Country Music Dominates Radio

Friday, December 14, 2007

I bet the everyday radio listener couldn't name the style of music that has the most radio stations in the United States. You are probably thinking Top 40 or Adult Contemporary... but since I'm writing about it, you know those answers aren't right.

Here are the numbers that I found in an article in the Washington Post, posted 12/14/2007 6:40pm titled "Country Music Dominates U.S. Radio in 2007 written by Billboard/Reuters featuring information from M Street)

1. Country (2,054 stations +5 stations in 2007)
2. News/Talk (2,026 +18 stations)
3. Contemporary Christian (920 stations +23 stations)
4. Spanish (917 stations +98 stations)
5. Adult Contemporary (666 stations)
6. Top 40 (495 stations -15 stations)
7. Hot Adult Contemporary (392 stations +8 stations)
8. Alternative Rock (385 stations)
9. Southern Gospel (316 stations +15 stations)
10. Rock (300 stations +9 stations)

Pretty cool huh? No music-based format even comes close to the power of country music radio. Wouldn't it be nice in 2007 that country grew even more... I sure hope so. Maybe this time of year next year, we will be up 10,15 stations.

One thing did concern mer. News/Talk stations increased almost 500 stations in the last 10 years. In the same time frame, country music format stations have declined by more than 450. That is something to be concerned about. That trend has to be reversed. Country radio is so very important to promotion, awareness, and continued sales of music.

More about this topic later on... of course.