September 25, 2017, Issue 567
Preparation Yes!
Show prep, content curation and talk breaks go by many names, but whatever it’s called, the stuff between the records is the glue connecting fans to the music and sets radio apart from streaming and playlists. As communications and media changed at a blistering pace over the last decade or more, so has show prep. Country Aircheck reached out to some of the best in the business to find many commonalities, diverging approaches and some fresh ideas. The morning show at iHeartMedia’s WRBT/Harrisburg goes three places for prep. “First is Dr. Dave’s Ultimate Show Prep,” says APD/MD/co-host Newman. “It delivers pop culture with a Country emphasis. It’s where I find out what happened while I was sleeping. If I was sleeping.” He was particularly impressed with the way the service handled the recent violence in Charlottesville, VA. “They were honest,” Newman explains. “They didn’t know what to say. It’s so awkward to talk about racism.” Newman’s other resources are Premiere Prep and the Universal Comedy Network, which offers creative audio bits. “Universal hits at least three home runs a week,” he Nancy & Newman says. Co-host Nancy Ryan scours prep services and socials for her hourly music reports, looking for artist TV appearances and new releases. As far as artist audio clips, “We prefer to use our own,” says Newman. “Because of our proximity to Philadelphia and New York, we get regular visits.” On the new-school side is KUZZ/Bakersfield PD Brent Michaels, who is on the air from noon-3pm. “If I had to rank them, first place is socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat,” he says. “I’m on my cell way more than I should be.” He uses Brent Michaels those platforms not only for artist information, but to keep connected to what is (continued on page 10)
Fire Away: Mercury’s Chris Stapleton backstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas over the weekend. Pictured (l-r) are Morgane Stapleton, iHeart’s Rod Phillips, John Sykes and Tom Poleman, and Stapleton.
Holly Gleason’s Book Of Love
Writing about music can quickly become heavy on business, light on music, with spins, stats and streams overshadowing the reason most people got into this crazy world in the first place – how the music made us feel. Journalist/educator/publicist/songwriter (Kenny Chesney’s “Better As A Memory”) Holly Gleason’s new book Woman Walk The Line: How The Women In Country Music Changed Our Lives is a collection of essays celebrating influential country females, written by influential female songwriters, publicists, musicians, artists and journalists. Each essay answered the sole question Holly Gleason Gleason posed to each contributor: “Who’s the woman who grabbed you by the ears and pulled you to her – and the more you listened, the more you figured out who you are?”
© 2 0 1 7 Co u n t r y A i rc h e c k ™ — A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . S i g n u p f re e a t w w w. c o u n t r y a i rc h e c k . c o m . S e n d n e w s t o n e w s @ c o u n t r y a i rc h e c k . c o m