Lots Of Spin, Little Traction

It would be nice to report some great news going into the last month of the year, but a flurry of not-so-great news fills the "No-Spin" zone (Thanks, Mr. O'Reilly).

First, the ratings for the CMA show were ok, but ad rates are ultimately on the amount of audience. The NY show was down 900,000 viewers. Now no matter how you cut or spin it, there was no audience increase despite the biggest push that show has ever seen. Billboard reports this week that country sales in NYC showed no bump up despite all the sizzle.

The TV ratings for Faith and Kenny were weak, with both specials coming in third in their time periods.

And to put a cherry on top, KZLA, the only country station in the monster Los Angeles market, has gone all-holiday music. OUCH!!! There's no New York country station, and now the one in LA is gone during the big Christmas sales season.

As I write this at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we do know that the Johnny Cash bio film "Walk the Line" has been rolling right along and is up now in total box office over 50 million. That film is a MAJOR hit for the folks at 20th Century Fox and should be Oscar bound. But that's classic country music.

We also don't know how Garth did at Wal-Mart. I bought one. Great value for 25 bucks.

On the positive side of the ledger, Bon Jovi did make the Billboard country charts for the first time thanks to Sugarland. Not sure what to think of that.

Watching the re-run on CMT of the CMA show, the song selection on that show is out of control. It's an awards show of the best of the last year, right? Then why is almost everyone singing their new song? Radio could never get away playing new song after new song after new song. So is there any wonder why the CMA show has ratings/audience erosion? Too much unfamiliar music. Simple as that.

There are too many award shows stars who are not as big a deal as many think they are. Country is not really sure of its identity right now. It's afraid to be classic and pushed to be hip. Too many weak songs.

Corporate radio is making all kinds of moves that ultimately are not good for the local audiences. The CMA is under the thumb of too many personal managers and booking agents and radio folks who know nothing about producing TV shows. Record people are just trying to boost 4th quarter sales.

Who is out looking for what is best for the Country Music industry? Insulting older stars to get on another, newer artist who's not ready for TV is short-sighted. An Alabama or Glen Campbell performance might have done better than another new song by the flavor of the moment. But who knows? The world is so upside down.

Hollywood needs a new crop of stars in the worst way. Look at the films doing well. They are NOT star driven. They are material driven.

The American Music Awards were weak this year, as well, in the overcrowded November ratings period. The Grammys and Oscars should be very frightened.

As for Country, Kenny's special was actually very good and well-produced. The masses chose to go with sitcoms and a bad tv drama (E-Ring), but it was fairly close. Faith's NBC special was clobbered by CBS and ABC's regular programming. Advice for all the music people: Get the HELL out of these November and February ratings periods. It hurts the industry when you have hit programs like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" etc. going against music specials. The CMA and AMA numbers were much better back when they used to air in January and October. Run back! These sweeps waters are way too crowded and no one wins.

Hit songs solve all problems for the music industry. Neither of those stars (Kenny/Faith) had a hot crossover song going into those specials.

Here's to hoping some artist has a Gretchen Wilson kind of winter, or things may get a lot colder by Spring!