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RadioInsight for Monday 19 September 2016
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Sep 19, 2016, 5:48:33 PM9/19/16
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Dick Taylor: The Problem with Too Many Choices
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 10:30 AM PDT
https://dicktaylorblog.com/2016/09/18/the-problem-with-too-many-choices/
///////////////////////////////////////////
Once Derided On Stage, Denver Is Now "Forever Country"
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 08:49 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/blogs/108312/once-derided-on-stage-denver-is-now-forever-country/
It might not have been intentional, but “Forever Country,” the new
superstar-laden single and video promoting the fiftieth anniversary of the
CMA Awards, wades into a more than forty-year-old dust-up about “what is
country” that ensnared the CMA Awards itself.
The song that kicks off the classic country medley is John Denver’s “Take
Me Home, Country Roads.” That song was only a top 50 Country hit in 1971.
But on the new single, “Country Roads” takes its place alongside Dolly
Parton’s “I Will Love You” and Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again.”
Denver’s reverse crossover from pop singer/songwriter to regular country
hitmaker culminated in an Entertainer of the Year win at the 1975 CMA
Awards. And in a notorious incident when presenter Charlie Rich, after a
rambling monologue, torched Denver’s “and the winner is…” card on stage.
Rich himself was a former pop and rockabilly artist—and often considered
“too pop” as well. His ‘70s hits were as influenced by cocktail jazz and
the Great American Songbook as by traditional country. But Rich had made a
home in country music. Denver was one of a handful of reverse
crossovers—Olivia Newton-John, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt were among
the others—embraced by a new generation of pop-trained country radio
program directors.
Rich’s son has denied that there was any animosity between Denver and his
father. He characterizes it as nothing more than a drug-and-alcohol fueled
bit that didn’t work. And bits that don’t work are a regular feature of
awards shows. But whatever Rich’s personal feelings, the incident became a
touchstone in a “what is country” dialogue that predates the first CMA
awards and continues today.
Actual reverse crossovers to Country are almost non-existent for pop hits
these days—a reflection of the dearth of acoustic-flavored music at Top 40
at the moment. But the presence of Pink and Elle King as duet partners on
current hits by Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley respectively has not gone
unnoticed, especially given the relatively weaker position of female acts
at country radio.
Radio programmer resistance stalled Thomas Rhett’s pop-flavored “Vacation”
in the 30s, while Dustin Lynch’s “Seein’ Red” grows slowly in the same
area. Sam Hunt’s RB leanings haven’t prevented him from having multiple
Country No. 1s, but are often watched warily by radio. And some PDs are
still fighting the battle of Taylor Swift, unsure whether her exit from
country music is good or bad for the format.
But while country PDs debate what’s country among today’s offerings, the
debate is generally forgotten about anything that country listeners
eventually ratify. That’s why Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” concerning
for its quasi-rap feel a few years ago, is now among the format’s top 25
most-played gold.
And three songs in the new single/video have some pop crossover element.
“On The Road Again” gave Nelson his signature pop hit at the height of the
“Urban Cowboy” boom, a period of equal excitement and concern for the
format. “I Will Always Love You” was No. 1 twice and a chart hit three
times for Parton, but millions more know it better as Whitney Houston’s
signature song.
And you can probably hear more John Denver than Charlie Rich in today’s
Country hits, if only because “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Thank God
I’m A Country Boy” have direct descendants in country’s ongoing glut of
songs celebrating small-town living, especially once Hank Williams, Jr.,
took fused the sentiments of “Country Boy” with Southern rock to create “A
Country Boy Can Survive.”
Rich, for me, has plenty of songs that wear well now, with none of the
hokeyness that marked Denver even at the time. “There Won’t Be Anymore”
(plucked from a ten-year-old album at the height of Rich’s stardom) and
“On My Knees” (from the same era, but remade in the late ‘70s), both
achieve an almost Smiths-like level of profound sadness. And Keith Urban’s
current “Blue Ain’t Your Color” clearly ventures into Rich territory.
Another constant remains in the “what is Country” discussion. It is often
the artists who come to Country from somewhere else who become the
defenders of tradition. It may or may not have been Rich’s intent to
protect the format from interlopers, but it was Denver who took a fiddling
song to No. 1 that year. In the early ‘00s, it was Kid Rock Sheryl Crow
whose “Picture” became the retro-traditional hit that no Country artist
would have attempted. Today, the song that looks at the current field and
declares “That Ain’t Country” is the song in the lower reaches of the chart
by Aaron Lewis, the former lead singer of the Active Rock act Staind.
Click Here To Subscribe to the weekly Ross On Radio Newsletter.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Ingstad Swaps Formats In Washington's Tri-Cities
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 08:41 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/108309/ingstad-swaps-formats-in-washingtons-tri-cities/
Ingstad Radio Washington has swapped formats at two of its stations in the
Tri-Cities of Washington
AC 106.1 More-FM 960 KALE/106.1 K291BS Richland is promoted from the
AM/Translator combo to the Class C signal of 95.7 KKSR Walla Walla as 95.7
More-FM. The station has also added the syndicated Brooke Jubal for
mornings.
Classic Hits 95.7 in turn moves to 960 KALE/106.1 K291BS Richland as
Classic Hits 106.1. KKSR registered a 1.7 share in the
Richland/Kennewick/Pasco Spring 2016 Nielsen Audio ratings, while KALE had
a 0.0.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Bold Gold Expands Into The Catskills
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 07:36 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/108306/bold-gold-expands-into-the-catskills/
Bold Gold Media Group is acquiring Watermark Communications three station
cluster in the Catskill Mountains region of New York State for $1.6 million.
Bold Gold, which currently owns nine stations mostly in the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Pocono Lakes areas of Pennsylvania, will add
Classic Hits 1240 WVOS/95.9 WVOS-FM Liberty and AC 98.3 WSUL Monticello.
The trio will join Bold Golds Country Thunder 102.1 WDNB Jeffersonville in
their newly expanded Catskills cluster.
///////////////////////////////////////////
NuVoodoo: Surprising/Scary Findings About Contesting
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 07:13 AM PDT
http://www.nuvoodoo.com/2016/09/19/surprisingscary-findings-about-contesting/
///////////////////////////////////////////
KKUT Flips to Country
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 06:00 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/108296/kkut-flips-to-country/
Mid-Utah Radio has flipped Hot AC 93.7 Sky-FM KKUT Mount Pleasant/Provo UT
to Country 93.7 The Wolf.
The new format matches the branding of sister 97.7 The Wolf KWUT Elsinore,
which serves the area south of Provo. However there is no simulcast in
place. The flip gives the Provo/Utah County area its own Country station,
although the three Salt Lake City Country stations reach the area.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Daily Domains 9/18: Morning Show Move To Lead To Greensboro Flip?
Posted: 18 Sep 2016 02:00 PM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/netgnomes/108261/daily-domains-918-morning-show-move-to-lead-to-greensboro-flip/
Are Two Guys Named Chris on the move from Dick Broadcasting Classic Rock
Rock 92 92.3 WKRR Asheboro/Greensboro NC? And will the move lead to a
format change across town?
This content is for Premium Annual and Premium Monthly members only. Visit
the site and log in/register to read.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Dick Taylor: The Problem with Too Many Choices
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 10:30 AM PDT
https://dicktaylorblog.com/2016/09/18/the-problem-with-too-many-choices/
///////////////////////////////////////////
Once Derided On Stage, Denver Is Now "Forever Country"
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 08:49 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/blogs/108312/once-derided-on-stage-denver-is-now-forever-country/
It might not have been intentional, but “Forever Country,” the new
superstar-laden single and video promoting the fiftieth anniversary of the
CMA Awards, wades into a more than forty-year-old dust-up about “what is
country” that ensnared the CMA Awards itself.
The song that kicks off the classic country medley is John Denver’s “Take
Me Home, Country Roads.” That song was only a top 50 Country hit in 1971.
But on the new single, “Country Roads” takes its place alongside Dolly
Parton’s “I Will Love You” and Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again.”
Denver’s reverse crossover from pop singer/songwriter to regular country
hitmaker culminated in an Entertainer of the Year win at the 1975 CMA
Awards. And in a notorious incident when presenter Charlie Rich, after a
rambling monologue, torched Denver’s “and the winner is…” card on stage.
Rich himself was a former pop and rockabilly artist—and often considered
“too pop” as well. His ‘70s hits were as influenced by cocktail jazz and
the Great American Songbook as by traditional country. But Rich had made a
home in country music. Denver was one of a handful of reverse
crossovers—Olivia Newton-John, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt were among
the others—embraced by a new generation of pop-trained country radio
program directors.
Rich’s son has denied that there was any animosity between Denver and his
father. He characterizes it as nothing more than a drug-and-alcohol fueled
bit that didn’t work. And bits that don’t work are a regular feature of
awards shows. But whatever Rich’s personal feelings, the incident became a
touchstone in a “what is country” dialogue that predates the first CMA
awards and continues today.
Actual reverse crossovers to Country are almost non-existent for pop hits
these days—a reflection of the dearth of acoustic-flavored music at Top 40
at the moment. But the presence of Pink and Elle King as duet partners on
current hits by Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley respectively has not gone
unnoticed, especially given the relatively weaker position of female acts
at country radio.
Radio programmer resistance stalled Thomas Rhett’s pop-flavored “Vacation”
in the 30s, while Dustin Lynch’s “Seein’ Red” grows slowly in the same
area. Sam Hunt’s RB leanings haven’t prevented him from having multiple
Country No. 1s, but are often watched warily by radio. And some PDs are
still fighting the battle of Taylor Swift, unsure whether her exit from
country music is good or bad for the format.
But while country PDs debate what’s country among today’s offerings, the
debate is generally forgotten about anything that country listeners
eventually ratify. That’s why Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem,” concerning
for its quasi-rap feel a few years ago, is now among the format’s top 25
most-played gold.
And three songs in the new single/video have some pop crossover element.
“On The Road Again” gave Nelson his signature pop hit at the height of the
“Urban Cowboy” boom, a period of equal excitement and concern for the
format. “I Will Always Love You” was No. 1 twice and a chart hit three
times for Parton, but millions more know it better as Whitney Houston’s
signature song.
And you can probably hear more John Denver than Charlie Rich in today’s
Country hits, if only because “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Thank God
I’m A Country Boy” have direct descendants in country’s ongoing glut of
songs celebrating small-town living, especially once Hank Williams, Jr.,
took fused the sentiments of “Country Boy” with Southern rock to create “A
Country Boy Can Survive.”
Rich, for me, has plenty of songs that wear well now, with none of the
hokeyness that marked Denver even at the time. “There Won’t Be Anymore”
(plucked from a ten-year-old album at the height of Rich’s stardom) and
“On My Knees” (from the same era, but remade in the late ‘70s), both
achieve an almost Smiths-like level of profound sadness. And Keith Urban’s
current “Blue Ain’t Your Color” clearly ventures into Rich territory.
Another constant remains in the “what is Country” discussion. It is often
the artists who come to Country from somewhere else who become the
defenders of tradition. It may or may not have been Rich’s intent to
protect the format from interlopers, but it was Denver who took a fiddling
song to No. 1 that year. In the early ‘00s, it was Kid Rock Sheryl Crow
whose “Picture” became the retro-traditional hit that no Country artist
would have attempted. Today, the song that looks at the current field and
declares “That Ain’t Country” is the song in the lower reaches of the chart
by Aaron Lewis, the former lead singer of the Active Rock act Staind.
Click Here To Subscribe to the weekly Ross On Radio Newsletter.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Ingstad Swaps Formats In Washington's Tri-Cities
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 08:41 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/108309/ingstad-swaps-formats-in-washingtons-tri-cities/
Ingstad Radio Washington has swapped formats at two of its stations in the
Tri-Cities of Washington
AC 106.1 More-FM 960 KALE/106.1 K291BS Richland is promoted from the
AM/Translator combo to the Class C signal of 95.7 KKSR Walla Walla as 95.7
More-FM. The station has also added the syndicated Brooke Jubal for
mornings.
Classic Hits 95.7 in turn moves to 960 KALE/106.1 K291BS Richland as
Classic Hits 106.1. KKSR registered a 1.7 share in the
Richland/Kennewick/Pasco Spring 2016 Nielsen Audio ratings, while KALE had
a 0.0.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Bold Gold Expands Into The Catskills
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 07:36 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/108306/bold-gold-expands-into-the-catskills/
Bold Gold Media Group is acquiring Watermark Communications three station
cluster in the Catskill Mountains region of New York State for $1.6 million.
Bold Gold, which currently owns nine stations mostly in the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Pocono Lakes areas of Pennsylvania, will add
Classic Hits 1240 WVOS/95.9 WVOS-FM Liberty and AC 98.3 WSUL Monticello.
The trio will join Bold Golds Country Thunder 102.1 WDNB Jeffersonville in
their newly expanded Catskills cluster.
///////////////////////////////////////////
NuVoodoo: Surprising/Scary Findings About Contesting
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 07:13 AM PDT
http://www.nuvoodoo.com/2016/09/19/surprisingscary-findings-about-contesting/
///////////////////////////////////////////
KKUT Flips to Country
Posted: 19 Sep 2016 06:00 AM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/108296/kkut-flips-to-country/
Mid-Utah Radio has flipped Hot AC 93.7 Sky-FM KKUT Mount Pleasant/Provo UT
to Country 93.7 The Wolf.
The new format matches the branding of sister 97.7 The Wolf KWUT Elsinore,
which serves the area south of Provo. However there is no simulcast in
place. The flip gives the Provo/Utah County area its own Country station,
although the three Salt Lake City Country stations reach the area.
///////////////////////////////////////////
Daily Domains 9/18: Morning Show Move To Lead To Greensboro Flip?
Posted: 18 Sep 2016 02:00 PM PDT
https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/netgnomes/108261/daily-domains-918-morning-show-move-to-lead-to-greensboro-flip/
Are Two Guys Named Chris on the move from Dick Broadcasting Classic Rock
Rock 92 92.3 WKRR Asheboro/Greensboro NC? And will the move lead to a
format change across town?
This content is for Premium Annual and Premium Monthly members only. Visit
the site and log in/register to read.
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