CRS In Action: Beer-Thirty Takes On The Kacey Musgraves Question

Country Radio Seminar

COUNTRY RADIO SEMINAR’S daytime agenda on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14th ended with an informal “town hall” session — dubbed “BEER-THIRTY” — to discuss the hottest topics of the day. The moderator, iHEARTMEDIA Country WDXB/BIRMINGHAM PD TOM HANRAHAN, began the open-floor conversation by posing a question to the programmers in the audience: “How can I get more female representation or more [women] artists played on my radio station?” in cases where a programmer has autonomy. Various radio programmers around the room replied that the quality of the song was their priority over the artist’s gender.

BRITTANY SCHAFFER, SPOTIFY’s head of artist and label services for NASHVILLE, then brought up the hot topic of KACEY MUSGRAVES’ recent GRAMMY win for “Space Cowboy” as Best Country Song, even though the song got limited airplay on Country radio. “Is it possible that the judgment on what’s a good song is being influenced by the petty male presence that we have,” she asked.

NEUHOFF COMMUNICATIONS Country WDZQ (95Q)/DECATUR, IL air personality TOBY TUCKER responded by stating that he needed musical balance, and cited his favorite female Country songs he was excited to play. But he ended by commenting, “We just need to be aware of it,” in response to SCHAFFER.

The unfiltered, raw conversation continued among the small group gathered, which included some attendees who were still in college.

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