Radio Active

At first glance, it makes perfect sense: Nashville, the home of Music Row and the Grand Ole Opry, has four commercial country stations, while New York, the nation’s biggest broadcast market, doesn’t have any. No city in the world is as closely associated with a single genre of music as Nashville is with country, and no city is as dependent for its tourism dollars on one genre’s fans.

But there is considerable disagreement among radio programming consultants, music journalists and the Nashville stations themselves as to whether keeping four in the same format makes business sense in an increasingly consolidated and competitive radio milieu. Much as country music is at the core of the city’s identity, the fact remains that businesses have to make money to survive—something that’s only gotten tougher in recent years. Complicating the situation is that Music Row record companies rely on country stations for their success, so if one station goes away, its absence is noticed.

The dilemma is summed up by Scott Borchetta, a senior executive for promotion and artist development at DreamWorks Records: “The labels want as many opportunities as possible to expose new music, so nobody on the Row wants to lose an opportunity. But I think we all know it’s likely that we will have one less country station at some point this year.”

In the Arbitron ratings book released Dec. 30, the top-rated radio station in Nashville was Adult Contemporary WJXA-92.9 FM, which won every ratings book last year. WSIX-97.9 FM was the top-rated country station and the second overall in the Nashville market; WKDF-103.3 FM was second in country and sixth overall; WSM-95.5 FM was No. 3 in country and No. 11 overall, and WSM-650 AM finished fourth in country and 12th overall. All four country stations showed ratings increases over the previous book.

“There is plenty of room for the four to co-exist,” argues WSM-FM’s program director Kevin O’Neal, whose station is owned by Gaylord Entertainment. And yet, he points out, the local listenership for country music has fallen in recent years. “It is rough being No. 3 or No. 4 because the revenue stream is short out of the Top 2. This format has around a 16 to 18 percent share [the total of the four stations’ ratings in the market]. That compares to the early 1990s, when this market had a 30 percent share for country.” Still, he argues, “This is Music City, and three FMs and a legendary AM station...can be supported.”

That AM station, WSM-AM, is also owned by Gaylord and is likely the most important country station in history; it’s been the home of the Grand Ole Opry since 1925. When Gaylord considered changing the station’s format to all-sports last winter, it unleashed a firestorm of criticism from fans and the media. The company decided to keep the station country. But with ratings continuing to lag a year later, Gaylord has taken some drastic moves of late, two weeks ago firing the entire office staff at WSM-AM, in what trade paper Radio&Records called “a huge stunner.” Among those terminated was program director Kyle Cantrell, who had worked at the station for 20 years. Gaylord said it needed to increase WSM’s profitability, but it did also say that the station’s format would remain country.

Would people react nearly as strongly if any of the three FM country stations in town switched to another format? The answer is clearly no—even though all three stations have a larger audience than WSM-AM. “In the end, one of the companies will blink and only two of the FMs will be left standing,” predicts Bill Miller, the Nashville-based publisher of country radio’s weekly Blue Chip Radio Report. “FM radio formats change almost as fast as Reba [McEntire] changes stage outfits.”

WSIX-FM, the home of Gerry House’s popular morning program, is owned by Clear Channel, the world’s largest radio company. Based in San Antonio, Clear Channel counts five Nashville stations among its massive holdings. The other four are WRVW-107.5 FM (pop), WNRQ-105.9 FM (classic rock), WUBT-101.1 FM (urban) and WLAC-1510 AM (news and talk). The conglomerate also owns 70 percent of the world’s concert business and over 775,000 billboards worldwide. Clear Channel is the ultimate example of the double-edged new media giant. The company gives artists unprecedented opportunities to get their music heard, but allegedly also uses its muscle to squeeze competitors and record companies. At last year’s Country Radio Seminar, for example, it charged Nashville labels $35,000 for the chance to showcase their acts before Clear Channel programmers.

Given Clear Channel’s monolithic status, it shouldn’t be surprising that WSIX employees would express confidence about their position in the local media landscape. “I just think it’s too crowded a marketplace,” says Mike Moore, the station’s program director. “Many markets larger than Nashville have gone to two FM country stations. I think there will always be room for WSM-AM because that’s unique, but one of those other FM guys needs to give up and go away.... We’re doing well because we’ve managed to stay on top.”