January 25, 2016, Issue 483 CRS Travel: Choking Hazard On October 18, 2015, Southwest flight No. 2010 from Los Angeles to San Francisco abruptly returned to its airport of origin when a female passenger alleged that the man seated behind her tried to choke her when she leaned her seat back. With hundreds of radio professionals traveling to Nashville next month for CRS 2016, Country Aircheck reached out to the hardest of hardcore road warriors – label regionals – for the latest in travel etiquette, tips, tricks and ways to avoid physical altercations. Osborne To Fly: Brothers Osborne’s John (front, left) and TJ Tip No. 1: Try not to travel with or be Osborne (second from right), UMGN’s Royce Risser and EMI Nashville’s Jimmy Rector lead label staffers in celebrating seated near Arista’s Luke Jensen. “Oh the No. 1 “Stay A Little Longer.” yeah, I’m a choker,” he says. “I’ll choke Luke Jensen someone for being stupid.” He’s joking ... we think, but offers this advice: “This is the one most likely to have me doing time in Road To CRS: Motivation Station prison: Never stow your carry-on in the rows behind you. There Still on the fence about attending CRS 2016? Or, are you is nothing worse than when 180 people are trying to de-plane registered but not yet dialed in on your must-see panels? Country and some guy is swimming upstream to retrieve his bag six rows Aircheck has your motivation right here ... as if the brand- back. Especially on Southwest with open spanking Omni Hotel isn’t enough (see our in-depth coverage of seating, take the first available seat that the new location here). can accommodate your ass and your bags CRS 2016 Agenda Chair and WDXB/Birmingham PD Tom directly overhead.” Hanrahan’s group has worked hard to balance programming, Tip No. 2: Beware Broken Bow’s camera- sales, promotion, market size appeal and more. Even as the toting Scotty O’Brien. “I’ve seen it all,” he committee strives to make the event the ultimate destination for says. “I should be keeping a video diary of all anyone in Country, he points to “a number of interesting topics we’ve the sh*t that happens on an airplane.” Most never explored before. There are more than a couple of deep panels disconcerting? Carry-on meals. “Chili dogs, that push the boundaries.” Scotty O’Brien eggs, spaghetti, soup, oatmeal – crazy,” Among them are “Put Me In Coach! The O’Brien says. “You’re only going to be on Best Talent Coaches Converge” at 10am the plane for an hour-and-a-half. What’s Wednesday Feb. 10. “This is more than with the buffet?” Jensen agrees. “Eat before you board. There is another talent coaching panel,” Hanrahan nothing worse than someone digging out their tuna sub or juicy says. “Coaching is something we’ve addressed burger. Nobody wants to smell your food in those tight quarters.” in the past, but we’ve never done it side by Tip No. 3: If you’re male, avoid row nine. “That’s the first one side with Barry Switzer, one of only three to be served drinks,” says Big Loud’s Stacy Blythe. coaches to have won a college national (continued on page 5) championship and a Super Bowl.” Tom Hanrahan ©2016 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] January 25, 2016 Page 3 Switzer will be joined by iHeartMedia VP/ on landing this week’s No. 1 with Talent Development Dennis Clark and Brothers Osborne’s “Stay A Little well-known talent coach Steve Reynolds. Longer.” The song hails from their “There are so many great parallels between current Pawn Shop album and is the coaching great radio talent and coaching duo’s first chart-topper. great athletes,” Hanrahan says. “Just in And kudos to Shane Allen the preliminary discussions we’ve had, the and the Capitol crew for securing Brothers Osborne problem is how to contain this in 50 minutes 87 adds for Dierks Bentley’s Barry Switzer and still have time for Q&A. Between the “Somewhere On A Beach,” topping three of them they could go on for hours with this week’s board. great stuff. We’re going to try not to box it in. The less restrictions and structure the better.” If that panel doesn’t get you ready to attack that next break News & Notes ... or pancake a free blitzer on a blind side rush ... it’s probably Elyria-Lorain’s WKFM/Sandusky, OH is the latest affiliate of because you’re already fully inspired by Envision’s The Stories That Made The Music. Tuesday’s featured speaker, Noah Galloway. Charles Esten will host the T.J. Martell Foundation’s 8th “I saw a preview of his talking points and it’s Annual Nashville Honors Gala Feb. 29 at Nashville’s Omni Hotel. going to be fantastic,” Hanrahan says. Don Henley and Ronnie Milsap will perform. More info here. For those who don’t know, “Noah is a veteran Dot’s Maddie & Tae released a video with Monroe Carell Jr. who lost a leg and an arm in Iraq, lost his family Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in support of the Shine and spiraled into depression,” Hanrahan says. Bright campaign. Watch it here. “He fought back by getting in shape and starting Skyville Live will stream “Girls Just Wanna Have Friends” his No Excuses non-profit. He was on the cover of Noah Galloway featuring Cyndi Lauper, Black River’s Kelsea Ballerini and Men’s Health two years ago and was on Dancing Ingrid Michaelson Jan. 28 exclusively via free mobile video With The Stars last year.” No excuses, indeed. platform go90. More info here. Ready yet? Watch this space for more agenda highlights next The Shotgun Seat will host a writers round at Nashville’s The week. Register for CRS 2016 here. Contact Hanrahan here. Listening Room Cafe Feb. 3 featuring Billy Montana, Dan Couch, –Chuck Aly Erik Dylan, Jillian Jacqueline and Tia Scola. They’ll collect guitar strings at the event to donate to Strings For Hope. More info here. Chart Chat Congrats to John & TJ Osborne, Royce Risser, Jimmy Rector, The Week’s Top Stories David Friedman and the whole EMI Nashville promotion team Full coverage at countryaircheck.com. ©2016 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] January 25, 2016 Page 5 • Cumulus SVP/Operations Bob Walker assumed Office of OFF THE RECORD: TARA THOMPSON Programming administrative duties following the exit of Tom Schurr. (1/25) Valory’s Tara Thompson puts an • iHeartMedia Top 40 WZEE/Madison, WI PD Katie Kruz added industry spin on the artist interview: PD duties for sister Country WMAD. (1/25) I grew up listening to WIVK/ • Country radio responded to the weekend’s deadly winter Knoxville. I’m from Gatlinburg, TN. weather. (1/25) The first time I heard myself on the • Former CBS Radio WUSN/Chicago afternooner Shila radio was at WBEE/Rochester. Billy Kidd Nathan joined Cumulus’ WNSH (Nash FM)/New York for said he was going to play my song. I middays. (1/22) was freaking out. • In2une/New York Coord./Promotion Lana Abruscato will My scariest radio tour moment join the Nashville office in the newly created role of Northeast was when we were in Cleveland going Tara Thompson regional. (1/22) to New York. We had to drive during a • A GoFundMe campagin was set up for WUBE/Cincinnati whiteout. There were so many wrecks. People behind us were middayer Duke Hamilton and wife Barb following the loss of backing up and going over the median. But I had a lot of fun their home to fire. (1/21) in New York City, just walking around and looking at the huge • iHeartMedia/Los Angeles Sr. Acct. Mgr. John Mentesana buildings. I went there once with my sister and we had pizza joined Mt. Wilson’s crosstown cluster as GSM. (1/20) every day – but it was Sbarro pizza. We didn’t know. We’re • Veritone Media RVP Dave Pugh joined CBS Radio/Phoenix hillbillies from east Tennessee. as SVP/MM and Dir./Sales. (1/19) My favorite people to travel with are my mom and Grandma • Former Cox Country format leader and WWKA/Orlando because they both talk so much, time goes by fast. When I travel PD Len Shackelford joined crosstown JVC WOTW in the same with my dad, he doesn’t talk. He always listens to NASCAR news. role. (1/19) When I was a kid he’d say, “Let’s play the quiet game.” I’d love to have dinner with Willie Nelson. I’d order CRS Travel: Choking Hazard pizzaUPDATE and wings. I think he’d like that. And if he doesn’t I’d say, (continued from page 1) “Okay, order whatever you want!” MyUPDATE music has a new sound but I’m an old soul. There’s “And if you sit at the window, your head fits lots of steel guitar. And I’m always like, “More banjo!” All of perfectly in that hole for sleeping. I will fight a my songs are based on true stories. man for that seat.” My last impulse buy was a jacket – and I think I already Tip No. 4: Don’t time travel into the had the same jacket. I’m so bad at that. But this was a little security line of Dot’s James Marsh.