June 18, 2018, Issue 606
Inside View: CMT Music Awards
Two weeks ago, CMT GM Frank Tanki noted the network’s larger CMA Fest footprint (CAW 6/4) – one that CMT Music Awards viewers may have noticed extended to the show itself. With multiple offsite performances and a venue home unaffected (sadly) by the hockey playoffs, this year’s event focused on new music and earned stable audience numbers (CAT 6/7). CMT VP/Music Events Margaret Comeaux walked Country Aircheck through putting the show together. CA: What was the adjustment, if any, to doing the first CMTMA’s since the departure of longtime network president Brian Philips? MC: Obviously he’d been here quite a few years, and under his leadership or Frank Tanki’s, our team does what it does. We rally, do our part and just come together to get the job done. When did the planning process for this show start and how did it evolve? Things always start for the next show the moment we’re done with the current one. Creativity tends to spark more creativity, so when you’re in that mode you’re already thinking about new things you can do. But what drives it every year is the music. As releases come Margaret out you begin to see the landscape of the year. Comeaux And it influences everything from the open, which we always want to keep timely, funny and innovative, to the individual performances. This happened to be a year where a lot of new music led us, and that isn’t always the case. What was the jumping off point for the open? We always try to find that thing in pop culture and this year it seemed obvious. The world was watching the royal wedding or talking about it – everything from gathering for watch parties to people who stayed outside of it but still found themselves looking in a little bit. (continued on page 1)
Alright, Alright, Alright: Reviver’s David Lee Murphy and his label team celebrate his No. 1 single “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” his first since 1995, at the Columbus, OH stop of the Trip Around The Sun Tour Saturday (6/16). Pictured (back, l-r) are Gator Michaels, Bob Reeves, Murphy, David Ross, Ben Bieri and Dave Collins; (front, l-r) Paul Williams, Rick Hughes, Kelly Ziegenfuss, Clay Henderson and Hayley Cowoski.
Tour Open: Writing On The Wall Keith Urban’s Graffiti U World Tour launched Friday (6/15) in St. Louis at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, bringing a crew of 93 people and 22 trailers with him on the North American leg of the 58-city tour. “The show kicked off with the chorus of ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,’ which of course was fitting, then he went into ‘Never Coming Down,’” reports KSD APD/MD Dusty Panhorst. “With all of the lights and screens you
Dusty Panhorst
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