Nashville Radio: New Young Country Launching June 6

Well known as a producer for Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Chris Brown and Fergie, among others, Polow da Don is used to crafting radio-ready hits. Now, the Grammy-nominated producer is switching gears by launching a terrestrial country radio station in Nashville. On June 6, Polow da Don, whose real name is Jamal Jones, will unveil his Young Country-branded station translator W292FB 96.7 FM and WYZC 1030 AM 1 Kw, DA-N, licensed to White Bluff TN). 

“Young Country is a culture,” Jones tells Billboard. “It’s more than a radio station, it’s more than a playlist of songs. Young Country will be an inclusive home to artists who may not have a platform right now.”

At a time with Lil Nas X’s trap country smash “Old Town Road” continues to dominate the Billboard Hot 100, Jones says the station’s playlist will be a diverse mix of country, urban and hip-hop acts in frequent rotation.

He cites country acts like Kane Brown and Chris Young will be played alongside pop acts like Taylor Swift, rappers such as Ryan Upchurch, Migos, and Yelawolf, as well as country rap hybrids, including Blanco Brown and Bubba Sparxxx.

While the lack of airplay for women artists on country radio remains an issue, Jones says he plans to highlight female acts by featuring them in frequent rotation, as well as stunt programming. “We were thinking about doing Women Crush Wednesdays where we play a female every hour on the hour or maybe all day for 24 hours,” he says. “Young Country will heavily support female artists. As a producer, I know how many females [are in] music. This is an opportunity.”

W292FB 96.7 FM (99 watts) Courtesy of RecNet.Com

Given Jones’ talents, he plans for the station to create its own genre-bending mashups remixing rap or pop songs over a traditional country beat, as well as taking country songs and remixing them with an electronic or hip-hop beat. And while country radio has been slow to embrace “Old Town Road,” the song will have a home at Young Country. “Lil Nas X has the biggest song in the world. Every radio station should play that song because that’s what people want obviously.”