2021 APRIL 26 CountryInsider.com | Sign Up For Daily Email Here “Bud and Broadway” Plot Radio Domination. A year ago this week, COVID-19-related staff reductions silenced morning duo Bud Ford and Jerry Broadway on Hubbard WIL St. Louis (92.3). Despite that unexpected interruption to their career momentum, they achieved a long-time goal during the year of the pandemic, syndicating their “Bud and Broadway” show with SuiteRadio. Now they’re back on-air with 20 affiliate stations in 10 states. “We had to syndicate and innovate or we were going to be left behind,” Ford tells Country Insider. Despite setbacks and stalled negotiations with potential syndicators, the men continued to host their show each weekday on Facebook and YouTube in the months that followed the layoff. “We had to go back to square one and go, ‘What can we do without a mothership station?” Broadway says. “That changed the tone of all of the conversations.” (Continued on page 4) COUNTRY INSIDER TOP 5: “The events opened the city’s eyes”: How K102 Guided Listeners Through Tense Times In Minneapolis. Jason Aldean To Livestream Sold-Out May 15 Concert At The Bonnaroo Farm. Dierks Bentley Returns To The Road With Five-Date “High Times & Hangovers” Tour. Former KILT Midday Personality Erin Austin Joins Memphis Hot AC As Morning Show Co-Host. Consultant Mike O’Malley On An Audience Engagement Tool Rooted In Your Own Behavior. 1 | APRIL 26 2021 CountryInsider.com Dave Taft Chelsea Thomas Afternoons/Market Afternoons Top 5 Bands Of SVP, Programming Top 5 Favs on the Charts Right Now: 106.7 The Bull/KWBL All Time: B-93/WBCT Denver, CO Grand Rapids, MI 1. Hell of a View - Eric Church 2. Somebody Like That - 1. Alabama Tenille Arts 2. Brooks and Dunn 3. Freedom Was a Highway - 3. Rascal Flatts Jimmie Allen/Brad Paisley 4. Almost Maybes - 4. Statler Brothers Jordan Davis 5. Little Big Town 5. The Good Ones - Gabby Barrett Jason Aldean To Stream May Concert From The Bonnaroo Farm. Jason Aldean’s May 15 concert at The Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester, TN, has sold out, but fans will be able to see it via a global livestream. Tickets, priced at $15, are on sale now at the VEEPS website and will allow viewers to re-watch Aldean’s 90-minute set for 24 hours after the concert. Elvie Shane provides direct support for the show. Dierks Bentley Brings Back “High Times & Hangovers” Club Tour. For the first time since 2006, Dierks Bentley will play a run of club dates billed as the “High Times & Hangovers” tour this May. The tour starts May 11 in Isle of Palms, SC, and continues through Greenville, SC; Charlotte, NC; Gainesville, FL; and Knoxville, TN. Cody Canada & The Departed will open the concerts, which go on sale to fan-club members on Tuesday and to the public on Friday. Bentley also has a series of festival and casino dates scheduled for the summer. KMIT Mitchell, SD’s Tim Smith Retiring After Nearly 50 Years. Tim Smith, morning co-host and Sports Director at Saga Communications KMIT Mitchell, SD (105.9), is retiring after nearly 50 years in the market. Smith joined the former KORN in 1973 as a sports announcer and later moved to KMIT. He is the longtime voice of Mitchell High School and Dakota Wesleyan University athletics. “I am not retiring because I don’t like to do it anymore and the excitement is gone,” he told the Mitchell Republic. “What I will miss is the interaction with the coaches and with the kids. That’s the great part of it.” Nashville-Headquartered Reliant Talent Agency Announces Launch. Talent agents Steve Lassiter, Matt McGuire and Heath Baumhor announce the launch of Nashville-based boutique entertainment company Reliant Talent Agency. The agency’s multi-genre roster includes country acts Crystal Gayle, Lee Greenwood, Little Texas, David Lee Murphy, Travis Tritt and Phil Vassar. Additional agents at the company include Chris Burke, Chris Gaulke, Fred Hanson, Jeff Howard, Chris Looney and Frank Wing. “The team of partners and staff are all industry veterans with years of experience and forward-thinking,” Lassiter said in a release. “We are invested and motivated to unify with artists and help them continue to reach new audiences and opportunities in other areas of representation.” 3 | APRIL 26 2021 CountryInsider.com Bud and Broadway’s Syndication Plan Continues. (Continued from page 1) Fortunately, during their four years at WIL, “Bud and Broadway adds that the men always planned Broadway” had won the 2017 and 2019 Academy on syndication as they took their show to larger of Country Music Broadcast Award for On-Air markets. From their stint in Dothan to iHeartMedia Personality of the Year, sandwiching a Major Market “106.1 The Twister” KTGX Tulsa, OK, then to WIL, Ford Personality of the Year award from the Country and Broadway knew they had a show that listeners Music Association between enjoyed. the two ACM wins. “We’ve always looked at “We banked on being ACM syndication as a security and CMA winners,” Ford blanket,” Broadway says. says, “and we put together “We figured if you get big something that you just enough that you can be can’t buy on most markets’ on 40, 50 radio stations budget.” it’s a little more difficult for somebody to come No “mothership station” in and go, ‘I don’t like also meant no recording the shirt you’re wearing studio, but Ford had space today, you’re fired.’” at his home, and Broadway had a woodshop and Even before the could build the furniture. pandemic forced their Unfortunately, Broadway’s truck was hit during the hand, Ford and Broadway planned to make 2020 delivery to Ford’s house, and half the furniture was their year for syndication. The two held meetings lost to the highway. with potential partners during Country Music Seminar that February in Nashville, only to have “It’s a great metaphor for the last 12 months,” discussions stall a few weeks later as much of the Broadway says with a laugh. “We put the studio world went together and figured it out. We took one step on hiatus. forward each day and by September we had this By August, thing ready to go.” though, they The pair first joined forces in 2010 when Broadway’s had signed with morning show partner in Dothan, AL, left. As Houston-based program SuiteRadio. They director at launched the WTVY (then show a month owned later. “Bud and by Magic Broadway” now can be heard in Alabama, Arkansas, Broadcasting), Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Broadway and South Carolina, Tennessee and Oklahoma, hired Ford where they’re carried by KTGX competitor Griffin to host Communications “98.5 The Bull” KVOO Tulsa. afternoons. The men became friends and often “We’re both program directors and we decided that found themselves entertaining lunch crowds at a when we put this show together we were going to local barbecue establishment. Their chemistry was make a show that either one of us would hire to put undeniable, so Broadway invited Ford to join him on on one of our stations,” Broadway says. “I believe this the station’s morning show. show is different than any other show out there.” By the second break on their first day, Broadway While the next milestone is 50 affiliates, Ford says the knew he had found his permanent morning-show ultimate goal is to be on “every station in America. … partner. “There is chemistry here,” he says. “Bud’s We want to be on 450, but 50 would be nice.” comedic timing is ridiculous, and things happen on our show that just don’t happen anywhere else.” (Continued on page 7) 4 | APRIL 26 2021 CountryInsider.com How K102 Guided Listeners Through A Tense Year In Minneapolis. While most country music stations have navigated soon, everything would be okay again,” Carr says. “We social justice issues during the last year, none have went out of format, and we played it. He didn’t know if faced the challenges of iHeartMedia “K102” KEEY his home was still there. So many listeners called in said Minneapolis. KEEY has effectively led its community it was the most moving thing they had ever heard.” through the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, which resulted in large-scale protests, as well as last The team’s excellence in executing this mission likely week’s guilty verdict of police officer Derek Chauvin. played a role in the Country Music Association naming K102 the Major Market Personality of the Year. Also “Our company provided excellent guidance for impressive was the show’s handling of the issues emergency situations,” VP of Programming Gregg surrounding COVID-19 and its ability to raise $1 million Swedberg tells Country Insider. “We were prepared for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a with FEMA cards for access. Many of the protocols pandemic, all while keeping its listeners laughing. established for COVID applied, with smaller office staffs, so we always felt safe. If there had been any “We embraced the vigils and peaceful protests,” Carr issues, we could broadcast from home. says. “There were many people that demonstrated peacefully, and we “When the verdict came down, we were conveyed that those people should be prepared for either possibility, even heard and not ignored. though the feeling locally was very strong that it would come out the way it “We heard from people affected by did. I would venture to say that almost George Floyd’s death, and we put them everyone is happy with the verdict here.” on the air.