June 30, 2026 News@CountryAircheck.com

The Cats And The Bees: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for May 2026 (three-month rolling average, 3/5-5/27) compared with March and April. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Albany, NY (Market 68)	WGNA Townsquare 5.4 (2t) - 4.7 (4t) - 4.9 (4) WKLI Pamal 2.2 (13) - 2.7 (9t) - 3.6 (7) Exec. Dir./Operations & Programming Kevin Callahan tells Country Aircheck the station led the format in both Persons 18-49 and 25-54. WINU Pamal Classic Country 1.5 (14) - 1.7 (13t) - 1.3 (15t)
Syracuse, NY (101)	WBBS iHeartMedia 9.1 (1) - 8.9 (1) - 9.5 (1) Largest share since July 2023. WOLF FoxFur 3.0 (6) - 2.6 (6t) - 2.5 (7t)

New Ten's Law: With its expansion into PPM markets, here are May Eastlan Ratings for Country stations in the 10 largest markets it measures, compared with March and April. Eastlan uses online and phone-based recall surveys. Shares are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Chicago	WUSN Audacy 3.9 (8) - 4.1 (8) - 4.1 (7t) WXLC Connoisseur 0.2 (39t) - 0.2 (39t) - 0.2 (39t)
Dallas	KPLX Cumulus 5.8 (2) - 6.0 (2) - 6.0 (2) KSCS Cumulus 4.9 (3) - 4.9 (3) - 5.0 (3)
Houston	KKBQ Radio One 5.3 (5t) - 5.8 (3) - 5.9 (3) KILT Audacy 4.0 (11t) - 4.0 (11) - 4.0 (11)
Atlanta	WKHX Cumulus 4.0 (8) - 4.5 (7) - 4.6 (7) WUBL iHeartMedia 3.8 (11) - 3.8 (10t) - 3.7 (11)
Seattle	KKWF Audacy N/A - 6.4 (2) - 6.3 (3) KPLZ Lotus Classic Country N/A - 2.8 (17) - 2.9 (15t) KPNW Hubbard N/A - 1.8 (22) - 1.8 (22)
Cincinnati	WUBE Hubbard 8.5 (3) - 8.8 (3) - 8.9 (2t) WYGY Hubbard 1.5 (19) - 1.8 (18) - 2.1 (18) WHKO/Dayton Cox 1.2 (20t) - 1.3 (20) - 1.3 (20) WNNF Cumulus 1.2 (20t) - 1.1 (21t) - 1.1 (21)
Raleigh	WQDR Curtis 6.5 (5) - 6.2 (5) - 6.6 (3t) WNCB iHeartMedia 2.2 (14) - 2.3 (14) - 2.4 (14t)
Greensboro	WTQR iHeartMedia 5.3 (6) - 4.8 (8) - 5.7 (6) WPAW Audacy 3.6 (10) - 3.6 (10) - 3.2 (11) WQDR/Raleigh Curtis 2.0 - 1.8 (16t) - 1.7 (17) WKKT/Charlotte iHeartMedia 1.7 (14t) - 1.5 (18) - 1.2 (19) WBRF Twin County Classic Country 1.1 (20) - 1.0 (20) - 1.0 (20t)
Oklahoma City (first month surveyed)	KTST iHeartMedia 6.3 (5t) KJKE Tyler 4.3 (11) KXXY iHeartMedia Classic Country 3.3 (12) KWFF Chisolm Trail Classic Country 1.1 (21t)
Memphis	WGKX Cumulus 5.3 (9) - 5.4 (9) - 5.0 (9) WLFP Audacy 3.8 (10) - 4.2 (10) - 4.3 (10) WEBL North Mississippi Media 2.1 (15t) - 1.6 (16) - 1.4 (17t)

Danny Ocean: Former Hubbard Radio/West Palm Beach Dir./Sales Danny Bortnick will join Cox Media Group in the newly-created role of VP/Local Revenue & Client Growth, effective July 13. Prior to Hubbard, Bortnick was Region SVP/Sales for iHeartMedia in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area, and VP/Dir. of Sales for CBS Radio in that same market.

Ten What: Promotions and new hires at the Country Music Association are:

Emily Arvanitis from Event Producer to Sr. Event Producer; reach her here.
Kayleigh Bentley from Mgr. to Sr. Mgr./Member Experience; reach her here.
Amanda Jilek from Mgr. to Sr. Mgr./Creative & Content; reach her here.
Maddie Myers from Mgr. to Sr. Mgr./Digital Marketing; reach her here.
Nora Webb from Coord. to Mgr./Business Affairs; reach her here.
Former Ocean Way Studio Administrative & Marketing Asst. Samantha Alenius joins as Coord./Accounting; reach her here.
Former CMA temp Britney Buckwalter is Media Project Mgr.; reach her here.
Former FlyteVu Sr. Account Mgr. Tarah Duarte is Sr. Account Mgr./Strategic Partnerships; reach her here.
Former Williamsburg Area Transit Authority Project Consultant Alec Staniul is Insights Analyst; reach him here.
Former Atlanta Braves Associate R&D Developer Craig Weaver is CRM Manager; reach him here.

Two Leave Civic Media: Morning host Jay Roberts and midday host Laura McKenna have departed Civic Media WSCM/Baldwin, WI. Both also worked at other stations in the company. WSCM had been simulcast on WLAK & W298DK/Amery, WI, which have temporarily gone dark. Reach Roberts here. See McKenna's farewell post here.

Happiness Is A Warm Run: The winners of the ACM Industry Awards and Studio Recording Awards for the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards include Ed Warm, taking home his second Don Romeo Talent Buyer of the Year award in addition to five wins in other categories over the years; Justin Niebank, who earned his 10th win as Audio Engineer of the Year; and Dann Huff, whose Producer of the Year win brings his category total to six. Full list of Industry winners here and Studio Recording winners here.

They will be celebrated during the Carly Pearce and Parker McCollum-hosted 19th Academy of Country Music Honors (CAT 6/24) Aug. 19 at The Pinnacle in Nashville; here.

Row Your Own Way: Round Hill Music Sr. Dir./A&R Lindsay Will and Dir./A&R Taylor Antle will lead the recently launched Back Row Publishing as VP/A&R and Dir./A&R, respectively. The company's first signing is songwriter Christian Yancey, whose cuts include Josh Ross’ “Hate How You Look." Reach Will here and Antle here.

Fan Fare: From wild asks to one final farewell, last night's (6/29) Country Aircheck Weekly is all about the lengths country fans will go. Matt Cooper, David Friedman, Marci Braun, James Marsh and more share the stories that made them laugh, cringe and screen their calls, and more than 80,000 fans across Nashville help Alan Jackson close out nearly 40 years of touring.

Open Up My Eager Eyes: Academy of Country Music CEO Damon Whiteside is transitioning to the role of CEO Emeritus tomorrow through year-end (CAT 3/3/26). In an email to membership today (6/30), Whiteside writes, "The Academy and country music industry have a bright future ahead, and I am honored to have been a small part of that legacy." His ACM email will remain active; he can also be reached at his new business email here.

Stories Of The Week: Search for news and people in the archives at countryaircheck.com.

WQDR/Raleigh's Amanda Daughtry departed the Q Morning Crew. (6/29)
Scott Hendricks and Blake Duncan launched Taycan Entertainment. (6/29)
iHeartMedia cuts affected Scott Stevens, "Uncle" Mike Hansen and Beth Christy. (6/29)

Bits & Pieces: To mark the 100th anniversary of Griffin Media's KVOO/Tulsa, sister television station KOTV will air a 30-minute special hosted by KVOO Brand Mgr. Tanner Messer and KOTV Chief Meteorologist Travis Meyer July 2 at 6:30PM CT. Watch it online here. The audio will also air on KVOO July 3 at 10am and July 5 at 8pm. More info on the special and other places to watch/listen here.

Willie Nelson has partnered with Dixxon Flannel Co. for a limited collection of men's, women's and youth flannel shirts. Find them here.

Warren Zeiders has become an investor in the Premier Lacrosse League, an eight-team men’s professional league in North America. Zeiders has also teamed with MasterCraft Boat Company and truck accessory brand RealTruck for a charitable fundraising effort benefiting nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes. Fans can enter to win a customized Chevrolet Colorado paired with a restored MasterCraft 1975 “Stars & Stripes” ski boat. Details here.

Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are the Top 5 songs for June 29, according to Mediabase.

JASON ALDEAN/Don't Tell On Me (Macon Music/Broken Bow) 4323 points
MORGAN WALLEN/Don't We (Big Loud) 4088 points
MEGAN MORONEY/Beautiful Things (Col. NY/Columbia) 4061 points
ELLA LANGLEY & MORGAN WALLEN/I Can't Love You Anymore (Sawgod/Col. NY/Triple Tigers/Big Loud) 3901 points
JOSH ROSS/Hate How You Look (Core/Mercury) 3450 points

Country Aircheck Top Point Gainers: Here are the top point gainers for June 28-29, compared with the same days last week, according to Mediabase.

MEGAN MORONEY/Beautiful Things (Col. NY/Columbia) +1709 points
JELLY ROLL/Hands Up (Stoney Creek) +1265 points
ELLA LANGLEY & MORGAN WALLEN/I Can't Love You Anymore (Sawgod/Col. NY/Triple Tigers/Big Loud) +678 points
TAYLOR SWIFT/I Knew It, I Knew You (Disney/Republic/MCA) +558 points
STELLA LEFTY/Boston (Sandlot/Atlantic Outpost) +485 points

Tomorrow's Birthdays (7/1): Michelle Wright, Joanna Cotten, Suzanne Durham, Hugh James, Janine Ebach, Levi Hummon, the late Keith Whitley, the late Don Brake.

In My Wildest Streams: Hey Now's Kenny Chesney received the Pandora Billionaire plaque for more than eight million streams at SiriusXM's Music Row Happy Hour in Las Vegas. Pictured (l-r) are SXM's Tommy Massad, Kizzi Barazetti and Buzz Brainard, Chesney and SXM's Johnny Chiang.

Nate Night: RCA's Nate Smith (l) with Music Choice's Jim Murphy at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.

Show Bidness: The Society of Leaders in Development (SOLID) raises more than $27,000 at its annual Backstage Auction for the CMA Foundation. Pictured (l-r) are SOLID's Alannah Schwartz, Nina Teapot Owens, Eunice Hernandez, Brendan McManus and Brian Day and the CMA's Victoria Rutledge, Sarah McKenzie, Lindsey Morrison and Michelle Kirk.

Signage: Singer/songwriter Carlisle Wright signs with Joan of Arc Music for management. Pictured (l-r) are the company's Dawn Gates and Cindy Mabe, Wright and the company's Lori Christian, Harper Grae and Leigh Morrison.

MOC Musicians On Call FILL Tower 2025.jpg