March 30, 2015, Issue 441 Truth Behind A ‘Crush’ To Judgment Bias, bigotry, questionable decision making and a rush to judg- ment – this story has it all. Interestingly, those terms best fit national media outlets, not Country radio nor the overwhelming majority of country listeners. Simply put, not a single Country radio station has pulled Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” from the airwaves. Go ahead and read that again. Despite breathless headlines led by The Washington Post’s “Why stations are pulling Little Big Town’s ‘Girl Crush’ – and what that says about country radio,” Country Aircheck can’t find any- one who’s dropped the song. Nor can Little Big Town’s label, Capitol/ Nashville. In fact, the Tent Polls: Gathering backstage at the iHeartRadio Music very small Awards are (l-r) Jason Aldean, iHM’s Clay Hunnicutt, number of Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley and Big Loud stations that Mountain’s Seth England. have react- Little Big Town ed to listener complaints – less than five, by our count – have played the song Bill’s Excellent Adventure less or moved it out of certain dayparts, and could very well move After 81 consecutive No. 1 books, WXBQ/Johnson City, TN it back once perception catches up with reality. More on how this OM/PD Bill Hagy will retire Wednesday (4/1), 50 years to the “controversy” proliferated in a bit, but first a look at the facts that day after he started with Bristol Broadcasting Company. Country haven’t gotten in the way of a good story. Aircheck asked him to look back over his remarkable career and According to Mediabase, “Girl Crush” has logged 17,297 share some of the highlights, stories and memories. Country spins to date. WJVC/Nassau leads total spins to date with CA: To what do you attribute your 502, followed by WSLC/Roanoke, VA (376), KBEQ/Kansas City longevity – both in the business and (354), WPAW/Greensboro (344) and KUPL/Portland (320). with one company? In this, its thirteenth week, “Crush” moves from 32 to 30 BH: I’ve been very fortunate. I don’t know and is up 233 plays. The top five stations by spins this week are how much luck enters into it, but certainly KUPL/Portland (53), WKHK/Richmond (47), WKLB/Boston (38), fortunate. The man who hired me was the WJVC/Nassau (34) and KNCI/Sacramento (31). Eight stations founder of the company, and he was almost a increased airplay by at least 10 spins surrogate dad. He challenged me to grow and on the week: WKHK/Richmond (21), (continued on page 7) figure things out as we went. There’s maybe Bill Hagy ©2015 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] March 30, 2015 Page 3 been one five-minute period when it wasn’t fun, but it’s been chal- lenging and fun and I love the business, I love radio, I love music. PAGE THREE PIC That brings us back to fortunate. Is Bristol the only radio company you’ve worked for? I was originally hired by Bristol Broadcasting Company in 1965, when it was only an AM station. That was WFHG/Bristol, VA. I worked one year with another company in 1968 – Scripps Howard at WNOX/Knoxville. I was the morning guy there and Claude Tallman was the morning guy on WIVK. Then I was back at BBC from ‘69 to ‘82, when I decided I could be an entrepre- neur and sell motorcycles and Sony TVs and electronic gear. I did that for three years. BBC owner Pete Nininger and I had stayed in touch because we were friends. He offered me a chance to come back and I’ve been here ever since. So it amounts to about 46 years with one outfit. What first drew you to radio? It kind of ran in the family. My mother was the continuity direc- tor for WOPI in town. That’s the same station Tennessee Ernie Ford also worked at. I’d go hang out after school and they allowed me to put away albums they’d pulled for various music shows. I thought, “Wow, this is cool!” You’ve had 81 No. 1 books in a row. Does it ever get to a point where you take that for granted? No it does not. The trait of the radio industry is that nothing ever stays the same. It’s always changing and there are new challenges, whether they’re technical or competitive. The music changes, there’s always something new on the horizon to challenge you to figure out Mama He’s Swayze: A young Rowdy Yates chats the best way to embrace it or get around it. backstage with (l-r) Naomi and Wynonna Judd of How do you roll with all the changes you’ve seen over RCA’s The Judds back when his dad Joe Holstead was the years and continue to be successful? News Dir. for KSCS/Dallas. Have throwback radio The greatest thing is that the corporate goals and my per- shots of your own? Send them to pagethreepic@ sonal goals are very closely related. We want to do the best job countryaircheck.com. at broadcasting that we can, engage the listener, promote the ©2015 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] March 30, 2015 Page 5 music and the community. I know it’s a popular saying these days News & Notes with all the media ownership – they claim to try to be local and Veteran media executive Mel Karmazin will appear at the engaged and so forth – but that’s always been job one with this NAB Show as part of this year’s general session “Mel Karmazin company so we didn’t have to change. Totally Unplugged: Cocktails and Conversation” April 14 in Las There’s always talk about the changes in music. Vegas. More here. What’s your take on the current state of country? New affiliates for Silverfish/Compass’ Big D & Bubba are I think it’s great, but I’ve always had a problem with various la- KAYD/Beaumont, TX; WXBN/Winchester, VA; WBGI/ bels and management companies that follow the ‘me too’ mantra. Wheeling, WV; WKTT/Salisbury, MD; KFVR/Pueblo, CO; In other words, here’s something that’s a hit that’s working and WMKZ/Monticello, KY and KMTB/Nashville, AR. suddenly here’s 13 more that are the same. That’s how business WBXQ/Altoona, PA; WOLF/Syracuse, NY; WVRE/ works – find something that’s successful and put your brand on Dubuque, IA; WLFZ/Springfield, IL; WGYY/Erie, PA; it – but you’ve got to get it past the consumer, and therein lies the WGYI/Oil City, PA; KUPI/Idaho Falls, ID; KXLW/Anchor- rub, more times than not. age, AK; KSMA/Mason City, IA; KYUN/Twin Falls, ID; Any good stories about artists you’ve supported early KOYN/Paris, TX; KAOC/Langdon, ND; KKQY/Hays, KS; on who became stars? WPLZ/Chattanooga, TN; KXBZ/Manhattan, KS; KMXN/ I was an early supporter of Garth. When he was on his second sin- Topeka, KS; KEWF/Billings, MT; KDJS/Willmar, MN and gle I invited him to the Johnson City Springfest, and the weather wasn’t WCKN/Charleston, SC are new affiliates of Sun’s The Hit List good. He and Sandy drove up in the van and did a 25-30 minute with Fitz. KZSN/Wichita, KS and WDGG/Huntington, WV are acoustic thing in an auditorium where people were sort of huddled new affiliates of The Country Club with Dee Jay Silver. together to get out of the weather. There may have been 50 people The year-long Les Paul 100th Anniversary celebration will kick there, and it was like, “Who is this guy?” They all got to meet him. off June 9 in Times Square with a tribute concert. It will also be What made you decide it was time to retire? “Les Paul Day” in Nashville. More here. Fifty years is a long time. I’ve been fortunate, had a lot of success, The International Songwriting Competition’s 345 finalists have and it’s just about time. As we age I think time gets a little higher prior- been revealed here. Public voting for favorite songs is open until ity as the years tick by. I still love the business and plan to be involved April 23 here. in it. I’ll be a programming consultant of record for the BBC. But I treasure and look forward to the time I’ll have away as well. What will you do? Artist News If I told you, I’d have to kill you. No, just that. Enjoy time. I’ve Rodney Atkins and wife Rose Falcon Atkins will host Rod got a seven-year-old grandson in Nashville who’s going to play & Rosey’s 2nd Annual Livin’ Room Live Show on StageIt March 31 Little League this year and I’ll go to a few games. I’m just going to at 7:30pm CT to benefit theHolston United Methodist Home have some fun. for Children. They’ll be joined by guests The Himms. Reach Hagy here. –Jess Wright Time Life has released the 10-CD set Country Music Of Your Life, a collection of country ballads from the 1950s-’70s. Charley Pride and Crystal Gayle host the national TV commercial. More Chart Chat info here. Congrats to Darius Rucker, Royce Riss- NRA Country will present the NRA Freedom Festival in Nash- er, Shane Allen, Katie Dean and the Cap- ville April 9-12, featuring music from Hank Williams, Jr., Colt itol promotion staff on scoring this week’s No.