April 2, 2018, Issue 595
Boomer’s Excellent Adventure
Incoming Cumulus/Indianapolis OM and WFMS PD Christopher “Boomer” Layfield (Breaking News 3/20) counted 11 radio stops prior to this, his first in Country. He took a break from packing boxes last week to tell Country Aircheck about coming home to the format. CA: How’d you first get the radio bug? B: My family is from Brooklyn and I grew up in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s listening to [Top 40 WHTZ] Z100 – Scott Shannon, the Z Morning Zoo and the “worst to first” campaign. That’s what made me a Top 40 guy. My dad worked on Wall Street in finance and was part of a very small group of investors who had just enough money to get their hands on five or six radio stations in small markets across the Atlantic coast. Most of them were Country stations. For a couple of summers I remember driving around from market to market and visChristopher iting these stations. The magic these men and Layfield women created hooked me instantly. I was a shy kid, so the ability to perform behind the shield of a microphone was probably what drew me to the business. Any favorite memories of those visits? I have two. The first is, at some point we rode on The Oak Ridge Boys’ tour bus, right in their heyday. The other is getting to spend the night at Mel Tillis’ house, which had this huge hallway down the middle that reminded me and my brother of a bowling alley. He let us slide things down and pretend it actually was. Where does the travelogue start? I was a high school intern for News/Talk WABC-AM. Top 40 WPLJ was across the hall. The night jock on ‘PLJ, I think his name was Domino, actually helped with my first Top 40 aircheck. I’m sure it was terrible, but I wish I still had it. I had a mobile DJ service through high school and into college at St. Bonaventure. After my freshman year, I somehow convinced the dean to allow us to keep the radio station on during the summer, putting kids from the local vocational school on it as DJs. I guess that was my first program director job. (continued on page 6)
Don’t Stop Retrieving: Valory’s Brantley Gilbert (second from l) and wife Amber (l) present a veteran (c) with a new companion dog with help from the folks at Pedigree (r) during his The Ones That Like Me Tour.
Introducing Country AF Radio
What does radio sound like when ratings, corporate mandates, charts, transmitters and even the need to make money aren’t considerations? Look no further than Country AF Radio, says Las Vegas nightclub owner Chris Lowden. The Stoney’s Rockin’ Country principal, along with Marketing Dir./business partner Jeff “Toad” Higginbotham, launched the internet station March 1 Kris Daniels, Chris Lowden and as a vehicle to promote Jeff “Toad” Higginbotham emerging artists and, of
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