Mainstream Country Station Explains Why It Plays Tyler Childers

Tyler Childers continues to rewrite the rules for what is possible for a country music artist not controlled by Music Row in Nashville. His album Purgatory remains a perennial in the Top 25 of the country album charts here nearly three years after its release (at #23 again this week). Earlier this year when he was opening for Sturgill Simpson on an arena tour, he was a big reason many of the dates were selling out.
But one barrier that has yet to be dissolved by artists like Tyler Childers is solving the puzzle of country radio. Of course it’s easy to say radio doesn’t matter anymore if you’re already living in the world of independent music and streaming. But for millions, radio is still a discovery vehicle for new artists, and a go-to entertainment source.
Despite all the success Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and other independent stars have enjoyed, they still haven’t been able to crack the mainstream radio paradigm. Without a million-dollar budget and a nine month commitment to a radio station tour, mainstream country radio just won’t play you.
But something inexplicable happened this week. At the very bottom of MediaBase’s weekly report of new songs added to the rotations of reporting stations, the panel registered a “add” for the song “All Your’n” by Tyler Childers. Understand, an “add” is different than a spin. A spin means the radio station played a song. And add means they’ve added it to their regular rotation. It may seem like a minor thing on the surface, but it’s a major step forward for an artist like Tyler Childers.
The radio station that added “All Your’n” was US 106.1 WUSH “America’s Country” based on Norfolk, VA. Looking at their playlist, you see artists such as Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney, and Carrie Underwood. But you will also occasionally see some older titles and artists. As one of the few stations not owned by Cumulus or iHeartMedia that reports to MediaBase (roughly 2/3rds of the reporting stations are owned by those two companies), WUSH programs its playlist locally.
“I’m a huge fan,” Program Director Dave Parker says of Tyler Childers. “I had talked to some of our listeners. I’m most interested in what people don’t like rather than what they do like. Hearing what people don’t like I think is more instructive. So I had talked to several people, and a common thread that was, ‘We want you to play more artists like Tyler Childers, Cody Jinks, and Sturgill Simpson.’ I had already been playing some Sturgill Simpson, but not enough to make an add. I played ‘All Your’n’ during mid days once, and I asked people for feedback. And I got twice the amount of feedback on that song than any time I’ve ever asked for feedback on a new song. They were comments filled with lots of exclamation points and happy emojis.”
Regularly when the subject of Tyler Childers is brought up, people are surprised how young the fan base is for his music is, despite his older country style. Dave Parker says recently at a family gathering, he mentioned Tyler Childers, and his nieces immediately piped up about how much they loved him.
“Most country radio is on a short leash, and that leash is held by the hand of research,” Parker explains. “And if you only play the songs that research the best, you’ll end up playing the same songs by the same artist over and over again. It takes all of the color and interest out of country radio. If country radio is not interesting, people will not listen to it. Since I liked the song, people I talked to like the song, and it’s a really good country song, I added the song. And I’m going to add more Tyler Childers songs. I’m going to add ‘Whitehouse Road,’ and an edited version of ‘Feathered Indians.’ I don’t want people to have to go somewhere else to hear what they define as real, good country music.”
Just like many independent country fans have been saying for many years, mainstream country radio is overlooking huge swaths of country fans who would listen if they only played more variety. This is what 106.1 WUSH is looking to accomplish.
“There is a completely underserved, notable segment of the country audience, and I believe that if that audience is not given what they’re already listening to between the Luke Bryans, Carrie Underwoods, and Dustin Lynchs of the world, they’re not going to listen to your radio station,” Dave Parker says. “If any consultant would ever have any problem with me adding a Tyler Childers song, I would direct them to Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and YouTube, and if they want to argue against 15 million streams on a song, I’ll have that argument with them all day long.”
And WUSH is not stopping with Tyler Childers.
“The #1 research item we get back is that people want to hear songs from the 90’s. That’s why I play one to two songs from the 90’s every hour. We also play Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Pam Tillis. I have about 130 songs from the 90’s and prior that I play. We advertise ourselves as a country music station. Therefore the music we play should actually be country music.”
Granted, there are multiple stations that have been playing Tyler Childers songs for years, including many other independently-owned local and regional stations, NPR affiliates, and college radio. The problem is these stations don’t report into MediaBase like WUSH, which is what makes this particular add so significant. In a way, it’s a shot across the bow of the reporting panel. There is a place, and an appeal for the Luke Bryans and Carrie Underworlds of the world. That’s never been refuted. But there is an appeal for Tyler Childers as well, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be afforded a seat at the table. In fact, country radio’s future may depend on it.
“Nothing would make me happier than if everyone on the MediaBase panel to start playing some Tyler Childers,” says WUSH’s Dave Parker. And if more program directors were listening to their listeners as opposed to playing what they’re told from on high, they probably would be.
WUSH 106.1 can be heard live online.
May 14, 2020 @ 8:55 am
That’s great
However, it’s a sad day when “130 songs from the 90s and prior” is spoken as a badge and not a limit.
May 14, 2020 @ 9:06 am
That’s true. But if they started playing a ton of classic country, they would probably be taken off the MediaBase reporting panel. That’s what’s cool about this. It’s a solidly mainstream station, playing as much older country and guys like Tyler they can get away with.
May 14, 2020 @ 9:58 am
Tyler Childers is the face of how County music should be, period! He and a few more struggle when in fact they should be the top stars, no jonder of music today is what it was meant to be. It all sucks. The so called stars are just puppets on strings that without a soundboard couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket!! Ty is a pioneer that reminds me of Ol’ Waylon, not the style of music, but doing things his way, carving things out they way he wants it and not straying. Ty is country, you have acts like Luke Bryan that nobody knows what type music it is, because it sure as hell ain’t country!
May 18, 2020 @ 9:46 am
of course Jason Aldean just came out and said no one gives a shit what we think.
May 14, 2020 @ 12:31 pm
No kidding! I even sometimes get tired of the songs on the various SiriusXM country stations (Willie’s Roadhouse, Outlaw Country and Bakersfield Beat), and they must be choosing from thousands! Bakersfield Beat appears to have the least amount of variety, which kinda makes sense.
May 14, 2020 @ 1:54 pm
Is it ironic this is the least “country” song on the record?
May 14, 2020 @ 9:41 am
The system only exists to support itself. They play shitty country because it’s easy to make so they get to shape and mold their stars to make them millions. Tyler won’t make them any money.
But the majority of the public is too stupid or too lazy (or both) to seek out something they actually like to listen to.
May 14, 2020 @ 12:35 pm
I bet Tyler and his label are doing alright. These mid tier pretty boy radio stars need playlist payola, radio interviews, full page ads in Country Weekly, and placement on the Walmart muzak to be relevant. All this costs money. And they still can’t sell records like Tyler. His success has taken minimal overhead other than the standard record/release/tour cycle (and damn good music). Yet he goes to #1 in albums and has millions of streams.
May 14, 2020 @ 10:01 am
Sounds like Dave Parker actually gets it by listening to his audience and taking them and their interests into consideration. I also agree that the future of country radio depends on it.
May 14, 2020 @ 10:26 am
Radio play, even today, must still mean a great deal to the artist’s pocket book. Jason Isbell is one of, if not THE most well known of the indy country artists, but both times I’ve seen him (Redmond, WA and Bend, OR, both mid sized outdoor venues) was with a good sized crowd, but nowhere NEAR sold out. Bend might be due to a smaller (100k) population, but it also draws from the Willamette Valley. But the Seattle area? WTF? It’s funny, for both shows I jumped on the tickets because I was sure they’d sell out fast! Not so much. The Isbells and Simpsons won’t be selling out Yankee Stadium any time soon.
Still, can’t feel too bad. Anyone who can afford a $650,000.00 Gibson is doing pretty well.????
May 14, 2020 @ 12:02 pm
Trigger:
I have a ton of respect for you. You’re a great writer, a hard worker with a wide knowledge, a ton of experience, and a genuine clue about country music, and you always try to be the bigger person
But I still cannot wrap my mind around your repeated use of the “a seat at the table expression.”
It is our table. A seat at it should not be a point of contention. In fact all the seats should belong to us.
And it is people like Luke Bryan who do not belong
And yet time and again I ask “why us old country fans cannot have a zero tolerance policy”
And the answer always has something to do with “new fans and new exposure”
But I don’t buy it.
If we as country fans cannot unite behind a no tolerance line, tolerating no stations that play even a single non country song, tolerating no artists from big machine, et al, and sending the singular message as one united fan base that we will suffer no interlopers
Not even one Luke Bryan song
One is too many.
But instead, me, honky and much maligned former commenter Clint are made to look like extremists, while the moderates enable the ruination of our genre.
I believe that turning on a station that plays luke Bryan, even if they play Tyler and sturgill, sends the message that I will tolerate Luke Bryan
And I believe that the only cure for this problem is to send the singular message that not one red penny of a single fan of country music will be spent supporting anyone or anything until all interlopers are removed is the only way to prevent a more prolonged descent
Otherwise music row only has to throw us a bone.
“Just play a sturgill Simpson song, those old farts will listen”
And I’m sure you’re going to retort with something about “new people finding country music”
I don’t care if anyone else finds country music
For the same reason I don’t want to eat a shit sandwich just so somebody else can have a banana.
I don’t want to hear luke Bryan just so somebody else can find out about Waylon
The table is ours, all the seats at it should be ours. And anyone who sits at it with the very people who tried to steal the seats is part of the problem
Not trying to start something
But I genuinely can’t wrap my head around this thinking of yours that “there’s room for both Luke and Tyler” “let’s all sit at the same table”
May 14, 2020 @ 1:15 pm
Agreed.
I i don’t belive in turning a station on for a good song. I believe in turning it off for a bad song.
But I also agree with Trigger that we’re trying to fix the problem we have, not create an ideal world. And radio is getting better than it has been for many years.
Luke Bryan peaked with “Rain is a good thing”, too bad it was his first single.
May 14, 2020 @ 2:21 pm
This is dumb reasoning. You are not ever going to destroy Luke Bryan. And acting like anything short of destroying Luke Bryan is irrelevant is a ridiculous attitude.
Let me put it like this: Imagine your favorite radio station or playlist. Then imagine them playing a Luke Bryan song. You would probably be appalled and incensed, right? That’s not why you listen. Well that’s the equivalent of a mainstream country station playing a Tyler Childers song. This is actual country music going on the offense, imposing on THEIR turf, which I agree should be OUR turf. But you’re not going to get there overnight, and you’re DEFINITELY never going to get there if you don’t understand fundamentally that there will always be people who enjoy the Luke Bryan’s of the world.
May 14, 2020 @ 2:40 pm
I don’t think it’s dumb
I don’t think… if Taco Bell stops serving tacos, that I should wait around at Taco Bell hoping tacos come back
Wouldn’t it make more sense to go find a new place to eat?
And let’s not pretend we’ll take country music back.
The earth is salted in Nashville. There is no point in returning to country music Carthage because nothing will grow
Wouldn’t it make more sense to go somewhere else and build a new Carthage where the romans won’t come?
I feel like many people live in a port town complaining about the ships coming in, but they never close the port
If we go back, if Childers and sturgill and Stapleton “take the offense” and somehow brings country radio back…
What’s stopping it from going pop again?
Whereas by abandoning Nashville we can pop proof country music.
At this point I don’t want to fix country radio because it will just get unfixed again.
Sort of like replacing the transmission on a 1988 Ford with bald tires and rust on the underside.
It’s time to quit fixing and just get a new one
May 14, 2020 @ 3:26 pm
Fuzzball,
My worthless 2 cents. Obviously, the Americana movement was originally an attempt to start over and provide a haven for the real deal country music. Well, its been infiltrated big time by folks who want everything “inclusive” and “diverse” to the point that you have blues, soul, r&b, bluegrass, folk, and rock acts all wanting a piece of that pie. It hasn’t been a haven for country music in some time.
So what other options are out there? Realistically, the Ameripolitan movement , while small, does attempt to award and promote honky- tonk, western swing and rockabilly. Ive been covering this organization for a couple years now in my own writing and photography and its the closest alternative anyones come up with to help the careers of the true country artists. Problem is. A lot of artists are afraid to embrace it because they secretly entertain the thought that somehow they will break out in mainstream country maybe, and they don’t wanna wreck their chances by being part of some other organization. So while Ameripolitan is great, it remains small and makes no dent in the Country radio / music row monster. I would love to see the name and structure of Country Music righted to its former traditional and socio-economic stature. But I don’t see it happening. Purists are mocked and scorned by the almighty music row and they have their built-in fanbase that supports the cookie cutter paint by numbers garbage they put out. You and I matter not to those folks, we aren’t their chosen demographic anyway.
If you have a real idea thats better, go for it, im all ears. I agree with your sentiment , but don’t see it as realistic.
May 15, 2020 @ 7:54 pm
But there’s always been blending of musical styles. Think two who left us way too soon the same way, Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. And the original country-rock act may have been the Everly Brothers. And Nancy Sinatra’s classic “These Boots are Made for Walking” launched the term Countrypolitan into the musical dialect.
May 14, 2020 @ 1:47 pm
Margo Price is another who has been able to break into Country radio.
May 14, 2020 @ 5:51 pm
Here are some fictional song titles that would make for great country radio protest tunes:
1. No Country For Old Men (On The Radio)
2. Get Off My Lawn And Take Your Autotune With You
3. Ditch The Laptop, Play a Flat Top
4. Take Me To The Honky Tonk Hospital To Get My Ears Cleaned Out With Some Hank Sr.
5. Forgotten Demographic Blues
6. Have You Ever Really Been On a Dirt Road?
7. Save The Laundry List For Your Dirty Britches
8. My GIRL is a Lady (And She Don’t Like Pickup Trucks)
9. Please Don’t Steal My Pedal Steel
10. Peter Piper’s Properly Played Pedal Steel (an instrumental track)
11. Too Good For Your Sister’s Transistor
12. How To Be a Southern Gentleman
That would be a kule album
May 14, 2020 @ 7:13 pm
Bearly B, can I join your band? I play a mean triangle and cowbell 🙂
May 15, 2020 @ 5:14 am
Bearly B, that wins comment of the year in my book! Love it! Ill buy that album. Can I be your publicity agent? My take will be a modest 10%. I’ll get you some great gigs in every nickel honky -Tonk on route 23!
Sorry Lil Dale, you’ve been bested, wherever you are!
May 15, 2020 @ 6:33 am
Heresy! Lil Dale rules. Miss his insight, wit, and wisdom.
May 15, 2020 @ 10:05 am
Plus two additional bonus tracks:
1. I’ve Come Down With a Bad Case Of Mono (Genre, That Is)
2. That’s The Way The Money Goes, POP Goes The Snap Track
May 15, 2020 @ 10:18 am
Your killin me smalls!….and on a Friday to boot.
Any label guys out there? Better sign this guy while you can still afford him! And I get a 10% finders fee on any future royalties. And 5% to Trigger for posting it.
May 14, 2020 @ 6:23 pm
As I’ve said repeatedly, local programming is the way forward for radio. Every station I’ve been at that programmed its own music has had a stronger, more loyal listener base than those that don’t.
May 15, 2020 @ 3:40 am
When you see ‘research’ just substitute the word ‘payola’. If you’re relying solely on ‘research’ to do your programming, then the horse that is your radio station is going to end up looking like a camel. And sounding. And smelling.
Grow a pair, Program Directors!
And listening to Tyler Childers, in whatever format, shouldn’t be news.
May 15, 2020 @ 8:03 pm
Even Dick Clark was once called out in a payola scandal. He wasn’t found guilty of anything but one of his producers was. And it was he that introduced the world to Bob Dylan when he was still a relatively unknown folkie.
May 15, 2020 @ 4:44 am
Underserved not undeserved.
May 15, 2020 @ 5:35 am
Tyler Childers is a throwback to the days when you heard a country song, you recognized the voice whether it was Waylon, Johnny, Willie, Buck, Loretta etc. What a breath of fresh air he is!
May 17, 2020 @ 7:03 am
Wow. This guy is so brave. Please. Stop. My erection can only get so hard.
July 30, 2020 @ 12:56 am
My local radio station is not on any panels, and that they are playing a lot of Independent, Texas and some Canadian artists not even on any major Nashville label.
My Friend Fred-Sammy Kershaw
Hillbilly Rollin’ Stone-The Desert City Ramblers
Drove Me To The Whiskey-Casey Donahew
You, Me and A Bottle-Randy Rogers Band
Feels Like Country-Music-Jon Wolfe
Give Me Back The 90s-Joe and Martina ft. John Barry
Beer In A Bar-Ashley Barron
Loved By You-Tiffany Woys
Rodeo Clown-Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen
Think About It-James Robert Webb
Whiskey Kind of Night-William Michael Morgan
Far From Good-Tristin Marez
Drink About You-Brett Kissel
You’re Probably Drunk By Now-James Dupre
Trucker Hat-Dave McElroy
Love Me To Death-Shane Owens
Ain’t A Train-Cody Jinks
Castle-AC Jones
We Don’t Care To Fight Anymore-Casey Baker
Close-Jade Eagleson
Can’t Help Myself-Dean Brody ft. The Reklaws
When The Cowboy’s Gone-Tracy Lawrence
Looking For A Feeling-Pam Tillis
Happy Reunion-Colter Wall
Bury My Bones-Whiskey Myers
Hey Cowgirl-Randall King
Whisper My Name-Aaron Watson
Here I Go Again-Clay Hollis
Don’t Let Another Day Go By-Southern Halo
Many newer untapped songs are more popular to the station that I listened to because many of the songs are on the charts more than 30 weeks. The songs get stale. Travis Denning took over a year before it hit number 1 on the charts. There are songs still on the charts that are over a year old. New and fresh music, and more traditional country is the way to go.