December 2, 2019, Issue 681
WIVK PD: Any Rich Way You Can
Recently named Cumulus WIVK/Knoxville PD Rich Bailey (CAT 10/18) may be new to the format, but he’s no stranger to the market, the music or the competitive mentality. After a 23-year tenure at Journal/Scripps/Summit Top 40 WWST/Knoxville, Bailey crossed the street with a bag of tricks and a readiness to take on a new challenge. He told Country Aircheck about the appeal of the new gig, his strategy going in and how he threw the playbook out the window once he arrived. CA: While you are new to day-today Country programming, you are not entirely new to the format, correct? RB: That’s right. I’ve been in Knoxville for Rich more than 23 years, and all of that time was Bailey spent “across the street,” as they say. I was the OM for Summit/Knoxville and handled day-to-day programming and afternoons for Top 40 WWST. We also had a Country station in our cluster, WCYQ, and I was involved with the initial launch of that station in 2009 as well. I have lived, worked and competed in this city for a long time, and I am thrilled to continue my career here. When you left Summit in March, were you hoping to stay in Knoxville, or did you consider opportunities in other markets? There were some opportunities and offers in other areas, but this is where my wife, Carol, and I have made a home. After more than two decades, we knew this was where we wanted to stay. At the time, I wasn’t sure what would come to pass, but love having the opportunity to take the reins at a heritage station that I already admired and respected. Getting the call to program WIVK made the reward worth the risk of staying and waiting for an opportunity to get back in the game here at home. Did you have any preconceived notions or plans before getting into the building? I definitely felt like I knew the station. After competing directly with WIVK, I came in with my own ideas and what I thought I might do, but getting in the building changed my mind about a lot of that. You don’t really know a station until you’re in the middle of it (continued on page 6)
The Shirt Locker: Join the Country Aircheck crew and support the kids of St. Jude by wearing any color This Shirt Saves Lives Thursday (12/5) to help kick off the 3rd annual #ThisShirtSavesLives campaign. Pictured (back, l-r) are CA’s Monta Vaden, St. Jude’s Jessica Turri and CA’s April Johnson, Caitlin DeForest and Kelley Hampton; (front) CA’s Chuck Aly and Shelby Farrer.
Brad Paisley Thinks What?
Airing Tuesday (12/3) at 8pm ET on ABC, Brad Paisley Thinks He’s Special is a modern take on the variety show. Paisley previewed the show on this week’s Country Countdown USA, portions of which are excerpted below. Paisley approached the network roughly 18 months ago. “First of all, it would be nice to represent another place in America besides New York and LA,” he says of the idea. “There’s no place like Nashville, that’s this hot. It’s truly amazing what’s happening here. Turning a camera on that is interesting.” Beyond that, musical performances, collaborations and sketches he describes Brad Paisley more as “set-ups” fleshed out his pitch to the
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