many duet partners ruled the radio, not such a great moment for pop music as it turned out. It’s been nearly 20 years since the mix of disco, jazz, and soft rock that defined many of the hits of 1980-82 was retroactively dubbed “Yacht Rock” by a YouTube series. It’s been a decade since the launch of SiriusXM’s Yacht Rock Radio channel. It’s been about a year since HBO’s Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary became a surprise hit.

Right now, however, it’s January 2, 2026, as I write this, and at least three stations have debuted in the past several weeks built around “Yacht Rock” in some form. Two have launched since New Year’s Eve. Thus far, the regatta includes:

• NRG’s KZOT (Yacht Rock 1180) Omaha, Neb.,  was spun off of the “Yacht Rock Weekends” on Adult Hits sister KOOO (The Keg) and is doing a straightforward version of the format.
• Draper’s WINX-FM (94.3 Dockside Radio) on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the latest station building a “beach town” format (my appellation) out of “Yacht Rock, Buffett, and Coastal Country” (theirs).
• Hudson Valley Public Radio’s WAXB (X-Perimental Radio 85X) Danbury, Conn., currently running what can best be described as a restaurant tape from outer space (where the aliens seem eager to come sail away).

WAXB was, in an earlier incarnation, the first affiliate of Scott Shannon’s “True Oldies Channel” in the early ‘00s. A few weeks ago, it was brought back to my attention by radio veteran Howard Hoffman (himself in the headlines recently after returning to the air on WEBE Bridgeport, Conn). “Somebody is trying something interesting,” Hoffman wrote.

That was a more than accurate description. 85X was recently launched by WALL Middletown, N.Y., owner Bud Williamson and WKZE Hudson Valley, N.Y., owner Andy Gladding. The station is currently streaming-only, which Williamson says is temporary. The long-term intent is a “community-based radio station” in conjunction with the town and leaders of Ridgefield, Conn. The current music mix “is not the ultimate programming,” Williamson says. But he adds, “We may keep it going considering … the number of listeners it is attracting with little promotion.”

85X does roll deep on Yacht Rock, including Robbie Dupree’s particularly Steely Dan-like “Lonely Runner” in the same hour with the Doobie Brothers’ “Eyes of Silver” and Donald Fagen’s “Green Flower Street.” But there’s also the very hip end of smooth jazz, disco (both ‘70s and recent revivalist), an occasional Japanese title, and some songs that confound any of those descriptions.

There are also songs about space and the cosmos. Because 85X is “Interstellar Radio.” In the station’s elaborately constructed world, which includes both a website. and sweepers in outer-space gibberish, “Serving the Universe” is just not a famous top-of-the-hour ‘80s ID, but a way of life. That was probably why I heard David Bowie’s “Life on Mars.” Or Pablo Cruise’s Boston-like “Worlds Away,” which also checks the “deep yacht rock” box, followed by “Flight Test” by the Flaming Lips.

One sweeper declares the station “not AI” but “real radio for real ETs.” Another tells listeners that “when you hear beeping, that’s aliens texting their requests [to] the universally loved 85X.” There’s also one about “the station that broadcasts across the galaxy, mostly because our antenna is badly aimed.” (If you enjoyed that signal pattern joke, you may also want to order this 2026 calendar.)

Here’s 85X on the evening of December 17:

• Michael McDonald, “If That’s What It Takes”
• Benny Sings, “Sunny Afternoon”
• The JBs, “Use Me”—James Brown’s backup/spinoff band; the Bill Withers song
• Disco Biscuits, “Home Again”
• Rotary Connection, “Sunshine of Your Love”—the Cream song interpreted by Minnie Riperton’s prog/R&B/sunshine pop band of the late ‘60s
• Tavares, “It Only Takes a Minute”
• Koji Kikkawa, “Monica”— Japanese ‘80s pop with a retro rockabilly feel (the first of several appearances of Asian titles in my listening)
• Steely Dan, “Gaucho”
• Tubes, “She’s A Beauty”
• David Bowie, “Life on Mars”
• Bounce Patrol, “Astronauts”
• Corrs, “Radio”
• Firefall, “You Are the Woman”
• Kylie Minogue, “Dance Floor Darling”

Back on Earth, attempts at a multi-genre “Beach Radio” format go back more than a decade. iHeart tried “Real Fun Beach Radio,”  first on-line and then on a Panama City, Fla., FM translator for a few years in the mid-‘10s. Now, Dockside Radio is here “because your HOA won’t let you install a tiki bar in your driveway,” as one sweeper declares. The creativity extends to a sponsorship with a local furniture store for “the only studio with beach chairs.”

WINX’s version of the format stretches a little more into AC and is also more uptempo than some of the other versions I’ve heard. Here’s Dockside Radio on January 1 at 7:40 a.m.:

• Blues Traveler, “Hook”
• Paul Simon, “Still Crazy After All These Years”
• Jimmy Buffett, “Quietly Making Noise”—mentions the Eastern Shore
• Anita Baker, “Sweet Love”
• Club Nouveau, “Lean On Me”
• Gordon Lightfoot, “Sundown”
• Rod Stewart, “Maggie May (Unplugged)”
• Blake Stewart, “Some Beach”
• Atlanta Rhythm Section, “So In To You”
• Justin Timberlake, “Can’t Stop the Feeling”
• Jimmy Buffett, “Party at the End of the World”
• Mike + the Mechanics, “Silent Running”
• B-52’s, “Rock Lobster”
• Trace Adkins, “Just Fishin’”
• Natalie Imbruglia, “Torn”
• Robbie Dupree, “Steal Away”
• Jimmy Buffett, “Livingston Saturday Night”
• Steely Dan, “Peg”

KZOT is easily the most hit-oriented of the three outlets. It spent the holidays stunting as “Santa Baby 1180.” Its change means that there are now two Omaha AM stations playing music from the “AM Gold” era. At this writing, KZOT is playing “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffett, while KIBM (Boomer Radio), also heard on an FM translator, has “Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright. (Another recent launch, KGLC [100.9 The Island] Miami, Okla., comes in somewhere between Boomer and KZOT.)

Here’s Yacht Rock 1180 around 9 a.m., January 2:

• Pablo Cruise, “Whatcha Gonna Do”
• Robbie Dupree, “Hot Rod Hearts”
• Air Supply, “Lost In Love”
• Kenny Loggins, “Whenever I Call You Friend”
• Orleans, “Dance With Me”
• Chicago, “Baby What a Big Surprise”
• Lionel Richie, “All Night Long (All Night)”
• Benny Mardones, “Into the Night”
• Michael McDonald, “I Keep Forgetting”
• Little River Band, “Reminiscing”
• Earth, Wind & Fire, “After the Love is Gone”
• Carole King, “I Feel the Earth Move”
• Fleetwood Mac, “Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)”
• Climax Blues Band, “I Love You”
• Rupert Holmes, “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”
• Ambrosia, “Biggest Part of Me”
• Gary Wright, “Love Is Alive”

Update: A few readers checked in to suggest that the recent debut of Soft AC KLO-FM (The Coast) Salt Lake City belongs in this grouping, too. There are also longer-running examples of stations using some form of “Yacht Rock” both in the comments below and on Radioinsight’s Facebook page. While the format’s biggest songs factor into many Soft ACs and most stations doing ’70s-based oldies, it is interesting that the list of (relatively) dedicated stations has gotten to the place where you can’t recite it all from memory.