There are two types of Country radio stations at the moment. Some are structured like pop radio’s Hot AC stations — with relatively tight rotations and libraries. They are the “new country” stations born from the format’s all-ages boom around 2013-14. Others are more like Mainstream ACs, not in music style, but in structure — slower rotations, more era variety.
“New Country” stations have had challenges recently. Even two years ago, listeners were unexcited about current country product. Plus, the glacial pace of the country charts meant that the most-spun songs on “new country” radio were no less than 35 weeks old. Now that country listeners are streaming more, for those listeners most interested in “new country,” what radio plays doesn’t sound so new.
Two years ago, I was in a Twitter conversation that included Hall Communications VP/programming Bob Walker, then PD of WCTK (Cat Country 98.1) Providence, R.I. I was deriding those stations that promised “new country” but played recurrent country. But WCTK was never that. At the time I wrote, “I like @CatCountry981 because of its variety, its listenable rotations, and its presentational energy. You only talk about ‘new music’ when you’re actually playing it, and most of your powers are actually currents.”
Last August, Walker moved his homebase to Hall’s WPCV (Country 97) Lakeland, Fla. Kevin Palana became PD of WCTK and Classic Hits WNBH (Big 101.3) New Bedford, Mass. I still like Cat Country 98.1 because of its variety, its presentational energy, and its listenable rotations. And its powers are still true currents. Cat Country 98.1 never surrendered the “hits in reasonable rotation, plus variety” template. Power rotation is still 51x a week. A few gold titles go as far back as “Friends in Low Places.”
In the just-released January Nielsen ratings, WCTK was the second-biggest Country station in a PPM market, up 7.4-8.1 6-plus, behind only WCOL Columbus, Ohio’s 6.4-8.6. Cat Country 98.1 has also been able to hold its market’s country-listener coalition together, even as the audience contracts in some once-reliable markets. Unlike many such markets, Cat Country is Providence’s only Country station, but like other Southern New England cities, there are plenty of other Country-radio choices within earshot.
When I did a “Fresh Listen” to WCTK on Feb. 24, with Palana on the air as “Kevin Lawrence,” I heard two of the things I always like hearing on radio, especially now — listener voices and local geography (and some sweepers that combined the two). Sweepers were generally light and offbeat, one ID’ed WCTK as “your handscrubbin’, social distancing, stayin’ put station.” And it may be just the juxtaposition of the Keith Urban, Chris Janson, and Kenny Chesney, but there seemed to be an overall attempt to keep things lyrically and presentationally upbeat in this time of audience need.
Here’s Cat Country just before 3 p.m. on Feb. 24:
- Rascal Flatts, “Rewind” (2014)
- Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats” (2005)
- David Nail, “Whatever She’s Got” (2013)
- Luke Bryan, “Down to One” (Current)
- Jake Owen, “Beachin’” (2013)
- Blake Shelton, “Minimum Wage” (Current)
- Michael Ray, “One That Got Away” (2018)
- Thomas Rhett, “Star of the Show” (2016)
- Travis Denning, “After a Few” (Recurrent)
- Parmalee, “Already Callin’ You Mine” (2013)
- Dierks Bentley, “Gone” (Current)
- Old Dominon, “Paint the Grass Green” (Never a single nationally, but recurrent here)
- Keith Urban, “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me” (2002)
- Dustin Lynch, “Momma’s House” (Current)
- Chris Janson, “Good Vibes” (Recurrent)
- Kenny Chesney, “Happy Does” (Current)
- Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now” (2009)
- Kelsea Ballerini, “Hole in the Bottle” (Current)
I hope that both the “Hot AC” and “AC” template survive at Country radio. I hope those stations billed as “new country” can do what it takes to compete with streaming for that franchise. Both types of stations would be better served if Country were finally willing to split into two charts; now, it’s as if the CHR stations that played “Watermelon Sugar” last summer are expected to keep it in power until the Mainstream AC stations that are playing it now can close out the panel.
In the meantime, many of the music stations that are most thriving are those that are programmed for our current environment with relaxed rotations and more variety. That’s an advertisement for the AC template at Country, and so is the success of Cat Country 98.1.
