RJ Curtis, Country Radio Seminar: "I don't sense jaded out there; I sense joy."

Congratulations on a fantastic 50th Country Radio Seminar. What makes this event so unique and where do you go from here as you plan #51 and beyond?

RJ: CRS is the only annual industry event that focuses on one music genre, providing a balance of education and entertainment, while offering a front-row seat for every stakeholder in Country music to see and participate in. There's a strong camaraderie in this format on a general level, and that intensifies during CRS week.

Everybody works hard to be solution-oriented, and seems to understand that by talking through challenges and listening to all sides of the business, together, we can help make Country music stronger and more appealing for its fans. That's it in a nutshell. We're feeling great about the just-completed CRS50; all of the follow-up comments, either anecdotal or solicited through several surveys just coming back, have been very positive.

We've also listened to constructive feedback, but there's been nothing out of the ordinary, to be honest. As we get ready for CRS2020 -- and that process started two days after CRS50 ended -- we know the event needs to broaden its appeal; to be a destination for all delivery methods of Country music. We've started to create more sessions dealing with the fast-growing digital sector of our business; that process has to continue, so stakeholders in that space feel CRS offers them a relevant curriculum and a reason to attend for years to come.

At the same time, our core business has been and still is radio. Our agenda next year will have to be future-focused, helping radio and all other attendees recognize and understand what is coming at us in the next three to five years, how to thrive or, if needed, adjust our programming tactics and business plans, so we all can be relevant moving ahead, both in our professional and personal lives. The organization and the event have been left in very good shape by my predecessor, Bill Mayne. CRS is stronger than ever, but we always need to be working to improve the look and feel of the seminar, and we are.

From your perch in Music City, you have a great view of the intersection of radio, record labels and streaming. What stands out to you?

RJ: All of them -- out of necessity -- are working harder than ever before, trying to figure out how this firehose of change coming at us can be first managed, and, hopefully, mastered. While overall consumption of music has never been greater, it seems like everybody's share of that is tougher to attain.

Radio still has tremendous weekly reach, yet is being greatly challenged by digital platforms. It will have to work hard to fortify its unique qualities, such as localism, companionship and building critical mass for music, which creates big stars, and gigantic, hit singles. It will have to learn to fully understand its new challengers from the digital side.

Labels are now distributing their promotional efforts differently, balancing between what radio can accomplish for them, and what Digital Service Providers (DSP) can - and those seem to be disparate. But here's one more important thing I see, and it must be said: I have never seen a more passionate, dedicated, determined group of radio and music pros in my entire career. They're self-aware about needing to work hard through this technological revolution. They WANT to figure it out.

They LOVE what they're doing. They love the music. I don't sense jaded out there; I sense joy because everyone understands this is an amazing time to be around the music biz; nobody would trade it for the world.

Streaming platforms are the modern-day record store. Twenty-five years ago, the record store at the mall was an ally to radio. At CRS 50, Garth Brooks and Steve Boom, VP/Amazon Music, talked about the importance of strengthening the relationship between radio and streaming. What's your perspective on how that's likely to evolve?

RJ: I may be a bit out of school on some of this, as I have to address this fast-moving learning curve, too. So, this may be a naive oversimplification, but I think as we move forward, radio and the streaming platforms will both be important and valuable for music fans, eventually complementing each other by offering different nuances independent from one another.

The localism and companionship I mentioned earlier should always be appealing to music fans beyond songs and a lane radio owns. Conversely, building one's own playlist and accessing it on demand belongs to streaming platforms. But I also see potential for a two-lane highway between radio and DSPs, where I hear a song on the radio, move to a DSP to go further down the rabbit hole on an artist, then make up my own playlist.

When people who are streaming want spontaneity and unpredictability with songs and additional content, they can migrate back to the radio, whose programmers understand better than anyone how to program for a music hit factor 24/7, and where great, entertaining content is still available. I don't see clear winners or losers here; I see both offering different benefits, and thriving.

As a Nashville resident, describe the overall local radio landscape. What impresses you?

RJ: I may be tainted because I'll always be bullish on local radio, but I really hear a unique radio market when I listen here, which is every single day. As far as Country radio, the three FM stations each provide a different lane and presentation of music from the other.

If I want a contemporary, Top 40 style, I can listen to WSIX all day. WSM-FM is branded as "Icon," and offers stuff from the ‘90s mixed with proven new music, and WKDF sits somewhere in the middle, but still unique. If I'm changing the channel here, it's not because one of them sounds bad or playing a lousy song. For me, it's usually to see how they are all competing. This wasn't always the case. When I got here 10 years ago, all three stations sounded exactly the same to my ear. We even did a live focus group during CRS around that time, and that's exactly what Country fans in that group said, too.

This is a very well-balanced Country radio market; as a Country fan, I'm totally satisfied. But the rest of the market also sounds like Nashville to me. I love WRLT (Lighting 100) for its dedication to local Nashville artists, and its eclectic playlist. But they really win with me between the songs. I travel around a bit and I always sample local radio; I've never heard another station like Lighting 100 - anywhere. We have a Jack-formatted station here (WCJK) that sounds nothing like the one in LA, which I hear a few times a year; Top 40 WRVW has a long-time morning show (Woody & Jim) that's very strong and Nashville-focused.

We have three sports outlets here, and I have to tell you - I have never listened to so much talk about hockey, or learned more about hockey since living here. With all due respect to the Titans and the NFL, Nashville's heart belongs to the Predators; this is clearly a hockey town.

Taking a step back, on a national level, the Radio Broadcasters of Chicagoland continue to collaborate and run drivetime roadblocks that highlight the power of advertising on local radio. It's an effort that reminds me of the old adage, "a rising tide lifts all boats." How does radio in other markets collaborate more and continue to tell our amazing story?

RJ: This is a PR and advertising campaign that every radio company operating stations in multiple markets should collaborate on and co-fund, and I believe they need to go big. When I say big, I mean Nike big, or Pepsi and Coke big. I agree with so many who say while radio has such a huge weekly reach and tells that story relatively well, we've allowed others to re-position our narrative, as -- potentially -- an out of date, challenged medium whose career arc is heading in the wrong direction. I don't believe that is true.

Looking back, I've always felt our industry wasted a lot of time and inventory trying to create a category consumers didn't care about, when it concentrated on selling the benefits of HD radio. There was never a there, there. With radio, there is. It's gigantic, it's positive, it has too many useful, necessary qualities to mention here. It's been around for more than 100 years and is not going anywhere. If radio can come together on that initiative, it'll automatically make all boats rise.

In the diary markets, in many ways the heart and soul of CRS and Country radio, Nielsen is moving to Continuous Diary Measurement this summer. What are you expecting the impact to be?

RJ: I don't see how it can be anything but positive. I've never met a programmer who wouldn't welcome more and more information on his station, made available to him more often. I'm proud to say that CRS -- at your suggestion, I might add -- presented a session, hosted by Nielsen's Jon Miller, discussing continuous measurement in diary markets, which is coming this summer.

At the risk of shamelessly plugging CRS, I would suggest anybody in a diary market go to our website (Countryradioseminar.com) and stream the video. It's only 30 minutes long and incredibly informative. Jon stressed how the inclusion of additional data will make programmers in these markets more instantly aware of shifts in their market and their stations.

I think we see how this monthly information has helped programmers in PPM markets. When CRS 2020 comes around next February, we'll provide a follow-up, so Nielsen can update us on how it's been working.

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