Just Say NO!!!!

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Team meeting needed on the subject of Country stars and television ... Yes, we live in a visual medium and you have to do TV. But some TV shows are awful. In particular, The FOX Country New Year;s show this year.

Twenty-two million or some number close to that watched ABC. They did a five-hour part prime time/part late-night show. First-class production and scope. Looked big and important and it was. The audience was biggest in 11 years. You do that show and you know they will do you justice. Band Perry's part was short and sweet and seen by millions in a positive light.

NBC with snooze host Carson Daly was poorly produced with a Today staffer talking to a Newsweek guy at one point. Don't ever invite them to your New Year's party! Wet blankets! Carson Daly is the conductor on a train. Pleasant enough, but b-o-r-i-n-g! NBC ratings were well below periscope depth. Rightly so, too, I might add. I heard Blake Shelton was there, but clicking back and forth I never saw him.

CNN was in Times Square for Eastern Time Zone midnight then to Nashville for Central.

No budget broadcast basically. Anderson Cooper stands there in shock and fear at what Kathy Griffin is going to do. She stripped down to her bra this year. Snooooze ... The Nashville cut-in did nothing to make anyone look good. The anchor in a leather jacket and cowboy hat. I was waiting for the stage coach to pull up at midnight and whisk her away ... The ball didn't drop right ... the music mix was bad and it was 1a in the East and no one cared.

MTV was doing something, but FOX and its Country theme from Vegas was unwatchable. The A team of Country music sat this one out. A few of the others did say yes, but it was not our finest hour. Compare it to ABC or NBC and it looked bad /local.

The sound and picture was okay, but it wasn't a show. It was a mess.

Vegas-based Country shows are getting real close to being overdone. Vegas is not the base of Country Music. Or it sure shouldn't be. Vegas is like dessert. You can't make a meal off it.

New Year's in NYC is like Christmas at the North Pole. It is the gold standard. The idea of a Country theme is good counter-programming, but execution ... execution. The show needs to be based in Nashville with major stars and have cut-ins from Times Square and wherever else. Country could own New Year's. What is it? Politics with ABC? Laziness? What?

Country should own the 4th of July even more than New Year's. What better day than that to show the Country music flag? NBC with Macy's and PBS Pops Boston almost own the day but ... it could be done and A-list talent a must.

Too many award shows ... too many half-a** TV shows.

As for radio in the New Year ... danger, Will Robinson! Any more people going to walk the plank? Hard to imagine big radio stations with two to three people on staff.

Many promising new singers on the tax-way. I hope they get on the air. The new Alan Jackson song is excellent. Haven't decided about a moustache-less AJ.

Jimmy Buffett in Birmingham, Tallahassee, Jax and Little Rock. Buffett remains amazing.

What will Idol fans think of Seacrest going bye-ye after this season? The new gang ain't paying him $15 million for 2013!

On the road they go. Brad Paisley among the first out the door in 2012. BP calling his tour: Virtual Reality World Tour 2012.