This week’s No. 1 at country radio, Luke Bryan’s “Down to One,” also is up 52% in total consumption. “Down to One” saw a 1.7 million on-demand streaming leap to boost it to 5.8 million in total streams. Thomas Rhett’s “What’s Your Country Song” and Carly Pearce’s “Next Girl” continue to trend positively, as well. Read more

Multiple factors — including safety concerns, capacity limits, international travel restrictions and a lengthy production window — led the Country Music Association to cancel CMA Fest for a second year. The CMA made the announcement Tuesday, and CMA CEO Sarah Trahern outlined the organization’s reasoning in a letter to members. The event had tentatively been slated for June 10-13. Read more

It’s always good to have the hometown station on the record out of the box. Track45 got that this week when New South Radio “Your Country US 96” WUSJ Jackson, MS, added the Mississippi trio’s debut single “Met Me Now.” WUSJ was one of 26 Mediabase reporters adding “Met Me Now,” making it this week’s most-added record. Read more

The first day of Nielsen Audio’s January ’21 CDM results shows iHeartMedia WAMZ Louisville, KY (97.5) moving up from fourth to second in the market (5.2-5.5 12+ AQH share). In Oklahoma City, three country stations rose through Holiday ’20 and into January: iHeartMedia “101.9 The Twister” KTST (4.1-4.7-4.9), “93.3 Jake FM” KJKE (3.7-3.8-3.9) and iHeartMedia classic country KXXY (96.1) (3.2-3.5-3.8). Read more

Entercom has named Claudia Menegus Market Manager of its Miami stations, which include “Kiss Country 99.9” WKIS. Menegus also currently serves as Regional President for Entercom in Gainesville, Memphis, Miami and Orlando, where she also has Market Manager responsibilities. Additionally, Entercom has lured longtime Cox Media Group radio exec Tim Clarke to Boston as Senior VP/Market Manager of its six-station cluster there. Read more

Townsquare Media flips former AC WNAW-AM North Adams, MA (1230) to country, expanding the station’s reach by simulcasting on North Adams-licensed translator W234DD at 94.7 FM. Rich Whitman from sister hot AC “Live 95.9” WBEC Pittsfield, MA will host mornings at “New Country 94.7,” with Ryan Pause in middays and Dave Fierro taking afternoons. Other programming includes Compass Media Networks’ syndicated “Taste of Country Nights.” Read more

Minneapolis market veteran Dan Culhane passed away Sunday, Feb. 28 at the age of 62. Culhane had been battling multiple myeloma and was recently diagnosed with COVID-19. Culhane most recently served as Production Director at Entercom country “102.9 The Wolf” KMNB, news/talk WCCO (830) and adult hits “104.1 Jack FM” KZJK. Read more

Entercom commemorates Women’s History Month through a series of programming on its country stations throughout March. The month-long “Radio.com’s Leading Ladies” initiative has country singers Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris, Trisha Yearwood, Kelsea Ballerini and Carly Pearce taking over Entercom’s national on-air shows including “Katie & Company's Superstar Power Hour” and “90s Country with Kelly Ford.” Read more

In a Facebook video posted Tuesday, Rascal Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus says he and his bandmates won’t be touring in 2021. “I can tell you that there are no immediate plans to go out this year to reschedule the farewell tour,” he said in the clip. The trio canceled its Farewell: Life Is a Highway Tour last year due to COVID-19. Read more

Elvie Shane and wife Mandi will become a family of four with the arrival of the couple’s first daughter this summer. “Baby girl Payton coming July 2021,” Shane writes on social media. “So blessed, thankful, and excited.” Shane serves as stepfather to his 14-year-old stepson, about whom he wrote his single, “My Boy.” Read more

Current three-time GRAMMY nominee Jhené Aiko will host this year’s GRAMMY Premiere Ceremony, which begins Sunday, March 14 at 3pm ET/Noon PT and will stream via GRAMMY.com. The pre-show will feature the presentation of non-telecast awards, as well as several musical performances. Additionally, “GRAMMY Live” will stream throughout the day at GRAMMY.com and Facebook Live. Read more

Danielle Bradbery details her ongoing battle with migraines in the spring issue of People Health, available in doctors’ offices and health clinics. The singer’s dog Kaya, who Bradbery credits for being a constant comfort during her most painful migraine episodes, joins her on the cover of the magazine. Read more

The showbiz adage “break a leg” once meant something different to singer/songwriter Robert Counts. While it now means good luck before taking the stage, it had a different interpretation when he was studying to become a doctor. Fortunately for his fans, his passion for music was so strong that he gladly left medicine behind. Read more

Old Dominion premieres its new monthly show “Band Van Radio” on Apple Music Country today at 8pm ET. The show has the band giving listeners a backstage pass as they share stories from the road, opinions on the latest hits and discuss the music that influenced them. Read more

Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which continues a seven-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, does the same as Spotify’s most-streamed album in the U.S. It drops No. 7-No. 8 on the global albums chart. Post Malone’s cover of Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You” — a Darius Rucker co-write — was the weekend’s top-debuting song in the U.S. Read more

Chris Stapleton’s “Starting Over” keeps the second spot on the Pandora Top Spins chart this week. It’s one of four charting Stapleton tracks, along with “You Should Probably Leave” (No. 31), “Joy of My Life” (No. 45) and “Cold” (No. 96). Gabby Barrett’s “The Good Ones” slips a spot, No. 3-No. 4, and Carly Pearce’s “Next Girl” rockets up 57 spots, No. 70-No. 13. Read more

Blanco Brown has begun making music again and is splitting his time between Atlanta and Nashville, the country trap artist tells Billboard in his first interview since a near-fatal motorcycle accident in September. A collaboration with Darius Rucker is a possibility. “He said ‘Let’s do it,’” says Brown, who spent nearly a month in the hospital after the wreck. Read more

Aaron “Goose” Seller joins Adams Radio as OM of its Salisbury/Ocean City, MD, cluster, which includes country “US 98.5” WUSX. Seller also will serve as a PD for Top 40 “OC 104” WOCQ, as well as overseeing active rock “93.5 The Beach” WZBH, classic rock “Big 107.7” WGBG, and “KOOL Oldies” WOCQ-HD2, which transmits at 104.3. Read more

International music publisher peermusic will represent the catalog of Big Machine Music outside the U.S., according to a long-term sub-publishing agreement between the two companies. Nashville-based BMM will continue to administer its 12,000-song catalog — which includes such chart-topping hits as Luke Combs’ “Better Together,” Maren Morris’ “The Bones” and Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber’s “10,000 Hours” — within the U.S. Read more

Patty Erickson joins ASCAP as Senior VP and Head of Human Resources. She will report to CEO Elizabeth Matthews and work on leadership, culture and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Erickson, who previously held the same title at BBC Studios Americas, succeeds Carolyn Jensen, who is retiring after leading ASCAP’s HR function for 17 years. Read more

Lady A’s Hillary Scott is one of 31 people highlighted in Dress For Success’ “31 Days of Women in Power” campaign. In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, the global nonprofit employment resource launched Your Hour, Her Power on Monday to highlight the importance of female leaders. Read more

Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Rosanne Cash, John Rich, Jim Lauderdale and Chapel Heart share their gratitude towards music teachers in honor of Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM), which occurs each March. The National Music Council and National Federation of State High School Associations created a video showing the artists thanking music educators and administrators for their continued efforts. Read more

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) launches the Broadcast Ambassador Program, a new volunteer initiative designed to enhance communication between the organization and its member stations’ employees. The program is an effort to ensure stations are taking full advantage of the benefits of NAB membership and to help shape new NAB initiatives and benefits through feedback and insights from members. Read more

As states continue reopening efforts, a plethora of data shows Americans are back on the road in vast numbers, approaching levels not seen in nearly a year. “We’re now knocking on the door of 90% of where it was pre-COVID in terms of the number of drivers that are driving on any given day,” said Dennis Frawley, VP of Global Customer Success at Cambridge Mobile Telematics. Read more

Maren Morris and Canadian singer-songwriter JP Saxe perform their “Line by Line” duet tonight on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (12:35am ET, CBS). The track, slated to appear on Saxe’s first full-length album later this year, “acts as a promise that I’ll never be done writing about my muse in this life,” Morris says. Read more