The Kutztown Golden Bears are the sports teams that represent Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (pronunciation rhymes with "Puts"), located in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Kutztown University is a member of NCAA Division II and competes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The university sponsors eight men's and fourteen women's intercollegiate sports. In 2022, Kutztown University added women's acrobatics & tumbling as its 22nd varsity sport.

Kutztown won the Dixon Trophy in 2006, which is awarded to the PSAC school with the best overall athletic program that year. Kutztown became the fifth league school to win the award after placing second in the rankings in the 2003–04 and 2004–05 school years. Famous former athletes from Kutztown include Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Reed, two-time Super Bowl champion with the Denver Broncos, John Mobley, NFL football players Bruce Harper, Doug Dennison and Craig Reynolds (American football) and World Series champion pitcher with the San Francisco Giants, Ryan Vogelsong.

The university provides an array of intramural and club sports programs for students. Leagues and tournaments are organized by the department of Recreational Services every semester, and range from badminton tournaments to rock climbing competitions.

Overview

From the mid-1930s up until 1961, Kutztown's sports teams were known as the Golden Avalanche.  In 1961, Kutztown replaced the Golden Avalanche nickname with the Golden Bears as the University's nickname.  In later years, Golden Bear mascots came into play.  Before 2005, Goldie and Griz served as the KU Golden Bear mascots.  However, they were both "graduated" to make way for a new mascot.  The Raymond Entertainment Group of Newark, Delaware, helped KU create the new mascot.  On October 1, 2005, at Kutztown's football game versus West Chester University, Kutztown University unveiled Avalanche as the school's new mascot.  Avalanche is so named to honor Kutztown State College during the time of the Golden Avalanche sports teams.

The Golden Bears can be seen in more places than the sports fields. Golden Bear statues are located near the basketball courts on South Campus and in North Campus near the Boehm Science Building. Along with the statues, several residential areas are named after the Golden Bear. Golden Bear Village South behind University Place and Golden Bear Village West next to Rothermel Hall are student apartments which hold the Golden Bear moniker.

Fall sports

Football
The Kutztown University football team is led by coach Jim Clements. Clements led the Golden Bears to the 2021 PSAC East title and PSAC championship. Kutztown also made its deepest NCAA DII Championship tournament run in program history, reaching the national quarterfinals. Clements came to Kutztown after serving as the head coach at Division III Delaware Valley College for eight years. He is the winningest coach in Delaware Valley history with an overall record of 66–24 from 2006–13, including a perfect 10–0 regular season in 2011. He earned four Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) championships (2008–11) and three NCAA second round appearances (2009–11). A notable Kutztown victory came in 2006 and was the first game to be played at night at Kutztown's Andre Reed Stadium after lights were installed in the stadium and the team's season-opener, a 27–10 win over Clarion.

PSAC Players of the Year from Kutztown, since 1985:

All players won their awards as members of the PSAC Eastern Division

Offensive Players of the Year:
 Mike deMarteleire (2000)
 Kevin Morton (2010)
 Jordan Morgan
 Collin DiGalbo (2019)
Defensive Players of the Year:
 Michael Baldwin (2005)
 Pete Mendez (2001)
 Terrence Miles (1999)
Athletes of the Year (Award was broken up into Offense and Defense in 1996):
 John Mobley (1995)
 Andy Breault (1990, 1991)
 Paul Magistro (1985)
Rookies of the Year
 Stephen Gammage (2002)
 Pete Mendez (1999)
 Mike DeMarteleire (1998)
 Kevin Wimberly (1995)
 Kevin Mobley (1994)
 Nick Hanych (1993)
 Mark Steinmeyer (1988)

PSAC Coach of The Year (Eastern Division) from Kutztown (since 1985)
Barry Fetterman (1991)
Raymond Monica (2010)
Jim Clements (2016, 2019, 2021)

Field Hockey
The Kutztown University field hockey team is led by head coach Marci Scheuing, who has served in that role since 2013. She was named the PSAC Coach of the year in 2015. Betty Wesner was named the NFHCA Division II coach of the year in 1997, the NHFCA South Region Coach of the Year in 2007, and the PSAC coach of the year in 1988, 1997, 2004 and 2007. In 2019, Kutztown advanced to the NCAA Division II national semifinals, before falling to eventual champion West Chester. The team finished as the NCAA Division II runner-up in 1997.

Women's Soccer
The Kutztown Women's Soccer Team is under the direction of Erik Burstein, who became head coach in 2007.  Burstein came to Kutztown from Bowling Green State University, where he served as an assistant coach during the 2006 season. The women's soccer program has recorded six-straight double-digit win seasons, and had four-straight appearances in the PSAC Playoffs (2003–06) and was the PSAC runner-up in 2004 and 2005.

PSAC Women's Soccer Rookie of the Year from Kutztown (Since 1994)
Kim Kelty (2004)

Coach Jeff Schellenberger was named PSAC East Coach of the Year in 2004.

Players from Kutztown were selected to the All-PSAC Women's Soccer Team 28 times since 1994.  Kim Kelty was selected four times, the most at Kutztown University.

Men's and Women's Cross Country
Kutztown University's men's and women's cross country teams are under the direction of head coach Ray Hoffman, who has led the program since 1998.  Coach Hoffman also has served as head coach of the track and field programs since the 2006–07 school year.

The women’s team has earned five trips to the NCAA Championship, including a best-ever 14th-place finish in 2006 after winning its first-ever NCAA East Regional title. Hoffman has twice been named the PSAC Women’s Coach of the Year (2000, 2006) and the KU Women’s Athletics Coach of the Year (2000–01, 2001–02).

The women's cross country team has competed in the NCAA Championships four times.  In 2000, Megan Seefeldt won the individual PSAC title, being the first-ever in the program's history.  The team has placed as high as second at the PSAC Championships and have not placed lower than fourth in the last six seasons.  The men's team has placed fourth twice and fifth once at the 2000–02 PSAC Championships and finishing fifth twice and sixth at the NCAA Regionals.

During Hoffman's eight seasons as coach:
One runner has won a PSAC individual title (Megan Seefeldt)
21 made All-PSAC honors
1 was named PSAC Runner of the Year
3 were named PSAC Rookies of the Year
19 won All-Region awards
1 won an All-America honor
26 won USTFCCCA All-Academic Team individual awards
1 won Academic All-America of the Year

Women's Volleyball
The Kutztown women's volleyball team was formerly led by head coach John Gump, who retired following the 2021–22 school year.  Before coaching at KU, Gump was head coach of Division III Allentown College (now DeSales University) Gump is the winningest coach in Kutztown University volleyball history. The team has won four PSAC East titles under his watch and went a perfect 10–0 in the PSAC East in 2003.

Coach Gump was named the 2003 and 2006 PSAC East Coach of the Year, the 1998–99 and 2003–04 KU Women's Athletics Coach of the Year.

Since 1983, 22 players have been selected to the All-PSAC East First Team.

PSAC Eastern Division Rookies of the Year (since 1991):
Sarah Knaub (1995)
Jessie Didier (2000)
Ebany Hetrick (2002)
PSAC Eastern Division Athletes of the Year (since 1991):
Jessie Didier (2003)
Sarah Brandon (2004, 2005, 2006)

Winter sports

Women's Acrobatics & Tumbling
Kutztown's newest varsity sport, women's acrobatics & tumbling, made its debut during the 2022 season, going 3–3 under first-year head coach Karah Paull. Paull (formerly Naples) was an All-American as a student-athlete at Fairmont State and is working quickly to make the Golden Bears a contender. Kutztown competes as a member of the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA).

Men's and Women's basketball

Kutztown University's men's basketball team was established in 1903. It is currently under the direction of head coach Bernie Driscoll, who has led the program since 2000. The team won the PSAC East regular-season title in 1988 and shared the division title in 2008. Since 2003, the team has posted five straight winning seasons, and has an appearance in the PSAC title game (2004).

The Kutztown University women's basketball team was established in 1971. Head coach Janet Malouf has served in that position since 1994. She has the most wins in The team appeared in the PSAC playoffs every season from 1995–96 to 2005–06.

Men's and Women's Swimming
The Kutztown University women's swimming team is guided by head coach Tim Flannery, who has served in that position since 1996–97. The men's team was discontinued following the 2008–2009 season. The program as a whole has produced two NCAA champions, Ed Flory (1977–'78) and Claudine Gruver (1997).

Wrestling
The Kutztown University wrestling team is led by head coach Robert Fisher, who has served in that role since 2000–01. The program was established in 1940, but was discontinued three years later due to World War II. In 1965, Dan Hinkel was the head coach when the program was reinstated. In 2007, Joe Kemmerer won the first NCAA championship, winning the 133 pound title at the Division II Championships. Kemmerer repeated his feat by becoming a two-time national champion at 133 lbs. in 2009. Since then, heavyweights Ziad Haddad (2014 and 2015) and Andrew Dunn Jr. (2019) have gone on to win national titles for the Maroon and Gold.

Spring Sports

Baseball
Kutztown University baseball is currently under the direction of coach Eric Folmar, who took over prior to the 2020 season.

On March 14, 2008, former head coach Chris Blum became the fastest collegiate baseball coach to 200 career victories, when KU defeated California (Pa.) in Blum's 314th career game
Kutztown has won PSAC Eastern Division titles in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2007; PSAC Championships in 1966, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008; and has won the North Atlantic Regional tournament in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2007.
The team spent the week of April 30, 2007, as the No. 1 ranked team in Division II, a first for the program.

Ryan Vogelsong, a Golden Baseball alum, won a World Series title with the San Francisco Giants. On May 30, 2022, pitcher Matt Swarmer became the fourth Kutztown University product to make his Major League Baseball debut, pitching six innings and recording a no decision in game one of a doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Women's Lacrosse
The Kutztown University women's lacrosse program returned to varsity status in 2008.  The program was instituted in 1975 and discontinued in 1990.  he program, which won the PSAC title in 1982, is responsible for the first PSAC Championship by a women's team in KU history. The team is now under the direction of head coach Kristin Nicholson.

Softball
Kutztown University's softball team is led by head coach Judy Lawes, who has served as head coach since 1987. Lawes has led the Golden Bears to appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1994–96 and then every year from 2000–08. Lawes has also guided Kutztown to 13 PSAC playoff appearances, including four runner-up finishes (1988, 1989, 1996, 2007). Lawes has been named PSAC East Coach of the Year in 1989, 1994, 2000 and 2007. Lawes also garnered the Dr. Dorothy Moyer Award in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2007 and 2008, which is presented to the KU Coach of the Year for women’s athletics. Other accomplishments include setting the school record for overall wins (48) in 2008 and wins in the Eastern Division (22) in 2007. Additionally, her team won a share of the PSAC East title in 1994 and won the title outright in 2007 and 2008.

Multi-season sports

Women's Golf
Kutztown University's women's golf team is led by head coach Robert Fisher, who has served in the role since January 2002. The team was established in 2000–01 as the first women's golf program in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

Men's and Women's Tennis
Kutztown University's men's and women's tennis teams are under the direction of head coach Wyatt Pauley, who completed his first season in 2021–22. The men's team has won the PSAC title in 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07.  The women's team has finished a best-ever second in the PSAC twice (1993–94, 2004–05).

Men's and Women's Track & Field
Kutztown University's Men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams are under the direction of head coach Ray Hoffman, who has led the program since the 2006–07. From 1998–2006, Hoffman served as an assistant coach, while also serving as head coach of the cross country teams.
The men's team won the PSAC outdoor title in 1983, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002; and the Eastern College Athletic Conference indoor title in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001.  The women's team has won the PSAC outdoor title in 1997, 2000 and 2005; the PSAC indoor title in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2019; and the ECAC indoor title in 2001.  The program has produced two NCAA Division II National Champions, Mike Cantrel (pole vault, 1987 indoors) and Tara Crozier (hammer, 1997 outdoors).

Club Sports

Men's Rugby

Founded in 1984 by Andrew Lewis, the Kutztown Rugby Football Club represents Kutztown in college rugby competitions, and has been a member of USA Rugby since 1988.  Gregg 'Doc' Jones has been the team's head coach since 1986.

Kutztown plays in the East Conference of Division 1-A Rugby. There have been multiple tournament wins, international tours, and playoff appearances. In 2008, Kutztown advanced to the national quarterfinals, led by Marco Barnard who later went on to play for the U.S. national sevens team. In spring 2013, Kutztown reached the USA Rugby national playoff quarterfinals.

Kutztown has also been successful in rugby sevens and in May, 2022, the Golden Bears captured their first Collegiate Rugby Championship Men's Premier Division national championship with a 17–12 victory over Dartmouth in New Orleans. In February 2012, Kutztown beat Missouri and Miami–Ohio en route to reaching the semifinals at the Las Vegas Invitational. Kutztown began the fall 2012 season ranked as the #1 team in college rugby sevens. Kutztown reached the semifinals of the 2013 Collegiate Rugby Championship, the highest profile competition in college rugby sevens, played at PPL Park in Philadelphia and broadcast live on NBC. Kutztown improved on their performance the following year, reaching the finals of the 2014 Collegiate Rugby Championship before losing to Cal 24–21. Kutztown has continued to see success in tournaments, including a national semifinals appearance in the 2019 Collegiate Rugby Championships, where they lost to eventual champion Lindenwood 30–12.

References

External links


is a Super Sentai Series V-Cinema movie which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Super Sentai Series, released August 10, 2001. It features a team up of the protagonists of Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger with previous heroes of the Super Sentai Series over its twenty-five year history. This movie would be the inspiration for the Power Rangers Wild Force episode Forever Red.

Plot

When the Gaorangers engage in another battle with the Org Dukes Yabaiba and Tsue-Tsue, the two manage to summon the Lost Highness Rakushaasa, an Org Duke who can siphon the fighting spirit out of his opponents. Rakushaasa lends his power to Yabaiba and Tsue-Tsue, enabling them to defeat the Gaorangers. He then attacks and drains Gao Yellow (Gaku Washio), Gao Blue (Kai Samezu) and Gao Black (Sotaro Ushigome) of their battle spirits, leaving them in a state of near panic. Gao Red (Kakeru Shishi) quickly orders Gao White (Sae Taiga) to escort the other Gaorangers to safety as he continues to battle Rakushaasa alone.

Rakushaasa subjects Gao Red to several illusion-based battles with previously vanquished Org Dukes, attempting to drive him to despair. Meanwhile, the shaken Gaorangers are suddenly confronted by a wandering monk, who tells them of the existence of Super Sentai, teams of multi-colored warriors of whom the Gaorangers are the latest version. Each of the Gaorangers' G-Phones then scurries off, causing the Gaorangers to chase them.

The scurrying G-Phones lead each Gaoranger to a member of a previous Super Sentai team. Gaku is led to Yuusuke Amamiya, Red Falcon of Choujuu Sentai Liveman, who gives him a training lesson in swordsmanship and explains the Super Sentai's expertise with weaponry. Kai encounters Daimon Tatsumi, Go Yellow of Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive, who explains how each Sentai team develops fighting techniques. Sotaro is led to Gouki, Ginga Blue of Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, who teaches Gao Black about the Sentai use of physical strength. Sai meets Miku Imamura, Mega Pink of Denji Sentai Megaranger, who explains the strengths and abilities of female Super Sentai members.

The two women are then surprised by Yabaiba and Tsue-Tsue, but the two Org Dukes are then challenged by the wandering monk, who reveals himself to be Banba Soukichi, Big One of J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai. Banba and Miku help Sai rescue an exhausted Kakeru from Rakushaasa's clutches, and the heroes are quickly joined by the rejuvenated Gaorangers and their Super Sentai teachers.

As the former Super Sentai (led by Banba) engage and destroy Rakushaasa's hastily summoned force of Org Dukes, the Gaorangers battle and defeat Yabaiba, Tsue-Tsue and Rakushaasa. Rakushaasa then summons more power, growing to giant size and attacking the city. He easily defeats the Gaorangers' Gao Muscle, but is driven back by an onslaught unleashed from an array of transforming mecha and special vehicles from Super Sentai history. The Gaorangers then summon Gao King, which is then imbued with energy from past Super Sentai combined mecha forms. Gao King then unleashes a powerful blast that annihilates Rakushaasa's giant form.

But Rakushaasa is not destroyed; he rejuvenates himself by draining power from a fleeing Yabaiba and Tsue-Tsue and attacks the Super Sentai. The former Sentai explain that the Gaorangers need to summon Super Sentai Tamashii, the pure fighting spirit that imbues all of the teams. To help inspire them, Red Falcon summons 23 other Red Warriors from all the previous Super Sentai teams, from Akarenger of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger to Time Red of Mirai Sentai Timeranger. Their presence inspires the Gaorangers to summon Super Sentai Damashi from within themselves, which Kakeru uses to finally disintegrate Rakushaasa.

With Rakushaasa's defeat, all the former Super Sentai vanish. Returning to their home base, the Gaorangers find their mentor Tetomu in a faint; she vaguely remembers seeing Rakushaasa's appearing but quickly dismisses it as a bad dream. It's left to Gaoranger's narrator to assure the team (and the viewer) that the adventure was real.

Characters

New
 : A hairy Org who happened to be the most powerful of the Highness Duke Orgs, but his immense power caused his horn to be damaged and sent him into a coma. He gathers energy by taking the fighting spirit of strong-willed warriors to fully heal his horn.

Past Super Sentai Members

Big One
: Disguised as a wandering monk, he helped the Gaorangers get over their despair and became the leader of the "Dream Sentai" team.

Hiroshi Miyauchi reprises his role as the leader of J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai.

Red Falcon

: 12 years later, Yusuke is found looking at the 4 graves of Takuji Yano, Rui Sanda, Mari Aikawa, and Kenji Tsukigata who were friends and/or allies of the Choujuu Sentai Liveman team. Yuusuke dueled Gaku Washio (Gao Yellow) in a sword fight and then lectured Gaku on the many sword-wielding warriors of the Super Sentai Series, and introduced the Gaorangers to the other 23 Red Senshi.

Daisuke Shima reprises his role as Red Falcon from Choujuu Sentai Liveman.

Mega Pink

: Found playing a video arcade game at Game Riribabita, she lectured Sae Taiga (Gao White) on many female senshi and their shared skill at changing their clothes in the blink of an eye, something that Sae had never done before.

Mami Higashiyama reprises her role as Mega Pink from Denji Sentai Megaranger.

Ginga Blue

: Still protecting the Ginga Forest, his element is water. He lectured Soutarou Ushigome (Gao Black) on the many strong warriors of the Super Sentai Series.

Shōei reprises his role as Ginga Blue from Seijuu Sentai Gingaman.

Go Yellow

: a street police officer, still obsessed with drinking milk. Daimon taught Kai Samezu (Gao Blue) how to perform his famous , which Kai eventually uses on Lost Highness Rakushaasa, and lectured Kai on the Super Sentai Series' technical warriors.

Kenji Shibata reprises his role as Go Yellow from Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive.

The Red Warriors

In addition to Red Falcon, 23 Red Rangers, representing the history of Super Sentai, are summoned to aid the Gaorangers. They do not unmask, but perform their "roll call" poses (an assortment of clips from previous Super Sentai shows, in some cases including the music from the original clip). In order of appearance, and excluding Red Falcon and Gao Red, they are:

Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (1975-1977): Akarenger
J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai (1977): Spade Ace
Battle Fever J (1979-1980): Battle Japan
Denshi Sentai Denziman (1980-1981): Denzi Red
Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan (1981-1982): Vul Eagle
Dai Sentai Goggle V (1982-1983): Goggle Red
Kagaku Sentai Dynaman (1983-1984): Dyna Red
Choudenshi Bioman (1984-1985): Red One
Dengeki Sentai Changeman (1985-1986): Change Dragon
Choushinsei Flashman (1986-1987): Red Flash
Hikari Sentai Maskman (1987-1988): Red Mask
Kousoku Sentai Turboranger (1989-1990): Red Turbo
Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman (1990-1991): Five Red
Choujin Sentai Jetman (1991-1992): Red Hawk
Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (1992-1993): Tyranno Ranger
Gosei Sentai Dairanger (1993-1994): Ryu Ranger
Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994-1995): Ninja Red
Chouriki Sentai Ohranger (1995-1996): Oh Red
Gekisou Sentai Carranger (1996-1997): Red Racer
Denji Sentai Megaranger (1997-1998): Mega Red
Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (1998-1999): Ginga Red
Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive (1999-2000): Go Red
Mirai Sentai Timeranger (2000-2001): Time Red

See also
Super Sentai
Forever Red
GoGo Sentai Boukenger vs. Super Sentai
Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle
Super Sentai World

2000s Super Sentai films
Crossover tokusatsu films
2000s Japanese-language films


Qualifying industrial zones (QIZs) are industrial parks that house manufacturing operations in Jordan and Egypt. The QIZ program was introduced in 1996 by the U.S. Congress to stimulate regional economic cooperation.
Goods produced in QIZ-designated areas in Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian territories can directly access U.S. markets without tariff or quota restrictions, subject to certain conditions. To qualify, goods produced in these zones must contain a small portion of Israeli input. In addition, a minimum 35% value to the goods must be added to the finished product. The idea was first proposed by Jordanian businessman Omar Salah in 1994.

The first QIZ, Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in Irbid in northern Jordan, was authorized to export Stateside by the U.S. Trade Representative in March 1998. , there are 13 QIZs in Jordan and 15 in Egypt, exporting $1 billion in goods to the United States. Administratively, QIZs differ from free-trade zones in that free-trade zones operate in one country while QIZs have operations in two countries (Egypt or Jordan jointly with Israel) and are under the jurisdiction of their host countries in addition to U.S. oversight.

History

The concept behind a qualifying industrial zone is credited to Omar Salah, a Jordanian businessman. In 1993, in anticipation of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, Salah traveled to Israel with the intention of doing business with Israeli businessmen. He was also interested in business ventures that could take advantage of the eight-year-old free trade agreement between the United States and Israel that allowed Israeli goods to enter the US markets duty-free. After the treaty was signed in 1994, a business venture was struck between Salah and Delta Galil, where labor was transferred to Irbid in northern Jordan, to take advantage of low labor costs that were forty to seventy percent lower than in Israel. Salah had envisioned that by exploiting Israeli resources such as labor, finances, and contacts, and then leveraging it to produce value-added goods, the economy of Jordan would be benefited. In addition, he surmised that economic cooperation between the two nations would help foster peace in the region.

Salah set up a public share-holding company, Century Investments. Many Jordanian organizations criticized Salah for doing business with Israel and boycotted the purchase of output in Jordan. Despite the heavy criticism, Salah nevertheless received tacit support from King Abdullah of Jordan. To combat the boycott, Salah began to work with multinationals with a larger international stake. He then actively lobbied the Jordanian government to set negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States on the lines of the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985. Faced with little enthusiasm by the Jordanian government, Salah scrutinized the Presidential Proclamation (No. 6955) that was part of the Palestinian agreement signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in 1993. In the agreement, the areas on the border between Israel and Jordan were designated as "qualifying industrial zones", and goods produced here would not have tariff and quota restrictions to the US markets. Since the Hassan industrial estate in Irbid, where Salah had factories located, was situated far from the bordering areas, it did not qualify for QIZ status.

Salah then lobbied the Jordanian government to extend these regions into other parts of Jordan. Government officials were lukewarm to the idea and told him that it would be "naive to assume" that the United States would give Jordan this status. Unfazed by this response, Salah traveled to the United States and lobbied hard with the US State Department, the White House, and the US Trade Representative that it was in US interests to extend the QIZ into Jordan's interiors. Lawyers in the United States then told Salah that even if a small portion of Israeli territory was associated with a QIZ, the proposal might materialize. Soon, USTR officials began to travel to Jordan to work on the deal.

Finally, in 1997, an agreement was signed at the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) conference at Doha that established a QIZ agreement with Jordan. On 6 March 1998, the Al-Hassan Zone in Irbid was designated the first QIZ in Jordan.

After the setting up of the first QIZ, few Jordanian companies took advantage of QIZ benefits due to the general hostility in doing business with Israel. Instead, Chinese and Indian companies quickly took advantage of the vacuum to set up business establishments. The lack of local enthusiasm was criticized by the Jordan Times for missing the "golden opportunity". Gradually though, more Jordanian businesses began to set up business establishments as political hostilities began to be overshadowed by business economics. Soon after 1998, an additional twelve sites were given QIZ status by USTR.

Positive results from the Jordanian QIZ led to the Government of Egypt negotiating a separate QIZ protocol with the United States in Cairo on 24 December 2004. The protocol came into effect in February 2005.

Regulations

Under the agreement (P.L. 104–234) requires that articles eligible for QIZ status must be manufactured in or directly imported from the areas administered by the Palestine Authority or another designated QIZ and meet the several conditions.

To quality for this scheme a product must be substantially transformed in the manufacturing process. Material and processing costs incurred in a QIZ must total not less than 35% of the appraised value of the product when imported into the United States. Of this 35%, 15% must be either US materials or materials from Israel, and/or Jordan or Egypt depending on the program. The remaining 20% of the 35% input must come from Israel and Jordan or Egypt. The remaining 65% can come from any part of the world. All importers must also certify that the article meet conditions for duty exemption.

Under the sharing agreements, the manufacturer from the Jordanian side must contribute at least 11.7% of the final produce, and the manufacturer on the Israeli side must contribute 8% (7% on high-tech products). Under the Israeli-Egyptian agreement, 11.7% of the inputs must be made in Israel.

The clothing and textile industry has benefited most from this arrangement. As tariffs on these goods into the United States are relatively high, exporters have used the duty-free benefits of QIZs to gain quick access to markets in the United States.

Jordan

On 6 March 1998, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) designated the Al-Hassan Industrial Estate in the northern city of Irbid as the first QIZ. Since then, an addition twelve QIZs have been also designated across the country.

Some of the QIZs in Jordan are:

 Al-Hassan Industrial Estate
 Al-Hussein Ibn Abdullah II Industrial Estate
 Jordan Industrial Estate Corporation
 Jordan Cyber City
 Al-Tajamouat Industrial Estate
 Gateway QIZ
 Aqaba Industrial Estate
 Ad-Dulayl Industrial Park
 El-Zai Ready-wear Manufacturing Company

Jordan has seen a substantial economic growth since the QIZ were set up. Exports from Jordan to the United States grew from US$15 million to over US$1 billion in 2004. Government sources have estimated that over 40,000 jobs have been created with the set up of QIZs. Investment is currently valued at US$85–100 million and expected to grow to $180 to $200 million. The success of QIZ have led to the United States and Jordan signing a Free Trade Agreement in 2001 that was approved by the US Congress.

Between 1998 and 2005 Jordan moved up from the United States' thirteenth to eight largest trading partner among the 20 Middle-East-North African (MENA) entities. In 2005, US exports to and imports from Jordan totalled an estimated $1.9 billion: U.S. exports, at an estimated $646 million, were 1.8 times their 1998 level; US imports, at $1.3 billion, were 80 times their 1998 level. Despite the 2001 FTA between the United States and Jordan, 75% of Jordanian
articles enter the United States through the QIZ program.

The apparel industry dominates both Jordan's QIZs and total exports to the United States, accounting for 99.9% of all QIZ exports and 86% of all Jordanian exports to the United States. The reason for this dominance is that QIZ products enter the United States free of duty, whereas, under the US–Jordan FTA, tariffs will not be eliminated until the end of the ten-year phase-in period, in 2011.

Egypt

After the WTO phased out quantitative quotas on textile in 2004 under the Agreement on Textile and Clothing(ATC). Egyptian textile and garment producers feared that their industry would be threatened by global competition from China and India. The flood of similar articles from these two nations to the United States could edge out Egyptian exports, and possibly result in the loss of 150,000 job opportunities. This was estimated to cost some of the $3.2 billion in US foreign direct investment in Egypt. Further, Egypt was in search of sources for increased economic growth and trade to provide jobs for its rapidly growing labor force.

Positive results from the Jordanian led to the Government of Egypt negotiating a QIZ protocol in Cairo on 24 December 2004 that came into effect in February 2005. USTR has designated three QIZs in Egypt – the Greater Cairo Zone, the Alexandria Zone, and the Suez Canal Zone (69 CFR 78094). On 4 November 2005, the USTR designated a fourth zone in the Central Delta region and expanded the Greater Cairo and Suez Canal zones.

The protocol signed between the two nations is a non-reciprocal arrangement and is expected to be a step towards the establishment of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. However negotiations toward a US–Egyptian free trade agreement have recently been suspended over human rights issues.

The results have been positive. Israeli exports to Egypt rose over 30% from US$29 million in 2004 to US$93.2 million and exceeded US$125 million in 2006.  ten QIZs have been set up in Egypt. Some estimate that approximately 20% of companies based in QIZs are wholly owned by
Jordanians.

Social impact

Although most experts note that companies based in QIZs hire foreign laborers, thousands of Jordanians, particularly women from the rural countryside, have found jobs at garment factories in QIZs. In a traditional society such as Jordan, many of these women had little previous work experience and were largely caretakers of their home. Despite the low wages paid by apparel factories in the QIZs, some women have been able to support their families. However, traditional attitudes toward a woman's place in the home persist, and many families continue to prohibit female members from working in QIZs. (See Women in Jordan) In response, the Jordanian Ministry of Labor has worked to ease the adjustment of women moving from the home to a new job by providing free transportation to work, subsidizing the cost of food in QIZs, paying for dormitories near factories to cut commuting times and providing childcare. The long-term effect of female employment in QIZs are yet to be quantified, and there is some concern that over time, Jordanian women may have difficulty in achieving higher wages in a global economy where apparel manufacturers can easily relocate to cheaper labor markets.

When the QIZ program came into being in 1996, observers regarded it as a vehicle to support the development of peaceful relations and normalization of commercial ties between Israel and the two Arab states (Jordan and Egypt) with which it had signed peace treaties. In both cases, however, a tenuous “cold peace” continues to prevail between Israel and the two Arab states. Since the conclusion of the Jordan–Israel peace treaty in October 1994, large numbers of Jordanians, particularly fundamentalists, those of Palestinian origin, and members of the professional unions continue to oppose normalization with Israel and resist the expansion of commercial relations. With the establishment of 13 QIZs in Jordan, there has been an increase in the volume of bilateral trade, though the overall totals remain modest.

Criticisms
By far the biggest international criticism of QIZs in Jordan is the humanitarian crisis within the factories. A comprehensive report by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights found that Sri Lankan migrant workers were subject to "routine sexual abuse and rape."

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) designation of 13 factories throughout Jordan (under the US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement) has led to disastrous realities, gender inequality and gender based violence:

"There are over 30,000 poor, mostly young women, foreign guest workers toiling in Jordan‘s largely foreign-owned garment factories sewing clothing for export to the United States. Under the Free Trade Agreement, those garments enter the U.S. duty-free.

"The guest workers are from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, China, Nepal and Egypt. They earn less than three-quarters the wage of Jordanian garment workers, who account for only 15 to 25 percent of the total garment workforce. Jordanians earn $1.02 an hour while the foreign guest workers take home 74½ cents an hour. The Jordanians work eight hours a day, while the guest workers toil an average of 12 hours a day."

See also
Special Economic Zones
Jordan–United States relations

References

External links
Qualifying Industrial Zones in Jordan and Egypt

Special economic zones
Economy of Jordan
Economy of Egypt
Economy of Israel
Economy of the Arab League
Egypt–Jordan relations
Industry in Egypt


Manuel María Caballero Province is one of the fifteen provinces of the Bolivian Santa Cruz Department and is situated in the department's western parts. The province name honors deputy Manuel María Caballero from Vallegrande, one of the signatories of the Bolivian constitution (Constitución política) of 5 August 1861.

Location
Manuel María Caballero Province is located between 17° 26' and 18° 15' South and between 64° 07' and 64° 50' West. It extends over 90 km from North to South, and 75 km from West to East.

The province is situated on the western edge of the Bolivian lowlands and borders Cochabamba Department in the West, Vallegrande Province in the South, Florida Province in the East, and Ichilo Province in the Northeast.

Population
The population of Manuel María Caballero Province has increased by circa 35% over the recent two decades:
1992: 16,074 inhabitants (census)
2001: 20,562 inhabitants (census)
2005: 21,517 inhabitants (est.)
2010: 22,916 inhabitants (est.)

 20.0% of the population is urban population. (1992)

 44.9% of the population are younger than 15 years old. (1992)

 95.4% of the population speak Spanish, 43.8% speak Quechua, and 1.6 speak Aymara. (1992)

 70.1% of the population have no access to electricity, 70.8% have no sanitary facilities. (1992)

 90.1% of the population are Catholics, 8.4% are Protestants. (1992)

Division
The province comprises two municipios:
Comarapa Municipality – 14,660 inhabitants (2001)
Saipina Municipality – 5,350 inhabitants (2001)

References

External links
General map of province
Detailed map of province towns and rivers
Population data (Spanish)
Social data (Spanish)

Provinces of Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia)


Jalan Kota Perdana, Federal Route 2486, is a federal road in Pahang, Malaysia.

At most sections, the Federal Route 2486 was built under the JKR R5 road standard, allowing maximum speed limit of up to 90 km/h.

List of junctions

Malaysian Federal Roads


Augustin Senghor is a Senegalese politician. A member of the Rally of the Ecologists of Senegal, he became the mayor of Gorée in 2002, prominently featuring anti-erosion measures in his platform.

Senghor is also the president of the US Gorée football club. In 2009, he was elected as president of the Senegal Football Association. Senghor drew 174 votes, compared to 130 for runner-up El Hadji Malick Gackou, and 26 for third candidate Oumar Diop.

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Mayors of places in Senegal
Rally of the Ecologists of Senegal politicians
Members of the CAF Executive Committee


Clounmacon are a Gaelic football team in north County Kerry in Ireland. They play in Division 5 of the county league. Clounmacon players also participate in the Kerry Senior Football Championship with the divisional side Feale Rangers.

History

The club was founded in 1898. Clounmacon played Ballylongford on 29 October in their first game. The final score was Clounmacon 0–6, Ballylongford 1–2. The club won its only North Kerry Senior Football Championship in 1954 when they beat Tarbert in the final, they made the finals in 1955 and 1957 but lost to Duagh and Listowel Emmets.

Honours

 North Kerry Senior Football Championship 1: 1954

References

External links
Official Clounmacon GAA Club website

Gaelic football clubs in County Kerry
Gaelic games clubs in County Kerry


Finswimming at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games was held in Macau Olympic Aquatic Centre, Macau, China from 27 October to 28 October 2007. The competition included only surface events.

Medalists

Men

Women

Medal table

Results

Men

50 m
27 October

100 m
27 October

200 m
28 October

4 × 100 m relay
28 October

Women

50 m
27 October

100 m
27 October

200 m
28 October

4 × 100 m relay
28 October

References
 2007 Asian Indoor Games official website

2007 Asian Indoor Games events
Asian Indoor Games
Finswimming at multi-sport events


Mascoma Corporation was a U.S. biofuel company founded to produce cellulosic ethanol made from wood and switchgrass. Headquartered in Lebanon, New Hampshire, the company was founded in 2005 by Robert Johnsen (CEO), Lee Lynd and Charles Wyman, two professors from Dartmouth College.  The company was named after Mascoma Lake, which is near Lebanon.  In November 2014, the yeast-related business assets including the Mascoma name were purchased by Lallemand, Inc. of Montreal, Canada.  The R&D facility in Lebanon, NH was renamed Mascoma LLC which is now a subsidiary of Lallemand.  The remaining business assets of the former Mascoma Corp. including the thermophilic bacteria technology, pilot plant in Rome, NY, and former headquarters in Waltham, MA were renamed Enchi Corporation.

Start-up
The company was first financed by Flagship Ventures and Khosla Ventures in 2006. Also in 2006, the company raised attracted additional attention with two private financing rounds led by General Catalyst Partners that raised $34 million and through its acquisition of Celsys BioFuels Inc. of Indianapolis. Also in 2007, it received a US$14.8 million grant from two government agencies—the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority—for the creation of a plant in Rochester, New York, that would demonstrate the biomass-to-ethanol process.

Partnerships
In September 2007, Mascoma announced plans to partner with the University of Tennessee to build the first U.S. plant for the commercial production of switchgrass-based ethanol. In June 2008, however, the projected plant failed to meet its anticipated funding levels, and Mascoma withdrew from the partnership. Instead, it took on the role as technical adviser.

In May 2008, the company entered a partnership with General Motors to develop cellulosic ethanol based on Mascoma's formula that enables the biochemical conversion of nongrain biomass into low-carbon biofuel. In the same month, Mascoma received a $10 million investment from the Houston-based oil and gas company Marathon Oil.

In October 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy gave the company a $26 million grant to develop a cellulosic fuel production facility. In the same month, the state government of Michigan gave the company a $23.5 million grant to bring that proposed facility to Chippewa County, Michigan.

Facilities
On April 14, 2009, Mascoma Corp. announced plans to move its corporate headquarters from Boston to a new research laboratory in New Hampshire. The move would consolidate most of Mascoma's operations, which, until now, have been divided among Boston; a demonstration facility in Rome, New York; a Process and Development laboratory in Woburn, Massachusetts; and a lab in Lebanon, New Hampshire, where many of the company's employees already are based. Researchers in Lebanon are working to convert plant material such as wood chips and corn stover into biofuel.

Technological breakthrough
On May 7, 2009, the company announced a major technological breakthrough in the field of consolidated bioprocessing by utilizing a low-cost strategy for processing of biofuels from cellulosic biomass, which enables high yield of ethanol and cellulase in single step without the costly, separate usage of the cellulase enzyme.

Other biofuel companies (such as Gate Fuels  Qteros) also claim to have developed a one-step process to produce ethanol or value-added chemicals from plant material.

Technology Commercialization and Partnership with Lallemand
On January 11, 2012, the company announced that it was launching Mascoma Grain Technology, or MGT, the first commercial application of the company's proprietary technology platform.  The MGT product is a genetically-modified yeast which produces enzymes and improves ethanol production in the corn-based fuel ethanol production process.  At that time the company announced that it had entered into a multi-year exclusive partnership with Lallemand Specialties, Inc. to manufacture and distribute the MGT product in North America.  On September 24, 2013, Mascoma Corporation announced that its MGT yeast products TransFerm and TransFerm Yield+ had been used to produce over 2 billion gallons of renewable fuel.  At that time, the company announced its updated commercial strategy focusing on deployment of its microorganisms to a broad spectrum of biofuel and biochemical applications.

Acquisition by Lallemand
On November 4, 2014, Mascoma Corporation announced that it had completed the sale of its yeast business to Lallemand, Inc.  As part of the transaction, Lallemand acquired the Mascoma name and trademarks, all of its proprietary and patented yeast strains and associated technologies, as well as its entire research and development team located at its facility in Lebanon, NH.

New Yeast for Cellulosic Ethanol
On June 3, 2015, Mascoma LLC and the U.S. U.S. Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center announced development of a new strain of yeast developed by Mascoma and BESC for cellulosic ethanol production.  The product, named C5 FUEL, is a yeast capable of converting xylose into ethanol.  Xylose is a sugar found in cellulosic biomass that can not be fermented by conventional ethanol-fermenting yeast.

References

External links
Mascoma Corporation
“From a strange brew, cheaper fuel,” Boston Globe, November 2, 2008

Alcohol fuel producers
Energy companies established in 2005


The  2005 ASP World Tour is a professional competitive surfing league.  It is run by the Association of Surfing Professionals.

Men's World Tour

Tournaments
Source

Final standings
Source

Women's World Tour

Tournaments
Source

| (*)denotes event wildcard

Final standings
Source

External links
 Official Site

World Surf League
ASP World Tour


Addie Jenne (previously Addie Jenne Russell) is the former New York State Democratic Assemblywoman for the 118th/116th district from 2009 to 2019. The district was known as the 118th district when Jenne was elected in 2008, but was re-numbered during her tenure in office, in the 2012 New York legislative redistricting. The district is known as "The River District" for its place on the St. Lawrence river, and it covers parts of Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties, including Watertown and Potsdam.

One of five siblings, Jenne's family has lived in New York State's North Country for seven generations; her father was a mechanic. She was a member of the Jefferson County Board of Legislators, a seat which became vacant with her election to the assembly. She earned her B.A. degree from SUNY Albany and her J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. She was defeated for reelection in 2018 by Republican Mark Walczyk.

References

Living people
Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly
Women state legislators in New York (state)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Syracuse University College of Law alumni
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians


Lars Ketil Strand (11 May 1924 – 12 March 2020) was a Norwegian forester.

He was born in Kristiania in May 1924. He took the Dr. Agric. degree in 1959, and worked at the Norwegian Forest Research Institute from 1965. He was then a professor at the Norwegian College of Agriculture from 1968 to 1990. He served as rector there from 1971 to 1977. He also has an honorary degree from the University of Helsinki. He died in March 2020 at the age of 95.

References

1924 births
2020 deaths
Forestry academics
Academic staff of the Norwegian College of Agriculture
Norwegian foresters
Scientists from Oslo
Rectors of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences
20th-century Norwegian botanists


Milton is a hamlet in Nottinghamshire. It is part of West Markham civil parish, a short distance northwest of West Markham and southwest of Sibthorpe.

Mausoleum

The mausoleum at Milton was designed by Robert Smirke and built in 1831–2. It was intended as a tomb for the Duchess of Newcastle who died in 1822. In 1896, Cornelius Brown wrote of the mausoleum:
Here is the vault of the noble family of Clinton; and herein the two last Dukes of Newcastle were interred. The church contains a monument to the fourth Duke, and opposite to it is a beautiful piece of statuary to the memory of his Duchess, by Westmacott. The inscription states that her Grace "gave birth to fourteen children, ten of whom lived to deplore the bereavement of an incomparable mother. Of the others, Anne Maria preceded her by a few months, and it is humbly hoped led the way to regions of eternal bliss. Two infants were carried by their parent to the grave."

It became the parish church of West Markham in 1833, replacing the old church until the 20th century, when the old church was restored and became the parish church again, and the church at Milton was no longer used. Since 1972 it has been cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.

"This church is cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust. Although no longer needed for regular worship, it remains a consecrated building, a part of England's history, maintained for the benefit of this and future generations."

(from the plaque by the door of the building)

References

External links

Bassetlaw District
Villages in Nottinghamshire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust


Baltinglass GAA Club is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Ireland. The main sport is Gaelic football. The club participates in male and female competitions from under 8 through to Adult ages run by the Wicklow GAA county board. The club's motto is 'Belief, Attitude, Loyalty, Trust, & Optimism', or BALTO for short.

History
Founded in 1887, First the club played under the name of Maurice Davins. The first success came in 1913 as Baltinglass Shamrocks, they won the delayed 1912 Wicklow Junior title. 1927 saw a Wicklow Senior Hurling title. In 1934 a meeting was held to re-establish the football club.

A minor title in 1940 was followed by a Junior title in 1943 and with this it was promoted to Intermediate ranks. More minor titles were won 1952, 53, 54 & 55. The current pitch was bought in 1957, but was not officially opened until the 1980s.

1958 saw Baltinglass win the Wicklow Senior title for the first time. Four titles in the sixties, four in the seventies, six in the eighties and five in the nineties. This included an eight in a row from 1987 to 1994. A Leinster title was won in 1989 and the All-Ireland in 1990. In total the club has won 23 Wicklow Senior Football titles the most recent in 2020.

The club has a main pitch with a covered seated stand and a training pitch, both of which are floodlit.

Honours
 All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championships: (1) 1989-90
 Leinster Senior Club Football Championships: (1) 1989
 Wicklow Senior Football Championships: (23) 1958, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2007, 2016,2020
 Wicklow Senior Hurling Championship: (1) 1927

Notable players
 John Flynn
 Hugh Kenny
 Kevin O'Brien

Notes and references

External links
  Official site

Gaelic games clubs in County Wicklow
Gaelic football clubs in County Wicklow
1884 establishments in Ireland


Lieutenant General Joshua Mahamadu Hamidu (1936 – 1 February 2021) was a Ghanaian soldier, politician and diplomat. He has been the Chief of Defence Staff and also member of the Supreme Military Council government. Prior to heading the military and being in government, he was the Ghanaian High Commissioner to Zambia. He was appointed National Security Advisor to the Kufuor government in 2001. He was the chairman of the Narcotics Control Board of Ghana and on various boards of the Bank of Ghana. In 2005, he was Ghana's High Commissioner to Nigeria.

Hamidu had been accused in some circles of being implicated in the killing of the King of Dagbon, the late Yaa-Naa, Yakubu II in March 2002. The Wuaku Commission which investigated the circumstances leading to the tragedy cleared him of any wrongdoing. He died on 1 February 2021 at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

References

1936 births
2021 deaths
Ghanaian royalty
Ghanaian soldiers
High Commissioners of Ghana to Zambia
High Commissioners of Ghana to Nigeria
People from Yendi
Dagbon royalty
Tamale Senior High School alumni


is a Japanese cinematographer, known as DP of Koreeda's Maborosi.

Selected filmography

TV films
 Ultra Seven (ウルトラセブン, 1967)
 Silver Kamen (シルバー仮面, 1971–1972)
 Ultraman Taro (ウルトラマンタロウ, 1973 - 1974)
 Nami no Bon (波の盆, 1983)

Feature films
 Utamaro's World (歌麿 夢と知りせば, 1977)
 Teito Monogatari (帝都物語, 1988)
 Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars (ウルトラQ ザ・ムービー 星の伝説, 1990)
 Edogawa Rampo monogatari: Yaneura no sanpo sha (屋根裏の散歩者, 1992)
 Maborosi (幻の光, 1995)
 Falling Into the Evening (落下する夕方, 1998)
 Murder on D Street (D坂の殺人事件, 1998)
 Return of Happiness (すずらん, 2000)
 Women in the Mirror (鏡の女たち, 2002)
 Blessing Bell (幸福の鐘, 2002)
 Summer of Ubume (姑獲鳥の夏, 2005)
 Dead Run (疾走, 2005)
 Hard Luck Hero (ハードラックヒーロー, 2005)
 The Harimaya Bridge (The Harimaya Bridge はりまや橋, 2009)

External links
中堀正夫 - Japanese Movie Database (ja)

Japanese cinematographers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)


Oporto British School (OBS) is a British school established in 1894 in Foz do Douro, Porto, Portugal. It is the oldest British school in mainland Europe.

It is a private, day school for both boys and girls, aged 3 to 18, with 558 pupils on roll. It follows a British curriculum until the completion of the IGCSE.

Senior pupils then study the IB Diploma Programme and many go on to higher education in the UK, Portugal, and other locations around the world.

Accreditation
OBS received CIS Accreditation in 2005. It is a member of the European Council of International Schools, the Council of British International Schools.

Houses
OBS has three houses named after prominent royal houses:
House of Windsor
House of Braganza
House of Lancaster

History
The Oporto British School opened in 1894 with 11 boys, with the Rev WS Picken MA as the Master. The School house, in the Porto suburb Foz do Douro, was rented at the time but was purchased in 1922 and remains part of the school's facilities. Non-British boys were accepted in 1902, and girls in 1914. Pupil numbers remained small, and it was not until well after the Second World War that the roll exceeded 100.

Picken became Chaplain of St James' Church, Porto in 1899, and the chaplains of the church were headmasters of the school until 1939.

The school, founded as a Prep School, continued as such until the mid-1950s, when some pupils remained to take their GCE examinations. The early 1960s saw a further development in provision for Portuguese pupils, as the school ensured that, in addition to following an English curriculum, a parallel course in Portuguese was also followed.

Growing pupil numbers through the 1970s and into the 1980s meant that a significant building programme was required to provide the accommodation and facilities for in excess of 200 pupils. A curriculum for post-IGCSE pupils was developed in the early 1990s with the provision of courses leading to the award of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. By this time, the proportion of pupils from a Portuguese background exceeded that of all others, including British students. This trend continued, and there are in excess of 550 pupils in the school, 50% of whom are from Portuguese families, 10% are British, and 40% from other backgrounds.

Along with recent growth in pupils numbers has been significant curriculum and campus development. The school achieved fully accredited status by the Council of International Schools.

Leadership and management
The school is run by an elected board of governors (chairman of the board Nick Heath) and the Senior Leadership Team include: Headmaster: Nick Sellers, Head of Primary: Stacey Howard, Head of Secondary: Chris Payne, Head of Co-Curriculum and Accreditation Coordinator: Jonathan Bridges, and the Business Manager: Marta Luiz.

The school has a Student Council who represent the pupil body at public and ceremonial events.

The school has a Parent-Teacher Association (The President of the Parents Association is the Headmaster and the current Chair of the PTA is Neil Charles).

Location
The school is in the suburb of Foz do Douro in Rua da Cerca, Porto, Portugal.

Sports, initiatives and extra-curricular activities

Oporto British School has a range of sports. Traditionally, the main school sports have been football and basketball. The school's sport colours are blue and white. The school participates in school competitions annually and term-by-term.

The school received Green Flag status on 29 September 2009 for environmentally friendly practice.

The school participates in many national and international trips annually of sporting, charitable and cultural significance. These include:
IB CAS students participate in trips to help communities in Tanzania, India, Mozambique and São Tomé e Príncipe.
Model UN trips to Budapest, Belém, Lisbon, and Paris
Science trips to Sierra de Gredos
Multi-school sports festival (basketball & football) in Cascais, Lisbon and since 2022 Sports trips top Verona and a Ski trip to La Molina.

References

External links

Oporto British School
School Profile on IBO website

British international schools in Europe
Educational institutions established in 1894
International Baccalaureate schools in Portugal
International schools in Porto
1894 establishments in Portugal


Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm and rock influence. Adult contemporary is generally 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 harmonies is accentuated. It is usually melodic enough to get a listener's attention, abstains from profanity or complex lyricism, and is most commonly used as background music in heavily-frequented family areas such as supermarkets, shopping malls, convention centers, or restaurants. 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 (though bass guitar is usually used) 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 feature synthesizers (and other electronics, such as drum machines).

An AC radio station may play mainstream music, but it usually excludes hip hop and some forms of dance-pop and teen pop, as these are less popular among adults, the target demographic. 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, even some songs that never even charted the AC charts.  This de-emphasis on new songs slows the progression of the AC chart.

Over the years, AC has spawned subgenres including "hot AC" (also known as "modern AC"), "soft AC" (also known as "lite AC"), "urban AC" (a softer type of urban contemporary music), "rhythmic AC" (a softer type of rhythmic contemporary), and "Christian AC" (a softer type of contemporary Christian music). 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 songs from artists of many different genres.

History

1960s: Early roots; easy listening and soft rock

Adult contemporary traces its roots to the 1960s easy listening format, which adopted a 70—80% instrumental to 20–30% vocal mix. A few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. The easy listening format, as it was first known, was born of a desire by some radio stations in the late 1950s and early 1960s to continue playing current hit songs but distinguish themselves from being branded as "rock and roll" stations. Billboard first published the Easy Listening chart July 17, 1961, with 20 songs; the first number one was "Boll Weevil Song" by Brook Benton. The chart described itself as "not too far out in either direction".

Initially, the vocalists consisted of artists such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and others. The custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or pop hit songs, a move intended to give the stations more mass appeal without selling out. 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 early half of the 1960s. Roger Miller, Barbra Streisand and Bobby Vinton were among the chart's most popular performers.

One big impetus for the development of the AC radio format was that, when rock and roll music first became popular in the mid-1950s, many more conservative radio stations wanted to continue to play current hit songs while shying away from rock. These middle of the road (or "MOR") 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. Whereas most easy listening music was instrumental, created by relatively unknown artists, and rarely purchased (especially as singles, although Jackie Gleason's beautiful music albums sold well in the 1950s), AC was an attempt to create a similar "lite" format by choosing certain tracks (both hit singles and album cuts) of popular artists.

1970s: Soft rock forms as a radio format

By the late 1960s hard rock had been established as one of the rock genres leading hard rock and soft rock to became distinct popular forms in the rock scene, and as major radio formats in the US. Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. Major artists included Carole King, Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Bread.

In the early 1970s, softer songs by The Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and even Barbra Streisand, began to be played more often on "Top 40" radio. Top 40 radio stations played the Top 40 hits regardless of genre.  As the texture of much of the music played on Top 40 radio began to soften, the Hot 100 and Easy Listening/AC charts became more similar. Easy Listening radio began playing songs by artists who had begun in other genres, such as rock and roll or R&B. Much of the music recorded by singer-songwriters such as Diana Ross, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Carole King and Janis Ian got as much, if not more, airplay on AC stations than on Top 40 stations. AC stations also began playing softer songs by Elvis Presley, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, and other rock-based artists. Soon after, the adult contemporary format began evolving into the sound that later defined it, with rock-oriented acts as Chicago and the Eagles, becoming associated with the format. In addition, several early disco songs, did well on the Adult Contemporary format.

Soft rock reached its commercial peak in the mid-to-late 1970s with acts such as Toto, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Air Supply, Seals and Crofts, Dan Fogelberg, America and the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was the best-selling album of the decade. By 1977, some radio stations, notably New York's WTFM and NBC-owned WYNY, and Boston's WEEI, had switched to an all-soft rock format. As Softrock 103, WEEI was famous for its promotional campaigns, featuring slogans such as "Joni, without the baloni." and "The Byrds, without the nyrds."  However, different forms of popular music  targeted to different demographic groups, such as disco vs. hard rock, began to emerge in the late-1970s. This led to specialized radio stations that played specific genres of music, and generally followed the evolution of artists in those genres.

1980s: Adult contemporary succeeds as radio format

On April 7, 1979, the Easy Listening chart officially became known as Adult Contemporary, and those two words have remained consistent in the name of the chart ever since. Adult contemporary music became one of the most popular radio formats of the 1980s. The growth of AC was a natural result of the generation that first listened to the more "specialized" music of the mid-late 1970s growing older and not being interested in the heavy metal and rap/hip-hop music that a new generation helped to play a significant role in the Top 40 charts by the end of the decade.

Mainstream AC itself has evolved in a similar fashion over the years; traditional AC artists such as Barbra Streisand, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, John Denver, and Olivia Newton-John found it harder to have major Top 40 hits as the 1980s wore on, and due to the influence of MTV, artists who were staples of the Contemporary Hit Radio format, such as Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, Bonnie Tyler, George Michael, Phil Collins, Laura Branigan and Journey began crossing over to the AC charts with greater frequency. Collins has been described by AllMusic as "one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond". However, with the combination of MTV and AC radio, adult contemporary appeared harder to define as a genre, with established soft-rock artists of the past still charting pop hits and receiving airplay alongside mainstream radio fare from newer artists at the time.

The amount of crossover between the AC chart and the Hot 100 has varied based on how much the passing pop music trends of the times appealed to adult listeners. Not many disco or new wave songs were particularly successful on the AC chart during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and much of the hip-hop and harder rock music featured on CHR formats later in the decade would have been unacceptable on AC radio.

Although dance-oriented, electronic pop and ballad-oriented rock dominated the 1980s, soft rock songs still enjoyed a mild success thanks to Sheena Easton, Amy Grant, Lionel Richie, Christopher Cross, Dan Hill, Leo Sayer, Billy Ocean, Julio Iglesias, Bertie Higgins, and Tommy Page. No song spent more than six weeks at No. 1 on this chart during the 1980s, with nine songs accomplishing that feat. Two of these were by Lionel Richie, "You Are" in 1983 and "Hello" in 1984, which also reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.

In 1989, Linda Ronstadt released Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, described by critics as "the first true Adult Contemporary album of the decade", featuring American soul singer Aaron Neville on several of the twelve tracks. The album was certified Triple Platinum in the United States alone and became a major success throughout the globe. The Grammy Award-winning singles, "Don't Know Much" and "All My Life", were both long-running No. 1 Adult Contemporary hits. Several additional singles from the disc made the AC Top 10 as well. The album won over many critics in the need to define AC, and appeared to change the tolerance and acceptance of AC music into mainstream day to day radio play.

1990s: Subgenre formations/radio crossovers

The early 1990s marked the softening of urban R&B in the shape of new jack swing, at the same time alternative rock emerged and traditional pop saw a significant resurgence. This in part led to a widening of the market, not only allowing to cater to more niche markets, but it also became customary for artists to make AC-friendly singles. At the same time, the genre began adopting elements from hard rock as tastes were shifting towards louder music, while AC stations in general began playing more rock acts. "Softer" features such as light instrumental music (carried over from the beautiful music format—many AC stations carried the format until the early 1970s), new age songs and most pre-1964 artists were gradually phased out from AC radio throughout the early to mid-1990s.

Unlike the majority of 1980s mainstream singers, the 1990s mainstream pop/R&B singers such as All-4-One, Boyz II Men, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and Savage Garden generally crossed over to the AC charts. Latin pop artists such as Lynda Thomas, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Selena, Enrique Iglesias and Luis Miguel also enjoyed success in the AC charts.

In addition to Celine Dion, who has had significant success on this chart, other artists with multiple number ones on the AC chart in the 1990s include Mariah Carey, Phil Collins, Michael Bolton, Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston and Shania Twain. Newer female Adult album alternative singer-songwriters such as Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow also broke through on the AC chart during this time.

In 1996, Billboard created a new chart called Adult Top 40, which reflects programming on radio stations that exists somewhere between "adult contemporary" music and "pop" music. Although they are sometimes mistaken for each other, the Adult Contemporary chart and the Adult Top 40 chart are separate charts, and songs reaching one chart might not reach the other. In addition, hot AC is another subgenre of radio programming that is distinct from the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart as it exists today, despite the apparent similarity in name.

In response to the pressure on Hot AC, a new kind of AC format cropped up among American radio recently. The urban adult contemporary format (a term coined by Barry Mayo) usually attracts a large number of African Americans and sometimes Caucasian listeners through playing a great deal of R&B (without any form of rapping), gospel music, classic soul and dance music (including disco).

Another format, rhythmic AC, in addition to playing all the popular hot and soft AC music, past and present, places a heavy emphasis on disco as well as 1980s and 1990s dance hits, such as those by Amber, and Black Box, and includes dance remixes of pop songs, such as the Soul Solution mix of Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart".

In its early years of existence, the smooth jazz format was considered to be a form of AC, although it was mainly instrumental, and related a stronger resemblance to the soft AC-styled music. For many years, George Benson, Kenny G and Dave Koz had all had crossover hits that were played on both smooth jazz and soft AC stations.

2000s–present: AC music goes mainstream and mainstream music goes AC

During the 2000s, the AC market gained an increased presence in the music industry, as its radio formats were popular nationwide—Smooth jazz and "Urban AC" stations were ubiquitous in the East Coast, while Soft rock and "adult standards" stations were common in the Midwest, and pop-oriented "Hot AC" and "world music"/Hispanic AC stations were easily found in the West Coast and the "Sun Belt". This led to the presence of numerous genres on the AC charts, often crossing to the "pop" charts, winning over many critics in the need to define AC, and increased the tolerance and acceptance of AC music into mainstream day-to-day radio play.

Josh Groban's single "You Raise Me Up" and Michael Bublé's cover of "Fever" are often cited as key examples of the high production values and ballad-heavy sound that defined 2000s-era AC, often dubbed as "jazz-pop", heavily carrying classical, jazz and traditional pop influences. Artists such as Nick Lachey, James Blunt, Jamie Cullum, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Amy Winehouse and Susan Boyle also achieved great success during this period. During most of the 2000s, country music/countrypolitan musicians such as Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes and Carrie Underwood scored hits on soft AC, particularly in Southern states. A popular trend in the late 1990s and 2000s was remixing dance music hits into adult contemporary ballads, especially in the US, (for example, the "Candlelight Mix" versions of "Heaven" by DJ Sammy, "Listen To Your Heart" by D.H.T., and "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada).

Key to the success of AC in the 2000s was the 25–34 demographic which had outgrown the pop music offerings of the time, most new rock became too alternative and harsh for AC radio and most new pop was now influenced heavily by dance-pop, hip-hop and electronic dance music. At the same time, the music industry also began to focus on older audiences and markets generally considered "niche".

During the late 2000s, certain pop songs began entering the AC charts instead, generally after having recently fallen off the Hot 100. Adrian Moreira, senior vice president for adult music for RCA Music Group, said, "We've seen a fairly tidal shift in what AC will play". Rather than emphasizing older songs, adult contemporary now began playing many of the same songs as top 40 and adult top 40, but only after the hits had become established. An article on MTV's website by Corey Moss describes this trend as: "In other words, AC stations are where pop songs go to die a very long death. Or, to optimists, to get a second life." As adult contemporary has long characterized itself as family-friendly, "clean" versions of pop songs began appearing on the AC chart, as were the cases of "Perfect" by P!nk, and "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green, both in 2011.

AC radio's shift into more mainstream pop was a result of the changes on the broadcasting landscape following the 2005–2007 economic downturn and eventual recession, as advertisers preferred more profitable chart-based formats, which meant the demise of many AC-based formulas, primarily those aimed at older audiences, with tastes changing towards more modern music among all age groups. Diminishing physical record sales throughout the 2010s also proved a major blow to the AC genre, and there are concerns that the portable people meter, a device being used to determine radio listenership, may be incompatible with AC songs and may not accurately pick up that a person is listening to an AC station because of the pitches and frequencies used in the style.

Key AC artists of the early to mid-2010s included Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Adele, Arcade Fire, Meghan Trainor, Maroon 5 and Ed Sheeran, featuring a more pop-influenced, uptempo style than the typical AC fare of previous years, also featuring production values reminiscent of the Motown sound and the so-called Wall of Sound that dominated the soul-heavy pop charts of the early 1960s, when the Easy Listening chart was first introduced. The earlier years of the decade also saw alternative and indie rock acts such as Wilco, Feist, The 1975, Imagine Dragons, Mumford & Sons, Of Monsters and Men and The Lumineers quickly becoming AC mainstays, although these were eventually replaced by rhythm-based rock bands such as Panic! at the Disco, Neon Trees, X Ambassadors, Sheppard, Bastille, American Authors, Fitz and the Tantrums, Foster the People, Twenty One Pilots, Walk the Moon and Milky Chance.

During the middle of the decade, newer artists such as CeeLo Green, OneRepublic, Rachel Platten, Christina Perri, Andy Grammer, James Bay, Sara Bareilles, Shawn Mendes, Sia, Sam Smith, Gavin Degraw, Charlie Puth and Colbie Caillat as well as acts that were popular in the 1990s and early 2000s such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were added to the rotation of most AC stations.

As trap music and similar styles of hip-hop began dominating top 40 stations during the last years of the 2010s, AC stations began picking up rhythmic artists like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding, Taio Cruz and Pitbull as well as EDM artists like Avicii, Daft Punk, Calvin Harris, David Guetta and Tiesto. Meanwhile, younger artists like Camila Cabello, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Nick Jonas and the Jonas Brothers and Halsey began to be featured on AC stations more than on top 40 stations.

Adult contemporary formats
In radio broadcasting, adult contemporary is divided into several sub-formats, each with their own musical direction and demographic targeting. Hot adult contemporary formats generally feature an uptempo rotation of recent hits that appeal to a wide adult audience. A station formatted as "adult contemporary" with no qualifier, also referred to as "mainstream adult contemporary", generally has a similar playlist to hot AC stations, but with a broader rotation of classic hits from past decades.

Soft adult contemporary formats have a more conservative sound oriented primarily towards adult women, urban AC focuses on R&B and soul music that appeal to African American adults, and rhythmic AC focuses on dance music and other rhythmic genres.

Hot adult contemporary

Hot adult contemporary (hot AC) radio stations play a wide range of the present day's popular music that appeals towards the 18–54 age group; it serves as a middle ground between the youth-oriented contemporary hit radio (CHR) format, and adult contemporary formats (such as "mainstream" and soft AC) that are typically targeted towards a more mature demographic. They generally feature uptempo hit music with wide appeal, such as pop and pop rock songs, while excluding more youth-oriented music such as hip-hop. Recurrents usually reflect familiar and youthful music that adults had grown up with. Likewise, mature material from pop acts such as the Backstreet Boys, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, and Pink have also been prominent within the format.

The "hot AC" designation began to appear in the 1990s; the term described adult contemporary stations with a more energetic presentation and uptempo sound than their softer counterparts. An early example of the format, Houston's KHMX Mix 96.5, climbed from 14th place in the market to third in the six months after its launch. The station's format and branding was widely replicated by other stations. Many hot AC outlets are among the top stations in their respective market.

Initially focused more on pop rock, the format has evolved to reflect changes in the composition of this audience; by the mid-2000s, the format had evolved to include more uptempo pop music, while alternative and indie rock crossovers (such as Foster the People, Imagine Dragons, Lovelytheband, and Twenty One Pilots) became more prevalent within the format during the 2010s.

These developments helped to expand the popularity of the format among younger listeners such as millennials; Nielsen Audio ranked hot AC as the third most-popular format among millennials, behind pop and country music. Of the format's expanding demographic reach, WOMX-FM program director Dana Taylor stated that hot AC stations "may not be the radio station that everybody agrees on, but it's a radio station that everybody goes, 'I'm okay with that'." The increasingly downtempo direction of pop hits in the mid-to-late 2010's also helped to attract additional listeners.

Hot AC stations typically keep a larger body of recent hits in rotation than those with rigid, chart-driven formats like CHR and urban contemporary. As these stations' playlists have become concentrated towards airing only the current hits at a given time, hot AC airplay can build and sustain a song's popularity over a long-term period. This effect has been credited in helping build an audience for early singles from new acts such as Adele, Rachel Platten ("Fight Song", which gained prominence for its use during Hillary Clinton's 2016 US presidential election campaign), and Max Schneider (whose 2016 single "Lights Down Low", over a year after its original release, became a sleeper hit on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 and Hot 100 due in part to strong hot AC airplay).

The popularity of the hot AC format prompted many mainstream AC stations to add uptempo music to their playlists, while still maintaining a deeper rotation of older hits than hot AC stations.

Modern adult contemporary
Modern adult contemporary refers to AC formats with a stronger lean towards modern rock and pop rock.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, modern AC was typically targeted towards women, with Mike Marino of KMXB in Las Vegas describing the format as reaching "an audience that has outgrown the edgier hip-hop or alternative music but hasn't gotten old and sappy enough for the soft ACs." The format typically focused on female rock acts such as Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Jewel, and Sarah McLachlan, and folk rock-influenced bands such as Counting Crows and The Wallflowers. Today, the format is fairly uncommon, with KTCZ in the Minnesota Twin Cities being one of the few modern AC stations left.

Soft adult contemporary

The Soft adult contemporary format typically targets women 25–54 and at-work listening. Soft AC playlists are generally conservative in comparison to hot AC, focusing on pop and power ballads, soft rock, and other familiar, light hits. Upon its establishment in the 1980s, the soft AC format was positioned as being a more upbeat version of easy listening that would appeal better to a younger audience, mainly by excluding instrumental beautiful music. Easy listening stations had begun shifting to the format out of concern that their existing programming would not appeal to the current generation of listeners.

In a 1990 article, James Warren of the Chicago Tribune characterized soft AC stations as being "as middle-of-the-road and unthreatening as modern media get", with personalities that were encouraged to be as inoffensive and "low-profile" as possible, and a more conservative music library than hot AC-leaning stations. In particular, Chicago's WLIT did not have its airstaff talk over the beginning and endings of songs (in contrast to the hot AC-leaning WFYR), and played Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonite" but not "Old Time Rock and Roll" (which was part of WTMX's playlist). The director of a soft AC station in Connecticut, WEZN-FM, told Warren that he had barred the reading of top-of-hour news headlines, so that listeners wouldn't be tempted to tune away to an all-news station to learn more.

Soft AC stations tend to be more selective in their music libraries than other adult contemporary stations, preferring proven songs over current hits. Upon the onset of the format's popularity, core artists typically included singers such as Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, and Barbra Streisand. By the 1990s, to improve their appeal among changing demographics, some soft AC stations began to widen their playlist to include selections from contemporary acts with 80s, & 90s, musicians & bands such as Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Roxette, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Elton John, Cher, Whitney Houston, Journey, and Queen. On the other hand, by 1996, New York's WLTW had begun to phase out its softer music in favor of a more uptempo direction.

In 2017, Inside Radio reported that soft AC had the third-largest decrease in US stations offering the format over the past decade (at 128), ranking behind only adult standards and oldies—a shift credited to aging demographics and a major boom in the wider-appealing classic hits format (which saw the largest overall increase over the same period). Consultant Gary Berkowitz argued that the soft AC format had become increasingly irrelevant in comparison to mainstream and hot AC, due to PPM markets preferring uptempo music.

At the same time, however, soft AC began to experience a resurgence. In April 2016, iHeartMedia flipped its San Francisco classic soul station KISQ to soft AC as The Breeze; as of November 2018, it was the top station in the Bay Area. The trend continued into 2017 and 2018, with iHeartMedia extending its Breeze brand to other soft AC flips, and the brand (among others) being adopted by competitors such as Entercom. Industry analyst Sean Ross argued that older demographics were becoming more lucrative due to changes in listening habits among younger audiences, which prefer digital platforms such as music streaming services over linear terrestrial radio, and also noted how mainstream AC was dependent on the Top 40 charts to break new songs.

Current soft AC stations have continued to feature recurrents such as Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, and Whitney Houston, while contemporary musicians such as Adele and Michael Bublé have also become modern fixtures of the format. In addition, the soft AC sound has diversified to include more songs that are "safe and universal" and not necessarily "soft", with Ross presenting Examples such as Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)", as well as the retroactively-defined genre of yacht rock. Over time, some stations have gradually adjusted their playlists to include more recurrents from the 1980s and 1970s (although not to the same extent as other "soft oldies" formats, such as MeTV FM, which have also grown in popularity).

Urban adult contemporary
The Urban adult contemporary format focuses primarily on current and classic R&B and soul music,  The format typically targets African-American adults: July 2018 numbers from Nielsen Audio recorded it as the top format among African-Americans 25–54 and 35–64. It also has a sizable popularity among younger listeners, ranking behind urban contemporary as the second-most popular format among African-American adults 18–34 in the same report, with an 18.9 audience share.

The format typically excludes youthful rhythmic music, such as commercial hip-hop and rap, that are usually associated with the urban contemporary format. The urban AC format is also associated with the "quiet storm"—mellower R&B ballads and slow jams, often in a jazz-influenced style. The syndicated evening program Keith Sweat Hotel focuses specifically on such music.

As urban contemporary stations prefer hit-driven hip-hop songs, labels typically service R&B songs to the urban AC format only. Some current R&B musicians have complained that this is an artificial divide that prevents them from reaching a wider, mainstream audience (citing the relatively smaller number of urban AC outlets in comparison to urban and rhythmic), even with attempts to give some singles a hip-hop-influenced sound to improve the potential for crossover appeal. Some acts have attempted to disassociate themselves from "R&B" to reduce the effect of this stigma, although streaming services have helped to expose R&B to a wider audience beyond urban AC radio.

Rhythmic adult contemporary
The Rhythmic adult contemporary format generally focuses on a variety of current and classic dance music, such as dance-pop, hip-hop, and R&B (often resembling a blend of the Classic hits and hot AC formats in practice). The exact composition of current and recurrent content can vary between stations, depending on local cultures and the heritage of rhythmic formats in the market, ranging from late-80s/early-90s dance hits (including latin freestyle), to disco and Motown. Rhythmic hot AC has also been used as a format, popularized by stations such as New York's WKTU.

Smooth adult contemporary

The Smooth adult contemporary format is a variant of the smooth jazz format that incorporates mainstream and/or urban adult contemporary songs; they are designed to appeal to a wider range of demographics than a straight smooth jazz format. Some smooth AC stations may limit their airplay of jazz instrumentals to those by better-known performers such as Kenny G.

Christian adult contemporary
Contemporary Christian music (CCM) has several subgenres, one being "Christian AC". Radio & Records, for instance, lists Christian AC among its format charts. There has been crossover to mainstream and hot AC formats by many of the core artists of the Christian AC genre, notably Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kathy Troccoli, Steven Curtis Chapman, Plumb, and more recently Big Daddy Weave, Casting Crowns, For King & Country, Lauren Daigle, MercyMe, and Newsboys.

Adult album alternative

The Adult album alternative (triple-A or AAA) format generally features a diverse playlist of music that appeals to an adult audience, with a focus on emerging songs and artists, and often featuring songs that were not released as singles. The exact composition of a triple-A station's playlist can vary, with alternative rock, indie rock, and indie pop commonly used as core genres, and some stations featuring more uncommon genres such as alternative country, Americana, blues, folk music, and world music. NPR observed in 2018 that roughly half of all triple-A stations in the U.S. were non-commercial stations. With the wide variety of music that is serviced to the format, adult album alternative charts have often served as a feeder for the Adult Top 40, and have been credited for breaking acts such as Dave Matthews Band and Lorde.

Christmas music

Since the 1990s it has become common for many AC stations, particularly soft AC stations, to play primarily or exclusively Christmas music during the Christmas season in November and December. While these tend mostly to be contemporary seasonal recordings by the same artists featured under the normal format, most stations will also air at least some vintage holiday tunes from older pop, MOR, and adult standards artists – such as
Boney M., The Carpenters, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Percy Faith, Mannheim Steamroller, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Andy Williams – many of whom would never be played on these stations during the rest of the year.

These Christmas music marathons typically start a few weeks before Thanksgiving Day and end after Christmas Day, or sometimes extending to New Year's Day. Afterwards, the stations usually resume their normal music fare. Several stations begin the holiday format much earlier, at the beginning of November especially after Halloween. The roots of this tradition can be traced back to the beautiful music and easy listening stations of the 1960s and 1970s.

Syndicated radio shows and networks carrying the adult contemporary format
 Delilah – One of the US's most popular radio shows, Delilah airs primarily in the evening. Its Christmas Edition airs from mid-November to late December.
 Intelligence for Your Life – Hosted by John Tesh, this show also airs evenings and also on weekends.
 American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest – One version of AT40 airs on US hot AC stations, which is a little different from its Top-40/CHR counterpart.
 Rick Dees Weekly Top 40/Weekly Top 30 – Began offering Hot AC versions of the popular countdown show in June 1996. These shows feature the top 20 Hot AC songs in the US along with about 10 past hits from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s (decade). A softer "AC" version was added in July 2009 to try to fill in the void left by Casey Kasem ending his AC countdown.
Radio Disney Music Top 30 Countdown, One version is for Hot AC stations, the other version is for Mainstream AC stations. Plays the USA Top 30 songs of the week according to Mediabase and a music rating service called ratethemusic.com. This show, like Rick Dees' show, is distributed by Compass Media Networks.
 Backtrax USA with Kid Kelly – Weekend programs focusing on the '80s and '90s, targeted for hot AC stations.
 ABC and Dial Global both offer AC 24-hour networks programming soft and hot AC.
 Tom Joyner and Steve Harvey have popular morning shows that air on urban AC (and sometimes Hip-Hop) stations. Both shows are often heard on competing stations in the same city, such as St. Louis, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Joyner's show is syndicated by ABC Radio, and Harvey's show by Premiere Radio Networks.
 Retro Rewind with Dave Harris is a weekend-based radio show highlighting a massive playlist of songs from the 1980s and 1990s, interviews, spotlights and contests. The show is done live across the US on Saturday nights, taking audience requests. The show is targeted towards HOT AC and AC radio stations.
 The EZ Rock network is a brand/network of soft AC heard in Canada.
 Heart - A radio network in the UK that grew throughout 2009 as more stations were rebranded as "Heart".
 Smooth Radio – A UK-wide radio network that formed from six regional Smooth Radio stations.
 Smoothfm – A network of two Australian commercial radio stations (based in Sydney and Melbourne) that are focused on providing an eclectic easy-listening playlist, usually featuring ballads.
 Nova – A network of five Australian commercial radio station (based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth) that are very similar to Smoothfm.
 The Breeze – A group of New Zealand adult contemporary radio stations owned by MediaWorks Radio. There are 20 stations currently broadcasting throughout New Zealand.
The Bob and Sheri Show – American morning drive show based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Heard on more than 50 AC stations and the American Forces Network

Former syndicated programming includes Dick Clark's US Music Survey (1996–2005), Casey's Hot 20/Casey's Countdown/American Top 20/10 (1992–2009) and Top 30 USA.

See also
 Adult Contemporary, a chart appearing in Billboard since 1961. This chart is typically (but not exclusively) closer to soft AC.
 New-age music
 Yacht rock

References

External links
 Artists | Ambition Entertainment
 Rebirth Music Productions
 GAD Music Company

20th-century music genres
21st-century music genres
Pop music genres
Popular music
Radio formats


Incanto is the twelfth studio album by Classical Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, released on 4 November 2008 and coinciding with his 50th birthday. The album, a personal tribute to the musical traditions of his homeland, features mainly Neapolitan love songs from Bocelli's childhood.

The two disc set also contains Incanto: The Documentary, a bonus DVD containing exclusive documentary footage, including an interview with Bocelli filmed in Naples, alongside a music video showcasing the Italian city in the 1950s. The video features rare clips of notable figures enjoying the romance of Naples in its heyday such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophia Loren, John F. Kennedy, among others.

On 21 February 2009, on the Italian talk-show, Che tempo che fa, Bocelli received a four times Diamond disc for Incanto, for selling in excess of 1.5 million copies within 4 months of its release.  The album was also nominated for "album of the year" at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards.

In Japan the album was released on 21 January 2009 as  and featured two bonus tracks.

Track listing
 "Un Amore Cosi Grande" (feat. Veronica Berti) (Guido Maria Ferilli, Antonella Maggio) - 4:22
 "'O Surdato 'Nnammurato" (Aniello Califano, Enrico Cannio) - 2:49
 "Mamma" (Cesare Andrea Bixio, Bixio Cherubini) - 3:30
 "Voglio Vivere Cosi" (Giovanni D’Anzi, Domenico Titomaglio) - 3:02
 "Santa Lucia" (traditional, Teodoro Cottrau) - 4:27
 "Funiculì, Funiculà" (Luigi Denza, Peppino Turco) - 2:31
 "Because" (Guy d'Hardelot, Edward Frederick Lockton) - 2:36
 "Vieni Sul Mar!" (Aniello Califano) - 4:37
 "Granada" (Agustín Lara) - 4:12
 "Era De Maggio" (feat. Anna Bonitatibus) (Mario Costa, Salvatore di Giacomo) - 4:57
 "A Marechiare" (Francesco Paolo Tosti, Salvatore di Giacomo) - 3:14
 "... E Vui Durmiti Ancora" (Gaetano E. Calì, Giovanni Formisano) - 5:03
 "Non Ti Scordar di Me" (Ernesto De Curtis, Domenico Furno) - 3:59
 "Pulcinella" (Antonello Cascone, arr., Sergio Cirillo) - 2:46

 Japan bonus tracks
  "Torna a Surriento" (Ernesto De Curtis)
 "Tu che m'hai preso il cuor" from The Land of Smiles (Franz Lehár)

Reviews
Blogcritics gave the album a favorable review.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links
 Incanto charts

Andrea Bocelli albums
Andrea Bocelli video albums
Decca Records albums
2008 albums


Joe Right is a retired American soccer goalkeeper who played three seasons in the North American Soccer League.

Right attended Florissant Valley Community College for at least one year.  In 1969, he was part of the FVCC National Junior College National Championships.  He was also a 1969 NJCAA All American.  In 1970, he signed with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League.  He played thirteen games for the Stars in 1970, but only five in 1971.  Following the 1971 season, he left the Stars and the NASL.

He was inducted into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame in 2008.

References

1950 births
Soccer players from St. Louis
American men's soccer players
Men's association football goalkeepers
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
St. Louis Stars (soccer) players
Living people
St. Louis Community College alumni
Junior college men's soccer players in the United States