• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

NASH FM to replace local country radio at Cumulus

J

jamesh

Same blog that mentioned CC riff says NASH FM starts going on ALL Cumulus country stations nationwide next week. Garner morning show to eventually displace all local Cumulus country format morning talent but national branding of all country properties as NASH FM starts next week.

More massive layoffs coming in the "safe" zone of A M drive.

Thoughts on local country radio potentially being wiped out at a major broadcasting company?
 
No major radio industry publication says this. There isn't a 24 hour NASH FM to replace local country radio. This post is wrong.

Even the idea that ALL Cumulus Country stations will share the Nash branding is wrong because in some markets, like Boise, Cumulus owns TWO country stations. How could they both be Nash-FM? Maybe in some markets, they'll start using Nash, in addition to whatever the local handle is. For instance, in Knoxville, the Cumulus FM station has been known as Froggy for 20+ years. They're not going to become Nash-FM starting next week. Maybe at the top of the hour, they'll say something like "powered by Nash-FM" or "part of Nash-FM."

There's currently a Nash morning show with Brett Garner and crew that's being done in Nashville for Cumulus' new Country station in New York. But that's the only station that currently airs it. Most likely it will be syndicated and put on other Cumulus stations in some markets but only on a case-by-case basis. Maybe in markets where the Cumulus Country station is doing poorly in the morning. But it would be pretty stupid to take a market's top Country morning show that's been making money for Cumulus for years and replace it with an untested national program.

Maybe someday there'll be other dayparts produced by Cumulus under the Nash name, and sent to other markets as well. But again, that's someday.
 
Typical Jerry DelColliano sales pitch for his blog.

"No one saw this coming..."

Other than almost every industry observer who noted that Cumulus likely wanted to build a national country brand using the mark "Nash" and the Cumulus which publicly stated that it was its intention to do so.

Weak tea.
 
jamesh said:
Didn't say everyone would be let go next week, process will run for many months but it starts next week-master plan is national format which is a massive cost saver.
Click to expand...

Blair is under contract to Clear Channel, and this new show can't air in markets that air After Midnite.

Blair has said repeatedly that this is stricly a NYC show.
 
Again, if we look at what Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey has said, he wants Nash-FM to be a national brand, with a magazine, live concerts, website, etc. He DIDN'T say every Cumulus station will become Nash-FM. He DIDN'T say all morning shows will be fired across the country to run Blair Gardner.

So far, Gardner has been on 94.7 in NYC a little over a week. No other Cumulus station has joined it. We have no idea how it's going to be accepted by Country audiences. Maybe it will be a hit, maybe it will be a bust. It's too soon to bet the whole bank on it. If you're doing the morning show on a Cumulus Country station where the ratings aren't good, I'd be concerned. But if you're getting decent ratings, I'd say you're safe.

You know this article is incorrect because in Boise, Cumulus owns

97.9 KQFC, which has already been renamed Nash, #5 in the latest ratings and
92.9 KIZN, Kissin' Country, #9

They can't BOTH be Nash. Yet the article says ALL 83 Cumulus stations will become Nash. Two in the same market?

How about Allentown PA? WCTO is #1. It has been calling itself Cat Country for more than 15 years. It even has Cat call letters. Does anyone think it will become Nash? Yes, I'm sure they'll promote the Nash brand as part of their on air imaging, run the live concerts, try to sell the magazine (which hasn't issued its first edition yet). But Cumulus is not going to mess with a #1 station. And they're not going to start running Blair Garner to replace their morning show. Some of the NY station's signal overlaps with WCTO. They're not BOTH going to be running the same morning program.
 
I would guess that they WANT the Nash stations to overlap. That way you could listen to NASH from NYC to LA. They are getting ready for the future and seeing radio, not as it is or as it will be, but how they WANT it to be. They are making radio into their vision....and guess what? They can, because they own it.
 
I think RadioJoJa has made the most valid point: if its your money, you can do what you want. It might not be wise, it might not be the smartest thing or what you would do, but the fact is that they have the licenses and can do what they want.

That said, building a national brand is in the long term a smart business plan. Dominating an unfragmented section of an industry can be very lucrative.

Is is good local radio. Probably not. That's not there plan.

And secondly, saying they wanted to build a national brand is pretty much saying they are going to name their country stations after their national brand. How else is a radio company going to build a national brand.

The question ultimately will be how consistently will the NASH branded stations perform in each market? No one has yet done what Global in the UK has done: build a national network out of local stations. And in the UK, the jury is out and will be out for some time.
 
DudeFan said:
The question ultimately will be how consistently will the NASH branded stations perform in each market?
Click to expand...

The problem isn't that people here fear it will be a failure and Cumulus will lose a lot of money. No one cares about Cumulus. The fear is if it's a success. If somehow this national brand starts beating local DJs and heritage country stations. Then what?
 
Hasn't that horse already left the barn? If it does start beating local stations, isn't that the commercial radio free market? But lets be honest, in most markets the heritage station is either Cumulus or Clear Channel and neither has any live and local personalities.
 
I guess Nash-FM is going after an audience to young to remember the Nash automobiles.

From Wikipedia:
Nash Motors Company was an automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1937. From 1937 to 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Nash production continued from 1954 to 1957 after the creation of American Motors Corporation.

When I hear Nash, I think of the 1958 song "Beep Beep" by The PlayMates, about a Nash Rambler.
 
TheBigA said:
DudeFan said:
The question ultimately will be how consistently will the NASH branded stations perform in each market?
Click to expand...

The problem isn't that people here fear it will be a failure and Cumulus will lose a lot of money. No one cares about Cumulus. The fear is if it's a success. If somehow this national brand starts beating local DJs and heritage country stations. Then what?
Click to expand...
Then, as you know, those who have been preaching "live and local" would have another problem. I wouldn't even be surprised. Even back when I was in radio, and that's fading into history, lots of syndicated shows crushed a lot of live and local morning shows.

What people don't want to admit is that there were, and still are to a lesser extent, really bad air talent on the air, especially in small markets.
 
Salty Dog said:
What people don't want to admit is that there were, and still are to a lesser extent, really bad air talent on the air, especially in small markets.
Click to expand...

I think MOST will admit that.
Radio, to me anyway, has never sounded worse.
There's no doubt that many personalities are in over their heads, but why is that?
You've got to admit that a lot of GOOD talent has been forced out. (for one reason or another)
On the local level, it's money. It's not "bad" air talent, it's "cheap" air talent. (ok, "affordable. I don't mean to offend)
On the national level, it's convenience. Unless you really believe Ryan Seacrest is among the best jocks out there
 
GordonSims said:
You've got to admit that a lot of GOOD talent has been forced out. (for one reason or another)
Click to expand...

Some of the greatest athletes in the world at some point in their careers know its time to call it quits. Most of those "forced out" were past their prime, and didn't want to stay anyway. I know quite a few of them.

As for "cheap talent," that's how people break into radio. You want radio to become a retirement home?
 
No, Big A - I do not want radio to become a retirement home.
I want radio to be better than ever, every day! But its not.
I know plenty of very good talent too. Good talent that was NOT too old, who were NOT past their prime, who did NOT choose to leave.
It's just a shame their family commitments couldn't take a 30,00 dollar pay cut to keep a syndicated show from replacing them.

Yes - breaking into radio means very little money. We all did it.
But we didn't do it in afternoon drive.
We did it overnight We did it on the weekends. We did it when we had a chance to learn from our mistakes and improve. (positions and opportunities that are all but gone, by the way. What does THAT say for future broadcasters?)
 
GordonSims said:
What does THAT say for future broadcasters?)
Click to expand...

It says to me that if you want to be a big radio star, you should consider moving someplace other than South Carolina.

I left my home state when I was in my 20s, and haven't been back.
 
TheBigA said:
GordonSims said:
You've got to admit that a lot of GOOD talent has been forced out. (for one reason or another)
Click to expand...

Some of the greatest athletes in the world at some point in their careers know its time to call it quits. Most of those "forced out" were past their prime, and didn't want to stay anyway. I know quite a few of them.

As for "cheap talent," that's how people break into radio. You want radio to become a retirement home?
Click to expand...

As I have tried to explain on this board decisions are being made based on un-payable debt loads-not innovative practices to create a palatable product. Clear Channel in particular has one of the worst balance sheets I have ever looked over, and I have looked at hundreds.

The frequencies they use are "public." They continue to spend at the upper management level like drunken sailors and cut the local level. It is a perfect death spiral. Don't fall for the spin of "best practices" and "innovation"-this is about debt and it is being addressed with upper management spending recklessly on things like private jets and corporate yachts (yes CC has one) while dismissing wave after wave of good employees because of debt load. It's a terrible way to run a company-ANY company not to mention one that has a charter to serve the public interest.

They are running up the credit card and have no intention or ability to EVER pay it off. That is a mathematical certainty. They have shown they will do anything to maintain their lifestyle as the ship sinks. Cumulus and Clear Channel are not just bad operators, they are bad businessmen and as unethical as they can be.

Has nothing to do with a silly comparison to pro athletes Big A-it's all about debt and greed. Period.
 
Dont go injecting logic into this JamesH
BigA is right.
Good radio is defined by profit.
Only the best radio people are in radio or on the air anymore.
if a decision was made by a national corporation, then it must be the right decision.
We should never demand better for ourselves or our industry
We should thank NY and LA for allowing us to listen to their expert programming
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom