Both these things are true:
Nashville, a booming market rich in musical heritage, does not have a full-signal Classic Hits station directly comparable to a WCBS-FM New York or KRTH (K-Earth 101) Los Angeles.
Nashville may be the best market in America for hearing a wide variety of gold-based radio stations. A few months ago, former Tom Taylor Now publisher and longtime Nashville resident Robert Unmacht sent me a list of frequencies playing some form of gold-based format, including suburban and non-comm outlets. Not only could you have set an entire suite of FM buttons for Classic Hits, you could have an entire suite of gold-based AM music stations.
Many of those AM stations are the same ones heard on FM, thanks to translators. Nashville broadcasters made such early and heavy use of translators that I was able to put together an entire market profile of just those stations as far back as 2016. In this instance, translators have been good for helping offer a decent variety of choices.
Nashville not only has multiple stations covering the spectrum between Oldies and Adult Hits, it also has two yesterday-and-today Country outlets, WSM-FM (95.5 Nash Icon) and WSM-AM. Until recently, it also had two R&B Oldies stations, heritage AM WVOL and WPRT-HD2 (The Ville), which has since segued to a more contemporary Adult R&B format.
Here’s a Fresh Listen to Nashville’s multiple gold-based options, including the two Country outlets, both as a service to those headed to Country Radio Seminar March 13-15, and to Ross on Radio readers always looking for another place to hear the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, or all of the above.
96.3 Jack FM
Like WCBS-FM New York, Jack-FM replaced a longtime oldies station, WMAK-FM. Jack-FM Nashville never officially reverted to its previous format, becoming one of the best and most successful Jack-FMs. (In January, it was up 8.1-9.3, reclaiming the market lead.)
As the line between Classic Hits and Adult Hits has blurred, Jack-FM has effectively claimed that franchise for the market. The station’s “Playing What We Want” positioner also allows it to do some things that Classic Hits stations would be self-conscious about, such as dipping back to the ’60s here.
When monitored, Jack-FM was giving away tickets to Kenny Loggins’s This Is It farewell tour. It was also giving away a Valentine’s Day gift that it promised would be “extra-special and extra-expensive,” the “unforgettable and exorbitant” gift of a dozen eggs at last month’s prices. Here is 96.3 Jack FM just before 4 p.m., February 7.
- Peter Frampton, “Baby, I Love Your Way”
- Yes, “Owner of a Lonely Heart”
- Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping”
- Billy Idol, “White Wedding”
- Aretha Franklin, “Respect”
- Aerosmith, “Living on the Edge”
- Michael Jackson, “The Way You Make Me Feel”
- Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way”
- Gotye, “Somebody That I Used to Know”
- Rolling Stones, “Beast of Burden”
- Duran Duran, “Hungry Like the Wolf”
- Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”
- Bruno Mars, “Locked Out of Heaven”
- Billy Joel, “My Life”
WHPY (Hippie Radio 94.5)
Tony Richards’s Hippie Radio has been doing an older, deeper version of Classic Hits for more than a decade, similar musically to the very successful WAKY Louisville, Ky. Like WAKY, it is the sort of locally owned radio station that I’m happy to see remain viable. Recently, Richards added another nearby combo, WHIN Gallatin, Tenn., which can best be described as Hot AC with Adult Hits values. (The first three songs I heard on that station were Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite,” Kenny Chesney’s “Beer in Mexico,” and Don Henley’s “New York Minute.”)
Of the choices closest to Classic Hits, Hippie is the one with the classic CHR/Oldies radio presentation: hosted throughout the day, ’80s-style jock/jingle :00 combos, lots of ticket giveaways and concert spots (Doobie Brothers, John Oates, War, Boz Scaggs, and Chicago in the hour I heard). The station is also promoting a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gary Rossington Sunday night, March 12. There’s also local news (and on WHIN as well).
There were a few times during the hour where execution made some things work that I would have otherwise groaned at. The tie-in with a body-sculpting sponsor is the “flabby, shabby, funky, junky, belly-buster contest.” When p.m. driver Bill Edwards did the upcoming-artist billboard that is usually such a throwaway on other stations, he teased not three artist names but, “karma, glory, and Fleetwood Mac.” Those three songs appear during the 5 p.m. hour of Hippie Radio heard March 7:
- Earth, Wind and Fire & the Emotions, “Boogie Wonderland”
- Steely Dan, “Dirty Work”
- David Bowie, “Fame”
- Simon & Garfunkel, “Hazy Shade of Winter”
- Tom Petty & Heartbreakers, “Don’t Do Me Like That”
- Moody Blues, “I’m Just a Singer in a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band”
- Eric Clapton, “Promises”
- Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations”
- Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Glory Days”
- John Lennon, “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)”
- Steve Miller Band, “Swingtown”
- Billy Joel, “Tell Her About It”
- Elton John & Kiki Dee, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
WQZQ (Classic Hits 93.3)
Cromwell’s AM/FM translator combo launched seven years ago, and continues to use Westwood One for its Classic Hits format, which pulls about a share each month in PPM. Its mix is the closest to the pop/rock, late-’70s/’80s format that has come to be Classic Hits radio nationally. Here’s the station with Rick Burton at 7:30 p.m., January 13:
- Asia, “Heat of the Moment”
- Philip Bailey & Phil Collins, “Easy Lover”
- Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”
- Bee Gees, “You Should Be Dancing”
- REO Speedwagon, “Keep On Loving You”
- Roxette, “The Look”
- Journey, “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’”
- Miami Sound Machine, “Conga!”
- Cheap Trick, “I Want You to Want Me”
- Kim Wilde, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”
- Elton John, “Bennie and the Jets”
WVCP (Vol State College) Gallatin, Tenn.
“The best music is here on the college station,” declares one of the sweepers of Vol State Community College’s WVCP, a Classic Hits station overseen by station manager and radio veteran Dianna Monk. In a market with so many similar choices, WVCP will be of interest to some readers because it goes deep into CHR’s late ’80s and early ’90s, still a lost era even though many stations now extend their music even further toward today. Here is the station at 4:45 p.m., March 7:
- Jackson Browne, “Stay”
- James Brown, “Living in America”
- Donna Summer, “Last Dance”
- Shania Twain, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman”
- Donald Fagen, “I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)”
- A Taste of Honey, “Boogie Oogie Oogie”
- Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream”
- Richard Marx, “Take This Heart”
- George McCrae, “Rock Your Baby”
- M/A/R/R/S, “Pump Up the Volume”
- Sugar Ray, “When It’s Over”
- Lisa-Lisa & Cult Jam w/Full Force, “Head to Toe”
- Klymaxx, “I Miss You”
- Beatles, “All You Need Is Love”
- Al Wilson, “Show and Tell”
- Pretty Poison, “Catch Me I’m Falling”
WNTC Ashland City, Tenn.
WNTC is an AM/FM translator combo targeting Nashville from a half-hour northwest and broadcasting a ’60s/’70s-based Oldies format of the sort that we cover so often in Ross on Radio. It is Unmacht’s favorite station for its breadth and depth, soft-pop component, and brief stopsets.
WNTC, which carries the syndicated Rick Dees show in mornings, is in the process of moving FM translators from 104.9 to 99.1. WNTC does not stream; Unmacht sent me a two-hour monitor. If I had used the first hour, it would have included “Coconut” by Nilsson and “Arizona” by Mark Lindsay. Here is the station on the evening of January 12:
- Electric Light Orchestra, “Hold On Tight”
- Eddie Money, “Two Tickets to Paradise”
- Carole King, “It’s Too Late”
- Herb Alpert, “This Guy’s in Love With You”
- O’Jays, “Love Train”
- Four Tops, “Walk Away Renee”
- Diana Ross, “Upside Down”
- Neil Sedaka, “Bad Blood”
- Andy Gibb, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything”
- Temptations, “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”
- Four Seasons, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
- Maria Muldaur, “Midnight at the Oasis”
- Alive and Kicking, “Tighter, Tighter”
- Daryl Hall & John Oates, “You Make My Dreams”
- Tommy James & Shondells, “Crystal Blue Persuasion”
- Stray Cats, “Rock This Town”
- Steely Dan, “FM (No Static at All)”
- Abba, “Waterloo”
WSM-FM (95.5 Nash Icon)
When Unmacht talks about the hole in Nashville radio, it is for a full-fledged Classic Country radio station. iHeart briefly offered a Classic Country format on a translator, before moving it to HD-3 only. The separately owed WSM-AM and WSM-FM (95.5 Nash Icon) are gold-based. The feel is unmistakably older, but they’re not late-’70s-through-late-’90s Classic Country per se.
The success of 95.5 Nash Icon has done a lot to convince Country radio that a gold-based version of the format is viable in markets where multiple stations were slugging it out over “new country.” Cumulus has since made similar moves on its KPLX (The Wolf) Dallas and KXKC Lafayette, La. In January, WSM-FM was the market’s Country leader, up 6.3-7.1 and nudging past WSIX (7.0-6.8).
Nash Icon is billed as “music that made Country great and the best of today.” The latter cuts off around 2019, although it does include some artists and songs who definitely fit “new country.” Another sweeper explains the mix as “from Faith to Carly; from Blake to, well, new Blake; from George to Dustin.” Here’s WSM-FM just before 3 p.m., March 8 with Lisa Manning:
- Travis Tritt, “Drift Off to Dream”
- Kane Brown f/Lauren Alaina, “What Ifs”
- Tracy Lawrence, “Find Out Who Your Friends Are”
- George Strait, “Blue Clear Sky”
- Niko Moon, “Good Time”
- Brooks & Dunn, “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”
- Blake Shelton, “Ol’ Red”
- Sawyer Brown, “Thank God for You”
- Lady Antebellum, “Downtown”
- Alan Jackson, “Chattahoochee”
- Martina McBride, “This One’s for the Girls”
- Garth Brooks, “What She’s Doing Now”
- Carrie Underwood, “Undo It”
- David Lee Murphy, “Dust on the Bottle”
- Jimmie Allen, “Best Shot”
- Kenny Chesney, “How Forever Feels”
650 WSM
A lot of what WSM-AM has done over the past decade has probably been with the intent of not being considered Country Gold. The majority of its music is post-2000, and I actually heard two current songs in a row. There has been a concerted effort to incorporate both Americana and the new traditional-flavored acts breaking from streaming. The ticket giveaway for that hour was the Teskey Brothers. A hook promo declares that “today’s WSM sounds like this.”
That I’m including it anyway is partly because I don’t want to write about Nashville radio at CRS time and not include WSM-AM in an article on stations creatively using gold. When WSM-AM is hosted — mornings and afternoons — it’s also a great place to have a “real radio” experience. The CMAFest lineup had just been announced, and p.m. driver Lexi Carter made a big deal of it. There are also low spotloads, and some of the online spots were artist vignettes or Opry-related.
Here’s WSM-AM just before 4 p.m., on March 7:
- Kip Moore, “Beer Money”
- Alabama, “Song of the South”
- George Strait, “One Night at a Time”
- Sara Evans, “I Could Not Ask for More”
- Tracy Lawrence, “Texas Tornado”
- Jameson Rodgers f/Luke Combs, “Cold Beer Calling My Name”
- Sammy Kershaw, “Haunted Heart” — staged as a “forgotten ’90s” track
- Jason Aldean, “That’s What Tequila Does”
- Brad Paisley, “Anything Like Me”
- Craig Campbell, “Keep Them Kisses Coming”
- Eric Church, “Anything Like Me”
- Carrie Underwood, “Hate My Heart”
- Neon Union, “’Bout Damn Time” — with a “brand new music” sweeper, although many stations would have as easily put that next to Underwood
- Alan Jackson, “Livin’ on Love”
- Sawyer Brown, “Thank God for You”
WVOL (The Mighty 147) Nashville
The market’s heritage R&B AM, WVOL has been playing (mostly) Classic R&B for more than 20 years, although there’s still room for “back in the day to today.” A few years ago, a record-industry friend called to tell me about The Ville. I told him about WVOL and ever since, he’s been texting me when he hears an “oh wow,” or a song new to him, which is often. Here’s WVOL just before 5 p.m., March 7:
- Chubby Checker, “The Twist”
- Whispers, “Contagious”
- Charlie Wilson, “Where Would I Be”
- James Brown, “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud”
- Booker T & MG’s, “Born Under a Bad Sign”
- Usher f/will.i.am, “What’s Your Name”
- Santana, “Oye Como Va”
- Thomas Dolby, “She Blinded Me With Science”
- Supremes, “Floy Joy”
- B2K f/Fabolous, “Badaboom”
- O’Jays, “Use ta Be My Girl”
- War, “Southern Part of Texas”
- Rude Boys, “Are You Lonely for Me”
- Brook Benton, “The Boll Weevil Song”
- Barrett Strong, “Money (That’s What I Want)”
- Lakeside, “Your Wish Is My Command”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com