CRS 2015 Kicks-Off In Nashville

Country radio's biggest event of the year, Country Radio Seminar (CRS), kicks off today at the Nashville Convention Center in downtown Nashville, TN.

The annual, three-day conference, starts today and continues thru Friday, provides numerous networking opportunities for attendees and an agenda filled with educational seminars, intriguing panels and exciting performances from some of country music's biggest stars. Events that will make their return, include the Grand Ole Opry show on Wednesday night, “Team UMG At The Ryman” and the Black River performance luncheons, and Bob Kingsley's Acoustic Alley.

With a combined number of 26 panels, sessions and educational presentations, the agenda is packed full of items that focus on many different areas of the Country radio industry. Notable panels include, “The Power of the Connected Car,” “Direct From The Consumer Electronics Show: Coolest Gadgets & Gizmos for 2015,” “Social Media Bootcamp, Track 1: How To Speak In Your Brand’s Voice and Get Content Shared” and “Social Media Bootcamp, Track 2: Finding & Engaging Your Consumers In Real-Time.”  This year's CRS will also include an appearance from featured speaker Keith Urban at his event, "Being Present," and Lady Antebellum will be featured panelists on “How 3 Become 1: Lady Antebellum.”

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A summary of agenda highlights for CRS 2015 follows below:

Wednesday, Feb. 25th

• CRS 2015 kicks off with the Opening Ceremonies at 3 p.m.  Capitol recording artist Micky Guyton will perform the national anthem and the U.S. Marine Color Guard will make an appearance.  A host of announcements are scheduled, making this year’s opening ceremony a must-attend event.  Some of the highlights include the reveal of the Country Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2015, a presentation recognizing Lady Antebellum as the recipient of the CRS 2015 Artist Humanitarian Award, an appearance by Mayor Karl Dean, presentation of the 2015 Tom Rivers Award to Jeff Smulyan and awarding the Rusty Walker scholarship winners and the endowment presentation to the University of North Texas. Opening Ceremonies are sponsored by ALS.net.

Thursday, Feb. 26th

• Thursday morning will start off with the Programming Mentoring Breakfast, a one-on-one session with experienced PD's and radio consultants. Following breakfast, featured speaker Lori Addicks will discuss how to increase personal and professional resilience and performance with Emotional Intelligence (EQ.) 
• Panels will follow immediately and run throughout the day. Thursday’s panel highlights include: "How 3 Became 1: Lady Antebellum" "CRS Research Presentation: Do Mornings Still Drive Country Radio? sponsored by Fisher House Foundation" "Direct from the Consumer Electronics Show: Coolest Gadgets and Gizmos" featuring Ted Cohen, "From Zero to Hero: Successful Promotions with No Budget," and "Gensetters: 18-34 Listening Trends and How They Will Shape Our Future."
• For its sixth consecutive year the UMG Artist Performance and Luncheon will take place at the historic Ryman Auditorium. This year’s performers include Billy Currington, Brothers Osborne, Canaan Smith, Chris Stapleton, Darius Rucker, David Nail, Dierks Bentley, Easton Corbin, Eric Church, Josh Turner, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kip Moore, Little Big Town, Mickey Guyton and Vince Gill.
• Following the afternoon panels, Thursday's events will conclude with "Bob Kingsley's Acoustic Alley," sponsored by Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 and Suntrust Bank. Bob Kingsley will host what has become a CRS tradition that will feature performances by Bob DiPiero, Casey Bethard, Rhett Akins, JT Harding, Ross Copperman, Jon Nite, Chris DeStefano, Jimmy Robbins, Liz Rose, Caitlyn Smith, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey.

 Friday, Feb. 27th

• Friday morning will begin with the option of either the Managers' Breakfast or the CRS Futuri Tech Breakfast. They will then be followed by Friday's featured speaker, Rich Riley, Shazam CEO, who will discuss "How to Use Shazam to Enhance Your Programming and Promotions."
• Friday's panels will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will run throughout the day. Highlights include: "Social Media Bootcamp Track 1 and Track 2," "Behind the Numbers: The Insider's Guide to Nielsen Data," " The Stars Come Out in the Morning featuring Bobby Bones, Scott Shannon and the Dave and Jimmy Show," and "C'mon, Get Appy! The Latest in App Technology for Radio, sponsored by Glow Motion Technologies."
• Attendees will also be treated to a performance luncheon sponsored by Black River Entertainment. This year's performers include: Kelsea Ballerini, John King and Craig Morgan.
• Closing out the seminar’s educational sessions is a discussion with Keith Urban.  Urban will give his views and experiences of "tearing down the walls" between himself and audiences and offer insight into managing the several different facets of his life in a segment titled "Being Present." (Sponsored by BMI).

 CRS will conclude with the annual New Faces of Country Music Show and Awards. This year's class of New Faces is Frankie Ballard, Sam Hunt, Eric Paslay, Maddie & Tae and Cole Swindell.