I always enjoy Rubber City Radio’s Country WQMX Akron, Ohio, when I hear it. This time when I listened, for the first time in more than a year, I noticed something interesting.
I was doing other work and listening casually, not with analytical intent. Throughout the hour, WQMX felt very traditional and very reaction-song driven. At the end of the hour, I found myself wondering if there had been any pop-leaning songs at all.
There had. When I went back and tried coding the hour, there were at least two songs that I’d classify as holdovers from the “boyfriend country” era — the songs that have made programmers so excited about moving on to Zach Bryan and Bailey Zimmerman. There was one “bro country” gold. There was at least one song I think of as very squarely in the format’s wide center lane of neutral records.
In other words, about 30% of the hour was what I would consider pop or mainstream balance. Everybody’s coding is different; you might even think I’m talking about a different four songs. The revelation was how those songs felt different in context. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much if I were listening to a station where those songs were the center lane. The balance songs did their job and didn’t dilute the overall feel of the radio station.
It also helped that WQMX is one of the format’s more aggressive stations on new music. Nine out of 14 songs are currents and still climbing the charts, although given the pacing of those charts, the average age of those nine songs is still 22 weeks. After a period of several years when it felt as if Country were mired in recurrents and recent gold that didn’t satisfy either the variety or “new country” need, I felt like there was enough new inventory on the shelves. CHR and Country are both challenged by the rise of streaming as the gatekeeper, but Top 40’s product availability issues are far more serious.
WQMX is the type of small-group or locally owned Country station I often gravitate to in this column. So are WCTK Providence, R.I., KUZZ Bakersfield, Calif., and the former KRTY San Jose, now KRTY.com. Three out of those four are in medium markets not traditionally considered Country strongholds, although through the format’s travails of recent years, a lot of stations in once-“lifegroup” markets are facing challenges as well. One recently saluted group-owned exception is WPAW (The Wolf) Greensboro, N.C. — also because of its commitment to breaking new music.
The combination of new-music excitement and enough variety between passive and active songs is a potent one, and often a good indication for the health of a format. “Africa” by Toto, still a song with a place in the pop music firmament, was a holdover in late 1982-83 during CHR’s remarkable recovery from its early-’80s doldrums. It was easier to enjoy it as the AC song between “Rock the Casbah” and “Rock This Town” then it would have been a year earlier as the “uptempo” hit between Air Supply and “Endless Love.” Same goes for the moment in 1997-98 when teen pop, crossover Hip-Hop/R&B, and the Modern AC of the previous 3-4 years all flourished together.
The sea change in Country product is the big story of the last year. I should have written about it more, but it was being well documented by many others. The more traditional artists with streaming-driven breakthroughs are clearly a calling card for the format; a reader messaged me this morning to tell me that WKHX (New Country 101.5) Atlanta has sweepers about Zach Bryan “changing the face of Country.”
That said, there were only two songs in the WQMX hour that I would have considered to be part of that movement. A few others, notably, were songs that I consider examples of incumbent hitmakers being nudged to take more chances — another hallmark of a format up-cycle. The traditional and often dour new group of streaming hits is a positive. They also point out the need for Country to simultaneously address its “fun factor” issues of recent years. I’m sure there’s somebody who regards “Something in the Orange” as the corrective to “Fancy Like.” I regard them both as positive moves forward.
Here’s WQMX on Jan. 30 at 4 p.m., leading into the station’s Drive at 5:
- Hardy f/Lainey Wilson, “Wait in the Truck”
- Little Big Town, “Boondocks”
- Justin Moore & Priscilla Block, “You, Me, and Whiskey”
- Brett Young, “You Didn’t”
- Megan Moroney, “Tennessee Orange”
- Billy Currington, “Good Directions”
- Elle King f/Dierks Bentley, “Worth a Shot”
- George Strait, “Check Yes or No”
- Jason Aldean, “That’s What Tequila Does”
- Cody Johnson, “Human”
- Locash, “One Big Country Song”
- Matt Stell, “Man Made”
- Eli Young Band, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”
- Joe Nichols, “Good Day for Living”
