WUSN/Chicago Evolves Inside Garth's Oyster
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
October 10, 2016, Issue 520 Inside Garth’s Oyster When Garth Brooks decided to staff Pearl Records with a promotion team (CAT 8/9), he and Mandy McCormack – then VP/Radio Promotion & Marketing Strategy for Brooks and Trisha Yearwood – quickly turned to former Arista VP/Promotion Lesly Simon as GM (Breaking News 9/19). Rounding out the team are Nathan Cruise, Hilary Hoover and Glenn Noblit (CAT 9/29), with McCormack rising to SVP/Radio Promotion, Marketing & Artist Strategy. Country Aircheck caught up with McCormack and Simon to find out more. CA: Why staff Pearl now, instead of partnering with an established label? Write On: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Mark Ford (l) MM: Over the past several months Garth and Pat Alger (r) flank inductees (l-r) Bob Morrison, Aaron and I have had many conversations on what Barker, Will Van Zandt (for the late Townes Van Zandt) and this next chapter could look like for both him Beth Nielsen Chapman at last night’s (10/9) NaSHOF 46th Anniversary Hall of Fame Gala. and Trisha. Their very own radio promotion department was the perfect next piece to add to an already amazing team. WUSN/Chicago Evolves LS: He hasn’t had his very own radio Lesly Simon Chicago’s two-way Country battle has tightened to a team before, [but] has been a part of a major neck-and-neck contest according to the latest Nielsen PPM label and had partnerships with other labels. Mandy McCormack survey. September saw CBS Radio’s WUSN post a 2.8 (12) The timing is perfect – he just became the Persons 6+ as iHeartMedia’s 21-month-old WEBG pulled No. 1 selling artist of all time with a seventh within a 10th of a point at 2.7 (13). WEBG Diamond award. has proved to be a particularly formidable What is the label vision even beyond opponent in recent months (see page 3), promotion? which has arguably motivated WUSN’s LS: Our goal is to take Garth and Trisha to recent brand refreshment (CAT 8/8). new heights in their careers. We are continuing August saw the departure of longtime to connect their music to fans and grow their morning host and 2016 Country Radio Hall brands across a variety of platforms. Having their own promotion Of Famer Lisa Dent, along with partner team is an important piece of that story. And having a company with Ramblin’ Ray Stevens and their producer (CAT limitless opportunity allows us to grow their business, their brands and 8/3). A new morning show from cross-hall Jeff Kapugi Pearl in countless ways. (continued on page 10) ©2016 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] October 10, 2016 Page 3 Top 40 sister WBBM took their place (CAT 8/11), as the station Interestingly, they weren’t on the initial short list of candidates. brought in a new night host, logo and positioning statement. “They didn’t immediately come to mind,” Kapugi explains. “But Country Aircheck discussedWUSN the changes with CBS WEBGRadio VP/ when another programmer mentioned them, VP/Programming- Country and WUSN PD Jeff Kapugi. Chicago Todd Cavanah and I looked at each other and said, ‘Duh! The reason behind the freshening is simple, Kapugi says. Why didn’t we think of that?’” “Staying relevant with the target audience,” he explains, noting a There have been other on-air changes as well. Mike Kasper, renewed emphasis on localism. “We’ve been Chicago’s Country who has family ties in the area, joined in afternoons following station for more than 34 years and our new8 logo is a reflection of Shila Nathan’s departure for Cumulus’ WNSH/New York in April Chicago with the six-point star from the Chicago flag (see page 6).” (CAT 4/7/16). And Kimmie Caruba, a Chicago native who’d Having native or near-native talent in the market has long been handling nights at sister KMLE/Phoenix, came aboard in been important to Kapugi, which is one of7 the reasons WBBM August (CAT 8/15). WUSN middayer Drew Walker has been afternooners Dougie Stylz and Justin Roman were an attractive with the station for 12 years, and with a recent contract extension choice for mornings. “We didn’t target a Top 40 show per se,” will stay put for some time to come. Kapugi contends. “We were looking 6 for the best show for the station.” 4.0 WUSN WEBG Stylz & Roman fit the bill in part because they liked each 5 other. As Kapugi notes, “You can’t 4.1 buy chemistry.” There’s also a 3.0 3.0 4 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.8 level of familiarity since they were 2.7 2.6 heard for more than a decade on 2.3 2.4 WBBM, a station WUSN shares 3 considerable audience with. “US99 has traditionally shared with the Top 40 and Adult Top 40 stations 2 2.7 2.4 2.5 in Chicago,” Kapugi grants. “The 2.3 2.4 format in general is more pop than 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 it has been in years past, so it’s very 1 1.7 natural to share with these stations.” Finally, it doesn’t hurt that they’re big country fans and are proprietors of a 0 country bar in the city. Sep '14 Sep Oct Nov Dec Hol Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep ©2016 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] October 10, 2016 Page 6 WUSN’s music was freshened up, too. A seven-day MY TUNES: MUSIC THAT SHAPED MY LIFE Mediabase analysis shows a product that’s 54% current, 37% recurrent and 9% gold. WEBG, meanwhile, comes in at Valory's Levi Hummon discusses his 56/27/17%. Heavy currents on WUSN most influential music: are spinning 15-20 times more than 1. Dixie Chicks in Houston: This was those on WEBG, and the average song right after my dad [Marcus Hummon] vintage on both stations is 2014. The had written "Cowboy Take Me Away" stations are airing about the same and "Ready To Run." The energy in that number of songs weekly, though that stadium was beyond anything I thought wasn’t always the case. Kapugi didn’t possible. As performers, they had those expand, but he did acknowledge some Levi Hummon three qualities of being entertainers, “tweaking” to his station’s spot load. having great songs and being passionate “We’re currently in line with other – that's what I remember from that concert. stations in the Chicago market,” he says. 2. Cat Stevens, Greatest Hits: When I was young, my dad The station’s new positioner seems would always play his record. They were epic songs, almost to summarize it all. “’Chicago’s hottest like lullabyes and hymns. They're so catch and so timeless. I Country’ is a marriage of hit country dream of having a song like that one day. and new country, which makes up the majority of what we play on 3. Jeff Buckley: He was the first artist I listened to that made US99,” Kapugi says. me say, "I need to go write a song – right now." How long had all this been in the works? “It’s something we 4. Marcus Hummon, All In Good Time: The reason it have been talking about for quite some time,” Kapugi says. “We was so impactful to me was I heard all these melodies and made some moves that were not as obvious along the way, but lyrics being created. I knew every song on the album. I heard when you refresh a heritage brand and make talent changes they "Bless The Broken Road" before it was cut. Seeing it become tend to get noticed.” a Grammy-winningUPDATE song helped me realize, you can be There’s clearly an appeal being made to younger demos and successful as a writer and artist in this town. Kapugi says there’s an upside. Despite recent numbers that suggest 5. "Bless The Broken Road": Every time my dad was weakening in Country among 18-34s, he says Country in Chicago nominated for a Grammy, my mom would go with him out to L.A. looks very strong in the demo. “Radio in general needs to target the – and he would lose and then be depressed the whole trip. So my 18-34 to 18-49 demos,” Kapugi argues. “We need to engage that mom said she was not going to another Grammy ceremony with part of our audience not only on air, but on site, and online through him (laughs). The year he was nominated for this song, I went. all the channels we have to promote our brands.” When he won Country Song, I remember him standing up and As for other possible changes, Kapugi admits anything is screaming. When I was a kid I took it for granted. But now I think, possible. “The only constant in life is change, right?” Reach how awesome that I got to see that happen. him here. –Russ Penuell • Highly regarded music you've actually never heard: I haven't listened to as much of Hank Williams' songs as I should have. And I need to listen to more of the Willie Nelson Chart Chat and Merle Haggard generation, too.