WJCT Public Media is creating a limited run HD subchannel exploring the history of Country Music tied to promote the new Ken Burns series debuting this weekend.
“Pop-Up Country” will run on 89.9 WJCT-HD4 Jacksonville FL until the end of November with Country, Folk, Bluegrass and Blues from artists including the Carter family, Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, BB King, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, and Garth Brooks. The channel is a promotional tie-in to the documentary series “Country Music” that will begin airing on PBS stations including WJCT-TV this weekend.
WJCT’s David Luckin, who is overseeing the sub-channel, told the Florida Times-Union, “With the power of pop-up opportunities through HD Radio and Jacksonville’s passionate country following on our side, launching the POP-UP Country Music on 89.9FM HD4 leading up to the release of Ken Burn’s documentary ‘Country Music’ is a natural fit.”
INSTANT INSIGHT: This is the perfect use of HD Radio and streaming and as a strategy should be used more often by stations. The fact that this is not being offered via streaming severely hampers the curation to be heard in the market beyond the national appeal something a short-run service like this offers.
Raymie
My gosh this is one of the better pop-up HDs I’ve seen.
NotiGAPE — one of the only Mexican broadcasters that seems to get how to use HD, even if that means that they don’t do it legally — had a pop-up HD4 subchannel to promote a regional music festival. It ended after the festival, of course.