April 10, 2017, Issue 545 RAC Clark: Inside The ACMs A conversation with 52nd ACM Awards Executive Producer RAC Clark: Let’s get right to the elephant: Ratings were down again. We had the insanity of the 50th where everything fell into place, and that’s a hard standard to hold to. I don’t know what the new normal is for country music awards shows in the spring, but we’re finding it out. And I really don’t know what else to do. We had great music, great partici- pation from our stars – I’m stumped. Can we do something different with marketing, with production? We had stiff competition – base- ball, Walking Dead and WrestleMania – but RAC Clark we always do. At the same time, it was Final Four weekend, which has always been good to us, and CBS had huge ratings. We’ll do an extensive debrief over the summer and get into all the different factors. Road Warriors: Team Lauren takes their No. 1 celebration on The show was well-received in the room and our radio the road to iHeartMedia/Nashville. Pictured (l-r) are Mercury’s readers gave it high marks last week. Jack Christopher, iHeartCountry’s Rod Phillips, Mercury’s Damon I will happily say we were technically flawless. I haven’t heard Moberly, UMG/Nashville’s Donna Hughes, Lauren Alaina, any complaints and from where I sat, every team hit their marks. UMGN’s Royce Risser, WSIX’s Gator Harrison, manager Trisha McClanahan and UMGN’s David Friedman. Having the Entertainer nominees open was so strong and such a simple concept. Why hasn’t that been done before? We’ve tried, but there’s usually one holdout. You can’t open CRS Revisited: Slicing & Dicing with, “Here are four of the five Entertainer nominees!” This year, One of CRS 2017’s best-received panels mixed original Carrie’s manager Ann Edelblute said, “We’re in. Why don’t you research from Stone Door Media Lab’s Jeff Green with commen- ask everybody else?” She gets producer credit on that one. tary from top record and radio execs on the ever-changing factors Talking about following the energy of that, and with Chuck that go into music decisions. Green’s research Berry’s untimely passing, we thought it was the right fit to put our identified five reliable early indicators of song hosts in their comfort zone as musicians. Then Joe Walsh was acceptance, while the panel offered valuable available and we did a two-minute version of “Johnny B. Goode” – and at times cautionary perspective. verse, chorus, solo. Green started with those five proven How did it go with Luke and Dierks in their second predictors: 12 or more Shazams-per-spin in time together hosting? their second chart week, No. 1 Most Added, They did great and put a lot of effort in. We brought in a new early Airborne status, 12 or more sales per writer, Paul Greenberg, and they committed to starting earlier and spin in chart week two, and fast Pandora chart really fine tuning the script. When we were discussing the mono- pacing. “Yes there are many exceptions,” says Jeff Green (continued on page 7) ©2017 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] April 10, 2017 Page 3 MY TUNES: MUSIC THAT SHAPED MY LIFE Universal Music Publishing writer Blair Daly discusses his most influential music: 1. KISS’ Asylum Tour, The Cajundome, Lafayette, LA: It was the first concert I ever attended. My mind was blown. After that show, there was no question about what I was going to do with my life. 2. Eddie Van Halen: I remember so clearly as a kid, sitting in front of the fireplace in Blair Daly my parents’ living room, watching MTV. The “Jump” video came on. As soon as Eddie shredded that solo, I was done. That next day, my parents ordered me a right-handed harmony acoustic from Sears for $25. I flipped the strings to make it lefty, and the rest is history. 3. Def Leppard’s Hysteria: I grew up in the ‘80s and am a huge fan of rock and hard rock. This band always had great songs. Also, Mutt Lange’s production on this record Fresh Grouper: A host of label, radio pros and guests converge is incredible. To this day, there aren’t many occasions when on Blue Chair/Columbia’s Kenny Chesney backstage at Tortuga. I’m writing a song or doing a demo, where I don’t pull out something from that book of tricks. Green. “Some songs don’t score well on any of these indicators ... 4. Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction: This band and and still become big.” album were game changers for me. They came out of the same As for what programmers actually look to, Green’s survey Sunset StripUPDATE scene as most of the big ‘80s rock bands, but G N’ asked reporters to rank 38 factors that may impact their decision R did their own thing. They combined great songs with, what was making. The top three were artist stature, gut feeling, and tempo to me, the true spirit of rebellious, badass rock and roll. and sound. See the full piece here. 5. Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”: I love great pop music. I Following Green’s data presentation, Sony/ was an instant fan the first time I heard “I Kissed A Girl.” She’s the Nashville EVP/Marketing & New Business real deal. A superstar, onstage and off. And, she knows how to John Zarling said he looks at Spotify, write huge pop hits. I’ve been asked many times, if you could pick Pandora and other key streaming partners. one favorite pop song you didn’t write, what would it be. “Teenage Singles sales through iTunes and video data Dream” has been that song for me for a good while now. from YouTube and Vevo are important, too. • Highly regarded music you’ve never heard: Twenty As is market-specific streaming data. He also stressed the importance of looking for reasons One Pilots’ Blurryface. I’ve heard bits and pieces. But nothing John Zarling I’ve connected with to make me want to listen to the record. why one platform may be outperforming • “Important” music you just don’t get: Kanye West records. another. “What’s going on with that pool of • An album you listened to incessantly: Shinedown’s The listeners that is allowing that particular song to Sound Of Madness. over-index,” he asked. • Obscure or non-country song everyone should listen CBS VP/Programming and KMLE/Phoenix to right now: Chris Cornell’s “Nearly Forgot My Broken PD Tim Richards looks at Shazam, Spotify, Heart.” His voice is insane! He has it all. The soul, the range and video and extraordinary examples of social emotion. In my opinion, one of the best singers of my lifetime. engagement, but warned attendees to only • Music you’d rather not admit to enjoying: If I enjoy it, use mScores over multiple weeks and only on I’ll gladly admit it! songs with at least 150 spins. Richards also Tim Richards welcomes data from label partners and en- ©2017 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] April 10, 2017 Page 5 Soul’d Out: Backstage at Friday’s (4/7) New Orleans opening of the Soul2Soul World Tour 2017 are (l-r) Sony’s Ken Robold and Lauren Thomas, Arista’s Josh Easler, Sony’s Randy Goodman, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sony’s Steve Hodges, Columbia’s Shane Allen, and Sony’s John Zarling and Jim Catino. courages his fellow PDs to do the same without falling to cynicism. “We News & Notes live in an on-demand society,” he said. “We need to adapt or die.” Way Radio has flipped CountryWRVA/Campbell, TX from Zarling noted that the label’s task is to show how each artist “Thunder Country” to “107.1 Celebrate FM” as a Country, Classic is different through their charitable works, touring and imaging. Rock and Top 40 hybrid. “There are so many artists that frankly all of us on the label side are South 65 WHSX/Bowling Green, KY is the latest affiliate of challenged with finding that differentiating point,” he said. Zarling Envision Networks’ Collin Raye’s Country Rewind. also said an opportunity may exist for a third party to provide data Legacy launched Classic Country KRGI HD-4/Grand Island, to radio pros, who may be skeptical of what labels supply. NE on translator K278BR as “103.5 The Legend.” Richards emphasized the importance of treating labels as Timothy Walker transfered his 50% stake in WHLB & partners, not only in terms of the music and data they provide, but KZZM/Mason, TX to partner Charles Jordan III. also for the acts they bring to the table for station events. Green Saga WQNY/Ithaca, NY re-launched with imaging by Neil offered advice on using Shazam charts for tracking growth and Wilson and Benztown’s Brandings Country library. trends, and said Wikipedia views and data from Next Big Sound Geisler Radio’s Today In Country Music History will air epi- are free and useful (click here). See the entire presentation here. sode 4,000 Wednesday (4/12). –Paul Williams Lee Brice and American Young are among those performing at Providing Hope For Music City, a fundraiser for non-profitHope Song April 11 at Nashville’s East Ivy Mansion.