NashFM 94-7 Playlist Said to Be Market-Driven

When WXRP New York hit the play button on Randy Houser’s “How Country Feels” on Jan. 21, it marked the return of country music to terrestrial radio in the nation’s largest market after an absence of more than a decade.

Billboard.biz reports the WNSH playlist was based on market-driven research, according to Cumulus co-COO Lew Dickey.

The first hour mixed current singles (Brad Paisley’s “Southern Comfort Zone,” Lee Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck”) with recent recurrents (Zac Brown Band’s “Free,” Lady Antebellum’s “I Run to You”) and classic country from the 1990s (Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” George Strait’s “Write This Down”).

Also heard, somewhat surprisingly, during the first day was Randy Rogers Band’s “Too Late for Goodbye,” which peaked at No. 47 on Hot Country Songs in 2010 but fared better on the Texas red-dirt circuit. If that was indeed chosen because of research and not just picked from a playlist at one of Cumulus’ Dallas stations (Dickey said WNSH was not an adaptation of another city’s library), that suggests the station could be a trendsetter, and not simply a jukebox of proven hits.

Read More Now.

The music mix for the first 14 hours according to Mediabase, and as detailed in tonight's edition of Country Aircheck showed 54.3% of the tunes aired were currents & recurrents, and the other 45.7% were gold tunes.

By year, the percentages were 56% for 2010-2012 music, 37% from 2000-2009, and another 6% were from 1987-1999.