Posted on 03/25/2002 9:19:56 AM PST by southern rock
The Country Music Country Radio Ignores
By NEIL STRAUSS
WHEN a dark horse, the roots-music soundtrack to the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," won the top honor at the Grammy Awards last month, there was a clamor in the press room. Country music might never be the same again, the critics and journalists said. After all, besides albums by Glen Campbell and Bonnie Raitt, no recording that had anything to do with country had ever won the top Grammy Album of the Year. And the competition, especially U2 and Bob Dylan, had been fierce. So as the performers who appear on the soundtrack a rag-tag winner's circle if ever there was one streamed backstage into the press area, they were all asked the same question: Will country radio start playing traditional country music now?
There have been reasons to think so. The Grammy success of "O Brother" (a total of five awards), the album's subsequent No. 1 ranking on the Billboard chart (above Brandy and Alanis Morissette) and its impressive sales of 4.4 million copies have all seemed to send a message to the country music industry.
Well, the album did send a message, and that message has been received and marked: Return to Sender.
"We operate in country within a box," said Luke Wood, the president of Lost Highway Records, which released the soundtrack. "And you can run up in the corners of the box, but if you get outside of it, the gatekeepers don't like it. A few radio programmers said to the record labels after the Grammys: `Don't get any ideas: we're not going to start playing Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek because of this.' "
For several years there have been growing tensions surrounding country radio, now the top format on the air. Roughly 19 percent of the stations in the United States play country - 2,100 broadcasters out of 11,000. That's nearly double the number dedicated to the second-most-popular format, talk radio. Yet most of country's classic artists and styles have been getting short shrift on the air and, consequently, from the Nashville music industry. As a result, Johnny Cash records for a rock label, Dolly Parton is recording bluegrass for an independent label and many other pioneers and talented newcomers can't get a decent record contract.
As it stands now, the success of "O Brother" may be the worst thing possible for the future of country music radio, and thus country music. Because despite the album's successes commercially and critically, many people in the industry say that its impact will be slight. And if "O Brother" won't change it, nothing will; if nothing will, then mainstream country radio is truly doomed.
"Sadly, radio did not embrace any of these people before the Grammys, and they're not embracing them now," said Eddie Stubbs, the announcer for the Grand Ole Opry and a D.J. on Nashville's WSM-AM, one of the few commercial stations playing a wide range of country. "It's a disgrace. The industry is deciding that it doesn't want to give the music a chance."
If there's one culprit in the current state of country music, it may be Crest Whitestrips. Yes, Crest Whitestrips, the new dental whitening system. Because when you point a finger at Crest Whitestrips, you're pointing at Procter & Gamble, the product's maker and one of the largest purchasers of radio advertising time. And the major advertisers are the people who really control what you hear on the radio, especially country radio.
"Contemporary country radio is targeting young adult females," said Paul Allen, the executive director of the Country Radio Broadcasters, a trade association. "Now, why would you want to target them? Because that's what advertisers want. The young female adult is oftentimes a mom. She influences 90 percent of all the buying decisions in the household; she's a generation X or Y consumer, and not brand loyal. That's a very influenceable and key demographic to go after."
Thus, because of Crest Whitestrips and the machine behind them, not just country radio has changed; country music has changed, too. More than any other genre, country is a fine-tuned jingle. Most songs are written by a cadre of writers - some geniuses, most hacks - many of whom excel at finding universal emotions and translating them into greeting-card poesy. When it comes time for most stars to record a new album, they go shopping with their managers and record-label executives for hits. Thus, such artists are better able to roll with changes in taste, style and national mood. Ten years ago, Travis Tritt's biggest hit was "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)." More recently, his comeback hit was "It's a Great Day to Be Alive." Only those who don't listen to country radio still think the music is about beer and heartbreak. Today, the men are singing love songs and apologies to women while sassy women are singing about dissing the men.
"They've relegated the country station to super-serving that one demographic," said Mr. Wood of Lost Highway, who describes that audience as women 35 and over. "It's exclusionary in a sense. It forces us in Nashville on the creative side to be conscious of how narrow that audience is, so it makes it tough to make a record that will appeal to men and not women."
His point is not that country should be a man's world, but that it should be for everybody. Most other styles of music - pop, urban, rock, easy listening - have split into multiple formats, each serving a different sliver of the musical pie. But this is not necessarily a good thing: listeners have much broader taste than radio programmers, advertisers and record-label executives tend to believe, or else there's no way to explain the success of "O Brother." But fragmenting the country format is better than leaving it as it is. As country itself has shifted from rural working-class music to a pop soundtrack for the suburbs ("town and country," as the former Capitol Records president Pat Quigley called it), a large audience is finding itself largely ignored by radio. Some hope that traditional country artists as well as songwriters like Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell and just about everybody on the "O Brother" soundtrack will find a place on air if a format called Americana takes off.
"If rock can have classic rock and hard rock and soft rock and alternative rock, why can't we have country and Americana?" said Steve Gardner, promotions manager at Sugar Hill Records, home to Dolly Parton, Nickel Creek and much bluegrass. "Surely there's room for that. I mean look at the Grammys, you have Lucinda Williams winning best rock song, Ryan Adams nominated all over the place, Dolly winning another Grammy. It's happening out there."
But others are skeptical. Mr. Allen of the Country Radio Broadcasters said it's unlikely that an alternative country radio format will be successful anytime soon. "The only hope I see for an additional country format developing is if advertisers can find that the demographic it would deliver would be attractive," he said.
The odd thing about country radio is that it is not even doing that well under its existing rules. At its peak in the mid-90's, according to Mr. Allen's estimates, 12 percent to 13 percent of the radio audience listened to country; now it's around 7 percent, despite being the dominant format in terms of the number of stations. And, detrimental as the process of consolidation has been to the quality of radio programming, it's actually been the corporate bosses who have been telling the programmers and consultants to loosen up. At a recent seminar on country radio in Nashville, Larry Wilson, the president of the radio conglomerate Citadel Communications, told broadcasters to take more chances with the music and pay more attention to the needs of the local audience. And a top executive at the radio monolith Clear Channel Communications recently told programmers to re-examine "Man of Constant Sorrow," a song from "O Brother," to see if there is some way to take advantage of its popularity.
TWO weeks ago, Lost Highway re-released "Man of Constant Sorrow" as a single. The response from radio, said Michael Powers, the vice president of promotions at the label, has been encouraging. Seventy-four stations are now playing it, though some as infrequently as once a day. But, it appears to be an exception, a fluke, to many in the country music business.
Arbitron, not long ago, issued a report on what women want from country radio. And, according to the ratings service, most women do not what to hear radio programming that is not family-friendly. In addition, it continues, "even though women are heavily pressured for time and responsibility, they remain optimists. So, don't play to the negatives." Compare those findings with the most popular songs from "O Brother" - "Man of Constant Sorrow" and "O Death" - and ask, Who is country radio going to listen to: Arbitron or the Grammys?
"The recording academy recognizes the work of its artists and their music, from the standpoint of art, which is considerably different from what country radio is about," said Mr. Allen of the Country Radio Broadcasters Association. "Country radio is purely about mass appeal music, and it has some very defined limits because there are some very defined demographics that the owners are tying to find through that music. Where the Grammys are about art, country radio is about the Benjamins."
In this sense, country radio is a microcosm of the entertainment industry, in which art is controlled by commerce and corporate committee. But if "O Brother," which far outsold Garth Brooks's latest, doesn't bring in enough $100 bills to nudge the business to expand its scope or take chances (besides, say, putting the occasional old-timey music break in a country pop song), it seems that nothing will. Several years ago, Larry Cordle, a bluegrass musician, released a song called "Murder on Music Row," criticizing just this. "The almighty dollar/ And the lust for worldwide fame/ Slowly killed tradition/ And for that, someone should hang," he sings. In a reference to Hank Williams, he continues, "Ol' Hank wouldn't have a chance/ on today's radio/ since they committed murder down on Music Row." George Strait and Alan Jackson agreed with him enough to record the song, which, like "O Brother," was applauded but ultimately changed little in the industry. "My worst fear is that this `O Brother' thing is going to turn into just a fad," Mr. Cordle said. "Without the support of mainstream radio at some point, I just don't know where we're at."
Do you not find it ironic that the two who sang these words are two of THE most commercialized country performers today? I mean, Alan Jackson changed the name of a song for a car company to use. He did "www.memory"(BARF!) Geore Strait seems like he will prostitute himself for whatever sponsor pays the most. Yes, they are more "traditional country" than most, but those two should take a look in the mirror when they are talking about a "murder on music row".
It's fun to go back and look at Billboard charts from the past. Folks remember the few talents, and forget all the other stuff. I don't have any handy, but if you look, you'll find a lot of names that aren't getting much praise on this thread. Anyone want to sing the praises of BJ Thomas, Freddy Fender, Tanya Tucker, or Ronnie Milsap?
Well, I think it goes back to this:
"Contemporary country radio is targeting young adult females," said Paul Allen, the executive director of the Country Radio Broadcasters, a trade association. "Now, why would you want to target them? Because that's what advertisers want. The young female adult is oftentimes a mom. She influences 90 percent of all the buying decisions in the household; she's a generation X or Y consumer, and not brand loyal. That's a very influenceable and key demographic to go after."
That marketing excuse is B-F-S. Does NASCAR or the NFL market to women? Like television and movies before it country music has become a politically-targeted media genre. This NYT hit piece reinforces that impression. In the old days Bubba would just tell her to "turn that #Q$@ off" and she'd just listen to what he did. But for 5+ years now the industry has promoted Femmbo-country music while virtually ignoring traditional music. Now they're trying to promote 'reparations' music and people aren't buying it. What's the cover of ...Where Art Thou like? Does it have a picture of Birmingham, AL watercannon martyrdom?
Country music is now simply another front in the Left's culture war against the Republic, it's history and it's culture. Don't buy crap country and don't patronize establishments that play it.
Randy Travis is nothing but boilerplate shlock. Garth Brooks should be beaten and deported. Ricky Skaggs, thankfully, is confining himself to what he does best, bluegrass. George Strait made some decent records in the late 80s. Vern Gosden, Keith Whitley and Allan Jackson are bubblegum crooners.
You want some real country? Check out Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Buddy and Julie Miller, Hank III, Robbie Fulks, Alejandro Escovedo, The Gourds, Uncle Tupelo (even though they broke up in '94), Lucinda Williams, etc. etc. Trouble is, unless you're in a college town, you ain't gonna hear them on the radio.
EXCELLENT station; I listen to it, too.
Bet they're not making much money, though. I just hope they stay on the air a while.
RASCAL FLATTS=MURDER ON MUSIC ROW! And don't forget: Brooks & Dung, Mindy McCready and all that crap, etc. etc....
Fine analogy but bad bad comparison.
The 70's and 80's arena rock sound was and is the equivalent of this bland commerical country music today -- except this bland commerical country is still 100 times better than 70's rock.
Play the music, introduce others to it and it will indeed flourish.
Ah man, I LOVE all of those guys. None of 'em are PC enough to the suburban soccer mom demographic the country stations are going for, however.
Arbitron, not long ago, issued a report on what women want from country radio. And, according to the ratings service, most women do not what to hear radio programming that is not family-friendly. In addition, it continues, "even though women are heavily pressured for time and responsibility, they remain optimists. So, don't play to the negatives."
What the??!!!???!!! This is the exact OPPOSITE of everything country is supposed to be about!!!
This is why the music industry is dying. The music is nothing, selling toothpaste is what it is all about! I bought the OBWAT soundtrack when it first came out and also Down From The Mountain, Allison and Union Station and other bluegrass artists but still have NEVER heard any bluegrass played on a "country music radio station"! The corporate interests have a death grip on the radio and are running country music right into the ground. They don't give a damn what the fans want to hear. I can only hope that ways are found to go around these roadblocks. There are many bluegrass festivals around the country and if these cd's keep selling the powers that be will have to pay attention someday.
Great point, very much so.
We've moved this way in the discussion but it is straying from the actual topic at hand.
In the current case the country music being ignored by radio is hugely commericially popular.
That is the strange thing.
It makes no sense.
The only thing that makes this an issue is that best selling actual country music is not played on country radio.
I think that the fans for this old stuff aren't necessarily country music fans or in that demographic. Those listening to country music stations may well think the old type stuff is strange sounding.
g
Faith Hill is horrible. Her first album was real country, but then she became a VH1 "diva". BLEECH.
That's what propaganda is like. It's designed control opinion not reflect it.
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