Why the Country Radio Format Split Should Be the Focus of CRS
Oh country radio, what are we going to do with you?
This week is the annual CRS, or Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, TN—a annual exercise where some of your favorite country music artists and media types throw out proprietary jargon like “CRS” and expect you to know what it means and why it’s so important, when in reality you just want your nose pointed to the best music and don’t really care how it happens. Some music listeners choose to nerd out a little deeper on issues and that’s cool too, but events like CRS aren’t meant for the flotsam and jetsam of the country music listening public, and that’s probably a good thing, because beyond the wine and dining parties, the showcases of new artists, and the overall readjusting of the noose the industry has around country radio’s neck (and vice versa), the intellectual exercises the event stimulates each year can turn quite convoluted beyond the corporate catering and pedantry.
For the last two years CRS week has started off by some big personality stirring the pot with an outlandish and/or unprovoked proclamation. In 2014, it was Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta taking his turn by saying something so ridiculous, Saving Country Music titled its CRS preview, “Scott Borchetta Said WHAT? (2014 Country Radio Seminar Primer).”
What Scott Borchetta said was,
“I’m not McDonald’s. I’m not 1 billion served. I’m much more in favor of building a Harley-Davidson or a Ferrari and take that 1 or 2 percent of the population who love what we do and super-serve them.”
Don’t worry, it’s not just you. Scott Borchetta’s statement really doesn’t make a lick of sense, and it’s not just because you don’t know the in’s and out’s of the country radio business. Then again if you don’t know much about the country radio business. Yet here I am typing away, because above all, CRS has built itself into being perceived as something really really big and important in country music, whether it truly is or not.

This year the balderdash that started off CRS and has many bent out of shape and/or scratching their heads came care of Sony Nashville CEO Gary Overton who said, “If you’re not on country radio, you don’t exist.”
Ooh! Ahh! People up in arms! How could he say that!? Hasn’t he ever heard of Sturgill Simpson!? How dare he marginalize such a wide swath of the music community with such a callous assessment!
The simple fact is what Gary Overton said is completely and jarringly true, and patently and insultingly false all at the same time. From Mr. Overton’s perch as a the CEO of a massive Nashville record label, of course he has no clue of the doings and successes of independent artists who’ve never sniffed mainstream radio, just like many independent fans and artists do their level best to not pay attention to what the mainstream is doing.
Journalist Adam Gold writing for Rolling Stone did a well-researched deep dive into the dilemma’s facing country radio this week called “Why Country Radio Still Matters.” Where Gary Overton’s comments were widely ridiculed, Adam Gold’s assessment of the importance of radio was lauded…even though they both basically said the same thing, that radio, no matter what anyone wants to think, is still vitally important to the country music landscape, and without its support, it’s an uphill battle for any artist to succeed. Adam actually articulated why this is the case, and why the challenges and issues are important even to the average listener instead of just impugning anyone below the radio play level like Overton did.
But there’s nothing new about the assessment that radio is important in country music, and remains important despite the new music portals that have emerged in the digital age. In April of 2014, Saving Country Music posted its own assessment called “New Study Proves Why Radio Still Matters,” written around the statistics of media company Edison Research. The company found that the majority of listeners still turn to radio to keep up-to-date with music, and by a wide margin. What’s funny about the whole country radio discussion is that while mainstream vs. independent and contemporary vs. classic debates rage on, Edison Research has been releasing studies for years now that explain irrefutably and in great detail why country radio should be more local and more diverse, especially when it comes to older artists. Yet the industry continues its headlong in their charge to consolidate, syndicate, narrow playlists, and focus more on youth.
But then all of a sudden here was the second largest radio station owner in the country in Cumulus Media launching an idea that they hoped would split the country music radio format in two. It seemed so genius, and even before Cumulus could start launching prototype stations for their NASH Icon network, independent and regionally-owned stations across the country began to adopt a format that played more classic country music from around a 25-year window.
But it was hard to tell if the Dickey Brothers at the controls of Cumulus were serious about all this NASH stuff, or if it was just noise. Bringing Scott Borchetta and the Big Machine Label Group on board at the launching of NASH Icon, and then signing Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, and Ronnie Dunn to the record label showed just how serious they were. And lo and behold, the NASH Icon flagship station in Nashville was even beating its competition in the ratings, including major local competitor Bobby Bones. The research from Edison Research was proving itself correct in the most important market in country music. Though an assessment by Saving Country Music about the health of NASH Icon affiliates beyond the Nashville market was somewhat bleak, the idea, and the more general split of the country radio format seemed like the wave of the future.
But where is talk of the format split on the agenda at CRS? You would think it would be dominating the proceedings. I mean, we’re talking about what would be the largest overhaul of country radio in its existence. But is it even being discussed, or are people more focused on the big Garth Brooks party as he tries to retool after his retirement and make up for now two failed radio singles, or is the focus on the label showcases where they parade out their new stars and try to endear them to radio personalities instead of the esoteric discussions happening during the day? Unfortunately Saving Country Music isn’t cool enough to be invited to CRS, but from the outside looking in, and searching diligently, if the format split discussion is happening, it’s not bubbling to the top of the priority list.
There are major issues facing country radio, and the solutions have never seemed more obvious or out there to grasp and realize. Yet there seems to be such a lackadaisical effort to implement them. And it’s not just at CRS. We’re not seeing mention of the country music format split really anywhere compared to last summer when it was top-of-mind.
It’s just this simple: Country radio needs to split, and it would be the best thing for all parties. You could have one format that caters to the here and now Top 40 mainstream country with narrow playlists for younger listeners, and a second more classic and diverse format where you could include some of the new stuff, some of the old stuff going back to the early 80’s, and new stuff from older artists, and new stuff from newer artists like Brandy Clark and Sturgill Simpson that don’t fit on the mainstream format but have proven commercial appeal.
Now I’m sorry, but your favorite little independent country band that you follow on Facebook is not going to find their way onto country radio even if a format split occurs. This isn’t like YMCA soccer where you don’t count points and everyone receives a trophy. Getting on country radio will still be difficult, but it won’t be impossible for everyone but the top tier of mainstream artists like it is now, evidenced by Gary Overton’s myopic perspective.
That’s the problem with mainstream country music at the moment—it’s incredibly top heavy, and is getting increasingly top heavy as time goes on. As for the female problem for radio everyone loves to gripe about? Split the format in two and that gives women artists a second avenue to get heard. Meanwhile the Top 40 side can do their ever-loving worst and play Sam Hunt triple shots and Florida Georgia Line’s latest single four times in a row without having to listen to the wining of traditional fans and folks that want more women and more variety on their radio. It’s a win win.
Yet what has happened with this format split idea? Where is the zeal and initiative? Where the impending format split was one of the biggest stories of 2014, now the idea feels almost dead on arrival, or holding on by a thread. And it’s not like the plan is radical, or even all that new. Again Edison Research was way ahead of the game. In November of 2008, the company’s Sean Ross wrote,
So why not just write off those older listeners and move on? Because the older audience is not gone. They’re less satisfied. They’re willing to head off to Oldies or Classic Rock if they hear too much music they can’t relate to. But the available 45-to-54 audience is still larger than the 25-to-34 audience that will consider listening to Country in most places. It would undoubtedly be fine with many on the label side if Country focused exclusively on the audience they perceive as buying music. But walking away from a third of the target often the largest target isn’t a realistic proposition, particularly in markets where there is only one Country station…
…Forcing existing Country stations to become more current might be more satisfying for the music industry; building two strong formats would be the greater achievement.
This was in 2008 people. And here we are seven years later, and it feels like the debate on splitting the country format is lost in the shuffle.
Meanwhile the issues plaguing country radio have never been greater. Initiatives to solve the female problem like SiriusXM’s “Fresh Female Voices” resulted in listeners either having “no opinion” or they “didn’t like it,” and though artists like Brandy Clark and Sturgill Simpson are signing to major labels, they’re doing so to subsidiaries located in LA, not in Nashville, so it still remains questionable if their labels will even attempt to court country radio.
Where is the leadership on this issue? Though the Dickey Brothers of Cumulus have done a tremendous amount, there seems to be some tension between them and the rest of the industry as if they’re going out-of-bounds, while others don’t trust the solvency of their ambitious “NASH” ideas that go as far as making NASH-branded paint, food, and furniture. Meanwhile Scott Borchetta seems fond of the idea, but he’s off being a mentor for American Idol, and signing to CCA on his continued march to becoming an American music cult of personality.
The country radio format split should have been the all-consuming issue of the 2015 CRS to the point where people were tired of hearing about it. A format split would not be a magic wand wave that would solve all of mainstream country music’s ills, and of course like with all initiatives there’s pitfalls both anticipated and that will go unforeseen. But country radio sits perched at the brink of a unique opportunity to open country radio up to a brighter future, to extend the careers of mature artists who still have tremendous marketable potential, and open up avenues to newer stars and female stars who are locked out of the current format. It behooves major labels to open up more avenues for their newer artists. It behooves radio to appeal to more listeners. So it’s time for CRS, country radio, Music Row, and major labels to step up.
To a degree, it’s understandable why the industry might be wary of change since they’ve done such a good job keeping country radio so insular and under their control for many years. But the market is shifting and new avenues are encroaching on radio’s market share in an increasing degree each year, even if radio remains the big dog for now. It would be better for country radio to split on its own terms instead of being dictated by market forces that necessitate a split for the format’s survival in the future.
So let’s get back at this. Let’s continue to discuss the ideas. Let’s push program directors and label executives to start thinking how this could all take shape for the betterment of the country music mainstream format.
February 26, 2015 @ 11:03 am
Are you speaking of a split in formats mostly for satellite radio? For my local radio stations (two are owned by WV based companies, the other by Bristol) I think it would be hard to do simply because, two only have one country station and the third doesn’t even have one. They would have to create additional frequencies or convert an already established one to country in order to have options for listeners.
February 26, 2015 @ 11:30 am
No. Satellite radio already has catered stations for different tastes in country music, but since it only serves about 10% of the population, traditional radio is still where the power and potential to change the format exists. I can’t speak to every single locality, but basically you would have a country station or two in most markets that played Top 40 current country. Then you would have a radio station that played a mix of current Top 40, older country, newer country from older artists, and newer country from newer artists that appeals to more traditional fans. How each local market would shake out would be for the markets to decide. Some markets may not have the new country format, or it may take years, others may have two or three.
February 28, 2015 @ 8:24 am
We have this by default in San Antonio. KJ-97 and Y100 play Bro-Country and KKYX plays Classic Country. The problem is funding and marketing, which in my opinion is driven by the lack of new “classic” country being played on KKYX. If they would start to insert Sturgill, Isbell, Watson, etc., I think they could grow the listener base and introduce listeners to new artists to the older and younger crowds, and increase advertiser interest.
February 26, 2015 @ 11:33 am
Great analysis and commentary. Thank you.
Speaking of diversity, I saw that Sturgill was playing a benefit at Carnegie Hall next week. Interesting who’s he sharing the stage with:
Philip Glass, Artistic Director
Laurie Anderson
Tenzin Choegyal
The Flaming Lips
Ira Glass
Debbie Harry
Dev Hynes
Ashley MacIsaac and Maybelle Queene
Sturgill Simpson
Patti Smith and her Band with Jesse Paris Smith
Tickets from $35 – $200
Buy Tickets
February 26, 2015 @ 12:17 pm
I just saw Sturgill Simpson is opening a few shows for Old Crow Medicine Show. MUCH better than opening for ZBB, IMO.
February 27, 2015 @ 4:52 pm
ZBB makes some pretty damn good music. In a world of Cole Swindells, FGLs, and Chase Rices the Zac Brown Band isn’t a band we should be hating on. I don’t love all of their stuff but “Colder Weather” is an amazing song and nothing they have ever put out is off putting. I don’t really consider ZBB country though. I think they’re closer to southern rock. I think Trigger even said something to that effect awhile back.
February 26, 2015 @ 4:49 pm
I fully expect that when Sturgill releases his first album for Atlantic, he will be marketed to the indie rock crowd. And fans of artists like The Black Keys and Jack White will eat it up, assuming they aren’t fans of Sturgill already, and I think many of them already are.
February 26, 2015 @ 12:34 pm
I think that a format split would be doomed to failure. Much like Ashley Monroe’s latest single, we would have a situation where they try to please everyone and end up pleasing no one. What is one to think when he hears “Wide Open Spaces”, the story of an ambitious young girl trying to make it in the world, and “Insert Bro Song Here,” in rapid succession. Playing neotradionalist country and bro country on the same station will leave fans of both sub genres scratching their heads.
February 26, 2015 @ 12:45 pm
“Playing neotradionalist country and bro country on the same station will leave fans of both sub genres scratching their heads.”
I don’t know who is recommending this course of action for the format split, but I’m certainly not. I think it should be a focus to NOT include Bro-Country material on the new format, and John Dickey of Cumulus Media has said the same thing.
“You won”™t hear a lot of what we affectionately term in the business today as ”˜Bro-Country.”
https://savingcountrymusic.com/cumulus-media-its-time-for-country-to-fragment
Unfortunately though, when you look at NASH Icon playlists, Bro-Country songs are included, so who knows. That’s why it is going to take much more than NASH Icon to make the format split.
February 26, 2015 @ 12:47 pm
Yes, I was referring to the NASH Icon playlists as they are, not as you or I would have them.
February 26, 2015 @ 1:04 pm
Thank you for the great article, I think I will share with a local station that just did a branding change but with no music list change.
I sent them a comment the other day mentioning Blackberry Smoke and Aaron Watson on the top of the charts but no radio play and said maybe with the new change, they could occasionally play song or two outside the play list. Maybe go old school and talk about the music and give the DJ some personality, “Heard this band over the weekend, I like it because….” Just seems as you pointed out, it would be a great diversity move. Now if it would ever happen…
Again thanks for all you Trig!
February 26, 2015 @ 3:13 pm
My guess is they did their homework and figured out that the target audience needed for a split on radio – Nash Icon connoisseurs and fans of Sturgill Simpson and Ashley Monroe – is gone, for good. There’s no way I’d go back to annoying AM DJ’s, traffic reports and Progressive car insurance commercials.
Plus, an new war has begun in the streaming arena. I think it was rather remarkable the Ashely Monroe exclusively debuted her new single on Spotify for the first week. She didn’t even bother with radio. I expect more deals like this to happen more often with other streaming services. And don’t let all that anti-streaming rhetoric from Taylor Swift fool ya, she’s just holding out for the right number $.
For now, there is a big market for terrestrial radio where options in music and it’s vehicles are very limited – uneducated and poor, rural america. Overton’s comments are just shoring up his existing audience.
February 26, 2015 @ 3:54 pm
Ashley Monroe’s label is spending more money on radio promotion right now arguably than anyone. She has huge full page ads in all the country radio periodicals like “Country Aircheck,” and the release of the single is specifically timed to coincide with CRS. They are hoping to have a huge impact on radio. If you don’t believe me, click on the Country Aircheck supplemental I linked to above:
https://www.countryaircheck.com/buzz_publication/buzz022515.pdf
As for why they decided to do the Spotify exclusive, I can’t say. As I said in my review of the song, I think it was a dumb move, like all exclusives. And also as Gary Overton said, Adam Gold said, and all of the research from Edison illustrates, radio is still vitally important to artists, and the most important outlet for music, especially country music, period. Irrefutably. Regardless of other emerging technologies.
One of the reasons it takes people like Gary Overton reciting the mantra that radio matters is because listeners are creatures of their own habits. Whatever anyone uses as their primary music source, most consumers assume that’s what most everyone is using. Daily it boggles my mind as satellite listeners just assume everyone has satellite, and is well-versed on the doings of whatever specific channel is their favorite.
February 26, 2015 @ 4:07 pm
“because listeners are creatures of their own habits” – exactly.
There’s a sector or group of country music listeners that have been marginalized for over a decade now that had to find other music sources to satisfy their listening needs. Now they have to be re-trained that it’s ok to come back to radio? I don’t see it happening.
February 26, 2015 @ 9:02 pm
I’m certainly not saying radio is for everyone. I’m not recommending anyone listen to a NASH Icon station. I certainly wouldn’t. All I am saying is that it remains the most dominant listening format, especially in country music. Many of the problems and solutions to country music’s ills can be traced to radio. It is the true battleground in the effort to save country music. I would expect most of the daily readers of this site to not be radio listeners. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t an important issue in trying to improve country music for every listener.
February 27, 2015 @ 4:20 pm
” Many of the problems and solutions to country music”™s ills can be traced to radio. It is the true battleground in the effort to save country music.”
Honestly this is a battle for nearly all regional music no matter the style. The vast majority of non-hip hop pop stars come from the other genres initially, and are presented with an opportunity.
I know this is a country site and all, but this is one case where I’ve been trying to get ALL musicians together. The death of local/regional radio has also coincided with the death of a lot of live music & venues. There aren’t enough places for us to play to be gutter sniping each other (not that anyone was here) whether we play country, rock, metal or even covers.
The recovery of radio more towards its golden age would help every style of music currently marginalized in this country, and the economy in most areas as well.
February 27, 2015 @ 5:21 pm
No doubt the problems with American radio are affecting all genres, and all localities that rely on local radio as a resource for the community.
February 26, 2015 @ 4:15 pm
What an elitist, asshole comment.
I live in WV and in many places, satellite radio doesn’t pick up, therefore, we have to listen to local radio. That makes me neither uneducated or poor, just someone that lives in a state with alot of mountains.
February 26, 2015 @ 9:04 pm
Huh?
February 26, 2015 @ 9:19 pm
I apologize. I should separated those – uneducated, poor and people living in rural regions. And uneducated doesn’t mean stupid, just not educated in any alternatives to mainstream country music. I believe many fans of FGL or Luke Bryan just don’t know of anything better.
I’m from Pittsburgh and love my neighbors to the south!
February 26, 2015 @ 3:57 pm
BTW, did you see what artists chose to waste programers’ time on during CRS? Dierks Bentley’s dumpster fire 90’s cover band. Tons of nauseous youtube clips out there.
February 26, 2015 @ 5:36 pm
Ha ha. I kinda like the Hot Country Knights.
A lot of other people performed too. Kacey Musgraves, Vince Gill, Mickey Guyton, etc.
February 26, 2015 @ 4:43 pm
oh good, twice the amount of bad radio for folks to complain about.
February 26, 2015 @ 5:15 pm
This is going to be a mess. We are going to suffer with Florida Georgia Line, Chase Rice, and Sam Hunt. Trigger we need hope for real country music.
February 26, 2015 @ 6:09 pm
” even though they both basically said the same thing, that radio, no matter what anyone wants to think, is still vitally important to the country music landscape, and without its support, it”™s an uphill battle for any artist to succeed ”
I got into radio in 2000, and proceeded to watch my industry die (quickly from the sidelines, unfortunately) over the next decade (15 years). I’ve found this to be one of the reasons.
It used to be that one of your goals as an original band was to get your song on local radio. Now if your song is on local radio someone, much bigger and far from local, more or less paid for you to be there.
I look forward to watching the demise of everywhere national radio and the return of local/regional success. I just hope the powers currently in charge don’t set that return back decades by destroying infrastructure on the way down. No I don’t see them actually tearing down stations/towers and such, but put it all far enough into debt and you can achieve the same thing.
February 26, 2015 @ 8:44 pm
Maybe the only split that would be good for country music is if the government breaks up the corporate radio monopolies so stations can play better country music again. Because it’s the monopolies going monogenre and replacing country music with pop, and corporate doesn’t allow their stations to play better country music or more women. The more consolidated radio gets the worse it gets. Getting rid of legal payola is probably another good idea.
Sean Ross ”@RossOnRadio
Becky Brenner: Format has hired AC/CHR PDs who are “not fans of the format” who can’t appreciate trad-sounding @KaceyMusgraves #CRS2015
https://twitter.com/RossOnRadio/status/570984292614053888
“A country assistant PD/music director who works for one of the big three radio chains says, “For many of us, we don”™t have the approval to just play a record we love. It is the bane of corporate radio.” She says that just a few years ago, her station would have easily added an artist like Clark following an attention-grabbing awards show performance. Now, however, “We can”™t do that anymore.
“We were much better [music] champions several years ago,” she says. “Not so much today. But then … we had the freedom to add songs without corporate oversight. It is my hope that radio can get back to that and programmers can find artists that they believe are deserving of airplay. One of the best things in our profession is seeing a young artist you believe in go to the heights of the biz and knowing that you had a small hand in exposing them.”
http://www.billboard.com/files/pdfs/bcu_mw_0226.pdf
February 27, 2015 @ 4:23 pm
The government doesn’t need to get anywhere near this one (and many on this site would, wrongly, think I’m a leftist extremist). It’s playing itself out already. The big radio conglomerates are dying, and the industry is suffering enough that they aren’t going to be ready to step in to replace it with a true equivalent. That’s a GREAT thing for music, as radio will go back to local/regional ownership AND programming.
February 26, 2015 @ 9:03 pm
I wish I had something intelligent to contribute to this conversation.
All I will say is that this was an excellent article, and I agree with everything in it. I honestly think an actual format split could be a huge success and a financial windfall for the industry if done correctly.
February 26, 2015 @ 9:05 pm
It’s frustrating and disappointing that it hasn’t happened.
February 27, 2015 @ 12:12 am
I’d like to see a bigger push to a diversified local radio market as well, but that’s hardly the function of capitalism. Fragmenting back into locals means having to build multiple new fan bases, and that’s doubtful. To be honest, it’s also not necessary. Big stations can work just fine … I just wish they’d diversify the playlists. I remember when there were specific shows on at different times of the day that had their own identity – something cool about each one. Now, at KKGO in LA anyway, it’s all the same shit. You can listen to “the morning drive” of top40, Top40 at work, Top40 for the drive home, and hey … why not go to bed with some Top40?
A couple of weeks ago, they put out a tweet about playing to the classics on Sunday morning from 8-12. They were so proud of themselves. it was as if they were righting the wrongs for the other 164 hours during the week. They also have a commercial that states they play “no less than 1,000 songs a week”. I mean – is that something to be proud of when 657 of them are FGL?
The station boasts itself as the biggest country radio station in the country. I’m guessing that’s because it’s the only major-market country radio station to have a monopoly on its local market.
I’d really love to see the station add some alt-country or red-dirt country for a couple of hours a week. Just some awesome Wednesday night show or something. And maybe a “broken hearts” hour where people call in requests. Maybe they’d call for something other than “Try to win Keith Urban tickets by being caller 25”
And for all that is good in this world, I would love them to shut the eff up about Taylor Swift and her next concert in LA in August. By then, it’ll be a full year since she gave the finger to Country Music. Do they really still need to kiss her ass?
Oh yeah … and it’d be great if they played one of my tracks at some point.
But I think that’s about as likely as any of the other stuff I mentioned, which is to say…not at all.
Yeahcomeon.
February 27, 2015 @ 9:48 am
Getting rid of legal payola–love that remark above!!
It would undoubtedly be fine with many on the label side if Country focused exclusively on the audience they perceive as buying music.
That comment shows you where the money is. Funding legal payola to push LCD music over the radio at 18-34 year olds.
You are never going to lead anything out of Nashville. Nashville is a follower. The push needs to come from LA, Austin, NYC. Use alternate delivery streams. Isolate Nashville and let it starve for a while–let it pick up the trend later, per usual. Or not. ‘Cause fuck’em, that’s why.
You can’t outwrestle a hog in the pigpen.
February 27, 2015 @ 10:11 am
In my small market town, country radio will not play George Strait, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Charlie Robison, Sturgill Simpson, Brandy Clark, Whitey Morgan, Aaron Watson, Dale Watson, Johnny Cash, Jones, Hank, Hank Jr., or Asleep at the Wheel. SO FUCK COUNTRY RADIO! I realize that mass appeal for the above mentioned is limited, but even the living legends have no place to go. No one plays any classic stuff either. My 16 year old sister loves country music. She likes Swift, Bryan, Aldean, FGL, ect… Classic country to her is Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. I exposed her to George Strait when she as much as possible. She calls the old cowboy guy.
Side note, Tim McGraw had the most country album of most people on country radio last year. What does that say about the state of country radio?
February 27, 2015 @ 3:53 pm
The main reason that format split discussion is almost entirely absent at CRS 2015 and why it’s faded of late, is simple: the industry does not feel like it is in a strong enough position to make it happen. Overall country ratings went down in the last half of 2014, for six months straight, with notable losses in the 18-34 demo (as noted here in Aircheck). Mainstream country is not likely to further guarantee ratings declines for individual stations with format split talk.
Relatedly, country radio is not going to split at a time when it is at least talking about increasing playlist balance and diversity and reverting to more traditional values, as R.J. Curtis predicts in the RS Country article that Trigger linked. A lot of the pre-CRS and, as far as I can tell, during-CRS, discussion about country radio in 2015 has been how the bro country cycle, while still popular, has played out, and how this year will be a year of retrenchment and reconnection to the format’s adult core. The talk is definitely *not* about how country radio is going to be all Sam Hunt, all the time (though of course the format is going to claim him and his numbers just like it did Taylor Swift & her numbers).
I said this back when Trigger posted about WSM-FM (Nashville’s Nash Icons station) beating Clear Channel’s WSIX (& Bobby Bones) in Nashville, and I’ll say it again: the lesson mainstream country radio’s going to learn from that, if anything, is to move towards a Nash Icons-style playlist where they play the top currents 40-50 times like country radio used to 5-10 years ago (as opposed to the 70-80 times a lot of stations have been doing lately), and mix in a lot more gold/recurrent titles. This column quotes a couple anonymous programmers doing just that to achieve a more “familiar,” comfortable sound.
So IF mainstream country radio moves to more diversity in lyrics and sound in 2015, which means playing Sam Hunt along with Tim McGraw’s 90s country-sounding singles, then why would the other 2 big conglomerates that own so much of country radio (Clear Channel and CBS) go along with a format split? At best I can see a concerted effort to convert Classic Country stations to a more Class of ’89-friendly format that plays George Strait, Alan Jackson, Reba, and Garth hits.
Where does that leave traditional-leaning new & rising acts? Nowhere (as far as radio is concerned) unless mainstream country radio will get on board, which may happen on a case-by-case basis. Where does that leave the format’s women? I’m not even sure a format split would help there – the WSM playlist currently has 3 solo females in its t30, superstars all: Carrie Underwood, Reba, and Miranda Lambert. The national mainstream country charts have 2 solo females in the t30 (Miranda and pop bro-appeaser Kelsea Ballerini), with Carrie’s new single on the rise (now t40), and Reba and Mickey Guyton treading water in the 40s. Kacey Musgraves is about to release “Biscuits,” and we’ll see how whether radio gives that single (and Kacey herself) some sustained support now that radio knows she’s plenty popular without them. You’ve already discussed Ashley Monroe’s upcoming single, the 1st from her that Warner Nashville will promote.
The challenge for mainstream country radio will be overcoming the narrow tastes of an audience…a narrowness that mainstream country radio has enabled and encouraged over the past 3 years of bro domination. Considering the related talk of tightening playlists even further during the retrenchment period, I think it’s going to be “safe,” reassuring/values-affirming singles that cut through.
February 27, 2015 @ 5:32 pm
Well, if more diversity builds into the current mainstream radio format, I guess we can see that as somewhat of a victory. But one of the things I believe proponents of a format split hope, including the Dickeys and some of the regional radio owners who’ve adopted the new format, is that offering more choice will re-integrate more older consumers who abandoned the format, just like the format would re-integrate older artists. Offering more choice would grow country radio’s consumer base overall, and hopefully the rising tide would raise all boats.
Also note that when it comes to the gender issue, two of the first three signees to NASH Icon are women. Right now NASH Icon has I believe has the only female majority of any major label subsidiary. It may have not translated into radio spins just yet, but I do think it could be a better avenue for women in the long term, including artists like Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, and Mickey Guyton who trend more traditional.
February 27, 2015 @ 7:34 pm
This is a somewhat of a digression, but I noticed Windmills referred to CBS as the other big player in radio next to Clear Channel and Cumulus. I hear people say this sometimes, but unless I’m missing something, the third largest owner of radio stations in the US actually actually appears to be Townsquare Media, which currently own 311 stations nationwide. (For comparison’s sake, Cumulus owns 525, CBS Radio owns 117.)
Interestingly, Townsquare also happens to own a couple of wonderful websites known as Taste of Country and The Boot, which are always publishing those incredibly insightful reviews of every “innovative” new song that comes down the pike in country radio. Funny how that works. They also own the Taste of Country Festival, Country Jam Festival, Mountain Fest, a million other websites, and a whole bunch of other crap.
Maybe all this stuff is common knowledge, but personally, I was totally unaware of the size of Townsquare’s media empire entire recently, when I was poking around trying to figure out exactly which corporate country blogs were owned by whom.
February 28, 2015 @ 1:04 pm
This is a case where I’m guilty of privileging the 151 (top ~120 markets or so) stations that are part of the Mediabase published chart panel over those that report to the small market Mediabase Activator panel and those that don’t report at all. I focused on those stations because those are the stations that labels work the hardest for airplay and the stations that count on the Mediabase/Aircheck chart. There are 146 stations that count for the official Billboard Country Airplay chart – there is heavy but not complete overlap with the Mediabase panel there. Billboard’s small market Country Indicator panel has 102 stations.
Looking at Mediabase’s panel (because it’s easiest for me to search that one), Townsquare owns 6 reporting stations: stations in Boise, Buffalo, Ft. Collins (Colorado), Lafayette (Louisiana), Lansing, and Albany. Their Mediabase weights (in other words, the factor by which spins on the stations are multiplied to calculate the points by which the chart ranks are determined) are:
Boise 1.4
Buffalo 6.2
Ft. Collins 1.5
Lafayette 2.6
Lansing 2.5
Albany 3.5
CBS owns 11 stations that report to the Mediabase panel (with station weights in parentheses):
WUSN Chicago (10.0)
WYCD Detroit (6.2)
KILT Houston (5.6)
WKIS Miami (3.8)
KMNB Minneapolis (5.8)
WXTU Philadelphia (9.3)
KMLE Phoenix (3.9)
WDSY Pittsburgh (3.9)
KFRG Riverside (3.4)
KNCI Sacramento (2.7)
KMPS Seattle (3.2)
On the whole, the CBS stations are in bigger markets, and most of them are weighted more heavily than most Townsquare Media stations (Townsquare’s Buffalo station being the obvious exception). CBS has also done more syndicated initiatives like its Amplify program, which is kind of like Clear Channel’s “Artist Integration” program in that it coordinates with album (or single) launches and features conglomerate-exclusive programming that airs across that conglomerate’s stations and web sites.
Clear Channel owns 47 of the stations on the Mediabase country panel. Cumulus owns 16 of the stations plus the 2 Westwood One country stations for a total of 18 stations.
So that’s why I focused on Clear Channel, Cumulus, and CBS as the big 3.
February 28, 2015 @ 10:40 pm
Hello Trigger
Do you care for Chase Bryant new song?
March 1, 2015 @ 1:09 am
I don’t give knee jerk reactions to songs, artists, or albums in comments because they tend to come back and bite me in the ass. I’ll have to listen to it and perhaps I’ll review it.
March 1, 2015 @ 9:55 am
You’re right I don’t mean to upset you but any way I really like your channel.
March 3, 2015 @ 8:27 pm
I don’t understand why something like this wasn’t done years ago. It has worked for rock seemingly forever. Country has a history that is just as long if not longer.
If you look at artists that have been classified as country in the past you had people like Conway, Kenny Rogers, and Ronnie Milsap who were worlds different from the likes of Waylon, Johnny and Willie. So I think there is room for guys like Sturgill, Jamey and Whitey Morgan and all the “stuff” that makes up mainstream country.
I’ll admit that I don’t like the overwhelming majority of radio country but I think I could swallow it easier if it was more diversified. As far as the older generations it is well known how they are treated on mainstream stations. Jones, Haggard and Lynn were “kicked” out years ago and now you hear less of Alan, B&D and Reba. Somehow King George has held on for quite some time. And would it kill radio to play some Keith Whitley.