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With Country Radio Seminar just a week away, key showcases are taking shape, with three record labels unveiling their lunchtime performance lineups and CMT announcing a handful of acts appearing at the first evening’s opening reception.
Brad Paisley, making his first CRS appearance since signing with Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN), will play during the label’s annual takeover of the historic Ryman Auditorium. Brantley Gilbert, Vince Gill, Sam Hunt and Cody Johnson are among the major acts officially in the mix during the three-day seminar March 13-15 at the Omni Nashville Hotel.
Newly announced entertainment lineups include:
• Warner Music Nashville sponsors the March 13 lunch that offers Johnson, Chase Matthew and Ian Munsick, with additional acts promised.
• The March 13 happy hour opening event will feature four acts associated with CMT’s Next Women of Country: Julia Cole, Ashley Cooke, Miko Marks and O.N.E the Duo.
• At least 14 acts are appearing at the lunchtime UMGN Ryman gig on March 14: Gill,Hunt,Paisley, Kassi Ashton,Boy Named Banjo,Brothers Osborne,Dalton Dover,Caylee Hammack,Tyler Hubbard,Parker McCollum,Kylie Morgan,Catie Offerman,Josh Ross and Darius Rucker.
• Big Machine Label Group hosts the March 15 lunch that will feature Gilbert, Danielle Bradbery, Mackenzie Carpenter, Riley Green, Chris Janson, Justin Moore, Shane Profitt and Conner Smith.
CRS previously announced the lineup for the closing New Faces Show: Priscilla Block, Jackson Dean, Jelly Roll, Frank Ray and Nate Smith.
SiriusXM told workers on Monday it is letting go of 475 employees, or roughly 8% of the company’s workforce, as it works to reduce expenses and invest in new technology, the company’s CEO said in a memo to staff.
“It is critical for us to take the right steps now to secure the long-term health and profitability of our business,” SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz wrote in an internal memo. “Investments we are making in the business this year, coupled with today’s uncertain economic environment, require us to think differently about how our organization is structured.”
The satellite radio company said it was exploring job cuts last November to deal with how a worsening economic outlook is impacting demand for ads and other areas of its business. The staff reductions announced Monday place SiriusXM alongside Apple, Microsoft, Spotify and Alphabet as companies that have announced layoffs in 2023.
More than 123,000 employees have been let go from technology industry jobs so far in 2023, with most job cuts reported in January, according to Layoffs.fyi, a website that track workforce reductions.
Last month, SiriusXM reported 2022 revenues grew by 4% to $9 billion, but Witz cautioned she expected a “a softer first half (of 2023) in terms of revenue … and subscriber growth” compared to last year.
The job cuts will hit nearly every department in the company, and employees who are being let go will start to receive notice today, Witz said, adding she is grateful for their work.
During Witz’s tenure as CEO, SiriusXM has hired about 1,500 new employees, bringing the company’s total headcount to just under 5,700, according to filings from 2022.
The company is in the process of updating the back-end technology and user-friendliness of its SiriusXM app, which Witz has said will enable the company to introduce new products to the app faster, a key part of the company’s growth strategy.
Sirius has also struggled in recent quarters with a slowdown in Pandora subscriber revenue and higher expenses from investments in podcasting and technology.
Tim McGraw is gearing up to release his release his latest single, “Standing Room Only,” very soon.
McGraw recently teased a surprise for fans on social media, through an Amazon Music playlist titled “Rediscover Tim McGraw,” which featured a blend of the singer’s hits and album cuts. Some fans noticed that the first letter of each song, taken together, spelled out the words “Standing Room Only.”
“Some of you guessed it!,” McGraw said on social media on Wednesday (March 1). “New single ‘Standing Room Only’ coming March 10th. If we get 1,000 pre-saves on this today, I’ll share a little bit of the song with you.”
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The song marks the three-time Grammy winner’s first new music since releasing his most recent album, Here on Earth, in 2020, followed by an ultimate edition of the album the following year. Two songs from Here on Earth, “Thought About You” and “Neon Church,” reached the top 20 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart (Nos. 17 and 20 respectively). To date, McGraw has earned a total of 17 chart-topping projects on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart.
McGraw has several festival appearances on the books in the coming months, including performances at Country Jam USA, Boots & Hearts, Coastal Country Jam, and multiple Country Thunder festivals. He will also join fellow country artist Keith Urban and Lil Nas X as headliners for the 2023 NCAA March Madness Music Festival in Houston’s Discovery Green Park from March 31-April 2.
See McGraw’s announcement for “Standing Room Only” below.
Even as the U.S. advertising market’s slowdown stunted iHeartMedia’s post-pandemic recovery, the company posted record revenue of $3.9 billion in 2022, up 9.9% from 2021, the company announced on Tuesday (Feb. 28).
“The macro economic conditions are certainly impacting the entire advertising marketplace,” CEO Bob Pittman said during Tuesday’s earnings call. “Even the podcasting industry is not immune to some effects of the advertising slowdown.”
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $950.3 million, up 17.2% year over year. That’s the second-best adjusted EBITDA in the company’s history following 2019 when the company hit $1 billion. Annual free cash flow of $259 million was also the second-best in history after reaching $400 million in 2019.
Podcasts, the company’s fast-growing segment, generated revenue of $358.4 million in 2022, up 41.9% from the prior year. The high-growth podcasting business could benefit from what Pittman called “a transition toward more rational behaviors” in spending. Pittman didn’t point to any specific company, but an era of big spending on podcast content deals appears to be over at Spotify, where chief content officer Dawn Ostroff recently left the company and the head of audio talk shows and partnerships, Max Cutler, also departed. “I think there were people who thought they were buying [market] share, but were really buying losses,” he said.
Digital revenue other than podcasts improved 14% to $663.4 million. Broadcast radio, by far iHeartMedia’s biggest revenue source, grew 4.1% to $1.89 billion. Network revenue was flat at $503.2 million. Revenue from sponsorships and events climbed 17.9% to $189 million. Revenue from the audio and media services group jumped 22.7% to $304.3 million.
In the fourth quarter, iHeartMedia’s revenue grew 6% year over year to $1.13 billion, the high end of guidance of 2% to 6%. Adjusted EBITDA was $316 million, in the middle of its guidance range of $305 million to $325 million. Both revenue and adjusted EBITDA hit record highs for any quarter in the company’s history.
Although the company started 2022 strong, “increased volatility and uncertainty” moderated annual results, Pittman said. Some of that slowdown was “self-inflicted,” he admitted. During the fourth quarter, iHeartMedia put greater emphasis on “sales initiatives and commission structures on targeting certain incremental revenue streams,” he explained. “In retrospect, we believe those decisions had a negative impact on our revenue growth and margin for the quarter.”
As a result, iHeartMedia has “initiated steps to realign” its focus on “higher-margin digital revenue opportunities,” said Pittman. “We believe we’ll start seeing the positive impact of those adjustments in both revenue growth and margins as early as Q2.”
CMT/Paramount senior executive Leslie Fram will reunite with Steve Barnes as co-host of the relaunched 99X Atlanta morning show, now known as The Morning X With Barnes and Leslie. The radio broadcast had its original success via Atlanta’s alternative rock station from 1994 until 2003, and will now air from 6-10 a.m. ET each weekday.
Fram will also retain her role at CMT/Paramount.
In 1994, Brian Philips, now chief content officer at parent company Cumulus Media, paired Barnes and Leslie on the original Morning X With Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy (Baron). The show earned acclaim in the Atlanta market and beyond, while the team was named Billboard‘s national major market morning show in 1996, and Radio and Records’ national major market morning show in 1999.
In October 2022, the launch of the 99X “museum” website to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the station’s founding led to an outpouring of fan interest and passion. Cumulus Media acquired the station’s classic call letters and relaunched 99X WNNX in Atlanta in December. The station’s ratings doubled in its first month on the air. Barnes has hosted the revamped program since January.
The popular podcast The Pop Culture Show, which the duo founded at the onset of the pandemic, is now rebranded as The Morning X With Barnes & Leslie and joins the Cumulus Podcast Network. Episodes will release each weekday, featuring both new programming and classic material from the legendary radio show.
“This ‘new original 99X’ was destined to be — it is a passion project, a labor of love. None of us has ever stopped being friends, loving the same music, or laughing at the same jokes,” Philips said via a statement. “The audience demanded the return of the station via a social explosion of affection and nostalgia. Only in Atlanta could the will of the loyal 99X audience make the impossible happen. It’s unprecedented to be able to entirely rebuild a classic station with members of its original cast.”
“99X was my home for 17 years and will forever be in my DNA. Those years prepared me for my current role at CMT – understanding a loyal fanbase of music lovers who truly lead the way,” Fram added via a statement. “You only have to glance at the comments from 99X listeners reminiscing about their favorite music and memories to appreciate the role this radio station played in their lives. The Foo Fighters sang, ‘If everything could ever be this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again’ … and it turns out it can. I am psyched to be working with some of my lifelong friends and colleagues on 99X again and thankful to my Paramount/CMT family for letting me continue to put my rock hat on with Cumulus during my off hours.”
“It’s a thrill to come back ‘home’ to The Morning X and 99X,” added Barnes. “It’s mind blowing that the fans asked for our return to the Atlanta airwaves and Cumulus gave us the chance to put our team back together to rebuild this franchise.”
After Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That” won the Grammy Award for song of the year, her team put out a shorter radio edit of the tear-jerking ballad — and then proceeded to do almost no further radio advertising or promotion.
“I’m afraid the song is not something we feel an aggressive marketing approach fits,” Kathy Kane, Raitt’s manager, says by email. “We didn’t put it forth as a single with a specific [radio] impact date aggressively going for ads. We are simply here to support those interested in the song.”
The lack of a radio strategy around “Just Like That” is distinct from the strategy around the album, which has the same title. A year ago, before Raitt put out the album on her own label, Redwing Records, she attended a Zoom video call with programmers as part of a marketing campaign to extend the rock, pop and blues star’s long history of radio hits. The strategy worked: Just Like That made its debut last May at No. 1 on several Billboard charts, including Top Current Album Sales, and hit No. 6 on Top Rock Albums.
But when “Just Like That” won song of the year, Raitt’s team opted for a low-key promotional effort for the country-leaning ballad about a woman who loses her son and falls in love with the man who received his heart. While the song topped Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales chart and hit No. 6 on Digital Song Sales the week after the Grammys, radio spins increased from just 27 to 41 over the past week.
That said, some influential radio programmers are working to boost the airplay.
“Hopefully, I can be the station that breaks these records so other stations can follow,” says Dan Mathews, program director for Top 40 stations Rhythm 105.9 in Sacramento, Calif., Jamz 99.3 FM in Salina, Kan., and Hitz 90.5 in Edgar, Neb., all of which now air “Just Like That” every two hours. “Our listenership has gone up just playing that record.”
The low-key approach has had sporadic success elsewhere. Dennis Constantine, a longtime adult album alternative programmer, added two or three “Just Like That” spins per day to 92.5 the River in Boston and The Point in Burlington, Vt. (They play the original version, not the shorter radio edit.) “We were playing other tracks off the album, and when that won best song of the year, we started playing it everywhere,” says Constantine, program director for the two stations and a consultant for another in Flagstaff, Ariz. “It makes sense. She’s a legend in our format.”
Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” has resided at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs for six weeks, joining Johnny Cash’s version of “Orange Blossom Special” as the only top 10 country songs to employ the citrus color in their titles.
Meanwhile, Dustin Lynch rides at No. 49 in his third week on Country Airplay with “Stars Like Confetti,” a song that, if it reaches the top 10, would become the first in that tier to reference a blast of party paper in its name.
The country genre has long used wordplay to tell its stories and hook its listeners, but increasingly, the wordplay is less about twisting meanings and more about applying words that one doesn’t normally expect to hear in a three-minute song. Sometimes it’s a reference as silly as the restaurant shoutouts — Applebee’s, Frosty and Oreo shake — in Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like” or as weighty as the term “patriarchy,” which appeared in Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).” Both songs topped Hot Country Songs in the last two years.
“The line was on a key chain,” Swift’s co-writer, Liz Rose, notes of “patriarchy.” “That was very specific.”
Capturing details from the writers’ lives — as both “Fancy Like” and “All Too Well” did — is one of multiple reasons to throw an odd word or phrase into a lyric. Sometimes it happens because it’s dictated by geography: Alan Jackson created a light atmosphere when he rhymed “Chattahoochee,” a river that was previously unknown to large swaths of Americans, with “hoochie koochie”; The Oak Ridge Boys brought a Pennsylvania tributary, the Monongahela, to the national spotlight with their 1988 release “Gonna Take a Lot of River.” And in other instances, the word fulfills a poetic function at the end of a line, as the phrase “happily delusional” does in Old Dominion’s “Memory Lane.”
“We had ‘loving you as usual,’ and you’re just searching for a rhyme,” the band’s Trevor Rosen recalls. “The guy had to throw [“delusional”] out there twice. It’s a weird word. It’s like, ‘I wonder if you could say that?’ And then it was like, ‘Oh, wait, no, that’s actually it.’”
Old Dominion has a history with oddball phrases —“drunk as a skunk eating lunch” appears in “I Was on a Boat That Day,” and it titled a 2015 single “Snapback,” a ball-cap term that wasn’t necessarily known to everyone. But that happens in great part because the band is willing to chase down odd terms, where some other songwriters might balk.
“It depends on the room,” says “Memory Lane” co-writer Jessie Jo Dillon. “People like the Old Dominion guys — I mean, nobody’s scared to do something strange.”
Lynch, on the other hand, experienced an internal debate about “Stars Like Confetti.” He had doubts regarding the song he was about to hear when he first saw the title, and even after the demo hooked him, he still had reservations for a time, fearful that the vocabulary might not suit him.
“I’ve been the one that has questions, if the word ‘confetti’ isn’t masculine enough to do,” Lynch admits. “The circle I have, obviously we scrutinize a lot. We’re very tough on ourselves and try to really pick apart everything we can about a song and make sure we’re looking at all the angles of a song. I kept coming back to, like, ‘Is it cool for a dude that lives to hunt and farm? Do I sing “confetti”?’ I had to do some soul searching and just make sure you’re like, ‘OK, am I going to be cool singing a song the rest of my life if it takes off?’”
Obviously, “Confetti” won out. Others have fared well over the long haul with terminology that seems uncommon in the conservative country world. George Strait calmly considered “transcendental meditation” in his breezy “All My Ex’s Live in Texas,” Faith Hill navigated “centrifugal motion,” “perpetual bliss” and “pivotal moment” in the chorus of “This Kiss,” and Lori McKenna shared a Grammy nomination with Swift this year for “I Bet You Think About Me,” a song that whips out “pedigree,” “upper-crust circles” and “organic shoes” in its narrative.
“We’re so used to listening to things in the background,” McKenna says, noting that unusual vocabulary “really can bring the listener right to ‘Wait, what was that?’ I don’t think it’s meant to be a trick, but I never stop an artist when a word works for them. My job is to stay away from changing their truth.”
Neal McCoy, who sang “no need to psychoanalyze” in the course of the 1994 single “Wink,” was perhaps ahead of his time with the therapist lingo. Chris Young couched the phrase “to hell with the closure” in a key chorus passage in “I’m Comin’ Over,” and Ingrid Andress’ new “Feel Like This” explores “manipulation,” “toxic situations,” “security” and “stability.”
Andress offers those words unapologetically.
“That was sort of intentional,” she says. “I wanted to move the genre forward and to kind of keep up with the rest of society because in most places, I think people in my generation are comfortable talking about the fact that they go to a therapist, but I know that that’s not true for everywhere. I just want to start normalizing that in conversation.”
Although that kind of expression may not feel normal to every act.
“Those are words — like ‘manipulation’ — that only a girl like her can use,” says “Confetti” co-writer Zach Crowell. “I would encourage her to use that stuff. You don’t hear Luke Bryan saying those words. That’s good. It’s honest.”
That’s great confirmation, though Andress doesn’t seem to need it. Something in the orange says she’ll be populating her songs with intelligent phrases as long as she pursues her singer-songwriter role.
“At the end of the day, I’m just writing my story,” she says. “It will come out the way that it feels truest to me. If that’s something that has not been done before in the genre, then I view that as a win. Because I think my goal is to constantly discover new art forms and new ways of saying things. Whether people like it or not, I’m still going to be doing it anyway.”
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SiriusXM reported its full-year 2022 revenue grew by 4% to $9 billion on Thursday, as increased numbers of streaming subscribers helped the company hit its financial targets for the year.
While key metrics like earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were up 2% at $2.8 billion, executives struck a cautious tone on a call with investors, saying they expect softness in the year ahead.
“We broadly anticipate a softer first half (of 2023) in terms of revenue, EBITDA, and subscriber growth as compared to the back half of the year,” SiriusXM chief executive Jennifer Witz said on the call. “We are not issuing subscriber guidance at this time, although we anticipate we’ll see modestly negative self-pay net adds for the year as economic and demand uncertainty persists, auto sales remain soft, and we moderate marketing spend for our streaming service early in the year ahead of planned product improvements late in 2023.”
SiruisXM reported net income of $365 million in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, up from $318 million the year prior. EBITDA for the quarter rose 10% to $742 million. The company reported 348,000 net new self-pay subscribers for the year.
The company said late last year it would embark on a broad effort to cut costs, as it invests in the back-end technology and user-friendliness of its SiriusXM app. Updating the app’s infrastructure so that the company can bring new products to the app quickly is a key part of the company’s growth strategy.
In a memo to staff last year, Witz said the company will be looking at all ways to trim costs, including possible job cuts, as it weighs how to handle macroeconomic challenges like declining advertising budgets and auto manufacturer delays.
On Sunday (Jan. 21), longtime and beloved Chicago radio host Lin Brehmer died at 68 after battling prostate cancer.
Brehmer’s WXRT colleague and friend Terri Hemmert shared the news in a statement that read: “We must inform you that we all lost our best friend. Lin Brehmer fought cancer as long as he could. He passed early this morning, peacefully, with his wife (Sara) and son (Wilson) by his side.”
Brehmer announced he would take a leave of absence last July for treatment. He returned to the air in late November.
Adopting the tagline, “Your best friend in the whole world” during his time at WXRT, the sentiment was true for many, including Chicago legends like Wilco, Steve Albini, Billy Corgan, John Cusack and more. It wasn’t Brehmer’s only catchphrase. He often reminded listeners: “Take nothing for granted. It’s great to be alive.”
Brehmer started as a host at the Chicago rock station in 1991 after moving to the city in 1984 to be the music director, a position he held for six years. After a brief gig in Minneapolis, he returned to Chicago and WXRT — this time as the morning host. There he launched his legendary segment Lin’s Bin, through which he would excitedly and thoroughly answer listener questions while musing on life, music and pop culture. In 2020, he moved to middays.
A New York native, Brehmer started his career in Albany before relocating to and falling for the city of Chicago — from the Cubs baseball team to the food, whether it be an Italian beef sandwich or pizza. To honor the late Brehmer, the marquee at Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs) displayed his name.
WXRT celebrated Brehmer’s life with a special block of programming on Monday. Alongside stories from Hemmert and other hosts, plus special memories and send-offs from artists and bands like Corgan, The Record Company and more, the programming played a range of music that was meaningful to his life and career. It also aired Brehmer’s final sign-off for the station.
In it, he recounted being asked if he would change anything about his path. In short, the answer was an affirmative — and colorful — “no way.”
See the social media tributes to Brehmer below.
RIP to Chicago legend Lin Brehmer who sadly just passed away – he was the voice of WXRT – the best music station in Chicago – the kindest man you could ever meet – a lifelong cubs fanatic – and one of coolest warmest guy you could ever meet – He was truly Chicago’s finest –— John Cusack (@johncusack) January 23, 2023
The Cubs mourn the passing of legendary Chicago radio personality and lifelong Cubs fan Lin Brehmer.We send our condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/2SiHRmacxY— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 22, 2023
Lin, what a beautiful soul. Pure walking magic, an encyclopedia of music, and friend to all. Thank you, you will be so missed. Our condolences to all who knew Lin and the whole city of Chicago. 💙 @93XRT @LinBrehmer https://t.co/TDbKAZXFmf— The Record Company (@therecordcomp) January 22, 2023
Lin Brehmer was the voice of Chicago. His voice was unique and a perfect way to start the day. An ambassador for the city’s music scene and a dear friend, I announced the Uptown music district concept on his show.I’ll miss hearing his voice on XRT. May his memory be a blessing.— Rahm Emanuel (@RahmEmanuel) January 22, 2023
SiriusXM has brought on Suzi Watford, the former chief marketing officer for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, to oversee the satellite radio giant’s streaming subscription business, the company said on Tuesday.
Watford will join SiriusXM in the newly created role of chief growth officer and report to Joe Verbrugge, SiriusXM’s chief commercial officer. Her position will also include oversight of corporate marketing, data and research across SiriusXM and Pandora.
“Suzi has repeatedly demonstrated her ability to build and lead talented teams to evolve and grow profitable consumer subscription businesses, and we are thrilled to have her join us,” Verbrugge said in a statement.
Watford has spent the majority of her career at Murdoch-controlled media companies like News Corp.’s News U.K., in addition to the WSJ and Dow Jones. She most recently served as the chief marketing and membership officer for Dow Jones, overseeing marketing and subscription strategies across WSJ, Barron’s and MarketWatch.
Watford will be based in New York City.
“I’m looking forward to joining the talented team at SiriusXM at this stage in the company’s journey and playing a role as we look to attract and retain new growth audiences,” Watford said.
SiriusXM last reported having 32.2 million self-paying subscribers and 34.2 million total users at the end of September. During the same quarter, Pandora lost a net of 52,000 self-pay subscribers, leaving the music streaming service with a total of 6.29 million subscribers. The company will report its Q4 2022 earnings on Feb. 2.
This article was originally published on THR.com.