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iHeart Like A Truck: Broken Bow's Lainey Wilson (l) with Premiere Networks' Julie Talbott at iHeartCountry’s remote broadcast in Frisco, TX.
Indie-apolis: Riser House's Brandon Perdue, Leo33's Chris Fabiani and Tracy Gibson, Riser House's Megan Shultz and Ashley Mascroft, Red Street's Sally Allgeier, Riser House's Hayley Irvine and Records Nashville's David "Bubba" Berry at the ACM Indie Night.
Mötley New: WUSN/Chicago's Scotty Kay with ACM New Artist winners Ella Langley and Zach Top.
Austin, Texas: Records Nashville's Austin Williams (in hat) makes his ACM radio remote debut with the label's Jamice Jennings and KDRK/Spokane, WA's Jamie Patrick and Tim Cotter (l-r).
Green Day: Nashville Harbor's Riley Green with the WDSY/Pittsburgh crew at the ACM radio remotes. Pictured (l-r) are Mark Anderson, Amanda Gorecki, Green and Cale Berger.
Kiss An Angle Good Mornin': Country Aircheck's Chuck Aly, ACM Lifting Lives/F2 Entertainment's Fletcher Foster and manager/ACM board Chair Randy Bernard (l-r) at I'm Just Me: A Charley Pride Celebration Of Inclusion.
Remote Patrol: Stone Country's Annie Bosko with Country Top 40 with Fitz at the ACM remotes.
Texas: Wheelhouse's Blake Shelton with Audacy's Katie Neal (top) and KSD/St. Louis' Billy Greenwood and Dusty Panhorst at the ACM radio remotes.
Pose Colored Glasses: Black River's Kelsea Ballerini and KSCS/Dallas' Mark "Hawkeye" Louis hit their annual ACM pose.
FrisCole: Warner/WMN's Cole Swindell (in hat) with WDSY/Pittsburgh's Mark Anderson, Amanda Gorecki and Cale Berger (l-r) in Frisco, TX.
Frisco Inferno: Triple Tigers' Scotty McCreery with WKKT/Charlotte's Graham Bunn and "Sarah Lee" Owensby (top) and WTGE/Baton Rouge's Brittany Rose at ACM radio remotes.
FrisCoJo: Warner/CoJo/WMN’s Cody Johnson (r) with The Big 615's Storme Warren at the ACM radio remotes.
Bits & Pieces: ACM Lifting Lives kicked off the 60th ACM Awards week in Frisco, TX by unveiling a guitar wall at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Frisco at PGA Parkway, which is scheduled to open in July. The six guitars, donated by Gibson Gives, are displayed alongside photos of Texas-born artists including Ronnie Dunn, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum, George Strait and Tanya Tucker.
Shawn Parr will serve as auctioneer and Sammy Hagar will host the 21st Toby Keith & Friends event May 30-31 in Norman, OK. The event, which includes a gala, golf tournament and silent and live auctions, raises money for the Toby Keith Foundation. Silent auction bidding is open to the public here.
Leo33's Jenna Paulette has debuted her new "Sunrise" and "Sunset" women's boots as part of her brand partnership with Justin Boots. Shop here.
Academy Of Country Thunder: Nashville Harbor's Riley Green and Sawgod/Col. NY/Triple Tigers' Ella Langley are surprised with the ACM Award for Visual Media of the Year at Country Thunder Florida. Pictured (l-r) are Nashville Harbor's Jimmy Harnen, Green, Langley, ACM’s Haley Montgomery and Fusion Music’s Daniel Miller.
I Love This Lime: Galaxy's LoCash play Duval Street during the 29th annual Key West Songwriters Festival. Pictured (l-r) are BMI's Jackson Kiger, Mitch Ballard, Josh Tomlinson and Clay Bradley, the duo's Preston Brust and Chris Lucas and BMI's Kelsey O'Neill, Nina Carter and Lilly Brown.
This Beantown's Been Too Good To Us: Curb's Dylan Scott in Boston. Pictured (l-r) are manager Kerri Edwards, iHeartCountry's Rod Phillips, Maddie Mailhot, WBWL's Christina Serrano, WKLB's Dawn Santolucito and Ben Beaulieu, Scott, iHeart's Luke Clay, the label's Allyson Gelnett, WBWL's Brandon Clay, the label's RJ Meacham.
Tough Peony: Lyric Ridge/BMG/Stoney Creek's Drew Baldridge (c) with WKML/Fayetteville, NC's KC Atkins and Sarah Weaver at the (later canceled) Dogwood Festival.
MCA-UMG/Nashville EVP/Marketing Lori Christian has exited. Christian was named EVP two years ago (Breaking News 4/17/23). She has been with the company since the 2012 merger of EMI and Universal Music Group. Prior stops include Capitol, Sony, NBC and Rogers & Cowan. Reach her here. No word on plans for the position at MCA.
Get Your Kix: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for March 2025 (three-month rolling average, 1/9-4/2) compared with January and February. 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 6.0 (5) - 5.9 (4) - 5.5 (4) KMJX iHeartMedia Cl. Country 3.7 (8t) - 4.1 (7t) - 4.0 (8t) |
| Springfield, MA (104) |
WRNX iHeartMedia 4.7 (4t) - 4.8 (4) - 5.1 (3) Largest share since April 2021. |
| Toledo, OH (109) |
WKKO Cumulus 7.9 (2) - 8.5 (2) - 8.0 (1) WCKY iHeartMedia Classic Country 1.4 (10) - 0.9 (11) - 0.9 (12t) WMIM Cumulus 0.7 (12t) - 0.7 (12) - 0.9 (12t) |
B Hive: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for March 2025 (three-month rolling average, 1/9-4/2) compared with January and February. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.
| Akron, OH (Market 96) |
WQMX Rubber City 6.3 (2) - 5.6 (3) - 5.9 (2t) |
| Charleston, SC (76) |
WEZL iHeartMedia 5.5 (4) - 4.7 (6t) - 5.1 (4t) WCKN Saga 4.6 (6t) - 5.3 (5) - 4.8 (7) |
| Monterey, CA (98) |
KTOM iHeartMedia 3.6 (5t) - 4.0 (4t) - 3.9 (3t) |
| Syracuse, NY (102) |
WBBS iHeartMedia 8.6 (1) - 8.5 (1) - 8.2 (1) Sixth consecutive month above an eight share, longest such streak since Nov. 2020 - April 2021. WOLF FoxFur 3.0 (7t) - 3.3 (7) - 3.5 (7) |
Rate For It: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for March 2025 (three-month rolling average, 1/9-4/2) compared with January and February. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.
| Albuquerque, NM (Market 72) |
KRST Cumulus |
| El Paso, TX (77) |
KHEY iHeartMedia |
| Harrisburg, PA (87) |
WRBT iHeartMedia 4.4 (5) - 4.2 (4) - 3.9 (5) |
Connoisseur Acquires Alpha: As reported via Breaking News, Connoisseur Media is acquiring Alpha Media. No terms have been disclosed. Closing is expected in Q2 pending FCC approval, but the companies have agreed to an LMA in the interim. The new Connoisseur, which will continue to be led by CEO Jeff Warshaw, will mushroom from 11 stations in New York and Connecticut to 218 stations, more than 100 of which have footprints in 28 rated markets, placing it in the top 10 in station count and revenue. Connoisseur's sole Country outlet, WWWF/Nassau-Suffolk, will be joined by more than two dozen in the Alpha roster, including KUPL/Portland, OR; KBAY/San Jose and the WCCQ & WXLC simulcast in suburban Chicago.
The 2025 ACM
Voter's Guide
A quick reference guide to the 2025 ACM Nominees
The CRS '25 Print Special
Inside This Issue:
Exstream: What Is Mainstream Country?
You Never Forget Your First … Cousin
Survey Says: NuVoodoo Research
