June 21, 2021, Issue 761 PPM: Spring Upswings As a format, Country is flat overall in May (see Scoreboard pg. 12); however, several stations have seen notable growth in recent months. Country Aircheck speaks with a few standouts below. KWNR/Las Vegas: MoJoe Roberts took over the PD role at iHeartMedia KWNR last August and, after averaging a 2.5 share for 2020, KWNR has now registered a run of five consecutive monthly increases. May’s 4.9 share is the station’s best since January 2019. In demo rank, KWNR has jumped from 17 to 4 in just two months (see graph, page 9). “Las Vegas was certainly a bit ahead of most of the country to open up again,” Roberts says. “All of this renewed energy Block And Roll: Warner/WAR’s Shy Carter and his label MoJoe Roberts and excitement for the onslaught of concert announcements and tactical contesting have team at the National Museum of African American Music’s certainly played a factor in our growth.” Juneteenth Block Party. Pictured (l-r) are the label’s Cris Lacy, There may be more to it than just re-opening, however. Tim Foisset, Michael Chase, Jenni Tay and Ben Kline, “We also made some key weekday staff adjustments, Carter, the label’s James Marsh, manager Missi Gallimore welcoming Lois ‘Double L’ Lewis back to the midday show and the label’s Shane Tarleton. in April,” Roberts explains. Lewis had previously worked at KWNR before transferring to KNIX/Phoenix in 2017. Roberts is also bullish on product right now. “We Preview: Women In Country are benefiting from an increasingly strong Updating and expanding Country Aircheck’s June 2015 music cycle in the format,” he notes. feature story and airplay analysis regarding female artists, the “Hopefully that continues.” June print issue is largely devoted to the broader idea of women KRTY/San Jose: Empire’s KRTY in country music. From multiple angles, the averaged a 3.9 share in 2020 and, like publication is aimed at conveying a more KWNR, has also reeled off five consecutive thorough understanding, starting with a monthly increases. The 5.5 share for May is roundtable between women in different its best since August 2018, and the station industry segments. Nate Deaton also landed a top-five finish in demo. GM On the subject of work-life balance, Nate Deaton sees one overriding benefit from his area’s re- Pandora’s Beville Dunkerley says in part, opening. “Home schooling really affected more of the overall “Pre-pandemic, I was putting in as much Beville listening patterns than anything else,” he says. “Everyone was at face time at the office as everyone else, Dunkerley home doing schoolwork and couldn’t be distracted. That’s our regardless of if they had children or not. I’ve demo. It’s hard to underestimate how much morning traffic was had nothing but supportive bosses [but] I put a lot of pressure on related to school.” myself, because I don’t want to be passed over for a project lead (continued on page 7) ©2021 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] June 21, 2021 Page 3 just because I have two children.” Albright & O’Malley & Brenner’s Becky Brenner says, “I started raising my kids in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I couldn’t take time off to go to a soccer game and [my grown kids] still talk about all the things they had to go to because I wanted to make sure I still had a job. When people ask Becky me why there aren’t more female PDs, I say Brenner women are too smart. They know it’s all- consuming.” WRNS/New Bern, NC’s Crystal Legends adds, “There’s always the question, ‘Well, is she a mom?’ No one asks a man if he’s a dad ... The stay-at-home wife in my world is me. I do everything we do at work and everything a housewife does. I’m doing twice as much as any man in the room, so don’t Crystal question me.” Legends Perception & Reality: The results of arguably the first and largest study of industry-wide perceptions of sexism in the workplace and airplay finds that nearly half (45%) of 600 respondents have experienced sexism in country music first-hand in the last three years. An additional 16% said they’d witnessed one or more examples of it. The findings were cited not only by women, but also by men – many of them. While respondents are split 36% to 33% on whether airplay opportunities are worse or better for women artists vs. men, agreement is widespread they are better than three years ago. Likewise, signing and development opportunities for artists, and advancement opportunities for women in the business, are seen as improving. Nevertheless, a marked disparity exists between how women and men perceive and experience these issues across all topics. The Interview: Artist manager (Dierks Bentley, Elle King, Caylee Hammack, Tucker Beathard) and CMA board chair Mary Hilliard Harrington assesses the overall business, including hard decisions prompted by the pandemic. “We made it mandatory that if you want to work with us, you had to get vaccinated,” she says. “That was not an easy decision to make. We ended up losing one crew guy over it, and it’s sad. But I can’t have one guy on a tour bus getting sick and taking Mary Hilliard down the whole tour for two weekends worth Harrington of shows.” As for the issue’s theme, she says, “I feel weird talking about opportunities for women, because I believe there are opportunities for everybody if you go and make them. The other day, somebody I’m close to introduced me as the best female manager in Nashville. Am I supposed to be offended or proud of that? And, of course, I’m really proud [to] lead by example and to have people look up to me as a role model and a woman, but I don’t think about it.” Also in the issue, the 2020 reader-voted Power 31 class nominates Women Of Influence for recognition. Label execs detail what’s to come in a female artist-focused music preview. And the current and historical state of airplay is examined in depth. Look for the issue in physical and digital formats later this week. –Chuck Aly Chart Chat Congratulations to Luke Combs, Steve Hodges, Shane Allen, Lauren Thomas and the Columbia promotion team on holding at No. 1 for a third week with “Forever After All.” There have only been three songs in the past two years to hold No. 1 for three or more weeks, and all are by Combs. Songwriters are Drew Parker, Robert Luke Combs Williford and Combs. ©2021 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] June 21, 2021 Page 5 Kudos to Chris Palmer, Ashley Sidoti and the Valory crew OFF THE RECORD on scoring 61 adds for “The Worst Country Song Of All Time” An Off The Record conversation with by Brantley Gilbert w/Toby Keith & Hardy. This is Gilbert’s Cumulus WCTO/Allentown, PA morning co- first time atop the Add Board in almost six years. “Stone Cold host Hannah Byrom: Sober” led the week of Aug. 31, 2015. I grew up listening to Top 40 WPST/ Airplay for Big Loud’s Morgan Wallen has now resumed on Trenton, NJ and WCTO, and have been lucky Audacy and Beasley stations, which had been two of the last enough to work for both. groups yet to re-add his music. According to Mediabase 24/7, I fell into radio by mistake. I was a KMNB/Minneapolis, WBEE/Rochester, WDAF/Kansas City Speech Pathology major in college and decided and WKXC/Augusta are among the stations that have gone to join my roommate for her broadcasting from zero to double-digit spins on Wallen titles. With airplay also class one day out of boredom. The next HANNAH resuming on Midwest WWQM/Madison, WI and Westwood BYROM week, I changed my major to Media & Film WWYZ One Hot Country, Wallen received five or more spins on 134 of Broadcasting. Oddly enough, she changed her 160 reporting stations (83.8%) during the past week. major, too ... to nursing! David Brody with Elvis Duran And The Morning Show gave 3706 me my first shot as an intern, and he helped shape my standard for 4000 work ethic and content quality. JJ Kincaid used to let me hang around Morgan Wallen Spins by Week 3227 in the studio for his show after my internship hours and would teach 3500 me about clocks and running a board. WNSH/New York’s John Foxx also provided me with great guidance throughout the years, and I’ve 2795 been fortunate enough to work closely with great morning show talents 3000 like Jackson Blue. I could go on and on about him, but I’ll spare you! My favorite songs on the radio are Niko Moon’s “No Sad 2500 Songs” and Lainey Wilson’s “Things A Man Oughta Know.” That one 2003 gets me in my feels every time. Like most people, I learned how to pivot in 2020, and I also 2000 gained a better understanding of balancing my work and personal life. 1529 It’s easy to get wrapped up in the industry, but last year taught me to 1331 breathe and enjoy where I am as much as where I’m going.