June 7, 2021, Issue 759
Z Results Are In: PDs Respond
Last week, Country Aircheck published results from a consumer study by Actionable Insights Group (AIG)’s Dr. Billy Ray McKim shedding light on the media consumption habits of Generation Z (CAW 6/1). The group, born between 1996 and 2012, are on the doorstep of Country’s 25-54 core, with the eldest members of Gen Z turning 25 this year. This week, a deeper look at the data through the lenses of programmers. Dr. McKim “I’m a data lover; I love seeing all the numbers, reading them, letting them sink in then reading them again,” says Leighton KZPK/St. Cloud, MN MD/afternoon host Brook Stephens. “On the second round, I stopped at each section and asked myself if we were currently doing this, could we, are we succeeding or falling short and are we planning.” She notes feeling hopeful as she Brook Stephens reviewed the results. “[Gen Z] are listening, we just need to make sure we’re evolving with them. The only way this data comes off like a bomb of negativity is if your ultimate plan is to throw some logs on the fire and watch it burn.” “I wasn’t shocked at all, actually, as I expected Gen Z and Millennials to be listening on smartphones and to Spotify,” says Cherry Creek KGGL/Missoula, MT PD/afternoon Benny Edwin personality Benjamin “Benny Edwin” Casebeer. “I wasn’t surprised by any of it, but this study was very informative.” Casebeer cites the extended listening periods for Gen Z among the most encouraging results. “They are listening when working out or during free time, for sure, and that’s an opportunity to grab the audience,” he says. According to AIG’s survey results, a greater percentage of Gen Z consume audio on a monthly, weekly and daily basis than prior generations, with a greater percentage of the group (continued on page 9)
Highway To Elle: Columbia’s Elle King at her inaugural Country radio visit. Pictured (l-r) are WSIX/Nashville’s “Wayne D” Danielson, the label’s Lauren Thomas, King and WSIX’s Tay Hamilton.
New Hall Of Famers React
During a staff meeting at the home of iHeartMedia/Atlanta MM Drew Lauter, WUBL PD Meg Stevens pulled APD Angie Ward aside and asked her help in moving a few things. “I was thinking, ‘All these guys around, and you and I are moving things?’” Ward tells Country Aircheck. “We walked out the front door, and there was Drew with a bottle of champagne. I didn’t believe them at first, then I started crying.” Ward had been told she was being induced into the Country Radio Hall of Fame with seven others (Breaking News Angie Ward 6/2). These are their stories. Ward found out two weeks before word went out industrywide. “They told me I couldn’t tell anyone until the official announcement, so I had to go back inside, makeup running, and not tell anyone why I had been crying after talking to my two bosses outside,” she says. Other inductees were surprised in a more 2021-fashion: by Zoom meeting. “[EM.co’s] Jack Purcell asked me on a Wednesday if I would join him for a call Friday for something he was working
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