September 19, 2022, Issue 825
Ratings: Small Markets, Big Numbers
Country Aircheck pored through Nielsen’s Spring 2022 twiceper-year surveys to find the format’s biggest small market success stories. Two are stations that have a track record of success, and one is brand new to the No. 1 club, but all three share locally focused owners and a bullish outlook on radio. Fair To Midland: Brazos West KHKX/Odessa-Midland, TX marked its 21st anniversary this spring in spectacular fashion with a 6.4 to 8.1 jump, giving the station its largest share ever and its first No. 1 finish – all the more impressive in light of its three-way format battle with Townsquare KNFM and ICA Communications KMRK. PD Kelley Peterson has been with KHKX since it signed on and says this spring’s results are especially gratifying given the station’s recent history. “Our heritage morning show Kelley Peterson [Mike Lawrence and Dana Carole] retired a few years ago, and it sent us into a bit of a tailspin,” Peterson says. “Being able to recover from that and actually grow has been a testament to our staff.” KHKX now carries Compass’ The Big D & Bubba Show but adds a unique element. “Every time they do a break, we have our Amanda James talking about local information and contesting. That’s been the key to transitioning into a really cool syndicated show while keeping locality.” Odessa’s Permian High School was the inspiration for Friday Night Lights, so high school football figures prominently. “We carry Permian and Odessa High football games – alternating teams with one of our other stations,” says Peterson. Afternoon host Tracy Scott handles play-by-play for Permian. Musically, Peterson says KHKX is all about familiarity. “We are ‘90s heavy, but we actually go back even further than that. We’ll play some ‘60s, a little bit of ‘70s and quite a bit of ‘80s. Some current artists make the jump into what we’re doing, like Luke Combs and Blake Shelton. We also play a George Strait song every hour and have a Texas music show on Saturday nights. (continued on page 1)
1, 2 Point Conversion: River House/Columbia’s Luke Combs (c) celebrates his 14th consecutive airplay No. 1, “The Kind of Love We Make,“ with iHeart’s Rod Phillips (l) and the label’s Steve Hodges in Green Bay, WI.
NSHoF: Gary Nicholson
Spotlighting inductees ahead of the Oct. 30 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala continues with Gary Nicholson. Nicholson arrived in Nashville in 1980 and worked as a guitar player, producer and songwriter. Among his many notable compositions are “One More Last Chance” (Vince Gill), “Givin’ Water To A Drowning Man” (Lee Roy Parnell), “Live, Laugh, Love” (Clay Walker) and “Squeeze Me In” (Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood). A selfdescribed “blues nerd” as a kid, Nicholson has proudly landed 17 cuts with Buddy Guy, among others. Gary Nicholson Kids talk about what they want to do, and I would say, “I want to be a musician and a writer, too,” because I also wrote short stories. But I hadn’t conceived you could write songs and make a living doing it.
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