Country Aircheck News

30/10/2012

UMG/Nashville Absorbs Capitol/EMI: UMG/Nashville restructuring continues (Breaking News 10/10) as today (10/26) the company absorbed the Capitol/Nashville & EMI Nashville imprints following UMG's recent acquisition of EMI Group's recorded music division. While there has been no corporate communication nor any comment from UMGN regarding staff reductions or other movement, here is what Country Aircheck has learned:

  • UMGN will continue with its four current Country imprints: Capitol, EMI Nashville, MCA and Mercury. Current UMGN Sr. VP/Promotion Royce Risser will now oversee all four, which will be housed in UMGN's current Commerce Street offices in downtown Nashville.
  • Capitol/EMI Nashville Sr. VP/Promotion Steve Hodges will now oversee Capitol promotion. Current Capitol VP/Promotion Shane Allen will now assume duties within the four labels.
  • MCA's Van Haze and Mercury's Damon Moberly will continue in their roles as VP/Promotion for their respective labels.
  • EMI Nashville Midwest regional Jimmy Rector will rise to VP/Promotion, succeeding Kevin Herring, who has left the company. Rector came aboard in July from his VP post at Show Dog-Universal. Herring joined last May after a stint as Skyville President and more than a decade as Lyric Street's promotion head. Reach him here.
  • UMGN VP/Nat. Promotion Joe Putnam and VP/Radio Marketing Katie Dean, and Capitol's Dir./National Radio Syndication Donna Hughes remain.
  • Also exiting is Mercury VP/West Coast Pat Surnegie. He joined the label in 1991 and was elevated to his most recent role in 1996.


» Kelly's He Rose: Townsquare's KLAW/Lawton, OK afternoon personality Steve Kelly is joining Earls Broadcasting/Branson, MO & Harrison, AR which includes Country KHOZ-AM & FM/Harrison. In his newly created position, Kelly will serve as cluster OM and handle PD/midday duties for the Country stations. In Lawton, he doubled as Brand Manager for Classic Hits clustermate KVRW; those duties will be divided among 'VRW staffers. Afternoons on KLAW will be handled by parttimer Eric Sharum until the job is posted. Reach Kelly here.



» Getting Back Together: The Red promotion blitz swung into Nashville last night as Big Machine's Taylor Swift came home to personally welcome programmers and personalities from 72 stations participating in today's Taylor Swift Worldwide Radio Remote. An international accumulation of stations dominated by U.S. Country outlets (CAW 10/15) were treated to a cocktail reception and dinner at the Pinnacle building, where the remotes are being held today. Dessert and hard-hats (red, naturally) followed at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, where Swift's $4 million donation was celebrated for establishing the Taylor Swift Education Center, now under construction.

» Famous Dave: Cumulus WKDF/Nashville afternooner Dave Myers, whose departure was reported yesterday (CAT 10/25), has joined Saga WVVR/Clarksville, TN in the same capacity. He takes over for OM Jared Mims, who remains with the station. Myers' first day at 'VVR will be Oct. 31. Congratulate him here.

» CD-Ex Returns: Industry vet Joe Kelly has re-joined CDX in the newly created position of Dir./Marketing & Label Relations. Kelly previously worked for the company from 1992 to '99. Congratulate him here.

» Gig Alert: Clear Channel's WOBB/Albany, GA PD Casey Carter is searching for a midday personality to succeed Sarah Brown, who will be leaving for another opportunity on Nov. 9. If you love being on the air, meeting listeners and doing what it takes to win, send your materials to Carter here.

» Face Value: CRS has already sold out the New Faces Show And Dinner for CRS 2013, even though talent for the show won't be revealed until December. "With the early surge in registrations, the dinner sold out earlier than ever before," says Exec. Dir. Bill Mayne. The $399 CRS Earlybird registration rate remains in effect through Oct. 31, then increases to $499 beginning Nov. 1. "In an effort to provide our next round of registrants a chance to attend the event, we are offering tickets for special seating in a newly configured area," adds Mayne. More CRS info here.

» Double Play: Broken Bow's Jason Aldean sold out Boston's Fenway Park in seven minutes this morning (10/26) which allowed for the addition of a second show. Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen and Thomas Rhett are also on the bill for July 12 and 13.

» The Boys Of Follicle: The 2nd Annual No Shave November kicks off Thursday (11/1), so it's not too late to learn the theme song and get the t-shirt. Wait, what? That's right, there's a theme song courtesy of Warner Bros./WMN's Charlie Worsham. Check it out here, and order one of the fabulous t-shirts here or here. Most important, support the kids of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital directly by pledging no edging here. Personalities wanting assistance and tools for scruffing up a fun promotion with great listener interaction can drop a line here.

» iRadio? Talks between Apple and major music labels have stepped up recently, which could clear the way for the company to launch its own ad-supported online radio product by early next year, according to Bloomberg. Apple is reportedly seeking ways to differentiate its potential online product by giving users greater flexibility with respect to what they hear, along with pushing labels for earlier access to new releases. The move would pit Apple directly against Pandora, news which sent the latter's stock plunging to the tune of 12% yesterday (10/25).



» Close, But No Car: To accomodate production set-up for The 46th Annual CMA Awards, the following downtown Nashville roads will close beginning 8am CT on the following days:
  • Saturday, Oct. 27: Demonbreun from Fourth Ave. S. and Fifth Ave. S.
  • Monday, Oct. 29: Sixth Ave. S. from Broadway to Demonbreun; Demonbreun from Fourth Ave. S. to Seventh Ave. S.; Fifth Ave. S. from Demonbreun to Broadway.
  • Thursday, Nov. 1: Demonbreun from Fourth Ave. S. to Eighth Ave. S.; Seventh Ave. S. will close from Demonbreun to Broadway; the right lane of Fourth Ave. S. between the Downtown Hilton and Korean Veterans Blvd.

Demonbreun between Fourth Ave. S. and Seventh Ave. S. and Fifth Ave. S. and Sixth Ave. S. between Broadway and Demonbreun will re-open by 12am CT on Saturday, Nov. 3. All other roads will be open no later than 2am CT on Friday, Nov. 2.


» Stories Of The Week: Stories you may have missed this week:

» Chronicle: Our sympathies are extended to family and friends of respected research vet Bob Michaels, who passed away last night after a heart attack. He was 54. During his 17 years with Arbitron, Michaels developed the Maximizer Programmers Package, designed expressly for the PD. He later created the PD Advantage system and as President/PPM Programming Services, worked closely with programmers to usher in the new rating service. Michaels eventually left Arbitron to form his own consultancy, MediaSense. He then joined Clear Channel as EVP/Research in 2010 before leaving the company last month. Services are pending, but the family requests donations in Bob's name to public station WITF/Harrisburg, PA, 4801 Lindle Road, Harrisburg, 17111.

Services for songwriter Tim Johnson will be held at 2pm, Thursday, Nov. 1 at Nashville's Cheekwood Botanical Gardens' Massey Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to MusicCares; info here. Johnson passed away Sunday (10/21) in Nashville, He was 52.


» Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are the top 5 songs for Oct. 25:
  1. LUKE BRYAN/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Capitol) 2975 points
  2. LEE BRICE/Hard To Love (Curb) 2837 points
  3. CARRIE UNDERWOOD/Blown Away (19/Arista) 2705 points
  4. JAKE OWEN/The One That Got Away (RCA) 2584 points
  5. MIRANDA LAMBERT/Fastest Girl In Town (RCA) 2457 points

» Country Aircheck Today Top Point Gainers: Here are the top point gainers for Oct. 21-25 compared with the same days last week:
  1. LUKE BRYAN/Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Capitol) +1802 points
  2. TAYLOR SWIFT/Begin Again (Big Machine) +1372 points
  3. ZAC BROWN BAND/Goodbye In Her Eyes (Atlantic/Southern Ground) +1317 points
  4. LITTLE BIG TOWN/Tornado (Captiol) +1088 points
  5. JAKE OWEN/The One That Got Away (RCA) +1084 points

» Tomorrow's Birthdays (10/27): Wayne Carlyle, Scott Donato, Teresa George, Ann Inman, Amy Scott, John Moesch.

Sunday's Birthday's (10/28): Charlie Daniels, Brad Paisley.

Monday's Birthday's (10/29): Jules Wortman.


» Tube Check Tonight (10/26): Various Artists, All Access Nashville With Katie Couric: 20/20 (ABC).

Tube Check Monday (10/29): Reba McEntire, Live With Kelley & Michael; Blake Shelton, The Voice (NBC).




» The Red Planet: It's all smiles when Taylor Swift welcomes WLHK/Indianapolis staff for a picture at the The Worldwide Taylor Swift Radio Remote. Pictured (l-r) are the station's Bob Richards, Swift, and the station's Fritz Moser.

» Houston Solution: Warner Bros./WMN's Charlie Worsham (c) hits Houston and mugs with KKBQ's Johnny Chiang and Christi Brooks.

» I Think I'll Just Sit Here And Talk: What do a Country Music Hall of Famer and a Country Radio Hall of Famer do when they get together? It turns out they chat, pick and tell great stories for three hours straight. Merle Haggard (l) surprises Eddie Stubbs by dropping by WSM-AM/Nashville recently.

 

 

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