Moneyball: News from CRS 2025 — GET OUT!
• We were in Nashville last week for Country Radio Seminar 2025 — and what a great event it is every year. RJ Curtisand his team put on a wonderful conference. Carolyn Gilbert and I were there to present a massive 1,500-person study of Country music fans that included nearly 1,200 Country radio listeners and 1,000 Country radio P1s.
From what we saw from the stage, those in attendance stayed put throughout the hour-long presentation — and took a lot of screenshots. Of course, CRS attendees have access to the deck. Country music fans had a lot to say about the music they love and the ways they connect to that music. They had a lot to say about Country radio, with color commentary provided using clips from nearly two dozen one-on-one interviews with Country fans we’d conducted on Zoom.
Many respondents gave us names of personalities they connect with — and when they couldn’t recall the names, they told us how they felt about those hosts. Hosts are the connective tissue for many of the listeners we interviewed. Using verbatim comments from the nearly 1,200 Country radio listeners, we were able to extract six key points on what listeners appreciate most about the personalities they enjoy.
One of those six points surprised us: many listeners believe that hosts pick the songs they play — so they connect the good feelings they have about the mix of music with them. It’s a great reminder for talent that they need to reflect passion and enthusiasm for each and every song every time they present it. Even when they’ve played a title so often that they may have grown weary of it, it’s still a familiar favorite for listeners. While listeners appreciate authenticity from hosts, here’s a case where everyone is better served by a bit of acting.
In the one-on-one video interviews, a few respondents mentioned how much they used to enjoy seeing stations out broadcasting live around the community in the past. We decided to investigate this more deeply in the large-scale study. What we learned seemed to be a surprise to some of those in attendance at CRS. In a sample where about 80% are regular listeners to Country radio, an equal number say they enjoy it when they “see a local Country station broadcasting live around town” (as shown in the chart below). Even if that seems obvious to some, let it be a reminder for all.
Trouble is, of course, that 44% say they “never see any local Country stations broadcasting live around town.” We emphatically urge stations to change that. Remotes and public appearances bring radio into public view and back into the conversation. Even when it’s in service to an advertiser, being out in public is a strong move for so many reasons. It’s a positive for listeners and non-listeners alike — and it’s a strong reminder for potential clients of the power and persuasiveness of radio. GET OUT of the studio! GET OUT in public!
Yes, these data are specifically about Country radio, but do we expect the numbers would be substantially different for any other format? At a time when radio budgets are being challenged by owners and clients alike, giving listeners a reminder of our vibrancy and position in the community seems like a no-brainer. And, as noted above, those same reminders are equally important for current and could-be advertising clients.
The Spring Book is about five weeks away. NuVoodoo would love to help your stations stay ahead of the competition with our effectively priced offerings for both marketing and research. An email to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com will get you quick attention from the right member of our team.
Additionally, NuVoodoo marketing guru Mike O’Connor is publishing important marketing insights from our latest general study, NuVoodoo Media and Marketing Study 25, twice every week at nuvoodoo.com/articles. — Leigh Jacobs
