State Champ Radio country radio
The Academy of Country Music revealed the winners of the 2024 ACM Radio Awards on Monday (April 22). There are ties in two categories (major market on-air personality of the year and medium market radio station of the year) and multiple first-time honorees.
B-Dub of B-Dub Radio Saturday Night receives his second ACM Award for national weekly on-air personality of the year, while Steve, Ben and Nikki of Steve, Ben and Nikki took home their second award for small market on-air personality of the year.
In the radio station categories, WXTU in Philadelphia took home its second win for major market radio station of the year, and WUBE in Cincinnati, Ohio took home its fourth win for large market radio station of the year.
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The announcement was made with the help of numerous artists, including Danielle Bradbery, BRELAND, Ashley Cooke, Russell Dickerson, Lady A, Ashley McBryde, Parker McCollum, Megan Moroney, Conner Smith, and Tigirlily Gold.
The announcements were made ahead of the 59th ACM Awards, which are set for Thursday, May 16 at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Tex. streaming exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video.
The show is produced by Dick Clark Productions. Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner, with Patrick Menton as co-executive producer. Damon Whiteside serves as executive producer for the ACM, and Barry Adelman serves as executive producer for DCP. John Saade serves as consulting producer for Amazon MGM Studios.
Below is a complete list of the radio award winners for the 59th Academy of Country Music Awards:
On-Air Personality of the Year Winners
National Daily: Katie Neal | Katie & Company
National Weekly: B-Dub | B-Dub Radio Saturday Night
Major Market (Tie): Angie Ward | Angie Ward – WUBL – Atlanta, Ga. and Jason Pullman | The Jason Pullman Show – KPLX – Dallas, Tex.
Large Market: Annie Fox and Cole Dunbar | Annie & Cole – WLHK – Indianapolis, Indiana
Medium Market: Doc Medek and Chewy Medek | The Doc Show – WGGY – Scranton, Pa.
Small Market: Steve, Ben, and Nikki | Steve, Ben and Nikki – WXBQ – Bristol, Va.
Radio Station of the Year Winners
Major Market: WXTU – Philadelphia
Large Market: WUBE – Cincinnati, Ohio
Medium Market (Tie): WBEE – Rochester, New York AND WGGY – Scranton, Pa.
Small Market: WFLS – Fredericksburg, Va.
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When Beyoncè announced the March 29 release of what’s expected to be a country-leaning album, Cowboy Carter, she alluded to a moment when she felt unwelcome in the genre.
But current chart numbers suggest that the carpet has been rolled out for her, assuming she’s willing to keep walking the path. Her single “Texas Hold ’Em” jumps to No. 33 in its sixth week on the Country Airplay chart dated March 30, while it remains at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs. The Airplay position is lower than the slots the song occupies on other genre charts, where she has been historically established. But country radio develops slowly. Only two of the 32 songs ahead of her on Country Airplay — Nate Smith’s “Bulletproof” and Keith Urban’s “Messed Up As Me”— have charted for six weeks or fewer. The performance of “Texas Hold ’Em” suggests that the genre may be as open as it ever has to figures invading country from other entertainment formats.
“I kind of see things starting to open up,” says Country’s Radio Coach owner and CEO John Shomby.
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Beyoncè is hardly the only artist making a move into the format from another entertainment base. Post Malone spent 18 weeks on Country Airplay in a pairing with the late Joe Diffie, Diplo has released two country-shaded projects, and Lana Del Rey is reportedly recording a country album. Additionally, actors Charles Esten and Luke Grimes recently released their debut country albums, contemporary Christian artist Anne Wilson has signed with Universal Music Group Nashville, and retired St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright made his Grand Ole Opry debut on March 9.
There’s no guarantee that any — let alone all — of them will stick. But it’s not like country music is a closed society.
“Take a look at Jelly Roll,” Shomby says. “This guy was a rapper, for crying out loud — he wasn’t even a famous rapper, but he was around. He’s welcome with open arms.”
It hasn’t always been that way. There’ve been plenty of figures from other music formats — such as Jessica Simpson, Connie Francis and La Toya Jackson — who made brief forays into country, then disappeared. So did former NFL quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Danny White, plus actors Dennis Weaver and Maureen McCormick.
The country music business has long been skeptical of people it perceives as carpetbaggers. Even artists who’ve had some success when jumping into country — such as Tom Jones, who scored a No. 1 single with 1977’s “Say You’ll Stay Until Tomorrow” and a top five with 1983’s “Touch Me (I’ll Be Your Fool Once More)” — have been flummoxed by its expectation of a commitment.
“With country stations, if you don’t record country all the time, they feel then that you’re not a country artist,” he complained in ’83. “If you only come out with an occasional country album, it’s hard to get it played on some stations because they stick with their regulars.”
R&B and adult contemporary stations, he allowed, operated with the same sort of provincialism.
But plenty of artists have made successful transitions into country, too — Conway Twitty, Dan Seals, John Schneider, Exile and Darius Rucker, to name a few. All of them faced skepticism on their way to acceptance. Seals’ former manager, Melody Place COO Tony Gottlieb, recalls when Seals was confronted about it on late-night TV.
“This guy who’s from Nashville — obviously tuned into the Nashville scene — asks Dan, ‘What do you say about failed pop artists coming to Nashville to pursue country music careers?’ ” recalls Gottlieb. “Of course, as Dan’s manager, I wanted to strangle the guy because he had just ambushed him right on live TV.”
Seals had actually been raised on country — Ernest Tubb and The Louvin Brothers — and he proved himself over the long haul. His fourth single, “God Must Be a Cowboy,” became the first of 16 top 10s, including 11 No. 1s. Like Twitty and Kenny Rogers before him, Seals did three things that most successful outsiders have done to become insiders: He committed to country; his music targeted the center of the format, not its sonic periphery; and he recorded high-quality songs.
“You can be new one time,” observes Mike Reid, who segued from his original career as an all-pro NFL lineman into a country singer-songwriter in the 1980s. “But you better always be good, you know. The audience is going to tell you if you’re any good or not.”
The audience likewise will decide whether members of the current crop — including Beyoncè and Post Malone — make an authentic connection with their country endeavors. Pushback is to be expected in the beginning.
Maverick partner Clarence Spalding saw that play out in the early 1980s as the road manager for Exile, which began making country records five years after a No. 1 pop single with “Kiss You All Over.” Spalding’s current management client list includes Rucker, who was known as the frontman for multiplatinum pop/rock band Hootie + the Blowfish before he recorded as a solo country artist.
“There’s a divide — there always is — when anything new comes in town,” Spalding notes. “It’s, you know, ‘That’s not country,’ ‘That is country,’ ‘What is country?’ I don’t know the answer; it’s a subjective thing. If the consumer accepts it as country, then it’s country.”
Transitioning into the genre might actually be easier now than ever before for multiple reasons, beginning with the makeup of the music itself. From the soul-tinged sound of Thomas Rhett’s core hits to the hard-rock influence in HARDY’s material, the genre is much more flexible.
“It’s a wider avenue to go down, and so it’s going to be more forgiving than if it were the traditional country song,” suggests Reid. “You better not go near that unless you know what the hell you’re doing.”
Additionally, Taylor Swift’s reverse transition more than a decade ago, from country singer to pop stadium-filler, has made genre-hopping more acceptable.
“She could probably put a country album out tomorrow, and nobody’s going to question anything,” Shomby says.
Like Swift, Beyoncè, Post Malone and Del Rey are all courting country while they are still going strong in their original genre. Many of their predecessors tried to jump to country only when their pop careers had sunk, creating a negative view of the practice in Nashville.
Radio programmers are operating differently, too. Many modern PDs came into country from other formats and view country’s boundaries with more elasticity, and since they often work for stations in multiple formats, they’re less concerned about the exclusivity of any single genre. Plus, digital service providers have created a more fluid environment.
“Clearly the technology has changed this,” says Gottlieb. “This discussion would not have occurred in the same context six, eight years ago before the DSPs had such a major impact on what we’re doing.”
Perhaps the biggest factor, though, is sheer quality. The country industry has historically felt demeaned by the rest of the business. The fact that visiting artists are approaching country while they’re hot is viewed positively on Music Row. But the quality, and authenticity, of the work weighs most heavily in the reception it receives.
“If it’s a really, really good song, I hope they play it,” Spalding reasons. “And if it’s not a really good song, if it just has a big name on it — you know, don’t spread the crap.”
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With radio programmers spread across the country, it’s not often that artists have a chance to interact with the programmers and personnel who have aided them in their respective journeys to earning their first country radio hits — at the same time, all in one room. But each year, they do get that chance when radio programmers — along with plenty of label personnel — gather in Nashville for the Country Radio Seminar.
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On Friday (March 1), following three days of radio and streaming-focused panels and label luncheons, the conference concluded by highlighting five highly-promising new artists.
This year’s class featured Records Nashville’s George Birge, Riser House’s Dillon Carmichael, Sony Music Nashville/RCA’s Corey Kent, Sony Music Nashville/Columbia’s Megan Moroney and Valory Music’s Conner Smith.
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The night’s performances were tightly focused, with artists largely running through their familiar breakthrough hits, while also offering glimpses into what lies ahead musically.
First up was Kent. In an introductory video that played on the main screens prior to his performance, Kent began by thanking country radio for “helping us to deliver the biggest axe blow we’ve ever had,” in making his single “Wild as Her” a top 5 Country Airplay hit. “There will be many more to come,” he promised. Taking the New Faces stage, Kent introduced his set with the brooding “Gold.”
“If you know anything about me, you know this. I believe tomorrow isn’t guaranteed and what you do today matters. What we do tonight is take a few risks … you either getting busy living or you’re getting busy dying.”
He then offered his most recent radio single, “Something’s Gonna Kill Me,” a churning, freewheeling song which made great use of his rock-woven, rugged voice. From there, he offered his breakthrough hit “Wild as Her.” He largely stayed close to center stage throughout his set. Not that he needed to roam the stage — his voice, full-bodied and shot through with rock influences, permeated the room.
“Thank y’all so much, country radio!” he told the packed ballroom of radio executives, before offering a preview of a new song, titled “This Heart,” which Kent noted will soon impact country radio.
Next up was Birge, who reached No. 2 on the Country Airplay heart earlier this year with “Mind on You.” Microphone in hand, he stalked the stage as he offered the hard-rock influenced “Hard on the Bottle.” He later gave the audience an early look at new song “Damn Right I Do,” and concluded with “Cowboy Songs.”
“I’ve dreamed about this day for a long, long time and damn it did not disappoint,” he said. “I couldn’t come here and not play the song that you changed my life with,” he added before taking up a guitar to perform “Mind on You.”
“Thank you for believing in me,” he told the audience. “I don’t take for granted for one second that I get to be up here on this stage and it’s because of you guys.”
Before Nashville native Smith took the stage, screens on both sides of the stage showed home videos of Smith as a young child, around five or six years old, performing covers of hits from Kenny Chesney and Montgomery Gentry, followed by footage of Smith earning a standing ovation during his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2022.
Smith, clad in a white shirt and black leather jacket, began his high-octane set with “Smoky Mountains,” the title track from his January-released full-length album.
He noted that he’s attended the New Faces of Country Music Show a few times. “I would always watch and just pray that I would get a chance to be on this stage,” he said, thanking the crowd. “It means so much more than you know.” He then rolled into another song from the album, “Heatin’ Up.”
He also offered up with the tender, fiddle-laced duet “Roulette on the Heart” (though his duet partner on the song, Hailey Whitters, wasn’t in attendance). Still, Smith’s solo rendition connected with the audience just fine, thanks to his warm, smoothing vocals.
Smith also thanked country radio for changing his life by making the revved-up “Creek Will Rise” a hit. “It’s like Luke Bryan says — rain is a good thing,” Smith said before launching into the careening, rock-fueled, slightly bluesy track. ”Long live country radio!” he said, exiting the stage.
Kentucky native Carmichael, who is currently out on tour opening shows for Cody Johnson, launched his set with “Raised Up Wrong.”
“What an opportunity this is. Thank you for giving us a chance,” he said, before launching into his breakthrough hit “Son of A.” “In order to even qualify to be voted for to be a new face, one of those qualifications is you have to have at least a top 25 at country radio, so I want to thank my team for continuing to push this song we are about to play … and for country radio all of you who kept playing it … it means so much.”
He concluded with another uptempo track, one perfect for getting crowds to lift up their cups and enjoy some levity, with his current top 40 Country Airplay hit, “Drinkin’ Problems.”
The evening included a special moment to remember the life and career of the late country star Toby Keith, who died last month at age 62 following a battle with stomach cancer.
“He lived life fully, right to the end,” CRS Board of Directors president Kurt Johnson said, noting that Keith had planned to perform during Country Radio Seminar this year. CRB/CRS executive director RJ Curtis noted that 30 years ago that night, Keith made his New Faces Show debut in 1994. Then screens on either side of the main stage showed clips from Keith’s CRS New Faces of Country Music Show debut, including a performance of “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and a short interview clip of Keith from his New Faces debut.
The lone woman on this year’s New Faces bill, Moroney closed out the lineup that evening. She is also one of the most-celebrated newcomers, thanks to her breakthrough hit, “Tennessee Orange,” and her debut album, Lucky.
“Anybody feel lucky?” she asked as she took the stage, clad in one of her signature sparkly, brightly-colored dresses to perform the title track to her album Lucky, as images of horseshoes, four-leaf clovers and boots crisscrossed the screen behind her.
Moroney’s star power was undeniable from the first song. From there she sailed through southernism-tinged kiss-off “I’m Not Pretty” and new release “No Caller ID” (which debuted at No. 13 on the Hot Country Songs chart earlier this year), led by her warm-hued voice, which cracked in all the right places, letting the emotional nuances of each song seep through.
“I have a lot of new music coming out this year that I’m excited for you to hear,” she teased, later adding, “Thank you for your support of me and my songs. I love writing songs. I love to do this and I get to do this because of you,” she said. In a departure from earlier performers on the bill, Moroney’s set offered its share of ballads, including the introspective song from Lucky “Girl in the Mirror.” Moroney closed with a faithful live rendering of her hit “Tennessee Orange.”
Since its inception in 1970, the New Faces of Country Music Show has put some of country music’s brightest new talents in the spotlight, with the members of the Class of 2024 joining the list of past New Faces performers including Tim McGraw, George Strait, Taylor Swift, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert and Jelly Roll.
Though Beyoncé wasn’t in attendance, the singer-songwriter (and her chart-topping hit “Texas Hold ‘Em”) has been a much-discussed topic during the annual Country Radio Seminar being held this week in downtown Nashville.
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Queen Bey recently made history when “Texas Hold ‘Em” debuted atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart; the song went on to top the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. In its second week on the Country Airplay chart, “Texas Hold ‘Em” rose from its No. 54 debut to No. 34.
During an early-morning panel on Friday (March 1) titled “Diversi-’Tea’: Spilling the Data on Inclusive Programming,” panelist Travis Moon, the current director of operations for Radio One Houston and the program director of KKBQ, spoke of being early adopter in playing “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
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“I saw the song come out and was waiting for the edit that we could play,” he said. “I could have overthought this, but my initial gut said, ‘Let’s go.’ A lot of times, we wait to see who moves first; safety in numbers. I didn’t care.” He went on to add, “If the listener turned on the station in the middle of that song, it sounds like something we would play.”
Moon didn’t see playing the song — and adding it during the day — as a huge risk. “I’ve been doing country radio for 32 years, we’ve played hundreds of stiffs during the day that we never play anymore. I don’t know how it will do in the research world, but it sounds great on the radio.” He also noted that during a recent event the station held, they played “Texas Hold ‘Em,” and “the dancefloor was full.”
“First of all, Beyoncé is part of a huge conversation, and you can’t ignore a song she puts out regardless of what genre you work in,” said fellow panelist Jess Wright, has served as the country format captain and host at LiveOne/Slacker Radio since 2016. Wright noted that in their metrics, they are seeing “Texas Hold ‘Em” “has the highest-banned score of any song on stations it is played on. It also has the highest heart score. We expected this because you will always have your traditionalists. There are people who won’t want to hear it.” She noted that listener reactions to “Texas Hold ‘Em” are very similar to those they saw with the 2019 Lil Nas X/Billy Ray Cyrus smash hit “Old Town Road.” “It was the most-panned and the most-hearted,” Wright said.
On the Country Airplay chart dated March 2, “Texas Hold ‘Em” was among the songs with the most increased audience and most increased plays. But it remains to be seen what will ultimately happen with the song at country radio. During a panel discussing “Debunking Industry Myths,” Gator Harrison, Senior VP of Programming for iHeartMedia’s Nashville Market, said, “I played [the Beyoncé track] as soon as I got it, we’re exposing it and once we’ve exposed it enough, we’re going to go to research and ask, ‘What do you guys think? Do you like this?’ We still have to have that local conversation through research with our audience.”
“Whether it’s a song that stays long-term, it does feel a little bit of a novelty, but it sounds good so right now we are sticking with it,” Wright said.
Earlier in the week, “Texas Hold ‘Em” was also part of the conversation in another diversity-focused panel, which featured BBR Music Group leader/president Frontline Recordings, North America Jon Loba, as well as singer-songwriters Frank Ray and Lily Rose, as well as consultant Jaye Albright, and moderated by the Country Music Association’s Senior Director, Industry Relations & Inclusion Mia McNeal.
Loba addressed some of the criticism that has swirled around the song being part of the country music format.
“To the Beyoncé point, I absolutely understand wanting to be protective with the format, and the young artists put in so much work and so much effort for that one shot,” Loba said. “So I do understand the thought of this taking a slot maybe of somebody who’s been here… and wanted to do it all their life. But I think that there is a balance. Maybe [country radio] won’t play every Beyoncé record, but right now one of the biggest icons in music is saying, ‘This genre is cool, this genre matters,’ and we should at least, in this moment, embrace that. Everybody wants to be here. Come to our house. We’re the coolest house on the block.”
Loba also offered a potent reminder regarding backlash surrounding the song, saying, “I also think the gatekeepers need to understand the loudest voice is not always the majority.”
“I’m not surprised by the way this industry has embraced this album,” McNeal said. “I think by and large, most people have enjoyed it. And if some people don’t, they don’t. And it’s OK. It’s art, and it’s something to be consumed and judged.”
On the same panel, Ray, who broke through with his Latin music-tinged song “Streetlights,” praised the lift that the song is giving to other Black women country artists on streaming and socials. “She’s elevating these other Black female artists that have been doing it for such a long time, like Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts and Tanner Adell — if we can do that with a Mexican artist, that’d be awesome.”
“That song is countrier than 33% of stuff that is on country radio right now… she just wrote a country song and it’s great, and it’s a tide lifting all boats,” Rose added.
Fellow “Spilling the Diversi’TEA’” panelist Jada Watson, an assistant professor of Digital Humanities in the School of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa (and the principal investigator on the SongData project), noted that since the release of “Texas Hold ‘Em,” there have been increased numbers of consumption and engagement on DSPs and social media platforms for Black country artists — including Rissi Palmer, Tanner Adell and Reyna Roberts — but that largely hasn’t translated to radio support.
“I’m not seeing it yet on radio, but I recognize this is week three,” Watson said. She also spoke of concerns as to whether this will mark lasting support for other Black women country artists: “That is where my concerns lie now — how and when will this translate into support for the Black women who have been pursuing country music?”
The comments from the panels came as part of an ongoing wider conversation about increasing diversity on country radio, and opening doors to include and elevate more women artists and artists from Black, Latino and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Moon advocated for radio taking more chances and looking beyond what research testing might show, pointing out as an example the success of Gabby Barrett’s 2020 hit “I Hope,” saying the song “had some high negative [scores] and huge high passion [scores]. I ignored the negatives and it ended up being a big hit. A lasting hit.”
“The reality is when you are testing music, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Moon said. “If we have less female artists in our music tests, when people are taking the test, it does hit them as a little more novelty. They’re unaccustomed to hearing a lot [of female voices on radio], so you’ll have higher negatives as a result. I have in the past ignored the negatives on female artists, and I look specifically at the love score,” he said, later adding, “That doesn’t mean I’m going to put it power, but that doesn’t mean I’m going drop a song. There’s certain context. I look at artists and I don’t [do] just one size fits all the negative scores. So that’s one rule I’m willing to break, [in order to] try to find, unlock that passion.”
Rose, who was named outstanding breakthrough artist at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards, said, “I think with fans, you just have to give them patience. They just want to be moved. They just want to hear a good song.”
“We don’t give the audience enough credit,” Loba said. “At the end of the day, people want to hear great music. We as the labels just need to offer that up and gatekeepers do, too.”
Loba’s sentiment was echoed by during the Friday morning panel, with Wright telling attendees, “We need to play good songs and find great music wherever we can find them.”
Watson also noted the benefit of increasing the diversity of artists and sounds found in country music in reaching members of the vast country music audience, saying, “The audience of country music is far more diverse in every way than we even know. I think the exciting thing about this moment is that we have the tools to actually discover who that audience not just is now, but who they always been. And I think that once we start to know who that audience is, we’re going to start to see changes that reflect a greater diversity within the industry as well.”
Country Radio Broadcasters (CRB) has revealed the 2024 slate of Country Radio Hall of Fame inductees in on-air personality and off-air categories.
This year’s on-air category honorees are Cody Alan (SiriusXM The Highway), as well as Pat Still and Tom Malley (Pat & Tom) of KNCI/Sacramento. The radio category inductees are Mike Moore (program director at WKHX/Atlanta), Jim Robertson (retired, former VP/GM at WOGK/Gainesville) and Meg Stevens (senior vp of programming at WUBL/Atlanta).
The CRB’s Country Radio Hall of Fame committee chairman Joel Raab said in a statement, “On behalf of the selection committee, congratulations to the well-deserving Country Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2024. These professionals stand out in so many ways and are a great example of distinguished broadcasters who have positively affected the lives of so many in the Country Radio and Music community.”
The Country Radio Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the radio industry over a two-decade period, 15 of whom must be in the country format.
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Alan’s career has included time at KPLX/Dallas, WWKA/Orlando and WCOS/Columbia, S.C. He has also held positions at CMT and CBS-TV. He’s been honored by the Country Music Association (national daily on-air personality of the year in 2021) and Academy of Country Music (national on-air personality of the year in 2013). He has also earned the GLAAD Leadership Award (2020) and the vision award from the Human Rights Campaign (2022), among other accolades.
Still and Malley have been heard on Sacramento County airwaves since 1992. In 2020, KCNI won the Country Music Association’s large market station of the year.
Moore, the program director at Cumulus WKHX in Atlanta, previously worked from 2003-2019 at KWJJ in Portland, steering the station to earning a 2010 Country Music Association major market station of the year honor. He was named director of country programming for Entercom in 2006. His career path also includes time at WSIX/Nashville, WWKA/Orlando and WWYZ/Hartford. He has additionally served on boards for the CRB and the Country Music Association.
Robertson served as operations manager at KIKK/Houston from 1986-1993 (during that time, he was named the CMA’s large market program director of the year in 1987 and 1988) and later worked for 25 years at vp/GM at WOGK/Gainesville/Ocala. Under his guidance, WOGK was named CMA station of the year. Robertson retired from full-time radio in 2019.
Stevens launched her country radio career at WBBS/Syracuse and, over the course of seven years, rose from music director to program director. A six-year tenure at WGAR/Cleveland followed, along with time at WMZQ in Washington, D.C. and WPOC in Baltimore. In 2017, Stevens took the reins at WKKT/Charlotte, rising to senior vp of programming for the iHeartMedia Charlotte cluster. Stevens was named a Billboard Country Power Player in 2020.
The Country Radio Hall of Fame Induction and Dinner will be held Jun. 19 at the Virgin Hotel Nashville.
Cumulus Media vp of country Charlie Cook is set to leave the company, with his last day being May 31, Billboard has confirmed. Cook also serves as operations manager for Cumulus’ Nashville cluster and program director for Nashville country stations WKDF and WSM-FM Nashville. Cook’s most recent contract renewal was in 2022.
Country Aircheck first reported the news of Cook’s upcoming departure, noting that Cook told vp/market manager Allison Warren, chief content officer Brian Philips and senior vp of programming operations John Dimick in April 2023 of his desire to pursue new challenges. Cook stated, “They asked me to give them a year. Well, here we are almost a year later and it’s time for me to move away from an experience that I have loved for something new and different. Thanking everyone inside Cumulus and in Nashville would fill these pages so I look forward to personally thanking everyone over the next few months.”
Philips said in a statement, “Charlie Cook’s accomplishments and awards are the stuff of Nashville legend. He is of course, in character, irreplaceable. I foresee a future where we will always rely on his wise counsel. He represents the gold standard among Cumulus employees. We are deeply grateful for his immeasurable contributions.”
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Warren added, “Charlie has been a vital part of the Cumulus and specifically WKDF/WSM-FM family for the past nine years. He has helped shape and drive the format of both 103.3 Country and 99.5 Nash Icon, bringing joy and entertainment to countless listeners. He is not only a talented professional, but also a loyal friend and a passionate music lover. We cannot thank him enough for his years of service, dedication, and creativity. We wish him the very best in whatever adventures are ahead. He will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.”
Cook launched his radio career at Michigan stations in the 1970s, followed by roles at stations in Denver, L.A. and New York. He received Billboard‘s country DJ of the year honor in 1977. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, heserved in roles at McVay Media and Westwood One.
Cook was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2011 before joining Cumulus in 2014. Last year, he was honored with the Academy of Country Music’s service award, alongside Bill Mayne; Cook is the Academy of Country Music’s longest-serving board member.
Cumulus Media has launched a search for Cook’s successor, having posted a job opening for a music & brand content manager.
Unless your name is Lainey Wilson, it can be pretty rough going as a woman in country music, especially at radio. That, of course, has been the case for the last several years, but the plight for women artists has not significantly improved despite multiple conversations, advocacy programs that promote women like CMT’s Next Women of Country and a considerable amount of handwringing about the situation over the past decade.
When the talented and extremely hard-working Wilson won entertainer of the year at November’s Country Music Association Awards, it was the first time a woman had taken home the trophy since Taylor Swift in 2011. Wilson and Swift, who also won in 2009, are the only women to have won the award in the last two decades.
Wilson holds another distinction. For the last five weeks, she has been the only woman in the top 20 of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, but she’s not there for her own song — she’s listed as a featured artist on Jelly Roll’s “Save Me.” She is also the only woman to take songs to No. 1 on the chart as an unaccompanied solo artist in the last two years, with “Things a Man Oughta Know” in 2021 and this year’s “Watermelon Moonshine.”
In addition to Wilson, whose “Heart Like a Truck” rose to No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart this year, the only women to enter the Top 10 of the tally with solo hits in 2023 were Carly Pearce (“What He Didn’t Do,” No. 2), Megan Moroney (“Tennessee Orange,” No. 4) and Gabby Barrett (“Pick Me Up,” No. 6).
A 2019 study helmed by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that just 16% of artists were female across the top 500 country songs from 2014-2018. In a 2023 survey of 29 country radio stations in top markets conducted by Jan Diehm of The Pudding and Dr. Jada Watson, songs from women were played back-to-back an average of just 0.5% of the time in 2022. Numbers are even bleaker for artists of color. A 2021 SongData study by Watson titled “Redlining in Country Music” found BIPOC artists earned only 2.3% of country radio airplay over the past 19 years, with BIPOC women earning less than 3% of that small percentage.
“I’m in an industry that is trying so hard to not change,” says country singer Brittney Spencer, who is Black. “I’m so excited about putting out my new album, but when I look at the landscape of this industry, it kind of pulls some of that excitement away a little bit.”
It’s no wonder that a number of women artists are rethinking their role in the country music industry.
Maren Morris has been the highest profile act to distance herself. In October, the singer-songwriter switched from longtime label home Sony Music Nashville to the label’s pop counterpart and told the New York Times, “I felt like I don’t want to say goodbye, but I really cannot participate in the really toxic arms of this institution anymore.”
She’s hardly the only one. In December 2022, Cassadee Pope, whose “Think of You” with Chris Young reached No. 1 on Country Airplay in 2016, said she was “moving away from the country space” and returning to her pop-rock roots. By the time Kalie Shorr — known for her 2016 country hit “Fight Like a Girl” and a member of weekly writers round Song Suffragettes — posted in September on X, “Hey Nashville, have you noticed how many women have left country music? Even some of the most successful ones? Is that enough for you to change?,” she had already decamped from Nashville for Los Angeles.
Then last month, Black female country trio and America’s Got Talent finalist Chapel Hart, whose song “You Can Have Him, Jolene” earned love from Dolly Parton, posted a video on social media, saying while they will continue making country music, they “are no longer competing in the industry” after a wake-up call while attending the CMA Awards.
“Every single [executive] knew who Chapel Hart was,” said Chapel Hart member Danica Hart in the video. “Exciting news for us, but also sad news, because for us that means everyone knows who we are and we still don’t have a record deal, we still don’t have a publishing deal, we still don’t have sponsorships. We’re so busy trying to keep up in an industry who isn’t even acknowledging us.”
Yet despite tremendous obstacles, women artists and industry executives are finding creative solutions to keep new female voices in the forefront.
In late 2014, industry leaders Beverly Keel, Leslie Fram and Tracy Gershon formed Change the Conversation to address gender inequality in country music. Nearly 10 years later, Gershon says, “I do see improvement in signings [to labels], but no improvement for women in radio play. I am hopeful as I see some of the majors not banking on radio as the only way to break artists.”
Labels tell Billboard they aren’t slowing in signing women artists, they are just trying to be smarter about ways to grow their audiences. “Statistics tell us that not much has changed for the success rate of females in country, even though we’ve stopped talking about it quite as much,” says Katie McCartney, GM of Sony-distributed Monument Records. As Gershon suggests, Monument continues to be bullish on women artists: half its roster is female.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to stop signing females,” McCartney says. But she does think labels have to think differently about how to break women.
Instead of taking “Shoot Tequila,” the first single from new sister duo Tigirlily Gold, to radio in isolation, Monument broadened its promotional reach. “What we have decided is that our [radio promotion] regionals can’t go into a market and just visit radio, they have to go into a market and make contacts with the sports teams, brand folks, chambers of commerce, the tourism boards,” McCartney says. “There are charity aspects that we have drilled into in each of these markets. We started with the top 20 markets and sort of build out from there and Tigirlily was the first pass we took with this new approach.” “Shoot Tequila” reached No. 47 on the Country Airplay chart.
While this method is used for all artists on the roster now regardless of gender, McCartney says, “We definitely talked about how much better this would set [Tigirlily] up for success.”
Additionally, instead of doing a traditional radio tour, Lee Jeans sponsored Tigirlily’s concert tour in the top 20 markets that also tied in with the duo visiting hospitals through Musicians on Call and singing the National Anthem at sporting events. Because Tigirlily had built up a considerable social media following even before they were signed, fans were invited to text a community number to find out the show location. All the steps “elevated their profile to a degree that we would not have been able to do without all of these things firing at once,” McCartney says.
Spencer has also tried to build her following by getting close up with her audience. Stagecoach, which Spencer is playing in 2024, sponsored her Heaux Down party at a Los Angeles club in November, which featured line dancing and a sneak listen to her Elektra album coming in January. “I just want to get directly with fans,” she says. “I don’t need to throw a song in your face. I’d rather just party and walk around with a tray of drinks and talk to people and hear their stories.”
Spencer, who also held a Heaux Down in New York, says more such intimate events are planned based on where her fans are. “There are so many cool analytics that lets you know where people are listening to you. I know my top five cities where people listen to my music.”
Monument artist Pillbox Patti, who is known for her outsized personality, has also looked to the road instead of radio, touring with Jelly Roll, Koe Wetzel and Old Crow Medicine Show. “They’re really understanding her and she’s sort of going in with the group of people that she fits with, and that consumer really responds well to that authenticity,” McCartney says.
Similarly flamboyant act Hannah Dasher also got creative in putting herself in front of fans. Even before she parted ways with Sony Music Nashville this year, she would “crash” tailgate parties prior to concerts by Eric Church, Brothers Osborne and Jon Pardi to perform for fans who had gathered for their shows.
“One of my fans donated a flatbed F-350 truck and I drove that to concerts and played in the parking lots,” Dasher says.
Joining tours outside of the country genre has also been a successful strategy for women artists in building audiences. A few years ago, Morris opened for Niall Horan, Kacey Musgraves opened for Harry Styles and Cam opened for Sam Smith. More recently, Kelsea Ballerini played with the Jonas Brothers and Ingrid Andress played with Stevie Nicks. Spencer shared bills or sat in with Bruce Springsteen, Megan Thee Stallion, Lauryn Hill and Bob Weir. “I’ve gotten exposure in these different places and it’s a very vast audience,” Spencer says.
In another example of this strategy, CAA agent Sabrina Butera placed Lauren Alaina on the Pentatonix tour this year. “Normally people might not pair them together, but it was one of those conversations we were having about [both having] fanbases that started from television,” she says. (Big Loud artist Alaina appeared on American Idol and Pentatonix appeared on The Sing-Off.) “She had them in the palm of her hand by the end of the set. I could tell from comments on her socials and from the people that were in the Pentatonix audience that she was gaining new fans. We really try to think outside the box for things like that to keep the artists excited.”
Social media has also played a vital role in building audiences. Beyond promoting her music, Dasher’s Stand By Your Pan cooking series on TikTok has helped bolster her followers on the platform to over 1.5 million.
“I couldn’t play shows [during COVID], so I made social media my stage,” says Dasher. “I’ve always loved cooking and I thought, ‘Well, there are a lot of women my age and younger that don’t know how to cook and now everyone is sheltered at home, so I decided to make cooking videos and include music to promote my music and other music that I love.”
Dasher, who self-released the 7-song The Other Damn Half in October, teamed with online influencer Cornbread Cowboi on multiple video clips, including “Redneck Ass,” a fan-favorite that they cross-promoted across both of their social platforms.
“A lot of artists lean heavily into their social media,” Butera says, adding that Alaina’s “TikTok growth has been 69%, which is fabulous. She’s leaning into viral moments, partnering with other artists, especially on ‘Thicc as Thieves’ with Lainey Wilson.”
Branding deals are also propelling women artists as companies look to work with more country artists. Recently, Alaina teamed with Barstool Sports Academy, Maddie & Tae aligned with Chevy, Ballerini and Wilson partnered with Sonic and Priscilla Block worked on a summer capsule collection with Shein.
“The fanbase for country music has expanded quite a bit, which is opening up brands [to country],” Butera says. “Brands are noticing that our artists go above and beyond to perform for the brands. Sometimes we start with a very small partnership with these brands, maybe a teaser just to really build those relationships, and a lot of them end up turning into a long-term partnership, which is a really great goal to have.”
For Dasher, radio play may not be part of her path. “I’ve never been on a radio tour in my life. I don’t know that radio is going to be the route for me,” she says. “I would welcome that, but I’ve had to rely on other outlets to put my music out there. But I think my TikTok and Instagram following is proof that what I do is working.”
McCartney says there are also no plans to take Pillbox Patti to radio. “She’s not palatable to mainstream country radio,” she says. “She’s very relatable and very real, but I don’t know that a 45-year-old mom would be okay with their children hearing a lot of the things she talks about in her songs.”
With radio not seeming receptive to most women artists regardless of the subject matter, McCartney stresses that females will have to continue finding their own way. It’s a notion Gershon agrees with, advising women to “find your unique voice and vision. Don’t depend on country radio and [know] women still have to work harder.”
Longtime Nashville music and radio industry executive and former Country Radio Broadcasters/Country Radio Seminar executive director Bill Mayne died on Tuesday (Nov. 28) at age 72 following a battle with a long-term illness.
Mayne’s career spanned nearly five decades. He began performing in a band before transitioning into radio, with his career including on-air and programming roles at various radio formats including top 40, rock and country. His radio career began in 1970 in an on-air role at KRLY in Houston; he would go on to serve in roles at KASE in Austin, KZLA/KLAC in Los Angeles and KSCS/WBAP in Dallas.
Mayne then spent 15 years at Warner Bros./Nashville, where he held a variety of roles, rising through the ranks from a regional role to senior vp/GM and vp of promotion. He was also a member of the Country Radio Broadcasters board, eventually becoming board vp before taking on the role of executive director at Country Radio Broadcaster in 2010 — a role he held until his retirement in 2019.
Current Country Radio Broadcasters/Country Radio Seminar (CRB/CRS) executive director RJ Curtis said in a statement, “The passing of Bill Mayne marks a profound loss for the entire country music community. Bill was a true giant in every sense of the word. His fifty years of passionate work positively impacted everyone he met, in nearly every segment of our business, through his time in radio, the music industry, artist management, entrepreneurialism, and, of course, his decade of leadership as Executive Director for CRB. Bill Mayne navigated the organization through a period of great adversity, ultimately reestablishing CRS as the premier industry event that it is today.”
In 2019, Mayne received CRB/CRS’ President’s Award in recognition of the significant contributions he made to the radio industry.
Mayne also founded Mayne Entertainment, an artist management company, and Mayne Street Consulting, a private entertainment consulting firm that offered insight and guidance to clients in the entertainment field.
“Bill had great passion for Country Music going back to his days in radio,” Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern said in a statement. “I first worked with him in 1996 on a TV special when he was with Warner Bros. Nashville. I was struck by his enthusiasm for the format and ability to get things done. Years later, we were both officers of the ACMs, where his great knowledge of board governance and organization was a huge asset to our leadership team. Most recently, we got to work together when he joined the CMA Board of Directors, where he served from 2016 to 2018. My deepest condolences to Sallie and his sons.”
Beyond his professional accolades, Mayne previously served as a board member of the Country Music Association and spent over 35 years on the Academy of Country Music board of directors, including roles as chairman and chairman of the board at the ACM’s charitable arm, Lifting Lives. He also co-founded the St. Jude Country Cares for Kids Program, an initiative that has raised over $700 million for St. Jude since its inception in 1989. Additionally, he held the role of national vp for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and was a member of the Nashville non-profit Leadership Music as well as the mayor’s Nashville Music Council.
“On behalf of our membership and Board of Directors of the Academy and ACM Lifting Lives, I am deeply saddened by the loss today of Bill Mayne, a true giant of the country music industry, an invaluable champion of the Academy of Country Music, and one of our longest serving board members,” said Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside in a statement.
“Bill dedicated more than 35 years of service to the ACM Board, including serving as the Chairman for both the Academy and ACM Lifting Lives,” Whiteside continued. “I am comforted that we were able to celebrate his phenomenal legacy this summer by presenting him with our ACM Service Award at the 16th ACM Honors. Bill had a huge heart, as evidenced by his incredible philanthropic work, including his service to ACM Lifting Lives. His impact, passion, and devotion to the Country Music industry and community will live on forever. On behalf of all of us at the ACM, we send our love and prayers to his family, friends, and all who have been lucky enough to work with and know him.”
Mayne is survived by his wife of 46 years, Sallie Mayne; sons Bryant Mayne and Christopher Mayne; his grandchild, Everleigh Mayne; and mother-in-law Helen Wood. Plans for a public service honoring Mayne’s life have yet to be announced.
On Aug. 14, days after Oliver Anthony performed before thousands at the Morris Farm Market in Currituck County, N.C., Mike “Moose” Smith did something he hadn’t done in 40 years. The program director for 97.3 The Eagle, in nearby Norfolk, Va., aired the unknown singer-songwriter’s viral smash — “Rich Men North of Richmond” — once every hour. “That was called the Special Oliver Anthony Rotation,” Smith says. “My general manager called on Sunday and said, ‘What do you know about this guy?’ My music director was on vacation. I hand-scheduled it.”
“Rich Men,” a twangy country-folk song recorded on a single microphone somewhere on Anthony’s land in Farmville, Va., rails against high taxes and “the obese milkin’ welfare” and has become a conservative anthem, championed by Joe Rogan, Breitbart and country star John Rich. In the week of Aug. 17, it streamed 17.5 million times and sold 147,000 downloads, according to Luminate. Based on downloads and streaming alone, the song debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s all-genre Hot 100 chart. Some country radio stations have picked “Rich Men,” giving it 553,000 airplay audience impressions despite zero promotion the week of Aug. 17. From Aug. 18 to Aug. 21. If the radio-playlist trend continues, the track should make its debut on Billboard’s Sept. 2 Country Airplay chart.
Few radio stations, including 97.3 The Eagle, add new artists to their playlists — especially those with no label promoting it– but listeners were calling in to request Oliver’s track. “It makes it hard to ignore,” Smith says. “If our audience wants it, it’s our job to give it to them.”
Not every station has succumbed to the viral hype. The song has a rickety feel — not exactly a seamless transition from the slick Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs hits atop Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. And “Rich Men” has been politically divisive, with progressive pundits decrying its conservative populism. Bruce Logan, operations manager for Hubbard Radio in West Palm Beach, Fla., hasn’t added it to his stations’ playlists. “We are talking about how we should approach it. It’s unusual,” he says. “In theme, it is certainly working man/woman blue-collar, which the format has a long history with. Sonically, it is closer to bluegrass than mainstream country.”
In San Jose, Calif., streaming-only country station KRTY hasn’t picked it up, either, because the track is unfamiliar and Anthony has no experience as a recording or touring artist. The station seldom jumps on hyped-up hits from American Idol or The Voice, according to GM Nate Deaton, its general manager.
“From a radio standpoint, that kind of thing is not really what we do best. I’ve never been big on the following-the-trend thing,” Deaton says. “We’ve always played songs we’ve believed in, too, and I’m not necessarily sure I believe in this song. I’m not necessarily sure it’s better than what I’m playing. Whose place do I take in the playlist?”
But some stations, big and small, have been comfortable with Anthony’s organic, do-it-yourself stardom, adding “Rich Men” to playlists within weeks of its release. Several stations owned by radio chain Audacy, including KMLE Country 107.9 in Phoenix and 100.7 The Wolf in Seattle, have given the track more than 25 spins apiece since it first aired Aug. 14. Stations owned by iHeartMedia and Cumulus have jumped on it less frequently, according to Mediabase. (An Audacy rep declined comment; iHeart’s rep did not respond to a request.)
Although he did not respond to follow-up questions about adding the song to stations’ playlists, Charlie Cook, vp country for broadcast chain Cumulus, said in a statement: “Americans are looking for answers to problems they encounter every day. While this song doesn’t offer solutions to those problems, it does verbalize the issues and has given listeners an opportunity to hear about their frustrations in a collective situation. Most of them can say, yeah, that’s how I feel, and they become part of a bigger movement to help them have a voice.” Just a few Cumulus stations have added “Rich Men,” beginning with New Country 101.Five in Atlanta, which spun it six times from Aug. 18 to Aug. 21.
In Santa Maria, Calif., Sunny 102.5 quickly added “Rich Men” on a “light” rotation of 20 spins per week — shortly after airing Jason Aldean‘s just-as-hyped-and-divisive track “Try That In a Small Town” (and, in the early 2000s, music by The Chicks after right-wing listeners burned the country trio’s CDs for criticizing President Bush and the Iraq War).
“If you don’t play it, you’re censoring the airwaves, I say,” says Jay Turner, program director for the station owned by smaller California-and-Southwest chain American General Media. “We’ve gotten very little, if any, pushback on either Jason Aldean or ‘Rich Men.’ None at all. I can’t see anybody pushing back on ‘Rich Men,’ because it’s real. It’s $5.25 to buy gas in Santa Barbara.
“My guess is it’s going to flash fast and it’s going to end fast. Stations aren’t going to be playing it forever. It’s not going to be in malls,” Turner continues. “It just sounds like hillbilly hick stuff. You put it up against a Maren Morris record, or a pop record, it sounds like you’ve gone back 30 years in time. But it’s a freaking great song. He’s pouring his heart out.”
Kane Brown released “Heaven,” a love-drunk single that practically radiates romantic bliss, in the fall of 2017. The following May, the track topped Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and climbed to No. 15 on the Hot 100. Despite this success, “we never tried to cross it over” to pop radio, says Martha Earls, who manages Brown. “In what world would you have an almost Diamond-certified single that you didn’t try to take over to pop? It was a different time. Back then, that opportunity just was not there.”
Today, Earls says, conditions are different — she “absolutely would” have promoted “Heaven” to the Top 40 format. “Let’s take it to pop [radio] tomorrow!” she jokes.
This summer, country singles are finally starting to fare better on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart: Morgan Wallen‘s “Last Night” is at No. 5 on the latest ranking, while Luke Combs‘ “Fast Car” hit No. 20. (They also sit at No. 1 and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.) “Most Top 40 programmers are protective of pop music sounds,” says Steven Shannon, music director at KZFN in Moscow, Idaho. “It’s unusual to have two country songs out at the same time that are in the Top 20.”
With that in mind, “it’s nice to see more people being open to our format,” adds Chris Kappy, who manages Luke Combs. “I appreciate the fact that people can look at country music just like they look at any other genre.”
In the past, pop radio has flirted with country periodically but never really embraced the genre, suggesting that the success of Wallen and Combs could be another temporary blip. (Pop radio’s arms-length approach to country is part of the reason why, before this year, the last track to top both Country Airplay and the Hot 100 was Lonestar‘s “Amazed” in 2000.) “I guarantee that most Top 40 programmers are resistant” to adding country to their playlists, Shannon says. Sure enough, one pop PD tells Billboard, “I’d rather be playing hip-hop.”
As a result, country executives say they still only consider attempting a pop radio campaign in special cases. But shifts in the music landscape could point to a bigger role for country in the pop airplay mix moving forward. The genre’s audience is surging — country’s consumption has increased by a whopping 20.3% year-over-year in the first 26 weeks of 2023, according to Luminate, making its popularity tough to overlook. (By contrast, pop is up by 7.6%.)
Country singles get to shine on pop radio roughly once a decade, according to Guy Zapoleon, a veteran radio consultant. He is known in radio circles for his “10-year music cycle” theory, which divides pop airplay into three distinct periods: the birth phase, the extremes phase, and the doldrums phase. Terrestrial radio is currently very much in the doldrums — “the worst doldrums of all times,” Zapoleon declares — and during these periods, it’s customary for Top 40 programmers to cast around for hits elsewhere, roping in singles from country or the format known as “adult contemporary.”
In the past, Zapoleon says, this has led to increased airplay for country at Top 40 for periods lasting two to three years. In 1963, Johnny Cash, Skeeter Davis, and Bobby Bare were beneficiaries of this trend; in 1974, programmers embraced Glen Campbell, Charlie Rich, and Mac Davis; in the early 1980s, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Eddie Rabbitt were added on to Top 40 playlists, boosted in part in the wake of the success of John Travolta’s 1980 film Urban Cowboy.
This context suggests that Wallen and Combs may be helping Top 40 through a rough patch, but that the dalliance won’t last. “If history is an indication, I think maybe this [playing more country at Top 40] might be just a trend,” says Matt Mony, program director for WYOY in Jackson, Mississippi. “It’s sort of like what we saw with all the sample-songs that we were playing” — think Bebe Rexha and David Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue)” — “that’s starting to lighten up a bit.”
Country artists seeking Top 40 airplay don’t just have to win over pop programmers, they also have to worry about country programmers’ possessiveness. “In the past, there was a sense that if an artist crossed over from country they were leaving the format,” Earls acknowledges. With Brown, “we almost created two careers,” she adds. “We would have a song go to Top 40” — including collaborations with Marshmello, blackbear, and Swae Lee — but also “make sure that we released music to super-serve the country fans too.”
Adrian Michaels, vp of innovation, radio, and streaming at BMG’s Stoney Creek Records, has been on an impressive streak with Jelly Roll, a 38-year-old who spent time in prison for dealing drugs, got out and built a budding rap career, and then turned into a country breakout. Jelly Roll is now starting to receive some pop airplay after enjoying success at both country and rock radio. “It definitely bruises some [programing] people when they see” artists move to other formats, Michaels says. “I get yelled at a lot. But the audience has a much bigger voice than a gatekeeper saying, ‘this belongs on this station only, because we’re the ones who broke them.’”
And that voice has gotten a lot louder lately. The runaway success of “Last Night” and “Fast Car” is taking place amidst an eruption of interest in the genre that Wallen and Combs call home. “We’re seeing a global moment for the genre right now, and that is opening up some space at other formats,” explains Stacy Blythe, svp of radio promotion at Wallen’s label, Big Loud.
Those other formats may not be able to continue to look past country if that growth continues. “What I hope happens is that [pop radio programmers] see the numbers coming in on streaming, and if this [country song] is streaming as much as this [pop single], obviously that shows there are people out there listening,” Kappy says. “It’s contemporary hits radio. They should be playing the contemporary hits of the day.”
In addition, terrestrial radio’s role in the music ecosystem has shifted dramatically in the last decade in ways that might make the pop airwaves more hospitable to country. One key difference is that many young listeners have abandoned radio for streaming services and TikTok; a recent survey from the consultancy Jacobs Media Strategy found that the average age of radio listeners is around 55 years old.
This bodes well for the cross-format popularity of country, which the radio industry historically views as a genre favored by more mature listeners. “Another reason country is working so well at Top 40 right now is because we’re dealing more with women 25-plus, and that’s a really good fit for that genre,” Mony says.
And “as the Top 40 format continues to age up, programmers should consider country crossovers,” adds Cat Collins, a radio consultant and former vp of Top 40 and Hot AC for Townsquare Media.
Some radio experts also believe that the pop format has strayed from its roots in the past decade-ish as a platform that elevates all the hits, regardless of their origin. “The theoretical ideal of Top 40 is to play hits from across the spectrum of music, a notion that has largely faded, as most Top 40s have been sticking to a very narrow lane,” says Larry Rosin, president of Edison Research. Recent country singles that did well on pop radio — like Dan + Shay‘s 2021 hit “10,000 Hours” and Gabby Barrett‘s 2020 smash “I Hope,” both of which cracked the top 10 — gained access in part by incorporating Top 40 mainstays (Justin Bieber and Charlie Puth, respectively).
Top 40 stations are going through a brutal period of low ratings; could the “narrow lane” approach be adding to the format’s troubles? For Zapoleon, it’s simply a matter of numbers: Country singles accounted for more than 20% of the year-end Hot 100 in 2022, but around 1% of the year-end Mediabase Top 40 chart. “That’s a lot of country hits Top 40 isn’t playing,” he says. “Hopefully they wake up.”
SiriusXM’s Hits 1 is one of five Top 40 stations already testing “Need a Favor,” a growling, lighters-up power ball from Jelly Roll that has spent multiple weeks atop the rock radio chart and is inside the top five at country radio. “We’re not waiting for campaigns to come in our direction,” says Alex Tear, vp of music programming for SiriusXM and Pandora. Too often, “radio is late to the game.”
His peers may be more receptive to Jelly Roll this year than in years past. “I don’t want to jinx anything, but don’t be surprised if, by the time this comes out, you see [Jelly Roll] really popping up at Top 40,” Michaels says. “It’s a wonderful feeling for us to take somebody from Music Row here and have this much reach.”
