Report about a radio consultant who recommends playing few female artists on country radio.
Short excerpt of Public Enemys "How to Kill a Radio Consultant" and Martina McBrides "This Ones for the Girls." Report made for May 29, 2015, but can run few days after that.
Country Aircheck Weekly, a trade publication for country radio news, sparked a bit of controversy this week with an interview with music consultant Keith Hill in its May 26 edition. In one section of the short interview he says that country radio stations playing more than 20 percent female artists are going to lose ratings. Finally, Hill cautions against playing too many females. And playing them back to back, he says, is a no-no. âIf you want to make ratings in Country radio, take females out,â he asserts. âThe reason is mainstream Country radio generates more quarter hours from female listeners at the rate of 70 to 75 percent, and women like male artists. Iâm basing that not only on music tests from over the years, but more than 300 client radio stations. The expectation is weâre principally a male format with a smaller female component. Iâve got about 40 music databases in front of me and the percentage of females in the one with the most is 19 percent. Trust me, I play great female records and weâve got some right now; theyâre just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females.â Country Aircheck Weeklyâs past reporting shows that 33 to 35 percent of the top 100 singles of the late 1990s were by female artists, but since then, thatâs dropped below 30 percent, falling to 18 percent last year. Martina McBride has been the most popular country musician to respond, writing on Facebook:
âWowâ¦..just wow. Just read this from a major country radio publication. How do you feel about this statement? I especially want to hear from the females. Do you not like to hear other women singing about what you are going through as women? Iâm really curious. Because to me, country music is about relating. Someone relating to what you are really going through on a day to day basis in your life. Did you girls (core female listeners) know you were being âassessedâ in this way? Is this how you really feel? Hmmmâ¦.â
Little female country music on the radio for May 29, 2015
Radio news about radio waves.
00:03:08
1
May 29, 2015
Produced at Wave Farm/WGXC in the Hudson Valley, New York.
![<?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/rp-navimg.gif)
![Support the <?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/support.png)
