The changes came within a few days of each other. On Sept. 7, longtime Mainstream Country WCTQ Sarasota, Fla., began playing “Country’s All-Time Favorites for the Suncoast,” using iHeart’s gold-based Country log. Two days later, another heritage outlet, Cumulus’ KXKC Lafayette, La., became “Your Home for ‘90s Country.”
KXKC fit the classic profile of a second-in-the-format station, pulling out of a “New Country” battle with Townsquare’s KMDL (the Dawg), although the market already had two gold-based Country outlets. WCTQ’s mainstream Country competitors are the two Tampa outlets, WQYK and WFUS (US103.5).
Gold-based Country has gotten more industry attention over the last year with the industry finally deciding that fighting over “New Country” has led to too many wars of attrition, and that the position has become harder to defend as streaming challenges the viability of all current-based formats. Despite this, the format adds stations gradually, and others like WNKN Cincinnati opt out. So two flips in as many days is attention-getting.
I took a First Listen to the revamped WCTQ and KXKC. I also took Fresh Listens to the top two Country stations in PPM-rated markets: iHeart’s WQIK Jacksonville, Fla., and Bonneville’s KNCI Sacramento, in the interest of hearing two thriving mainstream Country outlets. In the August PPMs, the 30-year-old KNCI was up 6.9-8.3-8.7, its highest ever ratings. WQIK held at a 10.2, its best numbers since 2017.
WQIK has a mainstream Country competitor in WGNE (Froggy Country 99.9). KNCI has a low-rated Country gold rival in KNTY (Real Country 103.5). As a result, WQIK was still positioned as “Jacksonville’s No. 1 for New Country.” KNCI, with more room to maneuver, was still using “new country” but often in conjunction with “…and classics” imaging. WQIK has a handful of early ‘90s anthems, but KNCI goes further into that stash. Both stations play their top current around 55x a week.
KNCI, in particular, seems to be trying to move back into the place where mainstream Country outlets once lived as a matter of course—moderate spins on currents, significant library without being gold-based. WCTK (Cat Country 98.1) Providence, R.I., has been a prominent showcase for that approach. They were the No. 3 Country outlet in PPM markets in August, just after WQIK and KNCI. Here’s KNCI just before 4 p.m. on Sept. 13:
- Parmalee f/Blanco Brown, “Just the Way”
- Miranda Lambert, “White Liar”
- Dylan Scott, “My Girl”
- Jason Aldean, “Trouble with a Heartbreak”
- Eric Church, “Springsteen”
- Maren Morris, “The Bones”
- Chris Young & Kane Brown, “Famous Friends”
- Dan + Shay, “Glad You Exist”
- Mitchell Tenpenny, “Truth About You”
- Dustin Lynch f/Mackenzie Porter, “Thinking ‘Bout You”
- Taylor Swift, “Mean”
- Brett Young, “Lady”
- Walker Hayes, “Y’all Life”
- Carrie Underwood, “All-American Girl”
- Morgan Wallen, “You Proof”
- Billy Currington, “Do I Make You Wanna”—Currington is headlining the station’s upcoming Country in the Park 2 with Russell Dickerson, Jessie James Decker, Gavin DeGraw, and Kassi Ashton.
- Sammy Kershaw, “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful”—the stager said “this used to be your jam on the way to do some early-morning fishing. Here’s another KNCI classic.”
Here’s WQIK at 1 p.m. on Sept. 14
- Mitchell Tenpenny, “Truth About You”
- Kenny Chesney, “She’s Got It All”
- Jimmie Allen, “Down Home”
- Michael Ray, “Whiskey and Rain”
- Zac Brown Band, “Out in the Middle”
- Darius Rucker, “Wagon Wheel”
- Morgan Wallen, “Wasted on You”
- Justin Moore, “With a Woman You Love”
- Rascal Flatts, “Life is a Highway”
- Cole Swindell, “She Had Me at Heads Carolina”
- Jason Aldean, “Trouble with a Heartbreak”
WCTQ in middays was using the iHeart gold-based Country log also heard on KXXY Oklahoma City and WESC Greenville, S.C. Music goes back as far as a few ‘70s titles (the oldest being 1975’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell) and cuts off around 2011. The most-spun titles play around 14x a week.
I’ve written about the canned feel of many stations recently, so it’s worth noting that despite using WMTX (Mix 100.7)’s Brody in middays, there was a good “real-time” feel here. Here’s WCTQ just before 10 a.m.:
- Alan Jackson, “Wanted”
- Tim McGraw, “My Next Thirty Years”
- Hank Williams, Jr., “Family Tradition”
- Toby Keith w/Willie Nelson, “Beer for My Horses”
- Garth Brooks, “Shameless”
- Jason Aldean, “Crazy Town”
- Doug Stone, “In a Different Light”
- George Strait, “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind”
- John Anderson, “Seminole Wind”
- Darius Rucker, “Wagon Wheel”
- Shania Twain, “You’re Still the One”
- Brooks & Dunn, “Brand New Man”
- Mark Wills, “19 Somethin’”
- Travis Tritt, “I’m Gonna Be Somebody”
“My favorite song on KXKC, based on the BDSradio monitors, is one I haven’t heard yet. The station is playing Rodney Crowell’s 1981 “Stars on the Water” (better known in non-Gulf Coast markets for its George Strait remake) 10x a week. The new end of the music is 2003-04 with titles like Pat Green’s “Wave on Wave” or Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” Most-played is 21x a week. When I heard the station, it was in a commercial-free hour billed as a “takeover.” Here’s KXKC just before 10 a.m.:
- Clint Black, “Like the Rain”
- Alan Jackson, “Little Bitty”
- Travis Tritt, “Drift Off to Dream”
- John Michael Montgomery, “I Swear”
- Alison Krauss, “When You Say Nothing at All”
- Brooks & Dunn, “She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind”
- Joe Diffie, “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)”
- Faith Hill, “Wild One”
- Mark Wills, “19 Somethin’”
- Kenny Chesney, “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”
- Garth Brooks, “Papa Loved Mama”
- Radney Foster, “Just Call Me Lonesome”
- Shenandoah, “Sunday in the South”
- Tracy Lawrence, “Texas Tornado”
- Dwight Yoakam, “Fast as You”
- Doug Stone, “A Jukebox with A Country Song”
