February 1, 2010

» Grammys By The Numbers: Five performances, four Taylor trophies, three networks left in the dust, two overall winners and one local rock band made Nashville proud at Sunday night's (1/31) 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. Second only to Beyoncé for the night, Taylor Swift earned four

Grammys – Album of the Year, Country Album (both for Fearless), Country Song and Female Country Vocal Performance (both for "White Horse"). Other winners included Zac Brown Band (New Artist), Keith Urban (Country Male, "Sweet Thing") Lady Antebellum (Country Duo/Group, "I Run To You") and Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis (Country Collaboration, "I Told You So"). Swift's Album win made her the youngest to receive the award and marks only the fifth time in Grammy history a country release has earned the distinction. Lady A, ZBB (with Leon Russell), Swift (with Stevie Nicks), Jennifer Nettles (with Bon Jovi) and Underwood (in tribute to Michael Jackson) all performed. Nashville rock band Kings of Leon punctuated the Music City-centric show with a win for Record of the Year ("Use Somebody").

» Viewers Like You:

Last night's (1/31) 52nd Annual Grammy Awards telecast drew the show's largest audience in six years, according to Zap2it.com. CBS-TV averaged more than 23 million viewers and a 12.9 rating/20 share in primetime with the Grammys taking each hour it aired. ABC-TV placed second for the evening with 9.1 million viewers and 5.5/9. CBS also took adults 18-49 with an 8.1, beating the combined total of all three other networks: ABC (2.7). FOX (2.0) and NBC (1.0). In November, the 43nd Annual CMA Awards on ABC became the organization's highest-rated ceremony since 2005 with 16.8 million viewers and a 10.1/16. April's 44th Annual ACM Awards also helped secure the top spot for CBS with a 8.6/14.

» Arb-or Lights: Here are today's Fall 2009 Arbitron diary ratings for stations in the top 150 markets, ranked by metro size. All figures are persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight, with rankings in parentheses. Burlington, VT, which also was released today, is a client-exclusive metro and not available for publication.

Augusta, GA: Beasley's WKXC gained for the second straight book, up 7.6-8.5 (4t-3), to its best performance since Fall '07. Aloha Station Trust's WIBL declined to its lowest ratings in several years, 2.9-2.1 (11-13). Clear Channel's WCOS-FM/Columbia, SC emerged with a 1.2 (16t).
Reno: After three consecutive declines, Citadel's KBUL-FM rebounded 4.4-5.4 (5t-4), scoring its highest ratings in two years. Lotus' KUUB shifted 2.8-2.7 (15t-16), but beat last Fall's 2.5.

» Remington Raiser:

Clear Channel's Rock WKLS/Atlanta GSM Mark Remington has been named Market Mgr. for four of the company's Colorado Springs stations, which include Country KCCY. He replaces Bob Richards, who has exited. "Mark brings a solid background of management experience from his years working in our successful Denver radio cluster environment," says SVP/Southeast & West Operations Dave Crowl.

» AM Changes:

Sound's Rock WKTG/Madisonville, KY PM driver Kevin O'Connor is now voicetracking the same shift on sister Country WFMW-AM following afternoon host Rick Ballard's move to middays. Ballard fills the shift vacated by 23-year station vet Rick Stevens' exit last week.

» Lunch Bunch:

Capitol's Eric Church and Emily West have been tapped to perform at the label's luncheon during CRS 2010. The pair will hit the stage Friday, Feb. 26 from noon-1:50pm in the CMA Performance Hall at the Nashville Convention Center.

» Colts 45:

Valory's Justin Moore performed "Coltstown USA," a revised version of his "Small Town USA," for WLHK/Indianapolis listeners at the Colts Send-Off Rally this morning (2/1). The song was first rewritten by morning co-host Ed Wank before being reworked by Moore for today's acoustic performance. The latest version will be played on WLHK every hour until the kick-off of Super Bowl XLIV Sunday (2/7). Listen to it here.

» Hall Of Free TBD:

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Ford Community Day, canceled for weather that closed the museum Saturday (1/30) and Sunday (1/31), will be rescheduled. The annual free admission day is sponsored by the Ford Motor Company Fund.

» iPhone Update: Former WWGR/Ft. Myers APD/MD/PM driver Steve Hart can be reached here.

» Chronicle: Our condolences are extended to the friends and family of radio and TV personality Joe "Dr. Feel Good" Burge, who died Saturday (1/30) following a heart attack. He was 54. Most recently, Burge hosted the weekly Swamp & Roll show on KBON/Lafayette, LA and KDCG-TV. Visitation and funeral services were held today in Basile, LA. More info here.

» Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are the Top 5 songs for the week ending Jan. 30. Look for the full chart in tonight's Country Aircheck Weekly.

JASON ALDEAN/The Truth (BBR)
MIRANDA LAMBERT/White Liar (Columbia)
BRAD PAISLEY/American Saturday Night (Arista)
JOSH TURNER/Why Don't We Just Dance (MCA)
DARIUS RUCKER/History In The Making (Capitol)

All daily airplay data is from Mediabase 24/7.

» Country Aircheck Today Top 5 Downloads: Here are Play MPE's Top 5 for Jan. 29:

TIM MCGRAW/Still (Curb)
EMILY WEST f/KEITH URBAN/Blue Sky (Capitol)
GLORIANA/Wild At Heart (Numix) (Emblem/Warner Bros./Bigger Picture)
GLORIANA/Lead Me On (Emblem/Warner Bros./Bigger Picture)
GLORIANA/If You're Leavin'(Emblem/Warner Bros./Bigger Picture)

» Tomorrow's Birthdays (2/2): Howard Bellamy, Blaine Larsen, Casey Carter.

» Tube Check Tomorrow (2/2): Lady Antebellum, Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC).

» Connect Four: Big Machine's Taylor Swift counts the golden gramophones she's stuffing into her suitcase with the help of label Pres. Scott Borchetta (l), Northeast regional Erik Powell and VP/A&R Allison Jones (r) at Los Angeles' Palm last night (1/31).

» Golden Ones: Show Dog-Universal's Trace Adkins (c) and label rep Greg Sax (l) hang backstage with KIXB/El Dorado, AR PD J.R. Schumann before a Shine All Night Tour stop in Little Rock.

» School Of Heard Knox: BNA newcomer Chris Janson makes his first stop at WIVK/Knoxville. Pictured (l-r) are OM Mike Hammond, Janson, label rep Chris Waters and PM driver Gunner.

» Lil Rain: Lofton Creek's Gwen Sebastian and label rep Brad Taylor (l) take "Hard Rain" to WLLX/Lawrenceburg, TN PD Dan Hollander.