First Listen: New Country vs. Newer Country

It has been an ongoing question for Country radio for more than a decade. What are you promising the listener when you declare your station to be “Number One for New Country?” Brand new songs? Mostly recent music? Enough new Country for the listener to stay current, even if a station has an extensive library of older titles?

Even in the moments before Morgan Wallen’s ascent, when most programmers were not excited about their available music, “New Country” was considered the format’s most valuable image. At this year’s Country Radio Seminar, research-presentation attendees were encouraged not to dilute the “new” image with a modifier such as “ … and yesterday’s favorites,” even if those were part of the mix.

Now there’s an interesting test case for how new “New Country” has to be.

iHeart’s KXKT (Kat 103.7) Omaha, Neb., debuted in 1993 and became one of the ’90s-Country boom’s most successful launches. At that time, its main Country rival was Great Empire’s determinedly traditional-leaning WOW-FM and AM, making the difference particularly pronounced.

At a time when the Country franchise doesn’t guarantee market domination, even during Country music’s hot streak, Kat does indeed lead Omaha/Council Bluffs by more than a share, up 8.7-8.9 under PD/MD/middayer Hoss Michaels. Last Thursday, it was challenged by Usher Media’s newly acquired KOPW, which walked away from a 4.8-share 12-plus as Rhythmic Top 40 to become “Country One 106.9.”

Kat bills itself as both “No. 1 for New Country in Omaha” and “Omaha’s New Country.” It goes back as far as the late ’90s/early ’00s for a handful of titles. Country One is billed as “Omaha’s Hit Country.” Its launch promo and first hour contained a handful of shots at KXKT. More notably, the new station seems to have a pronounced emphasis on new music and streaming-era artists, something that few Country stations have done, or had to.

Here’s Country One’s first hour on August 13 at 3 p.m.:

• Jelly Roll, “Hands Up”
• Shaboozey, “Good News”
• Koe Wetzel f/Ella Langley, “Jaded” — staged as a “First Listen”
• Morgan Wallen, “The Way I Talk” — his 2016 debut single
• Belles w/Dolly Parton, “Son of Jolene”
• Bailey Zimmerman, “Chevy Silverado”
• Chayce Beckham, “23”
• Corey Kent, “This Heart”
• John Morgan, “Kid Myself”
• Tyler Hubbard, “Dancin’ in the Country”
• Harper Grace, “Underneath the Harvest Moon”
• Dan + Shay, “Say So”
• Josh Ross, “Hate How You Look”
• Jason Aldean, “Don’t Tell on Me”
• Sydney Shae, “Why God Made Nebraska” — a sweeper declares “you helped her trend on TikTok”; a rare recent interest of a new station launching with a signature record
• Zach Top, “South of Sanity”

Here’s Country One just before 3 p.m., August 17:

• Cody Johnson, “The Painter”
• Luke Combs, “Be by You”
• Jelly Roll, “Liar”
• Riley Green, “Worst Way”
• Sydney Shae, “Why God Made Nebraska”
• Jacob Hackworth, “What Took You So Long”
• Kane Brown, “Woman”
• Jason Aldean, “Whiskey Drink”
• Locash, “Hometown Home”
• Carter Faith w/Wyatt Flores, “Nothin’ Better to Do”
• Morgan Wallen, “Been by Now”
• Josh Ross, “Hate How You Look”
• Dan + Shay, “Save Me the Trouble”
• Zach Top, “South of Sanity”
• Kevin Powers f/Shaboozey, “Move On”
• Dan + Shay, “Say So”
• Ella Langley & Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me”
• Kenny Chesney, “Carry On”

KXKT was giving away packages to the upcoming iHeart Music Festival. It was also giving away Chris Stapleton tickets at :10 each hour. Here’s Kat 103.7 at 10 a.m., with PD/MD Hoss Michaels:

• Luke Combs, “Be by You”
• Shaboozey, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — in his opening break, Michaels kicks off the “At Work Show”
• Blake Shelton w/Gwen Stefani, “Nobody but You”
• Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas” — Hoss backsells as “your Ella Langley station” before teasing tickets to her upcoming show
• Luke Bryan, “Country and She Knows It”
• Rascal Flatts, “My Wish”
• John Morgan, “Kid Myself”
• Jason Aldean, “Trouble With a Heartbreak”
• The Band Perry, “Better Dig Two”
• Dan + Shay, “Say So”
• Morgan Wallen, “20 Cigarettes”
• George Birge f/Luke Bryan, “Ride, Ride, Ride”
• Sugarland, “Baby Girl”

It will be interesting to see if any station moves to cover R&B/Hip-Hop. KOPW’s previous occupant, Rhythmic CHR reporter Power 106.9, regularly led Mainstream CHR rival KQCH. Omaha is one of those markets like Kansas City and Wichita, Kan., where R&B and Hip-Hop are stronger than many people realize. (Rhythmic CHR KDGS is Wichita’s market leader.) At a time where Hip-Hop radio sometimes struggles in longtime stronghold markets, there would be an instant franchise for any willing operator for either that format or a WBLK Buffalo, N.Y.-styled station that straddles the contemporary and adult format.