Lambert, Morris & Underwood May Be The Key To Growing Country Radio

You hear the whispers: "Female artists just don't test in country music anymore..." Some consultants and Program Directors now publicly share that myth. Not so fast! Turns out it is not the female artists, it is the change in music testing.

TCCP Radio, North America's largest radio programming consultancy, has discovered factors influencing how country playlists are decided that may be hurting the format and more importantly, biasing the music choices country programmers make, without their knowledge:

1. Reliance on streaming or Shazam data for predicting country hits is unreliable, in fact it may be harmful to the format. Remember people are just as likely to Shazam or stream a song they are just curious about as they are a song they truly like. Plus, much of this data is bloated by bots and simply not real. Many of the big viral hits or streaming hits are not well received by core country fans in properly executed, traditional callout research.
2. The lack of variety. In an exclusive TCCP study, this was a KEY issue among core country radio listeners. The lack of female artists was often cited as an example of lack of variety. Again, reliance on inaccurate data may be at fault. TCCP data analysis reveals female artists and songs are much stronger when traditional screened random sample callout is used, rather than internet panels or local station data bases. When screening for true country listeners, you get what you pay for. Although more expensive, cell phone or email recruitment or better yet, in-auditorium testing yields much more reliable data. Internet panels, or worse, the local station email data base is highly biased and over-populated with professional research takers/contest players who do it for money/prizes with multiple identities and URL's that can trick even the best software. It is what these people do for a living! Do you really want these people picking your music?
3. Fear of Ratings. Stations that react to a down book or two by adjusting their station tend to do worse than those with the long view. The ratings report card for the Country format may appear weak in recent articles, but that is not necessarily so. Nielsen has reported a decline in Country ratings over the past five years, but that decline is not in every market and tends to be erratic book to book. Interesting that similar decline has not been seen in markets rated by Eastlan, even in cities rated by both services. The format is just fine, and your station will be fine, if you program for the long-term and listen to what true country listeners want.

Bottom Line: Don't react to a down book. Get rid of internet panels and station prize club data bases testing your music. Consider using traditional callout or use consultant national callout based on traditional research. Best of all, consider in-auditorium testing. Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum songs test big in Gold and in current true research. You will find that it is the song that matters, not the gender or even the name of the artist!

* TCCP is the largest independent consultant of radio stations in the US and Canada in all formats with over 80 country radio clients.