Taste Of Country's
Billy Dukes certainly achieved a coup with his terrific interview with Hank Williams, Jr. yesterday and it was terrific to learn that Hank Jr. is in a good space these days as he contemplates working only 10% of the days in the coming year.
Meanwhile, the revelation that he likes Eric Church and doesn't "listen to today’s country radio, so I am not sure who gets played and who doesn’t … I really don’t give a s—!" shouldn't be major news to anyone.
Church is today's incarnation of what Hank Jr. brought to country radio three decades ago and it's always been an important part of our mix.
Thankfully, there isn't much guitar-based rock on the radio dial today other than on country music stations so - if you love it too - we are the exclusive purveyor, which is a nice competitive place to be. However, I doubt that Williams Jr. disdains Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift any more than he once did Gary Morris, Crystal Gayle and K. T. Oslin back in their heyday.
He has never been what you'd call a 'radio-friendly' artist.
If you're a brand manager who came to country in the last 25 years and you ever have an opportunity to catch Hank Jr. either close up in an intimate setting or in front of a huge arena crowd, prepare to be blown away.
His talents are massive.
However, at the very start, don't be surprised if he kicks off his performance by demonstrating his life-long bad boy "don't give a s---!" attitude before getting down to the business of entertaining as only he can do.
Bocephus, I don't think you
ever spent much time listening to the mix of music on commercial radio. Or, if you did you'd never admit it as Taste of Country just demonstrated, but the smartest among us
are still listening to you!
Hats off to Townsquare Media radio stations and their national interactive team which hit the ground running just nine months ago on a terrific achievement, 700,000 "likes" on their Taste Of Country Facebook page.
If anyone doubts that small and mid-sized market radio can get large-sized response, Townsquare's 176 radio stations and companion websites in 38 markets across 16 states prove again that great content and strong focus make a powerful combination, generating engagement and excellent radio results.
The interactive wizards at Townsquare Media practice classic Seth Godin by making it more than worth your while to subscribe to their (free) "Taste Of Country" prep email service, which drives impressive levels of traffic to the company's country music news portal.
mat-relatable content for you to talk about on air (of course, crediting the source).
