December 12, 2016, Issue 530
Cloud Nine: Charlie Cook Q&A
Cumulus’ WSM-FM (Nash Icon)/Nashville has spent nearly a year as the market’s top Country station 6+ and OM/PD Charlie Cook has overseen the station’s emergence. Doubling as VP/Country for the group, Cook has a unique perspective on the hybrid format and why it’s working so well in Nashville. CA: Obviously Cumulus Country is on quite a roll in Nashville, but we only see the boxcars. What’s going on once you dig into the demos? CC: It’s one thing to be the 6+ guy, but that takes in 60-yearolds and I totally get that is an advantage for WSM-FM over the other two. When you look at 25-54, which is what everyone cares about, in a bunch of different ways, ‘SM is in front. In 6am to midnight, WSM still does well and is the leading Country station with a 5.1. Last December, that was a 3.5. Average Quarter Hour Persons grew from 2,000 to 3,100 during that time, which is a 35% jump. TSL, cume and daily cume all went up. A lot of people look at Monday-Friday 6am to 7pm, and WSM is still the leading Country station in that window. We have a 5.4 share 25-54, up from a 3.3 in December Charlie Cook 2015. That’s up almost 40%. Have we stumbled onto something? Maybe we have. How do you define what you’ve stumbled on? There’s a significant portion of the listening population that wants a broader base of music. The thing about WSM-FM is we feel every song is a hit. Every song has a level of familiarity you don’t get on the contemporary-based stations. People get tired of current music quicker than they do gold. We also play a lot of music in mornings while [iHeart’s WSIX] and [Cumulus’ WKDF] are more personality driven. (continued on page 7)
Where’s The Blow? Capitol and UMG/Nashville staffers celebrate the label’s eighth consecutive Label of the Year win with eight-ball cupcakes courtesy of Country Aircheck. Pictured (l-r) are UMGN’s Chris Schuler, the label’s Ashley Laws, CA’s Lon Helton, Capitol’s Brent Jones, CA’s April Johnson, UMGN’s Donna Hughes, Capitol’s Bobby Young, UMGN’s David Friedman and Jason McColl, and the label’s Sarah Beth Watson.
Programming Note
As noted previously, today (12/12) was the final add-reporting day for Country Aircheck/Mediabase stations. Next Monday (12/19) will be the last chart of 2016 and the last full Country Aircheck Weekly will be delivered that evening. A charts-free weekly will be sent Thursday, Dec. 29. The first add reporting deadline of 2017 is 2pm CT Tuesday, Jan. 3. The add board will be published via email that day. The first chart of 2017 will be in Country Aircheck Weekly Jan. 9.
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