Last week the Country Radio Seminar for 2025 took place in the Music City. The Omni Hotel Nashville was packed with attendees there for performances, artist meet-and-greets, hospitality suites, and – most importantly – sessions for professional education and self-improvement.
It is a privilege for me to serve with many brilliant individuals as a member of the Board of Directors for Country Radio Broadcasters. I also serve as a part of the Research Committee for CRS. Every year we invest in conducting a national research project that looks at many important elements involving country radio and country music.
NuVoodoo, a highly regarded research company, presented the results of this year’s national attitudinal and music study. The walk away from these sessions is always valuable and benefits many, including beyond the country format. The study analyzed why people listen to the radio, why they choose country music, how and where they listen, and their opinions of radio today versus streaming services and vice versa. The strengths and weaknesses of both were examined.
The study interviewed 1,500 country music fans (1,185 listen to country radio daily) spread throughout the four corners of the nation. Among the sample 44% use Radio at least an hour daily, and 54% of the group use Streaming at least an hour daily. Nearly 75% of the group have been country listeners for a decade or more.
NuVoodoo President Carolyn Gilbert and EVP Leigh Jacobs presented information that spanned many elements of content, but highlighted that one of radio’s biggest attractions is Personalities. The audience appreciates the personality’s humor, authenticity, connection to the community, entertainment, and knowledge of country music.
What stuck out to me was the participants’ opinion that personalities really matter. Radio On-Air Talent are seen as especially important versus streaming. Not a shocking revelation, but rather disappointing that the importance of talent is so obvious and yet so clearly discounted or ignored. Personalities are often eliminated as a part of cost-cutting. This at a time when radio should be supporting great on-air personalities and nurturing on-air talent who show potential to be great as a way to compete with the streaming services.
Air Talent are noticed and enjoyed. The research showed that 3 in 5 country radio users like to hear personalities with their favorite songs. Humor, a fun feeling, being lighthearted, and keeping it up-tempo are among the attributes that the audience looks for from their favorite station’s air talent. The talent were described as friends or people they can relate to, and people they feel are authentic. DJs (the researcher’s term and not mine) are enjoyed more when they interact with listeners through call-ins, games, trivia, and contests.
Not surprisingly, the respondents also noticed that many of their favorite personalities are no longer on air at their favorite stations. It’s long been a policy that talent are rarely permitted to say “Goodbye.” Especially true if the talent is not to be trusted to behave professionally as they depart. However, I’ve seen and worked with many who did bow out gracefully, on-air, and on social media. Not that it lessens the blow for the audience or the talent, but it does solve a mystery for the listener. To say nothing allows the listener to create their own narrative. Those narratives are often worse than reality.
Among those things that have largely “Gone Missing” are live broadcasts. The respondents to this study enjoy seeing their favorite stations’ on-air talent live on location. Remote broadcasts and appearances are less frequent than in the past when selling “remotes” were an important source of revenue. It is important to view on-location broadcasts as a form of marketing. You’re in public where some non-listeners can be exposed to your station, which may lead to converting someone into a regular listener. Remotes and public appearances bring radio back into public view and back into the conversation.
The absolute best talent have a relationship with your audience. Their mere presence and performance build daily and repeat listening. When talent get to the point that their regular listeners are afraid they’ll miss something if they don’t listen, take advantage of their popularity and promote it. The most elite radio stations have elite personalities whose halo benefits the station. The best operators know that and support those personalities. There should be no question of the importance of air talent, especially when research supports their value.
CRS 360 presentations will share chapters of the NuVoodoo study through the coming year.