weekly October 7, 2024, Issue 930
Case Study: Pop Goes Country
Seeing Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown, Shaboozey, Post Malone and Dasha topping a radio station playlist should come as no surprise these days, until you notice that station is not Country. Not only does Midwest Top 40 WIXX/Appleton, WI have those artists in its top five this week, you’ll find Jelly Roll and Koe Wetzel in the rest of its top 10, making it one of the most crossoverheavy stations on the Top 40 panel. “We’re not a big city, we’re a pretty blue-collar town, and country music seems to be everywhere,” says PD Corey Carter. “We’ve always had crossovers in my 14 years here. Right now just seems to be especially heavy with them.” He cites Hunter Hayes’ “Wanted” and “Don’t You Wanna Stay” by Jason Aldean and Corey Carter Kelly Clarkson as past hits for the station. “The top streaming songs for the past two months have been Post Malone/Morgan Wallen and Shaboozey, and he’s No. 1 by a mile,” adds Carter. “How do you deny that data? When it comes down to it, people want to hear songs they like, and our people are telling us they like those songs. Granted, we get people who complain occasionally, but at the same time, the songs are just such massive hits.” Dan Stone WIXX is regularly one of the top two stations in both the Appleton and Green Bay markets, battling it out with Country WNCY, which also happens to be its sister station. “My most shared audience is with WIXX,” explains WNCY PD Dan Stone. “It’s not another Country station, it’s not our Classic Country, it’s WIXX. So, there’s a lot of back and forth between us. The biggest thing is when you get a song like ‘Tipsy’ and it’s on every station in town in high rotation at the same time, it’s not as valuable. We like the songs that we can own. The shared songs wear out faster.” With so much musical co-mingling between the two stations, there must be a lot of coordination happening ... or not. “Even though Corey’s office is right next to mine, I don’t talk to him about this,” admits Stone. “I don’t worry about another station’s playlist; I only worry about mine.” Carter confirms, “We don’t consult with each other at all.” (continued on page 13)
Plaque Ops: Lyric Ridge’s Drew Baldridge and his promo team receive a plaque from Country Aircheck in celebration of No. 1 ”She’s Somebody’s Daughter.” Pictured (back, l-r) are RG Jones, Country Aircheck’s Lon Helton, Royce Risser and Clay Henderson; (front, l-r) Chele Fassig, Baldridge, Louie Newman and Gwen Foster.
NSHoF: Victoria Shaw
For Victoria Shaw, learning over the summer that she is soon to become one of the newest members of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (NaSHOF) was “humbling and mind blowing.” Best known for such country hits as “The River” and “She’s Every Woman” (Garth Brooks), “Too Busy Being In Love” (Doug Stone), “I Love The Victoria Shaw Way You Love Me” (John Michael Montgomery, also an international hit for pop band Boyzone) and “We Don’t Have To Do This” (Tanya Tucker), Shaw will be inducted – in the peer-selected Veterans Songwriter category – alongside David Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers), Al Anderson, Liz Rose, Dan Penn and the late Tony Joe White during the 54th anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala Nov. 6. (continued on page 7)
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