BIG SUMMER FOR COUNTRY RADIO?

Summer is looking like a perfect storm for Country Radio. Could we see a Country station reach 1 Million Listeners again? I think we will! And my bets are on for WUSN/Chicago. They just maintained record ratings in PPM. It wasn’t that long ago that we had 8 stations reach the Million Listener mark. Those being NY, LA, 2 each in Chicago, Houston and Dallas.

I used to run into my former co-worker & good friend Erik Logan on my visits for CBS Radio/LA and loved the sign on the wall in his office at Oprah’s Harpo studios: “A Million Dollars Isn’t What it Used to Be, But One Million Listeners Is!”

Now we’re seeing a lot of number one Country PPM markets including Charlotte, Baltimore, Columbus, and Providence and in Diary markets too.

So what happened to Country Radio after Covid, a lot of them overreacted to the success of Classic Hits & Classic Rock and added a lot of Old Gold. Some so old we didn’t even play those songs in our early 2K Country station launches. As a result they became more like a Hot AC than acting like CHR’s. And that created less music discovery opening the door for the DSP’s and with slower rotations and more gold eroded the cume (weekly tune-in).

So what’s going on now that is helping the Country Format? Country’s new found popularity arguably goes back to last year’s crossover hits from Morgan Wallen “Last Night” “Thinkin’ Bout Me” and Luke Combs “Fast Car” as those songs were also played on CHR’s. Crossover hits on CHR has always been a good sign for Country.

This year Country needs to thank Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em” which caused a lot of discussion and participation on your stations whether she belonged in Country. It worked and during March the Country format was up +40% increase in audience share compared to March 2023. Nielsen also reported that Country with “18-34 Black” streaming was second only to Urban formats.

Summer is already one of the biggest times for Country because of concerts and this year doesn’t disappoint with stadium shows from Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen with Jelly Roll, Kane Brown and even Zach Bryan joining them in U.S. stadiums. (See my previous post on Country Concerts)

And now the good news continues with Morgan Wallen being played on a lot of formats/playlists and now we have another song being played on every format - Shaboozey “A Bar Song(Tipsy)” just hit #1. Plus Post Malone “I Had Some Help” (yes, you did get some help from Morgan Wallen). Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson are still en fuego. And even streaming hit from Dasha “Austin” These crossovers are good for your Country station and makes your station more mass appeal. Use this new cume (audience) to your advantage, because pretty soon the cold weather is coming and the lack of concerts and Christmas format competition will take its toll this Fall.

Good Luck and I’m happily predicting that we’ll hit One Million Listeners again in Country Radio!

Brian Thomas

AB Entertainment/Nashville

www.abentertainment.net'

Brian Thomas served as VP/Programming for America’s Biggest Radio Companies and now consults Country Radio, Hot AC and Classic Hits.