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In This Issue (10/13) 

“I listened to it one time, called Capitol head of promotion Bill Catino and said, ‘This is gonna be Song of the Year.’”

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Radio Vision

mca101725.jpg Bluebird Dayton: MCA's Jordan Davis (top) and Vincent Mason with WHKO/Dayton's Nancy Wilson and the label's Donna Jo Passuntino. 
juliacole101725.jpg Country Is Cole Again: Broke/Lyric Ridge's Julia Cole (second from right) with Lyric Ridge’s Chele Fassig and Music Choice’s Jim Murphy and wife Angela Murphy (l-r) in Nashville.
jake101725.jpg I Was Jack (You Were D): Good Company's Jake Owen talks about his "new era" of music and sobriety with Big D & Bubba's Derek “Big D” Haskins, Jessica “Carsen” Humphreville and Sean “Bubba” Powell (l-r). 
Craig101725.jpg Wave On WAVW: Grindstone Recordings' Craig Campbell (c) with WAVW/Ft. Pierce's Heath West (l) and Mark McCauley.
Ella-Kam101625.jpg Strangers Things: Sawgod/Col. NY/Triple Tigers' Ella Langley and Columbia's Kameron Marlowe celebrate the RIAA gold certification of “Strangers” at An Evening with Ella Langley & Friends Benefitting Pawsitive Rescue Division.
tr_101625.jpg Thomas Roulette: Valory's Thomas Rhett in Las Vegas. Pictured (l-r) are KWNR's MoJoe Roberts and daughter Gabby Roberts, Rhett, Lynda Tuzil and husband/Westwood One's George King.
Brothers-Osborne101625.jpg Port Saints Joe: EMI's Brothers Osborne at the Gretna Festival in Louisiana. Pictured (l-r) are the label's John Trapane, the duo's TJ Osborne, guest Steve Tate, WNOE/New Orleans' Casey Carter, the duo's John Osborne and the label's Katelyn Lester.
chris101525.jpg Raised On Country Radio: Black River's Chris Young with Audacy's Katie Neal and Cumulus' Travis Daily.
Atlus101525.jpg Smoke Show: Stoney Creek's Atlus and team celebrate the release of Secondhand Smoke. Pictured (l-r) are WarDog Management's Andrew Perlowich, the label's Camille Kenny and Shelley Hargis, Range Media's Shawn McSpadden, Atlus and the label's JoJamie Hahr, Peter Strickland and Adrian Michaels.
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K-Country Club: WOGK/Gainesville-Ocala, FL hosts its 41st annual K-Country Acoustic Concert. Pictured (l-r) are Grindstone's Craig Campbell, the station's Big Red, Valory's Chris Waters and Mackenzie Carpenter, the station's Scott Chase and Mr. Bob, Big Machine's Chase McDaniel, the station's Lewis Stokes, 30A's Bradley Gaskin, Gunslinger Entertainment’s Glenn Noblit, the station's Krystle and Big Machine's Jay Cruze.

Russell-Dickerson101525.jpg God Gave Me The Boys: Triple Tigers' Russell Dickerson (c) with the label's Dave Collins, KXLY's Jay Daniels and KDRK's Jamie Patrick and Tim Cotter (l-r) in Spokane.
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Tex Factor: MCA's Keith Urban in Dallas (top) and Houston. Pictured (top, l-r) are KPLX's Ryan Fox, the label's Damon Moberly, Urban, KSCS' Al Farb and KPLX/KSCS' Mike Preston; (bottom, l-r) KILT's Chris Huff, guests Kevin Fogarty and Hayden Walker, Urban, KKBQ's Lauren "Lo" Sessions-Barker, the label's Katelyn Lester, KMDL/Lafayette, LA's Jude Walker and KILT's Bruce Logan.

brettyoung101425.jpg Country In California: Nash. Harbor's Brett Young (c) with KUZZ/Bakersfield's Brent Michaels and Ness Heraldez in Porterville, CA.
lainey101425.jpg Real Housewives Of Laredo: Broken Bow's Lainey Wilson with SiriusXM's Cody Alan (l) and Andy Cohen.
bigloudtexas101425.jpg Group Tex: Big Loud Texas hosts its grand opening in Austin. Pictured (front, l-r) are Lizzy Rector, Kimberly Gleason, Patch Culbertson, Sara Knabe and Brianne Deslippe; (back, l-r) Hillary Lambert, Brendon Anthony, Jeff Tanner, Stacy Blythe, Craig Wiseman, Jon Randall, Seth England, Paul Logan and Corey Brewer.

Top Stories

September CDM Ratings
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September The Time: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for September 2025 (three-month rolling average, 6/26-9/17) compared with July and August. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Birmingham, AL
(Market 61)

WZZK SummitMedia 
5.1 (4) - 5.8 (4) - 5.1 (4)
WDXB iHeartMedia
4.2 (5) - 4.2 (6t) - 4.5 (6)

Buffalo, NY
(59)

WYRK Townsquare
9.5 (2) - 9.0 (2) - 8.8 (2)
WLKK Audacy
1.7 (14) - 1.6 (13) - 1.6 (14)

Fort Myers, FL
(52)  
WWGR Renda
3.4 (9) - 3.4 (8) - 3.9 (6)
WHEL Sun
3.1 (12) - 2.4 (15) - 2.5 (15)
WCKT iHeartMedia
2.0 (17) - 2.0 (16) - 1.7 (17)
Greenville, SC
(54)

WESC iHeartMedia Classic Country
5.6 (5) - 5.8 (4) - 5.8 (3)
WSSL
iHeartMedia
6.5 (2) - 6.3 (3) - 5.6 (4)

Richmond, VA
(51)
WKHK SummitMedia
8.2 (3) - 7.6 (3) - 7.0 (3)
Rochester, NY
(60)
WBEE Audacy
7.9 (2) - 8.3 (1) - 8.5 (2)
WDVI iHeartMedia
2.7 (8) - 2.5 (8) - 2.0 (10t)
Tucson, AZ
(62)
KIIM Cumulus 
6.7 (2) - 6.7 (1) - 6.9 (1)
KHUD iHeartMedia
2.7 (14t) - 2.9 (14) - 3.2 (12)
Oct 17, 2025 Share
Cumulus Sues Nielsen
cn101725.jpg A Ploy Named Sue: Cumulus is suing Nielsen over a policy alledgedly intended to "illegally maintain its market power" in national and local ratings markets. Filed Thursday (10/16) in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York and posted in full here by Reuters, the suit alleges Nielsen's Sept. 2024 institution of a "Tying Policy" has been used to "coerce Cumulus into purchasing local radio ratings data it neither wants nor needs in order to preserve access to indispensable national ratings data." Cumulus is seeking a permanent injunction from continued violations of applicable law, treble damages and legal fees. Nielsen has yet to respond.
Oct 17, 2025 Share
September CDM Ratings
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Who Lou: Here are select Nielsen Audio Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) ratings for September 2025 (three-month rolling average, 6/26-9/17) compared with July and August. Ranks (in parentheses) are among subscribers. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are Persons 12+, Monday-Sunday, 6am-midnight.

Baton Rouge
(Market 78)

WYNK iHeartMedia
4.3 (6) - 4.8 (4) - 4.2 (5)
WTGE Guaranty
Does not subscribe.

Louisville
(58)

WAMZ iHeartMedia
6.0 (2) - 5.9 (2) - 6.2 (2)
WQNU SummitMedia
3.0 (12) - 3.0 (11t) - 3.3 (11)
Largest share since last September.
WRKA SummitMedia Cl. Country
2.1 (17) - 2.4 (14t) - 1.5 (17)
Switched from Urban AC to Classic Country on July 14 (CAT 7/14).

New Orleans
(50)

WNOE iHeartMedia
6.0 (4) - 5.6 (4) - 5.3 (4)

Oklahoma City
(48)

KTST iHeartMedia
5.3 (4) - 5.0 (4) - 6.1 (4)
KXXY iHeartMedia Classic Country
3.7 (6t) - 3.4 (8) - 3.9 (7)
KJKE
 Tyler
3.7 (6t) - 3.2 (9) - 3.5 (9)

Oct 16, 2025 Share
Swedberg To Advise; Rich Davis To KEEY PD
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Longtime iHeartMedia/Minneapolis SVP/Programming and KEEY/Minneapolis programmer Gregg Swedberg is transitioning to a strategic advisor role with the company, with Top 40 KDWB PD Rich Davis assuming those posts. Swedberg has programmed KEEY for 34 years and will now focus on iHeartCountry projects while assisting with the transition in Minneapolis. Davis has held the PD post at KDWB since 2016, and prior to that programmed for iHeart in Seattle and Nashville.

“I’m looking forward to having the unique opportunity to help lots of stations in iHeartCountry and assisting Rich with this transition,” says Swedberg. “I can’t wait for Nashville to embrace Rich, which I know they will. The iHeart Minneapolis team will just keep on winning.” Davis adds, “When I first got to KDWB in 1997, I never dreamed I'd one day get the chance to take over for the legendary Gregg Swedberg. I hope to make him proud and continue our success with these amazing teams and brands in the Twin Cities."

Inducted this past summer into the Country Radio Hall of Fame (CAT 7/22), Swedberg spent 10 years at Top 40 WLOL/Minneapolis before being named KEEY PD in 1991, later holding the titles OM, SVPP, Regional VPP (CAT 10/29/07) and National Country Format Coord. for iHeart. He was the longest-tenured active programmer for any Country station in a top 100 market. Reach him here. Reach Davis here.

 

 

Oct 15, 2025 Share
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The Fall Print Special



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The 2025 CMA
Voter's Guide
A quick reference guide to the 2025 CMA Nominees

 



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Inside This Issue: 

Exstream: What Is Mainstream Country?

You Never Forget Your First … Cousin

Survey Says: NuVoodoo Research



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