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Are the days of KJJY being a Country station coming to an end?

C

Casey

It seems Cumulus is steadily planning their "Nash" country format rollout. The plan seems inevitably to move all country stations to the "Nash" branding. It seems unlikely that Cumulus will brand two stations in the same market Nash and there are rumors of an upcoming NashFM973. Cumulus also plans on syndicating quite a bit of the content from Nashville. CMT Radio Live and Kickin' It With Brooks are undoubtedly included. Both of which currently reside on KHKI.

Looks to me like Cumulus chose KHKI. I would be shocked if KJJY did not flip to another format before the end of the year. Too bad, I like KJJY better. It's entirely possible Danger & Lindsay will be looking for a new job too once this goes through. There are rumors of a possibly syndicated morning show hosted by Blaire Garner for Nash stations.
 
Cumulus has said since it rolled out Nash FM in New York that its various country stations would incorporate the Nash branding at different levels. Some stations would go full-blown "Nash FM" while other would just incorporate it at the top of the hour and in certain promotions. Nash is designed to be a lifestyle more than a format.

The Nash 97.3 handle that was registered on Twitter could certainly be for KHKI. However, Cumulus has two other country stations on 97.3 in Poughkeepsie and Peoria. I wouldn't be surprised if that handle was for Peoria since that station has had branding issues for quite some time. Although Poughkeepsie is a simulcast, it might make sense to incorporate the Nash branding there since it's close to New York City but can't pick up WNSH. So, we really don't know what will happen.

If KHKI does take the Nash branding, who knows what it means for KJJY. Cumulus has operated multiple country stations in a few markets. So, they may not have plans to make major changes to KJJY. However, you can bet they'll change the format if they think something else will benefit them better. I've learned you always bet against format changes in situations like this, but it's never a guaranteed bet.
 
They're putting the "Nash" brand on everything they have that's country (or virtually everything)... but at this point I not sure what it means. They're even using the liner "Powered by Nash, country for life" on their "Real Country" satellite service. Maybe Cumulus will figure out "Nash" doesn't mean anything to country listeners.

As far as KHKI and KJJY... in the latest Des Moines ratings KHKI was #2 and KJJY was #3. (Well, there could have been a Saga station in there somewhere, they're not listed) So if Cumulus changes the format on one of them, it's pretty certain CC or Saga (or both) would switch one of their stations to country.

Cumulus should do something with their FM talk station, it had a 1.7 share. Their AM sports station had a 0.7. KGGO's ratings aren't what they used to be, either.
 
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