In recent years, country music fans in some of the nation’s largest cities—such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and, most recently, New York City—have seen their commercial country radio stations go by the wayside.
The demise of country radio in such locations is alarming for the genre’s listeners, but not necessarily surprising to some within the country radio industry.
After all, country fans in, say, the Big Apple will not necessarily reflect the same general listener characteristics as country fans in the traditional South, observe country radio professionals, including Amber Taylor, who serves as an on-air personality for KYKC/100.1 FM in Ada, Okla., where country music reigns supreme.
Country Radio & Country Music Changing with Listeners' Tastes
In an April 24, 2009, interview with Suite101, Taylor said, “Country music has changed with the youth of the entertainers, as well as the youth of the listeners. Being a DJ, I take a ton of requests on a daily basis. I am all too often shocked when I actually hear a teenager call in a request for George Jones (versus Taylor Swift, for example). Most of your requests for the classic artists come from the blue-collar, middle-aged man.”
Moreover, noted Taylor—who serves as host for her 50,000-watt station’s afternoon request show, Hit Kicker Café—in spite of the fact country’s music’s appeal has expanded, it’s a genre that has never lost favor with “the hard-working, honky-tonkin’, everyday country men and women” who make up its Southern-based listening audiences.
Traditional Country Music & Classic Country Singers Staples of Country Radio in the South
“The most popular country intake seems to be in areas of the ranch hands, bull riders, farms and the blue-collar men and women, drawing in teenagers with the more upbeat style,” she shared. “(And) even though parts of New York have this type of individual, it doesn’t compare to the other states--especially in the South, where country music seems to thrive the most.”
As for country fans in those markets where country music has “gone South,” if you will, there are listening options; namely, via country-music video program on networks such as Great American Country (GAC) or Country Music Television (CMT) and online country stations that webcast the music of both new and traditional country artists.
Country Fans Who Lose Commercial Radio Stations Turning to Internet Radio Stations
Regarding the latter, one such option for country fans is Sound Machine Country Radio, or SMCR, which is online seven days a week, 24 hours daily, and thus far, free of commercials. Based in North Carolina, SMCR was created by Tom Barstow, a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and former broadcaster during his military service, including six years on the air in The Netherlands.
Because of his military-related travel, Barstow was introduced to the music of many country artists abroad; thus, the playlist of SMCR reflects diversity in its artist roster that commercial country stations simply cannot offer, including the music of traditional-country’s Hank Snow, Ferlin Husky and Ernest Tubb and the classic country of Johnny Cash, Gene Watson, Tammy Wynette, Marty Robbins, The Statler Brothers and many more, as well as songs by hot-ticket newcomers such as Jason Aldean, James Otto and 19-year-old Swift.
Sound Machine Country Radio Created, Growing Based on Country Fans' Demands
In an April 26, 2009, interview with Suite101, Barstow—who’s been webcasting online for four years—said the idea to create an online country station sprang from his flagship online radio station, which played a musical variety for general music listening. All that changed one day, however, when the station received a deluge of requests for traditional country music—something that upset the station’s rock-oriented DJs. In response, Sound Machine Country Radio was launched to feed the site's growing listener demand for a country-only station online.
“The country side (of Sound Machine Radio has) been going about 10 months,” reported Barstow, who goes by “DJ Bear” during his live, online radio interviews that air Sunday afternoons. “We are happy with the results. DJ Crazy Blazen Wolf has done a great job as a DJ on the country side and we have a new addition of DJ Kristy J (who hosts a country-gospel program each week).”
Not unlike traditional country station, SMCR is a "reporting" station, meaning the artists and songs played on the online station are reported to the music industry powers that tally artist-related listening reports. However, SMCR’s listeners can request songs “on demand’ via the station site and hear them almost instantly or e-mail requests or questions to station staff.
Country Fans Respond to Online Country Radio Station's Diverse Programming, Song Playlist
As for country fans’ reaction to the station’s approach, “They like the live shows we do and interviews. They love the large number of songs we have in our playlist and the option to request these songs,” Barstow said. “And they like that we support the indy artist and play their music and talk about the artist.”
As for SMCR’s listening audience, it’s as diverse as the country artists who compose its playlists, reported Barstow, who said the station has more than regular 6,000 listeners that he can track, as well as about 3,000 listeners beyond the U.S.
In all likelihood, though, the online country station’s listener numbers are higher, Barstow shared, since “feeds other stations with our signal” but shows “only one listener for those stations,” even though the feed is being sent worldwide.
For more information about Sound Machine Country Radio, please access its site by clicking here.
Lisa L. Rollins - Texas native Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D., is an award-winning feature writer, interviewer and journalism educator.
