WELCOME to the FUTURE I Wanna Talk Welcome to the Inaugural Edition of Billboard Country Up- That Was Allowed Under Copyright Provisions
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BILLBOARD.BIZ/ENEWSLETTERS / EDITED BY KEN TUCKER, [email protected] AUGUST 10, 2009 | PAGE 1 OF 17 INSIDE WELCOME TO THE FUTURE I Wanna Talk Welcome to the inaugural edition of Billboard Country Up- that was allowed under copyright provisions. If not, I’m About Me date (BCU), which, for lack of a better description, is a new clearly misremembering and have no recollection of said >page 1 and improved version of the late, great Radio & Records Coun- events.) try Hotfax. In 2002 I joined Bill- As someone who was board Radio Monitor, Six Questions part of the formative a competitor to R&R, with Clay years of Hotfax—I and drew from my ex- joined R&R as associate perience in radio, Hunnicutt country editor in 1990 records and artist man- >page 2 after working at WXKX agement and restarted (Kix 103) Parkersburg, my journalism career. W.Va., and then moved Four years later, Mon- Brooks & Dunn into sales at R&R from itor was no more, and Call It Quits 1991 to 1994—I have a I once again became >page 2 great appreciation of part of the R&R team. the way in which the Which brings us to weekly publication the present. A few Tweet of the changed how country months ago I was ap- radio and Music Row proached to serve as ed- week: Jack To celebrate her last night on the “Escape Together World Tour,” Taylor got their dose of charts itor of the new BCU and Ingram Swift (right) and her band pranked Keith Urban Saturday (Aug. 8) in Kansas and news. I jumped at the chance. >page 5 City by dressing up as Kiss and coming out on stage when Urban was singing Later when I moved Radio and country “Kiss A Girl.” To watch Urban’s surprise, click here. to Warner Bros. Nash- music have long been http://www.keithurban.net/kutube.html?ma_id=20 ville, first a as regional passions of mine and Swift Comes Out promotion man and the opportunity to build On Top In Close then a national director, I vividly remember being the first on the legacy of Hotfax was one I couldn’t pass up. No. 1 Battle to the office on Tuesday mornings and thus being the one Along with the support of a worldwide team of Billboard >page 8 to make copies of Hotfax for the rest of the staff. (If in fact experts, it’s my goal to offer you a weekly experience you will You are receiving this newsletter because you formerly subscribed to the Radio & Records Country Hotfax, and/ or have received other JEFF JOHNSON Billboard publications in the past. If you do not wish to continue receiving the Billboard Daily Country Update, please click here to unsubscribe BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE AUGUST 10, 2009 | PAGE 2 OF 17 look forward to. [Ed. note: If this is boring you, just skip ahead. You won’t THIS WEEK AT CALLOUT AMERICA hurt my feelings. Well, maybe a little.] There will be topical news and analysis delivered in the nonpartisan man- RUCKER TOPS IN PASSION ner that Billboard has been known for during the last 100-plus years. (I would say 115, but that seems excessive, don’t you think?) Darius Rucker takes the No. 1 spot There will also be, of course, Billboard’s well-known country charts, which with “Alright,” up from No. 2, and have been the industry standard since 1944. But there will be much more, ranks as the No. 1 passion song. some of which will be revealed in the coming months. Nielsen, Billboard’s Male and female listeners are at parent company, is a worldwide leader in data collection and analysis, and No. 1 positive and passion. our readers will benefit from that expertise. Taylor Swift is at No. 2 positive BCU will also include a complete A-to-Z menu of all current titles appear- and passion with “You Belong ing weekly on Hot Country Songs, featuring songwriters, producers, music With Me,” which is the No. 2 song publishers and performing rights affiliations for those publishers. with 18-34s and No. 8 with core Senior chart manager/Nashville Wade Jessen will provide thorough 35-44s. Females are the strength, weekly editorial analysis of Billboard’s country radio and retail charts. Other at No. 2 positive and passion. exclusive chart content includes country touring breakouts from Billboard Toby Keith moves into the top Boxscore. five this week, ranking “American Rucker’s ‘Alright’ With BCU will also be the exclusive weekly delivery vehicle for John Hart’s Bulls- Ride” at No. 4 and No. 7 passion. Men, Women eye Research products, including Callout America and Radio FeedBack, and Men are at No. 2 and females at Hart’s weekly editorial highlights of those invaluable resources. No. 6; core 35-44s rank this song at No. 1 in the demo. If you have a story idea, a comment or a suggestion, feel free to contact me. Randy Houser is new to the top five with “Boots On” landing at No. If you’re reading this inaugural issue as the result of someone forwarding it 5, up from No. 9. It ranks as the No. 3 passion song, up from No. 8. to you or an unauthorized copying incident (gasp!), follow this link www.bill- Younger 18-34s are the strength at No. 4 and No. 3 passion. board.biz/enewsletters to sign up for your own copy. It’s free! Craig Morgan is at No. 9 with “Bonfire” and is the No. 10 passion song. Younger 25-34s are the strength of appeal at No. 5. Men overall BROOKS & DUNN TO SPLIT rank this song at No. 6. Core males are at No. 7. Brooks & Dunn, arguably country’s most successful duo, is calling it quits. Love and Theft’s “Runaway” is at No. 10 and No. 15 passion. Females “After 20 years of making music and riding this trail together, we have are the strength at No. 8. Females 18-24 are at No. 7 and No. 11 passion. agreed as a duo that it's time call it a day,” Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn said Darryl Worley takes “Sounds Like Life to Me” to No. 12 positive and in a post on their Web site. “This ride has been everything and more than we passion. Females are the strength at No. 12. Females 25-34 are at No. 11. could ever have dreamed. We owe it all to you, the fans.” Jason Michael Carroll sees a Power debut ranking with “Hurry Home” The post included the line, “If you hear rumors, don't believe them, it's at No. 15 in its first week and at No. 9 passion. Core 35-44 listeners show just time,” which ostensibly refers to an Entertainment Tonight report that strong appeal at No. 3. Females are at No. 14 and men at No. 15. states that “Ronnie has had it with the group.” —John Hart, Bullseye Marketing Research Brooks & Dunn first topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 1991 E-mail: [email protected] with “Brand New Man,” the first of 20 No. 1. In all they charted 59 songs, an amazing 41 of which reached top 10. SIX QUESTIONS WITH CLAY HUNNICUTT The pair has sold 22.3 million albums in the U.S., according to Nielsen With three titles and all the rights and responsibilities that go with them, Clay SoundScan. Their best seller is "The Greatest Hits Collection" (4.2 mil) fol- Hunnicutt has plenty on his plate. The veteran programmer is a senior VP lowed by "Brand New Man" (3.9 mil). The have scored five No. 1s on Top of programming (SVPP) for Clear Channel, overseeing stations in Chicago; Country Albums. Detroit; Cleveland; Cincinnati; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Atlanta; Char- They have won an unprecedented 14 Country Music Association vocal duo lotte, N.C.; Tampa, Fla.; and Orlando, Fla.. He’s also VP of country program- of the year Awards. ming and community engagement director for the company. B&D will release “#1s… and then some” on Sept. 8 on Arista Nashville and He works from his home near Atlanta, only visiting the local cluster as he make a final concert swing in 2010 via “The Last Rodeo Tour.” would if he were making a visit to any of his other markets. “I want to give BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE AUGUST 10, 2009 | PAGE 4 OF 17 [Atlanta director of operations] Scott [Lindy] his space,” he says. “The SVPP get. But that’s because it was a Chattanooga-centric radio station and I did- is not sitting there everyday critiquing the radio station.” n’t live there. How do you maintain that local insider feel when stations are This week, Hunnicutt talks to BCU about Arbitron’s Portable People Meter, voice-tracked? voice-tracking and jock talk. A guy sitting in a studio in Greenville, S.C., can do a show in Chattanooga and be just as local—just as topical, know all the slang, know all the termi- You’ve seen how the PPM has played out at your stations in Atlanta, Detroit nology know how to say the streets correctly, know how to pronounce the and Washington, D.C. How will your country stations in Baltimore and Tampa, names of the counties—if and only if they’ve done their homework and they’ve Fla., fare? had an ongoing conversations with the markets, and not just the program di- They’re both positioned to do very well.