The Country Radio Seminar (CRS) kicked off its 2025 CRS360 webinar series Wednesday with a deep dive into NuVoodoo Media’s research, first unveiled at CRS 2025. This inaugural session, titled "Fitting In! Listeners Say What Music to Play and the Numbers to Back It Up," equips country radio stations with practical, data-driven insights into listener music preferences and the reasoning behind them.
The webinar features NuVoodoo President and CEO Carolyn Gilbert, Executive Vice President Leigh Jacobs, and Beasley Media Group Chief Content Officer Justin Chase, with Clay Hunnicutt serving as moderator.
The webinar expanded on research initially presented at the CRS 2025 event held February 19-21 in Nashville. It was the first in a planned series of monthly webinars designed to unpack NuVoodoo Media’s extensive study of country music fans, offering actionable insights for radio programmers and industry professionals.
The webinar zeroed in on music preferences, analyzing over 400 song titles tested among a broad sample of adult country radio listeners. The research explored how tastes vary across demographics—gender, age groups, newer versus long-time fans—and provided data-driven guidance on which songs resonate most with today’s country audience. This included a focus on balancing current hits, recurrent tracks, and older titles to optimize playlists and retain listeners.
A key takeaway was the emphasis on listener-driven insights over traditional assumptions. The study aimed to help stations “fit in” with audience expectations while growing their reach. It revealed preferences not just for specific songs but also for how stations can enhance engagement through air talent and community connection—elements NuVoodoo’s past research has shown boost listening duration. For instance, earlier CRS360 findings noted that 86% of country fans prefer authentic, relatable radio personalities, a point likely reinforced here as a complement to music programming.
Hunnicutt highlighted the session’s significance: “At CRS 2025, we shared powerful data on radio’s influence, the value of air talent, listener retention strategies, and audience growth opportunities—but that was just the start. Through CRS360, we’re delivering detailed research on over 400 song titles and their fit within today’s distinct music mix, while also digging into topics we couldn’t fully cover at CRS. This is essential viewing for anyone in the industry!”
No comments:
Post a Comment