Quakes, Twisters And Summer

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Back from my first round of the beach this Summer. You hate to come home. Radio always sounded better with the windows rolled down riding along the coast ... any coast will do.

Did that from Dauphin Island to Panama City for about a week. Heard a lot of Luke Bryan. Saw unprompted kids playing dress-up to "Chew Tobacco, Chew Tobacco, Chew Tobacco ... Spit." That song cut down way deep in the demo!

Summer of 2013 ... someone has money. The roads were crowded and so were the restaurants. Let's hope the radio ad money is up, too!

The concert business sure seems active. Lots of folks working ... touring ... festivals ... new and old. Ticket sales for some solid ... others a little iffy...Dangerous business for the beginners.

Got to praise the radio bosses for jumping in on the Oklahoma tornado radiothon ... Important for radio to be there. Glad that message came through. Hurricane season is close ... Barbara was entering the Gulf this weekend...Earthquakes by the dozen along the California coast ... Hope radio is ready for all this ... Limited staff sure makes it a challenge.

CMA Music Fest starts unofficially and otherwise Monday June 3rd ... for seven days ... From a big St. Jude event with Darius and Luke to the CMT Awards to "Welcome Home Kellie Pickler" at the Opry ... fan club events ... stadium shows ... Huge, exhausting week....

Most big announcements holding for the national spotlight of CMA Week ... Sure has been a huge Country music year so far ... Let's see what happens now in rerun season ...

We need some career records ... the balance of teeny-bopper Country to the rest of the Country sound is getting wider ... maybe time to reel things back in again?

The tradition sound with flair needs to be reincorporated. Lots of the same sounding stuff on my radio, dialing around with the windows down ... Just saying...

I'm sure we will be showered with PR in the week ahead ... are we coming or going on this pop-sounding Country phase? The Blake song would have worked 10 years ago ... But would have the Band Perry, or Taylor's newest? No judgment ...just a question. The business usually is a roller coaster ... gets too pop and goes the other direction for a while ... then back again ... Can we get any more pop? A wide variety of music is available from signed acts ... There is everything out there, but have the needs of, say, a New York station and other big cities' not-so-"Country" Country stations changed what product is offered? It's like talking about the IRS ... I love them, too ... Just asking questions...