April 30, 2024 News@CountryAircheck.com

Still The Ones: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for March 2024 (three-month rolling average, 1/4-3/27; aka Winter quarterly) compared with January and February. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Bakersfield, CA (Market 80)	KUZZ Owens 9.0 (1) - 9.1 (1) - 9.3 (1t) KRJK Owens 1.6 (17t) - 2.2 (12t) - 2.2 (12t) KCWR Owens Classic Country 1.3 (19) - 1.3 (20) - 1.5 (18t)
Knoxville, TN (72)	WIVK Cumulus 11.0 (1) - 11.9 (1) - 11.6 (1) WCYQ SummitMedia 3.5 (7t) - 4.2 (6) - 3.3 (9) WDKW Midwest Classic Country 2.0 (11) - 1.7 (11) - 2.1 (12)
Omaha, NE (75)	KXKT iHeartMedia 10.5 (1) - 12.0 (1) - 10.5 (1) KFFF iHeartMedia Classic Country 2.6 (13) - 3.6 (9) - 3.0 (11t)
Tulsa, OK (64)	KWEN Cox 5.8 (4t) - 6.3 (3) - 7.2 (2) Largest share since Sep. 2022. KXBL Griffin Classic Country 4.0 (7t) - 4.0 (8t) - 5.2 (6) Largest share since June 2023. KVOO Griffin 4.0 (7t) - 4.5 (7) - 4.3 (8) KTGX iHeartMedia 2.5 (15) - 2.7 (15) - 2.8 (14t)

Out-Kix The Coverage: APD/midday host Sarah "Lynn" Hamilton has been promoted into the newly created PD role at Cumulus WJCL/Savannah (CAT 4/12). She has been APD at the station for a decade. Cluster OM Gary Shelton (a.k.a. "DJ Rax") had been handling programming since Jan. 2023 (CAT 1/30/23). Hamilton will retain her airshifts at WJCL, Classic Rock sister WIXV and Westwood One's syndicated Hot AC format, Hits Now. "As APD, Sarah has seamlessly stepped into the role of Dir./Promotions when needed, showcasing her versatility and willingness to go above and beyond to ensure the success of our endeavors," says VP/MM Eric Mastel. "Her proactive approach and can-do attitude have significantly enhanced our operations, earning her the respect and admiration of her colleagues." Reach Hamilton here.

Seven Up: Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) GM/National Radio Talent System Bob Lawrence has joined Seven Mountains as MM for its newly acquired Parkersburg, WV cluster, which includes Country WGGE and Classic Country WLYQ. He succeeds the retiring Don Staats. Lawrence joined the RAB last year (CAT 1/7/23), with previous stops as MM at New South/Jackson, MS, VP/Programming at Saga and Pres./CEO of Pinnacle Media. Reach him here.

Hot Air: No official word, but Apple Music Radio is rumored to be ending its relationship with staffing vendor Aquent through which many of the platform's staffers in producer and related roles are employed. In Nashville, approximately 20 people have been notified that their Aquent-sourced roles will end in mid-June. Apple recently posted three full-time Apple-employee positions, and the unnamed new staffing vendor is also expected to be hiring. How many current Nashville staff will ultimately be displaced remains unclear. The platform has been quietly cutting back on fully produced programming over the past several months.

Festive All: Dolly Parton will kick off CMA Fest's Fan Fair X Thursday morning (6/6) on the CMA Close Up Stage. Subsequent Artists of the Day are Cody Johnson (6/7), Thomas Rhett (6/8) and Lainey Wilson (6/9). The Close Up Stage will also host Jake Owen: A Barefoot Blue Jean… Afternoon, Country Heat Weekly live and more; lineup here.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's CMA Fest programming includes a Concert and Conversation with Lorrie Morgan (6/6), CMT’s Next Women of Country (6/7), Songwriter Session with Trannie Anderson (6/8) and Musician Spotlight with Jenee Fleenor (6/9); details here.

Mountain Ears: The West Virginia Broadcasters Association (WVBA) presented its 2024 Excellence in Broadcasting Awards in Morgantown (4/27) to Country honorees including:

Best Country Station in a Ranked Market: WHKX/Bluefield
Best Country Station in an Unranked Market: WVMD/Romney
Best Morning Show in a Ranked Market: Big Dawg Morning Show with Cowboy Will, Will Shumate, WJLS/Beckley
Best On-Air Personality in a Rated Market: Brock Matthews, WHKX

See the complete list of honorees here.

For The Record: Nielsen Audio and Edison Research have launched The Record, a comprehensive quarterly analysis of ad-supported audio consumption. The initial report for Q1 2024 shows radio accounting for 67% of the daily time spent with audio, followed by 20% for podcasts, 10% for streaming and 3% for satellite. Among 25-54s, radio's share is 60%, while that number falls to 45% among 18-34s. Country's share of total radio listening stands at 5.9%, tying it for third with Classic Hits. When looking just at the streaming audience, Country's share falls to 3.5%. See complete report here.

Open Mike: Former Curb National Mike Rogers shares some of his most memorable stories from 35 years in the record business, Scotty McCreery goes off the record and talks Rise And Fall, and find out which stations are leading in PPM drivetimes. All that and more in Monday's (4/29) Country Aircheck Weekly.

Tour Support: Summer dates have been added to Chris Janson's Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get Tour; schedule and tickets here.

Tenille Arts' 27-date To Be Honest World Tour kicks off May 3 in Helotes, TX and wraps Oct. 5 in Uncasville, CT; more here.

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

New openings in fields including programming, sales, on-air, podcasting and label promotion were posted on the Country Aircheck Job Board.
Country Aircheck checked in with stations affected by last week's tornadoes.
Diana Garcia joined Brown Sellers Brown as Dir./Streaming Relations & Marketing.

Re-Signage: Songwriter Kat Higgins renewed her publishing deal with BMG. Her recent No. 1, Cody Johnson's "The Painter," is nominated for Song of the Year at this year's ACM Awards.

ICYMI: MacKenzie Porter made her solo television debut on The Kelly Clarkson Show with a performance of “Pay Me Back In Change."

Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are the Top 5 songs for April 29, according to Mediabase 24/7.

SAM HUNT/Outskirts (MCA) 4241 points
LAINEY WILSON/Wildflowers And Wild Horses (Broken Bow) 4218 points
JORDAN DAVIS/Tucson Too Late (MCA) 4038 points
TYLER HUBBARD/Back Then Right Now (EMI Nashville) 3931 points
BAILEY ZIMMERMAN/Where It Ends (Elektra/Warner/WEA) 3915 points

Country Aircheck Top Point Gainers: Here are the top point gainers for April 28-29 compared with the same days last week, according to Mediabase 24/7.

LAINEY WILSON/Wildflowers And Wild Horses (Broken Bow) +2294 points
CODY JOHNSON/Dirt Cheap (CoJo/Warner/WMN) +1039 points
MORGAN WALLEN f/ERNEST/Cowgirls (Big Loud) +812 points
BAILEY ZIMMERMAN/Where It Ends (Elektra/Warner/WEA) +746 points
JELLY ROLL/Halfway To Hell (BMG/Stoney Creek) +651 points

Tomorrow's Birthdays (5/1): Tim McGraw, Helen Darling, Rita Coolidge, Carrie Long, Chris Schuler, Rob Stone, Louie Newman, Tanya Welch, the late Lindsay Walleman, the late Ilene Berns.

Copy of Are you a Parent or Caregiver working in the music industry.png

Stage Poach: Performer Charley Crockett (c) with CAA's Brian Greenbaum (l) and Rob Light at the booking agency's Stagecoach Brunch.

Fall In(dio) Love: KUZZ/Bakersfield's Brent Michaels with (top) Elektra/WMN’s Bailey Zimmerman and (bottom) Maddie & Tae's Maddie Font and Taylor Kerr at Stagecoach.

Trust Me, I'm A Dogtor: WUBE's Canine Comfort raises $60,044 for Cincinnati Children’s Animal-Assisted Therapies.

Side By Riverside: Warner's Dasha (l) with KFRG/Riverside's Dana Johnson at Stagecoach.

Buy Bye: Jo Dee Messina celebrates five new RIAA certifications, including double platinum status for "I'm Alright" and "Bye Bye," at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Pictured (l-r) are Wasserman Music's Nate Ritches, Vanderbilt's Stuart Dill, Red Light's Bryan Frasher, Messina, Curb's Benson Curb, assistant Jen Swirsky and 117 Entertainment's Zach Farnum.

Signage: Singer/songwriter Hannah McFarland (front) signs with Warner Chappell Music and The Core Entertainment. Pictured with (back, l-r) WCM's Bryce Sherlow, Core's Bradley Kind and Chief Zaruk, WCM's Ben Vaughn and Core's Simon Tikhman.