Rochester Radio: Country WBEE Limits Snap Tracks In Music Mix

Neilsen recently released their 2019 diary book ratings for the Winter of 2019, and one of the biggest success stories for the period was country radio station CountryWBEE 92.5 FM in Rochester, New York, reports savingcountrymusic.com.

Already #1 in their radio market, WBEE saw significant market growth from the Fall of 2018 to the Winter of 2019 from an 8.1 share to an impressive 9.9. The radio station also saw strong growth in all of their key demographics, including 18-34 adults, 25-54 adults, and 25-54 women who make up country’s key demographic.

Bob Barnett

What does the radio station attribute this solid growth and continued market dominance to? In a recent interview with Country Aircheck, WBEE’s Vice President of Programming, Bob Barnett, says it wasn’t veering younger and more pop like many radio pundits might advise a radio station to do. Instead, the strategy was the exact opposite.

“We policed the excessive number of ‘snap tracks’ and drinking songs, and we were increasingly more selective over which new songs got added and exposed,” says the program director.

“In addition, we re-introduced a number of older gold titles back into the mix to try and achieve a better ‘mainstream’ country music mix. Through late summer and fall, I felt like much of the new music coming in was all beginning to sound the same—and we were missing variety and depth—so, we adjusted the gold mix.”

WBEE’s Bob Barnett gambled on trying to build better songs and older songs into the radio station’s playlist—something counter-intuitive to the philosophy of many country radio station programmers—and it paid off. “It felt like the prevailing reaction from the team to this book was a combination of accomplishment and relief,” says Barnett.



Snap and clap tracks have become the hot commodity in country music recently as pointed out by country commentator Grady Smith in a recent viral video that has received over 3 million views. Snap tracks among many other factors have added to the “sameness” many people feel about today’s country music, and not just between different contemporary country songs, but between songs on other formats that also employ electronic beats as opposed to live drums.