Issue 41 Decent Exposure: Too Much TV? · Guest speaker Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger spoke on his harrowing 208-second flight that ended in the Hudson River and on the importance
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Shindler Says Farewell Oh the stories promotion folks could tell. For recently retired Mercury exec Bruce Shindler (CAT 9/30), more than 40 years in the record business are passing from day-to-day grind to fond mem-ories. Here, he shares a few: “The ‘70s were an amazing, crazy and somewhat dangerous time,” Shindler says. “When you got a record on the radio, most of the time it sold millions. There were so many Damon Runyon-type charac-ters in the business. Everybody who worked for a label had a person-ality and so did the programmers.
All Saints: Mercury’s Canaan Smith (c) celebrates a day well spent at the Country Cares for St. Jude seminar with (l-r) The Country Club with Dee Jay Silver’s Keith Kaufman, WGH/Norfolk’s Dave Paulus, Curb’s Mike Rogers, Campbell Entertainment’s Craig Campbell, WGH/Norfolk’s John Shomby and Mercury’s Jack Christopher.
Mary HilliardHarrington
Decent Exposure: Too Much TV? If it seems like every time you turn on the TV there’s another awards show, you’re right. A quick, unofficial count reveals nearly 20 opportunities a year for artists to get valuable screen time on either country or all-genre shows. Add to that the myriad of daytime and late night talk shows and the number jumps to nearly 40. When is enough enough ... or even too much? Country Aircheck asked Sony/Nashville Chairman/CEO Gary Overton, Warner Music Nashville’s SVP/Publicity Wes Vause, Spalding Entertainment’s Clarence Spalding (Jason
Aldean, Rascal Flatts) and The Green Room Owner/Publicist Mary Hilliard Harrington (Aldean, Lady Antebellum) to find out how they create “must see TV” while protecting their artists from overexposure. “Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley get asked to do everything under the sun,” says Overton. “I speak with their managers at least once a week. So many times whether it’s the timing or another reason, the answer has to be, ‘We
can’t do it.’ We’re very calculated about what makes sense.” It All Begins With A Song: For top artists, the channel to television clicks on with an artist’s album cycle. Prior to release, the artist, label, manager and publicists map out a plan. “You have to be strategic in where you start, because you want to do performances throughout the life of the project,” Vause says. “It’s like a chess board. You want to do one show and not inter-fere with another opportunity. So the timing on when you do certain things is important.” Just as important is the song choice. Some songs connect with radio listeners but don’t translate on the small screen. “When Jason did ‘Don’t You Wanna Stay’ with Kelly Clarkson on the CMAs, that really moved the needle,” says Harrington. “We came right back and did ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ – both of them [had impact] (continued on page 9)
Shindler with wife Carolyn, former R&R Country Editor
Red-Headed Exchanger: Then-WIL AM & FM/St. Louis PD Mike Carta talks Willie Nelson into trying out the station headgear in 1982. Nelson’s and Merle Haggard’s Pancho & Lefty album had just been released. Have pictures from your own outlaw days? Send them to [email protected].
Radio was like WKRP. It was a fun, pivotal time to fall in love with the business. I think I’d have a tough time falling in love if I was starting out now.” Of course, it wasn’t all roses. “It took us four albums to break Queen,” he says. “A lot of radio guys didn’t think it would happen. They were just an album group before ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and
I took them around to New York radio to meet the programmers. People knew about them, but they weren’t monstrous yet, so we hit a few stations. When I got to the office the next day, my boss told me that the guitar player Brian May was sick with infectious hepatitis. So I had the pleasure of calling all the stations we’d visited to say, ‘We’re coming by with a nurse to give a shot to anyone who shook hands with or had any immediate contact with Brian.’ They already didn’t believe in this band, and now we’ve given them hepatitis.” Shindler remembers navigating the artist-radio maze at New York’s Plaza
Hotel where he was picking up Souther, Hillman & Furay for a limo ride to a Long Island station show. “Their manager opened the door about one inch and said they’re not going, one of them isn’t feeling good. I knew they were in there having a good time and just didn’t feel like going. I called my bosses in L.A. and they didn’t care. It wasn’t their problem. So I had to call the station and tell them Richie Furay was sick. They were angry, took the current record off the air and never played the next one. You just have to bite that bullet and develop a sense of diplomacy. And that’s not the only time some-thing like that has happened.” Country was part of the job in those early years. “When I was in New York, I might go see Ed Salamon and Pam Green at WHN, because they were playing the Ea-gles and Linda Ronstadt.” Shindler enjoyed attending what was then called the DJ Convention and decid-ed to move to Nashville in 1984. He counts working with Keith Whitley on the cusp of his stardom, the pivotal
late ‘80s to early ‘90s shift and helping Toby Keith transition to superstar status as some of his greatest memories. Shindler worked with a who’s-who of names including Elektra’s Jack Holzman, Neil Bogart at Buddha, David Geffen and Joe Smith and, in Nashville, “Joe Galante, Luke Lewis and Mike Dungan – wonderful people to look up to and see how to do it.” Now that he’s seen it all, he’ll seek a new challenge. “I didn’t want to wait until I was beaten into the ground and not good at what I do anymore,” says Shindler, who turns 65 Jan. 2. “As you get older, you see more friends getting sick and passing away. It hits you in the
Helping Kacey Musgraves celebrate her birthday
Shindler (center, right) and Tom Waits are flanked by KYA/San Francisco’s Jay Hansen and Steve Mitchell in 1977.
head and you think, ‘Wow, there has to be some life beyond the record business.’ “I’m going to pursue a license in alcohol and drug counsel-ing,” he continues. “I’ve been recovering for six years and nine months and have a lot of friends in the program. They’re such valuable people and I want to give back by doing something that makes my heart feel good. I am so appreciative of this business and plan on staying in touch with everybody I can. Thanks to Country radio for putting up with me all these years and taking my calls ... most of the time. Keep having fun. Don’t lose the fun!” Reach Shindler here. –Chuck Aly
Chart Chat Congrats to Kenny Chesney, Norbert Nix, RJ Meacham, David Friedman and the rest of the Columbia promotion team on scor-ing this week’s No. 1 with “Til It’s Gone.” The song is the second chart-topper from Chesney’s The Big Revival, joining “American Kids.” And kudos to A Thousand Horses, Matthew Hargis and the entire Republic Nashville promotion crew on the No. 28 arrival of “Smoke” – the highest debut for a new artist’s first single in Country Aircheck history.
St. Jude: Memphis Memories The Country radio, record and artist community converged in Memphis this weekend (Jan. 15-17) for the annual Country Cares For St. Jude seminar. After hospital tours on Friday, attend-ees enjoyed Casino Night, during which they gambled with phony money to buy tickets they could use to win autographed guitars and other memorabilia for their stations. Panelists sharing their experiences with successful radiothons during Saturday sessions included WNCY/Green Bay, WI’s Charlie McKenzie, KTTS/Springfield, MO’s Cash Williams, WPUR/Atlantic City’s Joe Kelly, WWYZ/Hartford’s Cory Myers, KEEY/Minneapolis’ Chris Carr, WBKR/Owensboro, KY’s Chad Benefield and WUSY/Chattanooga’s Daniel Wyatt. Guest speaker Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger spoke on his harrowing 208-second flight that ended in the Hudson River and on the importance of preparation and leadership. The week-end wrapped with the Songwriters Dinner featuring John Oates, Jimmy Wayne, Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall and Randy Owen. “The tour of the hospital was eye-opening,” says KJUG/
Kenny Chesney
OFF THE RECORD: JACkIE LEE
Broken Bow’s Jackie Lee puts an industry spin on the artist interview: I grew up listening to WIVK/Knox-ville. They played all the hits all the time. I just remember if anything was going on in town, they were there. The first time I heard myself on the radio in Knoxville was on WCYQ. We had just left the station and they’d told us to lis-ten back about an hour later. It wasn’t even on for 30 seconds and I started getting texts from my family and friends.
Our radio tour was riddled with scary moments. It was a great tour but we were in San Diego with two days off. My guitar player hit his head late at night so we took him to the emergency room. The next day our bus driver broke his knee and my drum-mer’s cell phone got swept away in the ocean. I was like, “We’ve gotta get out of here!” I swear every truck stop from here to California has a Denny’s. We always got omelettes no matter what time of day it was. There were some “fishy” omelettes, let me tell ya. I wish I could have dinner with the late Faron Young. He’s been one of my favorites artists for a long time. He was a crooner, not your typical country artist. He knew how to sing to the ladies and always dressed real sharp. I’d order an omelette. Just kidding! I’d order the biggest steak on the menu. That way we could sit there for a while. I love looking at the SkyMall catalog. I saw this pillow where you can put your head and hands in it and lay your head down. [Find out why Gloriana’s Tom Gossin advises against buying one here.] When I go to east Tennessee I automatically do red-neck things. I don’t know if this is redneck or just normal, but over Thanksgiving at my aunt’s farm, we got in the Kubota and chased the cows. It was fun until some of the cows got mad at us and started chasing us back. I wish I had written Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You.” I love the way he sang it, I love the melody and everything he says in it is very poignant. That’s what I try to do when I write a song. It doesn’t always happen, but I want everything I say to matter.
Visalia, CA PD Rik McNeil, who experienced the hospital and seminar for the first time. “I expected a lot of sadness and instead found hope and joy in the most difficult circumstances. I’m looking forward to my first year at the helm of KJUG’s radiothon!”
–Jess Wright
News & Notes WCKN/Charleston, SC, KIOD/McCook, NE and WJVL/Janesville, WI are the newest affiliates of Sun’s The Country Club with Dee Jay Silver. My Own Shingle’s Carey Nelson Burch has joined TackleBox Films as Executive Producer, bring her company under the TackleBox roof. Reach her at 615-340-9555 or here. Industry vet Paul Shaver has been named SVP/GM of Can-ada’s Rick Entertainment Group/Open Road Recordings. Coleman Insights has launched a blog series exploring how listeners consume new music across different platforms here. Jamey Johnson has signed with Paradigm for booking and has just released the single “Alabama Pines” on his own Big Gassed Records. Dustin Lynch has signed with Sweet Talk Publicity for media representation. Songwriters including Kent Blazy, Marti Frederiksen, Kendell Marvel and Danny Myrick are in the lineup for the “Hit Makers & Rum Chasers” showcase at the May 15 Love City Country Music Festival on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Full festival lineup here. Fruition Songs has added the catalogs of Laurie Webb, Cyndy Fike, Laura Reed and Jim Reilly. Online country lifestyle content provider My Country Na-
John Oates, Jimmy Wayne, Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall and Randy Owen. WCKN/Charleston, SC morning host
Andy Webb discusses his most influential artists, concerts, songs and albums.1. Mickey Gilley/That’s All That Matters To Me: It’s the earliest song I can remember. I sang it to my grandparents, though it would be many years before I knew what it meant.2. Jim Reeves, There’s Always Me: The first album I ever owned, given to me by my grandparents. It held significance for two
reasons: Jim Reeves was my grandparents’ favorite singer and the album was released the year I was born. I still have a soft spot for “Gentleman Jim.”3. Michael Jackson, Bad: The first album I ever bought with my own money.4. Vern Gosdin, 10 Years of Greatest Hits: This album has a lot of Vern’s best songs and shows just why we called him “The Voice.”5. Diamond Rio, Meridian, MS, 1998: My first country con-cert – and was I ever blessed! I did afternoons for then-WYYW in Meridian. I got to watch Jimmy Olander tear it up on his Telecast-er from the side of the stage. Gene Johnson’s harmony vocals still ring in my ears.•A highly regarded song or album you’ve never heard: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, David Bowie. I’ve just never felt the need to get acquainted with it. I’ve never been a Bowie fan, except for the duet with Bing Crosby, “White Christmas.” •An “important” piece of music you just don’t get: “Pierrot Lunaire,” Arnold Schoenberg. I have a degree in opera/vocal performance. No matter how many times I hear it, this is still just awful music. •An album you played or listened to incessantly: Music From Big Pink, The Band. Like everything ever put out by The Band, it’s never gotten old. Music like that resonates forever.•Obscure or non-country song everyone should listen to right now: “Good Morning Captain” by The Black Crowes. It’s on Before The Frost...Until The Freeze. The album features elements of rock and disco, but still has more country music on it than most of the so-called “country” albums that are being produced today.•Music you’d rather not admit to enjoying: Il Divo, Il Divo. I like to hear good singing no matter what genre it is. The bari-tone in the group (Carlos Marín) has a monster voice.
tion will add original series’ Karaoke Kab and Superfan Nation Jan. 20 and 22, respectively. Colt Ford and Jerrod Niemann will appear in the former.
Artist News Republic Nashville’s Florida Georgia Line have partnered with Mountain Dew for sponsorship of their 2015 Anything Goes Tour. They’ve also added 29 dates to the tour. Details here. Arista’s Jerrod Niemann and RCA’s Love And Theft will headline Chords For A Cause Jan. 27 at Nashville’s Dan McGuiness Irish Pub to benefit Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Circle S’ SaraBeth will perform at the 2nd Annual MVP Bash at Sundown, a Super Bowl party in Phoenix, Jan. 30. More here. Gary Allan and Scotty McCreery were among performers at the third annual Stars For Wishes event in Nashville Saturday (1/17), raising $250,000 for Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee. Steve Azar’s new single “The Sky Is Falling” addresses human trafficking. Hear guest vocals by 15-year-old Sophie Young (daugh-ter of Azar’s bandmate Jason Young) and watch the video (produced by 18-year-old Maine high school student Mike Rodway) here. Momentum/In2une’s Rachele Lynae will perform at the inaugural HonkyTonk Classic benefit concert for Monroe Carell, Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Feb. 7 at 7pm. More here. Pearl/RCA’s Garth Brooks has sold a record 140,000 tick-ets for nine March concerts in Denver.
The Week’s Top Stories Full coverage at countryaircheck.com.• Nielsen Audio released day one Holiday PPM ratings and Fall 2014 diary ratings. (1/12-1/16)
• Local Radio Networks and AdLarge Media launched a 24/7 format network. (1/20)• Max Media WGH/Norfolk, VA morning team Jimmy Ray (Dunn) & Jen (Lewis) exited after more than 20 years.• Former Streamsound regional Tyler Waugh joined Blaster. (1/16)• iHeartMedia/Dallas VP/Programming Patrick Davis added the same duties in Austin, where the company owns Country KASE & KVET. (1/15)• iHeartMedia WTQR/Greensboro APD/air personality David Dean will join the company’s WNOE/New Orleans as PD. (1/15)• Beasley Broadcast Group has rebranded as Beasley Me-dia Group. (1/15)• iHeartMedia launched “Wild Country 99.9” via WRVE-HD2/Albany and FM translator W260CH. (1/14)• The Talent Associates Sr. Dir./Marketing Ryan Barnstead was promoted to VP/Promotion & Artist Development. (1/14)• iHeartMedia Top 40 WNOH/Norfolk afternoon personality Ala-bama and Top 40 sister WKSC/Chicago evening personality Erik Zachary joined the company’s recently launched WNUA/Chica-go in the same role. (1/13)• CMT promoted Sr. Dirs. Margaret Comeaux, Lucia Folk and Anne Oakley to VP, overseeing Music & Events Production, Public Affairs and Radio & Ancillary Business, respectively. (1/13)
(continued from page 1)Decent Exposure: Too Much TV?
in very different ways. Then we came back with ‘Fly Over States’ from that record, which was a huge hit and sold a lot of copies from radio airplay. But because of the tempo, it didn’t have quite
Care There: Artists and patients surround Country Cares for St. Jude Kids founder Randy Owen (c) during the weekend’s annual seminar in Memphis.
ClarenceSpalding
Wes Vause
the impact of ‘Don’t You Wanna Stay’ or ‘Dirt Road Anthem.’ It was a well-written song that was a giant hit, but it was better on the radio than it was on television.” Genre and audience also weigh heavily in the decision to put an artist on TV. “I want Rascal Flatts and Jason Aldean to be on the same stage with Jay-Z and Beyoncé and Pharrell,” says Spalding. “It’s a better chance of getting a bigger number and getting them more exposure. And it puts them in an arena that’s not the same one, with a different audi-ence watching.” Just Say No: Four minutes on a network or cable channel could be the difference between “singer” and “star.” So why should an artist ever say no? “If you’re not in an album cycle or touring, then in my opinion it does not make sense to be on television – whether it’s a country awards show or out of genre, or a morning or late-night show,” says Harrington. “There is no immediate return on the investment. It needs to be part of a bigger plan of what you’re doing for the artist and what the long-term goals are.” Overton points to Chesney and Underwood as masters of the game. “They make a record, we have singles, they tour and then they go quiet. Carrie was off the radio for a year and a half, and I think Kenny was off for a little over a year this past time. No new singles. We all know you just can’t keep giving people [music], even if it’s great. There’s a point where you have to get quiet. Let them do something else for a while and it builds up that demand again.” Social Studies: Getting quiet is a lot tougher these days with 24/7 social media. Now, not only can artists be seen on television;
there’s a smaller screen on which they share minute details of their lives – computers, tablets and phones. Is it even possible for an artist to maintain any sort of mystery? “I don’t know if there’s mystery in anything,” says Overton. “And I don’t know if the gener-ation that’s out there now would really react well to it. They’re so used to knowing everything at any given second.” “I definitely think there are some current artists that are main-taining mystery,” says Harrington. “Eric Church probably fits in that category. He’s not out doing every television show. You don’t see him on a lot of daytime television. My guess is that he probably says no to a good amount of press opportunities that come his way. I think that’s worked for him.” Vause concurs, but says it depends on the artist. “With artists like Taylor Swift or Blake Shelton who’ve shown their cards from the beginning, that’s just part of who they are.” Been There, Seen That: Is overexpo-sure a real danger? Opinions vary. “There are over 300 million people in this country,” says Vause. “Never have we been faced with so many entertainment options for the consumer. You really have to do multiple shows and impressions to be able to get to people and make them aware that there’s an album or single out. It’s hard to get to that point of overexposure.” “It’s a conversation we’re always having: how much TV, the timing of the television and is it the right performance?” says Spal-ding. “When I managed Brooks and Dunn, Kix had a great quote. We were talking about exposure and he looked at me and said, ‘People die of exposure every day, Clarence.’ I thought that was true then, but it’s a lot more true now.” –Wendy Newcomer CAC
Here are Fall 2014 (9/11-12/3) Nielsen Audio diary ratings results from Jan. 12-16, listed alphabetically by market. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Non-subscribing stations in published markets are excluded.
Fall 2014 PPM Ratings Scoreboard Legend: A “+” indicates a Classic Country outlet; a “^” designates co-owned Country stations in the metro; “t” indicates a tie; and a “*” indicates a station best in that statistic.
COLE SWINDELL/ Ain't Worth The Whiskey (Warner Bros./WMN) 565KENNY CHESNEY/ Til It's Gone (Blue Chair/Columbia) 548
Country Aircheck Top Point GainersZAC BROWN BAND/ Homegrown (SouthrnGrnd/Varvatos/BMLG) 4133 ✔A THOUSAND HORSES/ Smoke (Republic Nashville) 3445 ✔LUKE BRYAN/ I See You (Capitol) 2904 ✔JASON ALDEAN/ Just Gettin' Started (Broken Bow) 2290 ✔THOMAS RHETT/ Make Me Wanna (Valory) 2140 ✔
JASON ALDEAN/Just Gettin' Started (Broken Bow) 151
Activator Top Point GainersZAC BROWN BAND/Homegrown (SouthrnGrnd/Varvatos/BMLG) 1202 ✔THOMAS RHETT/Make Me Wanna (Valory) 1030 ✔MIRANDA LAMBERT/Little Red Wagon (RCA) 772 ✔COLE SWINDELL/Ain't Worth The Whiskey (Warner Bros./WMN) 764 ✔LUKE BRYAN/I See You (Capitol) 754 ✔A THOUSAND HORSES/Smoke (Republic Nashville) 736
KENNY CHESNEY/ American Kids (Blue Chair/Columbia) 6158
Country Aircheck Add Leaders AddsZAC BROWN BAND/Homegrown (SouthrnGrnd/Varvatos/BMLG) 72BIG & RICH/Run Away With You (B&R/New Revolution) 39KEITH URBAN/Raise 'Em Up f/Eric Church (Capitol) 36A THOUSAND HORSES/Smoke (Republic Nashville) 35FRANKIE BALLARD/Young & Crazy (Warner Bros./WAR) 16
TIM MCGRAW/Diamond Rings And Old... (Big Machine) 15DAVISSON BROTHERS BAND/Jesse James (Star Farm) 13MICKEY GUYTON/Better Than You Left Me (Capitol) 12AUSTIN WEBB/All Country On You (Streamsound) 9KELSEA BALLERINI/Love Me Like You Mean It (Black River) 9MADDIE & TAE/Fly (Dot) 9MIRANDA LAMBERT/Little Red Wagon (RCA) 9
Ralph Stanley Ralph Stanley & Friends: Man Of Constant Sorrow (Cracker Barrel)Grammy winner and country/bluegrass legend Stanley performs duets with artists including Dierks Bentley, Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack and Robert Plant.
Feb. 17 The Mavericks Mono (Valory) Aaron Watson The Underdog (BIG/Thirty Tigers)
Mar. 17 Allison Moorer Down To Believing (eOne)
Mar. 24 Striking Matches Nothing But The Silence (I.R.S.)