March 23, 2026 News@CountryAircheck.com

Leave It To Beaver: Former WOGG/Pittsburgh PD Dave Russell has joined Saga WVVR/Clarksville, TN as PD and morning co-host, where he is paired with incumbent Monica Reed. Russell will also program Classic Country WCVQ-HD3/W264CK and succeeds Chad Heritage, who departed in February and relocated to Nashville (CAT 1/28). Russell most recently worked on-air at a trio of sister stations in Carlile, PA, including WCAT & Classic Country WIOO. Before that, he programmed AC WARM/York, PA; AC WLEV/Allentown, PA (later Country WCTO) and (now Sports) WEZQ/Bangor, ME.

Isle Be There For You: Former Osito Group Pres. Scott Wiggins will join Golden Isles Broadcasting/Brunswick, GA as GM April 1. The cluster includes WRJY. A broadcast veteran of more than 30 years, Wiggins previously held leadership roles at Nexstar, Disney, Omnicom, Townsquare, Connoisseur and American General Media.

Let's Taco Bout It: Connoisseur KYKX/Tyler, TX Saturday afternoon All You Can Listen Buffet show host "Taco" Steve Young has added weekday nights at Classic Country sister KKUS & K279CI. His will be the station's first live evening show since it ended its Westwood One partnership last year, and Dir./Content "Brandon Michael" Shelley tells Country Aircheck, "We are excited to add another local personality to our lineup."

Double Feature: As announced via Breaking News Friday night (3/20), the 2026 CRS/Country Aircheck Award Stations of the Year are WUSN/Chicago (Large Market), WSIX/Nashville (Medium Market) and WUSY/Chattanooga (Small Market); full list here. Also announced at the New Faces show, Bryan "B-Dub" Washington was named ACM National Daily On-Air and Weekly Personality (previously announced ACM Radio Award winners here). Full recap in tonight's (3/23) Country Aircheck Weekly.

Just The Halifax: Acadia CKHZ/Halifax, NS has relaunched as "Country 103.5." Concurrently, midday host Ian Robinson has moved to mornings, while previous morning hosts Melody Rose and Jody Tedford have moved to middays and afternoons respectively. CKHZ marked its 10th anniversary in the format last September; stream here.

Coup de Gracie: KKBQ/Houston morning co-host Katelyn Maida and KFRG/Riverside, CA morning co-host Kelli Green are among the local radio category winners in the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation's 51st Annual Gracie Awards. National radio winners include Apple Music Country's Kelleigh Bannen for her interview with Chappell Roan, and Jodi Koontz of Premiere's Murphy, Sam & Jodi show, which has a handful of Country affiliates. National winners will be honored at the Gracie Awards Gala May 19 at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. Local recipients will be recognized at the Gracie Awards Luncheon June 16 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. Tickets for both here.

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Festive All: Post Malone has been added as a headliner for the NCAA March Madness Music Festival, happening April 3-5 at American Legion Mall in downtown Indianapolis during Men’s Final Four weekend. Zac Brown Band, Megan Moroney, Russell Dickerson and Breland will also perform throughout the weekend. Tickets (3/27) here.

Tour Support: Julia Cole's Love You To Death Tour, named for her May 22 album, kicks off May 28 in St. Louis; tickets here.

ICYMI: Luke Combs and Opry Entertainment Group's Category 10 Las Vegas is on track for an October opening.

Tickets for the two-night (10/29-30) Hardy Halloween at The Truth in Nashville with McCoy Moore go on sale Friday (3/27) here.

Thomas Rhett has recorded a cover of "Georgia On My Mind" for ESPN’s 2026 Masters Tournament campaign. Watch the promo here.

Chronicle: Songwriter and bluegrass musician Ronnie Bowman, who recorded and toured both as a solo artist and as an 11-year member of the Lonesome River Band, died March 22, one day after a motocycle accident in Ashland City, TN. He was 64. Bowman's songs were recorded by Kenny Chesney ("Never Wanted Nothing More"), Brooks & Dunn ("It's Getting Better All The Time"), Lee Ann Womack ("The Healing Kind"), Chris Stapleton ("Nobody To Blame") and Jake Owen, among others. No word on services. Find his full obituary here. See a tribute from Dierks Bentley here.

Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are the Top 5 songs for the week ending March 21, according to Mediabase.

SHABOOZEY & JELLY ROLL/Amen (Empire/Magnolia/Stoney Creek)
ELLA LANGLEY/Choosin' Texas (Sawgod/Col. NY/Triple Tigers)
JUSTIN MOORE/Time's Ticking (Blue Highway)
THOMAS RHETT f/JORDAN DAVIS/Ain't A Bad Life (Blue Highway/MCA)
DYLAN SCOTT/What He'll Never Have (Curb)

Country Aircheck Top Point Gainers: Here are the top point gainers for March 22, compared with the same day last week, according to Mediabase.

ELLA LANGLEY/Be Her (Sawgod/Col. NY/Triple Tigers) +398 points
KANE BROWN/Woman (RCA) +239 points
JORDAN DAVIS/Turn This Truck Around (MCA) +205 points
JOSH ROSS/Hate How You Look (Core/Mercury) +199 points
LUKE COMBS/Sleepless In A Hotel Room (Columbia) +182 points

Tomorrow's Birthdays (3/24): Blanco Brown, Mo Pitney, Natalie Hemby, Vanessa Parker-Davis, Neal Spielberg, Fred Vail, Jack Pride.

Tube Check Tomorrow (3/24): Hudson Westbrook, The Drew Barrymore Show (syndicated).

Heart Like A Buck: Broken Bow's Lainey Wilson with SiriusXM/Pandora's Johnny Chiang.

Most Likely To Secede: KSCS & KPLX/Dallas' Fifth Annual Texas Independence Jam guitar pull raises $360,000 for Cook Children’s Medical Center. Pictured (l-r) are the station's Tara Ward and Ryan Fox, Cook Children's Kimberly McGinnis, EECU's Lonnie Nicholson, Cook Children's Natalie Houghton and the station's Michelle Rodriguez and Mark "Hawkeye" Louis.

Give Heaven Some Honors: CRB/CRS' RJ Curtis, Broken Bow's Frank Ray, MCA's Parker McCollum, Big Loud's Hardy and CRB/CRS' Kurt Johnson (l-r) at CRS Honors.

All My Flexes: Kickin' Kountry 101's Shannon Steele with Warner/WAR's Chase Matthew and Big Loud's Lauren Alaina at CRS.

Like I Love Country Radio Seminar: RCA's Kane Brown with WWWF/Nassau-Suffolk's Kelly Ford at CRS.

Signage: Singer/songwriter Lucas Ball signs with Twelve6 Entertainment. Pictured (l-r) are Twelve6’s Brooke Pauley and Travis Myatt, Ball, attorney Rachel Guttmann and Twelve6’s Willow Belenski.