It Really Is Like A Ghost Town

It was a headline in a Nashville newspaper, “From NFL Draft Party Town to Ghost Town.” That really is shocking and true. It’s weird straining to hear noise. You get silence.

Who could have imagined how life would change in Music City in a short, eight-week period? While we all wait this storm out, we stream “Tiger King” and try to escape virus confusion.

One voice out in the wilderness is Rolling Stone magazine. They decided to take a critical look at local, terrestrial radio, focusing on a firing of a well-known radio personality in Los Angeles. But they called to light other firings, furloughs, and downsizings that have become a radio fact of life. How could all that not affect how all this is playing out on air?

Of course that affects how Country songs, and all songs, get exposed. Radio promotion changes by the hour.

Yes, in some markets stations are blessed with resources, but many are anything but. The advertising shortfall is epic for all media companies. It’s hard to shine under the current economic realities. Easy for Rolling Stone to write about, but it was a thought-provoking story told to people outside the entertainment bubble.

Hyper local is not how radio listeners under 30 have grown up. Can’t miss what you don’t know. One person cited in the article called radio’s situation, descriptively, “Death by a thousand cuts.”

It’s an interesting discussion, but look no farther than newspapers and magazines. What about their situation? The difference is radio is still alive. Yes, it’s evolving. Things are not the same, for better and worse.

Radio is so much better off than, say, bundled cable TV. They are in a world of hurt. Check those cable cutter numbers. These are changing times for sure.

Some of our Country music “A list” artists have been standing out in this troubled time. They have been Zooming, singing on TV specials, giving money to charity fundraisers, being highly visible, and putting out new songs to radio.

You wonder if artists with momentum before the virus will pick up where they left off after the virus. How will the audience change after? Or will it change?

The merging of Pop music and Country never seems to slow down. There’s been some focus on that in the trades. Pop always comes to Country when Country is hot. Country is always ready to cross over.

Then it’s the “normal” time of the year for the newest inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. That process is secret, and the outcome often causes head scratching. Tell a radio audience that Hank Williams, Jr. is not in the Country Music Hall of Fame and they do a double take. It really is ridiculous on so many levels given his resume.

It’s almost hurtful to name those not in the Hall. Some names are so glaring it questions the whole process. Let’s see what they do this year. May be too fast a turnaround to get John Prine in. And it never sounds like the right time frame for John Denver. I guess Denver’s envelope is still burning. Let this be a good history reminder here.

Wash your hands, and find a mask if you don’t already have one. If not, it’ll cost you a $1,000 ticket in Houston