“I don’t feel like a new face, but God’s timing is always right on time.”
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Sleepless In A Hotel: The 2026 CRS/Country Aircheck Awards winners celebrate backstage Friday (3/20) after the New Faces show. See the full list of winners here.
Heart Like A Buck: Broken Bow's Lainey Wilson with SiriusXM/Pandora's Johnny Chiang.
Most Likely To Secede: KSCS & KPLX/Dallas' Fifth Annual Texas Independence Jam guitar pull raises $360,000 for Cook Children’s Medical Center. Pictured (l-r) are the station's Tara Ward and Ryan Fox, Cook Children's Kimberly McGinnis, EECU's Lonnie Nicholson, Cook Children's Natalie Houghton and the station's Michelle Rodriguez and Mark "Hawkeye" Louis.
Give Heaven Some Honors: CRB/CRS' RJ Curtis, Broken Bow's Frank Ray, MCA's Parker McCollum, Big Loud's Hardy and CRB/CRS' Kurt Johnson (l-r) at CRS Honors.
Fast Card: Columbia's Luke Combs kicks off his My Kinda Saturday Night Tour at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Pictured (l-r) are the label's Lauren Zimmerman and Caryl Atwood, KYGO/Denver’s Brian Michel, the label’s Christy Garbinski, KUPL/Portland’s Dylan Salisbury, iHeart/Rockies' JoJo Turnbeaugh, Audacy’s "Sabrina From Queens" Sergio, KYGO's Shawn Patrick, Combs, Westwood One's George King, KWNR's MoJoe Roberts, the label’s Larry Santiago, KPLM/Palm Springs' Kory James, KCYE's Shawn Stevens and the label’s Taylor Sowers.
All My Flexes: Kickin' Kountry 101's Shannon Steele with Warner/WAR's Chase Matthew and Big Loud's Lauren Alaina at CRS.
Like I Love Country Radio Seminar: RCA's Kane Brown with WWWF/Nassau-Suffolk's Kelly Ford at CRS.
Signage: Singer/songwriter Lucas Ball signs with Twelve6 Entertainment. Pictured (l-r) are Twelve6’s Brooke Pauley and Travis Myatt, Ball, attorney Rachel Guttmann and Twelve6’s Willow Belenski.
She's Country ... Radio Seminar: Broken Bow's Jason Aldean (c) celebrates 31 No. 1s with the label's Jon Loba (l) and labelmate Blake Shelton last night (3/19) at the label's CRS event. Performers included Alabama, Travis Tritt and – together for the first time in four years – Florida Georgia Line.
Suite & Greet: Red Street's Walker Montgomery and Taylor Austin Dye with radio partners at the label's suite.
Live, Laugh, Lounge: Warner Records/WRN's Warren Zeiders (c) with Audacy’s Scott Roddy (l) and Tim Roberts at CRS.
Long Live Country Radio Seminar: Triple Tigers' Shane Profitt (l) with KSSN/Little Rock's Jess Jennings and the label's Kevin Herring at CRS.
Whadya Say: Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee Marci Braun casually gets her name up on Wrigley Field.
The newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame are: in the Modern Era Artist category, Tim McGraw; in the Veterans Era Artist category, The Stanley Brothers; and in the Songwriter category, Paul Overstreet. Details regarding induction at the annual Medallion Ceremony will be forthcoming.
CRS/Country Aircheck Award winners honored at the CRS '26 New Faces Show at the Omni Nashville (3/20) are:
Station
Platinum Label: Triple Tigers
Gold Label: Big Machine
OM/PD
APD/MD (tie): Chris Huff, KILT/Houston; Lauren "Lo" Sessions-Barker, KKBQ/Houston
DSP: Spotify
Streaming Programmer/Editor: Johnny Chiang, Pandora
SVP-VP National Promotion: Lauren "LT" Thomas, Big Loud
Label Streaming Specialist: Jamice Jennings, Records Nashville
Director/National Promotion: Katie Bright, MCA
Market Manager/GM: Sarah Frazier, KILT/Houston
Personality/Show
National Personality/Show
National Radio Programmer: Tim Roberts, Audacy
Regional Promoter: Annie Sandor, MCA
DSP Partner Specialist: Michelle Tigard Kammerer, Amazon Music
Independent Promotion Executive: Louie Newman, Lyric Ridge
New Face Of Country Music: Ashley Petro, Warner
Also at New Faces, the final two Academy of Country Music Radio Awards were announced, completing the slate revealed earlier.
It's A Mad, 'MAD World: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for January 2026 (three-month rolling average, 10/16/25-2/4/26) compared with November and December. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.
| Chattanooga, TN (Market 93) |
WUSY Audacy |
| Huntsville, AL (99) |
WDRM iHeartMedia |
| Jackson, MS (125) |
WUSJ New South 4.8 (5) - 4.2 (6) - 3.8 (7) WMSI iHeartMedia 2.5 (8) - 2.4 (9) - 2.8 (9) WHJT New South Classic Country 1.0 (14t) - 1.4 (12) - 2.1 (11) |
| Madison, WI (88) |
WMAD iHeartMedia 4.6 (3) - 4.7 (4t) - 6.5 (3) Largest share in station's 20 years in the format. WWQM Mid-West Family 2.0 (9t) - 1.9 (13t) - 1.7 (13) |
Twist-chita: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for January 2026 (three-month rolling average, 10/16/25-2/4/26) compared with November and December. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.
| Colorado Springs, CO (Market 91) |
KCCY iHeartMedia |
| Des Moines, IA (70) |
KHKI Cumulus |
| Mobile, AL (100) |
WKSJ iHeartMedia 6.0 (3) - 5.6 (2) - 5.9 (2) |
| Spokane, WA (90) |
KDRK Stephens 2.6 (7) - 2.6 (7t) - 2.2 (10t) KICR Blue Sky 2.2 (9t) - 2.0 (12t) - 2.0 (12) KXLY QueenB Does not subscribe. |
| Wichita, KS (104) |
KFDI SummitMedia 5.9 (2) - 5.3 (4t) - 5.9 (2) KZSN iHeartMedia 5.7 (3) - 5.3 (4t) - 5.4 (3t) KVWF Murfin 3.2 (11t) - 2.5 (15t) - 3.7 (9t) Largest share since entering the format in June 2023. KFTI-AM SummitMedia Classic Country 0.9 (18) - 0.7 (19t) - 0.7 (19t) |
Rate And Hook: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for January 2026 (three-month rolling average, 10/16/25-2/4/26) compared with November and December. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.
| Columbia, SC (Market 89) |
WCOS iHeartMedia |
| Little Rock, AR (94) |
KSSN iHeartMedia 7.2 (4) - 7.6 (2) - 6.6 (2) KMJX iHeartMedia Cl. Country 3.1 (10) - 3.0 (5) - 2.5 (5t) |
| Springfield, MA (102) |
WRNX iHeartMedia 4.7 (4) - 4.2 (4) - 4.3 (4) |
| Toledo, OH (108) |
WCKY iHeartMedia Classic Country 1.3 (12) - 1.3 (8) - 1.2 (7) WKKO Cumulus 8.6 (2) - N/A - N/A Does not subscribe. |
The CRS 2026
Print Special
featuring: Hey-Hi, AI: Emerging Uses
Best CRS Takeaways Ever
Label Contacts • New Faces
Travis Daily: The Interview
Inside This Issue:
MC-Yay At Ryman Lunch
Disruption Junction
You Look Like You Love Me
The Day Ahead
The 2026 Grammy
Voter's Guide
A quick reference guide to the 2026 Grammy Nominees