Country Aircheck

In This Issue (10/12)

“The process of making up songs is really elusive, and it never happens exactly the same way twice for me.”

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Radio Vision

Joe-King Around: Sony Music Nashville's Zach John King with WUSN/Chicago's Marci Braun at Joe's Live.

Barrel Boys: Enchntmnt/Warner Records' Blake Whiten and Warner's Slater Nalley at the Barrelhouse Ballroom in Chattanooga. Pictured (l-r) are WUSY's Greg "StyckMan" Owens, Whiten, WUSY's Justin Cole, Nalley and the label's James Marsh.

Traffic Jam: Interscope/Lost Highway/Music Soup's Vincent Mason and Atlantic Outpost's Stella Lefty at KMLE/Phoenix's 8 Man Jam. Pictured (l-r) are Lost Highway's Megan McCaffey, the station's Drew Bland, Mason, Lefty and Atlantic Outpost's Stephanie Hagerty.

Star Power: WKKT/Charlotte and WSSL/Greenville, SC celebrate Rising Stars. Pictured (back, l-r) are Santa Anna/Akando's Tyler Nance, Triple Tigers' Shane Profitt, WKKT's Ashley Wilson, Red Street's Taylor Austin Dye, Curb's Kelsey Hart and Big Machine's Cole Goodwin and Liz Santana; (front, l-r) Curb’s Rusty Sherrill, Red Street's Sally Allgeier and Akando's Christina Kosters.

Hall Stars: The Radio Hall of Fame inducted its Class of 2026 (Rickey Smiley, Dennis Green, Helen Little, Bob Pittman, Fred Winston, Charlie Van Dyke and Shotgun Tom Kelly, l-r) last night (10/8) in Chicago.

To The Maxx: East Music Row's Belles (c) with promo vet Ray Mariner and WXCY/Wilmington, DE's Charlie Maxx.

Watt's Up: Music City Power Company's Six One Five Collective visits WWKA/Orlando. Pictured (l-r) are the band's Michael Logan and Nicole Witt, the station's Steve Stewart and Melissa Quinones, the band's Aaron Goodvin and Sarah Darling and the label's Kerry Wolfe.

Watermelon Sugar Moonshine: Broken Bow's Lainey Wilson (c) talks John Mayer, Harry Styles, CMA Awards and more with Country Heat Weekly's Kelly Sutton (l) and Amber Anderson.

Signage: Randy Rogers Band partners with Big Loud Texas for release of upcoming collaboration album Songbook. Pictured (front, l-r) are the label's Jon Randall, Rogers and the label's Miranda Lambert and Brendon Anthony; (back, l-r) RRB's Brady Black, Red Light's Nick Rhodes, RRB's Les Lawless, Geoffrey Hill, Johnny Chops and Todd Stewart and Red Light's Enzo Divencenzo.

Top Stories

60th CMA Broadcast Awards Winners

Notified today (10/13) via calls from Zach Top were:

CMA Broadcast Personality of the Year

Weekly National: The Highway Hot 30 Countdown with Buzz Brainard; Buzz Brainard – SiriusXM
Daily National: Big D & Bubba; "Big D" Derek Haskins, "Bubba" Sean Powell, Carsen Humphreville, Jonathan Shaffer, Garrett Freche – Silverfish Media
Major Market: The Andie Summers Show; Andie Summers, Jeff Kurkjian, Donnie Black, Shannon Boyle – WXTU/Philadelphia
Large Market: The Jesse & Anna Show; Jesse Tack, Anna Marie, Jake Thomson – WUBE/Cincinnati
Medium Market: Steve & Gina in the Morning; Steve Lundy, Gina Melton – KXKT/Omaha
Small Market: Officer Don and DeAnn; "Officer Don" Evans, DeAnn Stephens – WBUL/Lexington, KY

CMA Station of the Year

Major Market: KSCS/Dallas
Large Market: WQDR/Raleigh
Medium Market: KXKT/Omaha
Small Market: WKML/Fayetteville, NC.

Oct 13, 2026 Share

August CDM Ratings

Miss Lead: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for August 2026 (three-month rolling average, 5/28-8/19) compared with June and July. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Chattanooga, TN (Market 93)	WUSY Audacy 7.4 (1) - 7.9 (1) - 8.8 (1) WUUQ Bahakel Classic Country 4.3 (5) - 4.1 (5) - 3.1 (7) WOGT Cumulus Does not subscribe.
Huntsville, AL (99)	WDRM iHeartMedia 11.7 (1) - 10.2 (1) - 9.7 (1)
Jackson, MS (125)	WMSI iHeartMedia 3.3 (7t) - 4.2 (4) - 5.5 (4) Largest share since Feb. 2024. WUSJ New South 3.5 (5t) - 3.2 (7) - 2.6 (7t) WHJT New South Classic Country 1.8 (9) - 1.7 (9) - 1.9 (9)
Madison, WI (88)	WMAD iHeartMedia 4.9 (5) - 5.0 (5) - 4.4 (5) WWQM Mid-West Family 2.6 (10t) - 2.9 (9t) - 2.1 (12)

Oct 1, 2026 Share

August CDM Ratings

Quick Wichita: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for August 2026 (three-month rolling average, 5/28-8/19) compared with June and July. 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 3.6 (5) - 3.1 (6) - 2.7 (8) KATC Cumulus Does not subscribe.
Des Moines, IA (70)	KHKI Cumulus KJJY Cumulus Classic Country Do not subscribe.
Mobile, AL (100)	WKSJ iHeartMedia 7.7 (1) - 5.6 (1t) - 5.2 (2)
Spokane, WA (90)	KICR Blue Sky 2.8 (8t) - 2.4 (8) - 1.5 (9t) KISC-HD2 iHeartMedia 1.1 (12) - 0.4 (15) - 0.4 (14) KDRK Stephens and KXLY QueenB Do not subscribe.
Wichita, KS (104)	KFDI SummitMedia 4.7 (6t) - 4.3 (7) - 5.4 (2) KZSN iHeartMedia 5.4 (4) - 5.5 (3) - 4.4 (5t) KVWF Murfin 1.7 (15) - 1.9 (15) - 2.2 (14t)

Sep 30, 2026 Share

August CDM Ratings

Rock Solid: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for August 2026 (three-month rolling average, 5/28-8/19) compared with June and July. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Columbia, SC (Market 89)	WCOS iHeartMedia 4.7 (3) - 4.1 (3) - 4.9 (3)
Little Rock, AR (94)	KSSN iHeartMedia 5.4 (2) - 6.0 (2) - 6.9 (2) Largest share since last December. KMJX iHeartMedia Cl. Country 4.5 (4) - 3.9 (4) - 3.2 (6)
Springfield, MA (102)	WRNX iHeartMedia 4.5 (4t) - 4.4 (6) - 4.6 (4)
Toledo, OH (108)	WCKY iHeartMedia Classic Country 1.0 (7) - 0.7 (8) - 0.7 (8) WKKO Cumulus Does not subscribe.

Sep 29, 2026 Share

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2026 CMA Voter's Guide
A quick reference guide to the 2026 CMA Nominees

The Fall 2026 Print Special featuring:

Country Aircheck Turns 20!

Power 31: Then & Now

The Interview & More

Inside This Issue:

MC-Yay At Ryman Lunch
Disruption Junction
You Look Like You Love Me
The Day Ahead