February 23, 2015, Issue 436 Road To CRS: Power Panels CRS 2015 kicks off Wednesday (2/25) in Nashville and Country Aircheck spoke to board President Charlie Morgan and others about what’s new and notable. For starters, the event opens Wednesday afternoon rather than in the morning, and is not preceded by the Country Radio Hall of Fame event typically held Tuesday. That’s been moved to June. Morgan attributes the changes to hotel availability, and views the results as positive. “It’s just like in radio when you have limited time and have to edit,” he explains. “It’s tightened things up to where the best has Charlie Morgan remained on the schedule.” Seeing Stars: In addition to the keynote from entrepreneur and philanthropist Todd Wagner as covered in last week’s Country Aircheck Weekly (2/18), Morgan is particularly excited about this year’s artist panels. “How Three Become One: Lady An- tebellum” and “Keith Urban: Being Present” happen Thursday and Friday, respectively. “They’re megastars in our format,” he says. Old Boots: Randy Owen (l) joins Jason Aldean onstage “The Lady A panel is really about taking three diverse, divergent during Saturday’s (2/21) Burn It Down Tour stop in Nashville creative types and building such a success story. That’s what we do for performances of the Alabama classics “Tennessee River” in our work lives, right? We’ve got a whole lot of different creative and “My Home’s In Alabama.” types that we try to get together and move forward in one direc- tion. And the Keith Urban panel is going to be a very personal Preview: A&O&B Seminar hour as he talks about all the things he juggles – writing, touring, Albright & O’Malley & Brenner recording, parenting and husbanding – and how he’s present in will hold their 21st Annual Pre-CRS Seminar all those roles in his life. It’ll be a great message for a room full of Wednesday (2/25), and Becky Brenner and people who multitask the hell out of their days. Typically artists talk Mike O’Malley tell Country Aircheck what about their songs and their new album. This goes beyond that.” to expect. Research Party: “Mornings and radio have always gone to- Curb CEO Jim Ed Norman will keynote. gether sort of like peanut butter and jelly, “The breadth and depth of Jim Ed’s experience (continued on page 11) Jim Ed Norman ©2015 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] February 23, 2015 Page 3 in the music and education world is unequaled,” says Brenner. “There are so many questions to be asked as he shares the wis- PAGE THREE PIC dom he has accrued over the years.” She says those include his thoughts on positive changes and challenges within the business, what role radio plays in the business plan for new artists and tips for GMs and PDs about multitasking and leading unique teams to success. Jacobs Media Dir./Digital and Social Strategies Lori Lewis will return for a second year to talk about social media usage. “Social media isn’t about selling people or directing them on what to do,” says Brenner. “The heart of social is service – personalized acknowledgment. Helping people feel seen and heard. Lori will share examples of using social to give the fans a voice, making them feel like they matter, and in return reaping their loyalty.” Lori Lewis Brenner says the talk will show pro- grammers how to turn passive fans into In The First Place: Glen and Kim Campbell (l) meet Tim active ones, which O’Malley adds is key. “Passionate fans want McGraw and wife Faith Hill for the first time in August to connect with stations via as many platforms as possible, and of 2000. The picture is signed “To Glen & Kim, thanks social is certainly one of them,” he says. Lewis will offer new ideas for the music.” Send your own brushes with greatness for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and information on new to [email protected]. platforms taking over in 2015. “Roadmap 2015” will reveal top line results from A&O&B’s how the radio groups in his market got togeth- annual listener study of more than 11,000 P1s in the U.S. and er to present a compelling case for radio to Canada. “We’ll cover their opinions on country music satisfaction, the advertising community,” says O’Malley. Country radio satisfaction, new artist discovery, radio usage and “And we’re adding an additional session for more,” says Brenner. “Plus we’ll find out how they’re using digital talent which includes a Q&A with a Second and social media platforms.” City Conservatory alum.” Two sessions not previously revealed address sales and on-air. As always, the seminar will include live “Max Media/Norfolk GM Dave Paulus is leading a session on music, this year featuring Republic Nashville’s Dave Paulus ©2015 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] February 23, 2015 Page 6 A Thousand Horses. The event runs 9am-12:30pm at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Ford Theater, is free and open to OFF THE RECORD: JOSH DORR clients and any broadcasters not competing with A&O&B clients. RSVP to O’Malley here or Brenner here. –Jess Wright RCA’s Josh Dorr puts an industry spin on the artist interview: I grew up listening to KGWY/Gil- Chart Chat lette, WY. They played my favorites like Congrats to Thomas Rhett, George Garth Brooks and Brooks & Dunn, and Briner and the Valory promotion team on every now and then they’d throw in Wyo- scoring this week’s No. 1 with “Make Me Wan- ming’s Chris LeDoux. na.” The song is the third chart-topper from I was completely freaked out Rhett’s debut album It Goes Like This. and nervous before my first station visit. And kudos across the hall to Matthew I had hardly slept the night before. We Hargis and the Republic Nashville re- Josh Dorr didn’t pick the single until we were about gional staff on landing 43 adds for Florida Thomas Rhett halfway there. We all agreed on “Save Georgia Line’s “Sippin’ On Fire,” topping Your Breath” and then visited WUSY/Chattanooga, TN’s Gator this week’s board. Harrison. We went to his house and got to hang out with his wife Country Aircheck/Mediabase Reporting Panel Changes: and their little girl. It was a really good first visit for me. KVOO/Tulsa, WKHK/Richmond and WKLI/Albany, NY have My band and I recently got snowed in, in New York City. been added, KTGX/Tulsa is no longer a reporter. KFGE/Lin- We bought toy instruments and walked around in the snow like coln, NE has been added to the Activator panel. New weights we were street performers, singing my single. The instruments for both panels are on page 13. sounded so terrible but it was fun. I am a big fan of the Whatchamacallit candy bar. I also love coconut water and the yellow Vitaminwater. That’s been my Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire go-to lately, at truck stops. SoundScan’s new No. 1 country album is from a band I would love to have dinner with Tom Petty or Bob Dylan with no Country radio airplay. How did Atlanta-based Round- – someone like that who’s lived and seen so much. I’d probably er’s Blackberry Smoke snag the top spot, selling more than order a big ol’ steak. 19,000 copies of Holding All The Roses? Day-to-day mgr. Vec- My music is lyric-driven country, but it has a lot of inspi- tor’s Trey Wilson says they did it the old-fashioned way. ration from all the different music I grew up listening to – a little “It’s a testament to them rallying the troops on the day of the bit of rock, little bit of R&B melodies. It’s country music with loud release and having a great product to back it up,” he tells Coun- rock guitars and stadium anthemic choruses. try Aircheck. “They’ve been together 14 years. It’s been a My entire life is an impulse buy. My last ridiculous fan-by-fan build for them. This was the culmination of four great purchase was a slingshot. But you can fish with it. It’s like a bow releases before it. Palladia, AXS-TV fishing slingshot. It was way too much money and I never use it. and DirecTV have all been airing I wish I had written Bob Dylan’s “To Make You Feel My live footage of the band for a long Love.” It’s resonated with me since I was a little kid. I’m a “love time. You combine that with their song” guy. The music and the arrangement of it is simple and 200 shows a year. It’s a good ex- really great. ample of how you don’t necessarily I listen to music everywhere I go. If I don’t have head- need all the tools that are available phones with me on the road, I will go to the nearest store and to other artists right now to have a buy some as soon as possible. I feel like I’m buying headphones No. 1 record.” five times a month. Somewhere there’s a headphone fairy that The band’s merchandise also goes into my suitcase and steals them.