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Cumulus is making a big bet on country music in New York City. It's a format that hasn't had an outlet in the number one market in a very long time and Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey believes the opportunity to make a country station work in New York has never been better. Artists are already saying the station has made a big impact in record sales, according to country star Kix Brooks. NASH-FM (94.7) is the launching pad for a national roll-out of the "NASH" brand which will include a magazine, video elements and live events. Brooks (pictured) has taken on the roll as ambassador for the station and tells Radio Ink the NASH concept is very exciting. "NASH is to country what ESPN is to sports."
Brooks says everybody knows radio is the best advertising and marketing tool artists rely on. "Internet, Twitter and everything else put together doesn't equal what country radio does for us as artists and as an industry. This is the truth. We had a CMA board meeting last week in Orlando. My sales doubled with NASH coming on board, and there have been a lot of acts that have seen that as well. There are just so many record buyers, country music record buyers in this market. With the music being played on this station, it's just huge. Doubling sales is the number that I kept hearing. A lot of acts are basically just seeing their sales double, which is pretty impressive with one station."
Brooks and Dickey are part of our extensive cover story on NASH-FM in the April 22nd issue of Radio Ink Magazine.
Brooks is also very high on radio in general. "Radio is not unique to country music, but I think it's more important to country music artists than any other genre. We could talk about this for hours. For a country audience, country radio is king. That's where they learn those songs. All you have to do is go out and start off a song that has been played on country radio for a few weeks and our fans sing every single word with you. They are totally dedicated to it. It's what drives them to buy music. It is king. As far as I am concerned, and from everything that I have seen, it will continue to be king. That radio in your car is still what country music fans love listening to."
(4/1/2013 4:52:05 PM)
Nyc Is where most of the potential market lives.. But Ok walk the streets of Newark or any near by city... You have to get way out there to find any pockets of country fans.. Back in the day when WHN did Ok half the country hits were mainstream WABC tunes.. Not today. Nash will have a hard time breaking into the top 15 stations.
(4/1/2013 4:51:46 PM)
Nyc Is where most of the potential market lives.. But Ok walk the streets of Newark or any near by city... You have to get way out there to find any pockets of country fans.. Back in the day when WHN did Ok half the country hits were mainstream WABC tunes.. Not today. Nash will have a hard time breaking into the top 15 stations.
(4/1/2013 2:40:04 PM)
Remember that in media terms, "New York" doesn't mean only the 5 boroughs of New York City. "The streets of New York" are only part of the market.
(4/1/2013 10:17:06 AM)
Walk the streets of NYC and then tell me you see the kind of people who will flock to country (G)
(4/1/2013 9:43:40 AM)
It's about time someone caught on. Country should have been in New York 10 years ago. When you focus on being everything to everyone, you tend to lose focus on on what you do best.
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