Leno Was Our Friend!

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Howard Stern and Jimmy Kimmel hate him ... Letterman does, too. They are so jealous of TV's most successful late-night comic. Jay Leno. The NBC company man that has been stabbed in the back multiple times.

Ratings ... he wins ... That hurts Dave fans, but Jay's ratings have been #1 more times than not.

Jay is also the winner hands-down as the best late-night friend of Country music. Conan, almost none from Country booked on his shows ... Letterman only the top 3 or 4 and the cool ones like Dwight Yoakam. With Jay he knows what mid-America wanted and he gave them music from the Country charts almost weekly.

NBC has decided to blow up the only time period they win on a yearly basis. ("The Voice" is their seasonal oasis; "Today" show is now a mess) Leno is #1 night after night ... even in the 18-49 demo. The Gods at NBC who like Stern (put Howard on AGT and now moving that show to Radio City for him) hate Jay. Stabbed him in the back a few years ago with Conan. Now stabbing him again.

He called them "snakes" on-air and that is as good a description as any for the "suits" running most of broadcasting today. Little loyalty to and for anything. Fallon is a controllable talent and will be under Lorne Michaels. Lorne is the great SNL Godfather and future NBC late-night puppetmaster. Moving the show to the future Country music capital of the world, New York City, too. Country is not and never will be a species that roams the canyons in Manhattan. A few breakout artists, sure ... but a lifestyle kind of thing, never. Yes, yes its Country's biggest sales market. But it's the biggest sales market for oranges and soup. With millions and millions living there it is the biggest market for most everything.

Aldean sold out an arena ... Garth, Central Park. A lot of that audience came in from New Jersey and Philly, truth be know, but regardless Country is misunderstood in the Big Apple. Always a goal but never a destination.

Its okay ... Country is much more than trucks and tractors even though they sure get sung about a lot. Taxi drivers singing tractor songs will be progress.

Fallon will book the big stars but will he book the up-and-coming? That is to be seen. Lorne doesn't book Country on SNL. Rare bookings. Garth and Taylor in recent years.

Ellen has been good to Country on the West Coast. Jay was. Jimmy Kimmel is a work in progress; too early to judge in his new time period.

Everything is in NYC. The five morning shows ... the Kelley and Michael show ... the network news shows ... SNL ... now the return of Tonight.

Better get those bus parking places in New Jersey locked down.

Vegas and the ACMs. Good luck. I think Taylor, LBT and Brantley win ... not sure about the rest...

Tim McGraw tweeted we will miss Roger Ebert. He was a fine writer and the world's most famous movie critic. He loved movies and dedicated his life to the craft.