weekly May 30, 2023, Issue 860
Road Goes On Forever: US101 @ 40
There are many ways to judge a station’s success – ratings, revenue, longevity, industry accolades – but few stations have amassed the level of dominance reached in all metrics by Audacy WUSY/Chattanooga. “US101” has won 129 of the last 132 quarterly Nielsen surveys. It has been honored with more ACM and CMA awards combined than any other radio station (41 and counting) – including recognition for 11 different personalities. And on June 20, WUSY celebrates its 40th anniversary. Here’s the story, as told by some John Hart of US101’s many contributors over the years: John Hart (MD 1983-86, PD 1986-88): The day we went on the air, PD/morning host “Big Jon” Anthony couldn’t find the key to get in. He ended up breaking down the door, but he made it, and so began the legacy of US101. We were lucky to be launched by a company that believed in marketing, and we did a ton of it. Big Jon’s philosophy was, “Find out what our listeners want and give it to them.” Sammy George (GM 1986-2008): Big Jon set Sammy George the trajectory. During the first Gulf War, there was a big military caravan coming through and he said, “We’re going to line every overpass with people as far as our signal reaches.” We bought every American flag we could find, and every overpass was crowded with people waving flags. The Pentagon got word of it and invited him to Washington. That changed everything. We were no longer just a station that played country music; we meant something more. We initially hired Dex to run our research Bill Poindexter department. He’d be in the break room talking with the late [afternoon host] David Earl Hughes – you’d listen to those two and think, “We should pair these guys on the air.” Bill “Dex” Poindexter (MD/afternoons 1993-2018): I’m the only guy who’s retired and still feels like they report to Sammy George (laughs). (continued on page 9)
Rocks Band: Columbia’s Old Dominion bring their No Bad Vibes Tour to Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Pictured (front, l-r) are the label’s Lauren Thomas and KAWO/Boise’s Kyle Matthews; (middle, l-r) KBEQ/Kansas City’s Todd Nixon, KYGO/Denver’s Shawn Patrick, the label’s Paige Elliott, KYGO/Denver’s Brian Michel, OD’s Matthew Ramsey, iHeart Denver’s JoJo Turnbeaugh and Morris Higham’s Scot Michaels; (back, l-r): OD’s Geoff Sprung, Brad Tursi and Trevor Rosen, with KWBL/Denver’s Chelsea Perron and John E. Kage, and Westwood One’s George King.
CDM Q1 Drivetime Leaders
Following last month’s analysis of the format’s Q1 drive-time leaders in PPM markets, Country Aircheck has also compiled Country’s top performers from Nielsen’s 45 Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM) markets. While WUSY/Chattanooga was the leader in total week share, it did not claim the ratings pinnacle in either drivetime (see boxes page 3). In mornings, The Bobby Bones Show on WRNS/Greenville, NC took the top spot with a 12.8 share. Bones bookended the top 10 with affiliate WBBS/Syracuse landing at No. 10 with an 8.4 share. WUSY/ Chattanooga’s Ken Hicks & Daniel Wyatt took second in mornings
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