Country Radio Broadcasters (CRB) will recognize Jason Aldean with its Artist Humanitarian Award during CRS Honors on Wednesday, Feb. 23, the first day of CRS 2022. At that time, Aldean will reveal the Country Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2022 inductees. That group will be honored during a June 30 ceremony at Nashville’s Virgin Hotel. Read More.

The iHeartCountry Festival returns to Austin, TX, on Saturday, May 7, with a star-studded lineup featuring Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood, Zac Brown Band, Maren Morris, Dustin Lynch, Jimmie Allen, Scotty McCreery and Cody Johnson at the new Moody Center. The ninth annual event will be hosted again by Premiere Networks syndicated country radio host Bobby Bones. Read More.

To find a new act’s record that with as strong a start as ERNEST’s “Flower Shops,” one might have to go back to 2015, when Maren Morris’ “My Church” and Chris Lane’s “Fix” hit within a few weeks of each other. “Flower Shops” feat. Morgan Wallen got 53 new Mediabase adds this week, giving the Nashville native’s first radio single 83 total historic adds. Read More.

Jordan Davis’ “Buy Dirt” feat. Luke Bryan isn’t just the week’s No. 1 song at country radio, it’s also the genre’s most-consumed current. Kane Brown’s close on Davis’ heels with “One Mississippi” — and his recently released “Whiskey Sour” has the highest total consumption among new country releases. Dierks Bentley’s “Beers on Me” feat. BRELAND and HARDY ranks just outside the Top 10, rising quickly. Read More.

Cox “The New 93Q” KKBQ Houston is the highest-cuming country station in the U.S., at 735,400, according to the first day of Nielsen Audio’s Holiday ’21 PPM results. Audacy “KFROG 95.1” KFRG Riverside, CA, has the highest 6+ AQH share among day-one PPM country stations, with a 4.4. In the two-book results, KBUL Carson City, NV, rises 4.7-8.1, a 19-year share high for the station. Read More.

26-year company veteran Darren Moore is elevated to VP/GM for Cox Media Group Ohio, where he will oversee operations for country WHKO (99.1), news/talk WHIO-AM/FM (1290/95.7), classic hits “The Eagle” (95.3) and WHIO-TV Dayton. “Darren’s passion for people, the broadcasting industry and CMG is infectious and inspiring,” Executive VP of Television Paul Curran said in a release. Read More.

Traci Taylor, morning show co-host of Townsquare Media “98.1 The Hawk” WHWK Binghamton, NY, has been named Director of Content of the cluster, effective Monday, Jan. 31. Taylor, also Brand Manager at CHR “Kiss 104.1” WWYL, will oversee Binghamton’s local content team and social media platforms for WHWK, WWYL, classic rock “The Whale 99.1” WAAL, news-radio 1290/92.1 WNBF and CBS Sports Radio 1360. Read More.

Athena Puharic rises to Manager, Promotion & Marketing at The Valory Music Co. “Athena’s a rock star,” The Valory Music Co. President George Briner tells Country Insider. “She’s taken on more responsibilities within the mission of exposing new music for the Valory Music Company.” Puharic joined the Big Machine Label Group imprint in August 2019 as Promotions Coordinator. Read More.

Delta Media Corporation “Mustang 107.1” KOGM Lafayette, LA, has new programming in two dayparts, with G Networks’ syndicated “Wilhite and Wall” in mornings and Rick “Ricky Z” Zeisig for middays. Zeisig — who tracks from Chattanooga, TN, where he’s director of Brewer Media Group’s Chattanooga Traffic Network — joined the lineup on Dec. 17, 2021, with Darren Wilhite and Tim Wall’s show coming on board Jan. 17. Read More.

Futuri, which provides AI-driven audience engagement and sales technology to hundreds of radio stations, has made a pair of C-suite appointments to support its growth and expansion efforts. Senior VP Tracy Gilliam has been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer and Todd Storch has joined the company as Chief Revenue Officer. Read More.

Garrett Freche joins Silverfish Media as Digital Content Director. A recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, Freche will be responsible for digital content across Silverfish’s national radio brands. “We are going to be producing more and more video and digital assets for Big D & Bubba, as well as our other programs,” Silverfish President Patrick Thomas said in a release. Read More.

The Academy of Country Music announced its Radio Award Nominees for the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards Monday, splitting national personality nominees into daily and weekly categories for the first time. Ten stations received double nominations, including 2020 Station of the Year winners Hubbard Broadcasting “B105” WUBE-FM Cincinnati; Audacy “US 101 FM” WUSY-FM Chattanooga, TN; and ADX Communications “Cat Country 98.7” WYCT-FM Pensacola, FL. Read More.

American General Media “98.1 KJUG” KKJG San Luis Obispo, CA, is the only country station to lead its market (with a 9.4 12+ AQH share) in Monday’s Fall ’21 survey results from Nielsen Audio. Only Jackson, MS, has new Continuous Diary Measurement results: There, iHeartMedia “Miss 103” WMSI has the format lead with a 5.0 share. The next round of PPM results begins today. Read More.

New tracks from Thomas Rhett and Jason Aldean appear this week on both Pandora’s Top Spins and Top Thumb Hundred playlists. Rhett’s “Church Boots” is the No. 2 country track, behind Cody Johnson’s “’Til You Can’t” (No. 9 overall), and Aldean’s “Trouble With a Heartbreak” comes in at No. 6 among country tracks. Read More.

Walker Hayes’ “Country Stuff: The Album” was the weekend’s No. 3 debuting album in the U.S. on Spotify, coming in behind YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Colors” and iann dior’s “on to better things.” It also ranked at No. 9 on the service’s Top Albums Debut Global chart. Meanwhile, Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” remains in the Top Albums USA Top 10 at No. 7. Read More.

Pat Eastburn joins Beasley Media Group as VP of Digital Sales. Eastburn spent the past seven years as VP/GM at Flypaper Digital Marketing, the internal digital agency of WEHCO Media, which owns newspapers, magazines and cable TV channels. In his new role, Beasley says Eastburn will focus on leveraging his experience across the entire digital sales team while focusing on new products, services and key ad categories. Read More.

Bennett Radio Group names Corey Garrison PD/afternoon host at “Country 92.7 & 100.7” WOXO-WIGY Lewiston, ME. “Corey has a great passion for country music and the state of Maine,” Bennett Radio Group Owner Stan Bennett said in a release. “He brings energy, fresh perspective and industry experience that will help elevate the WOXO brand.” Garrison exited Binnie Media “99.9 The Wolf” WTHT last September. Read More.

Lee Brice will spend a month as midday guest host for Wilson Broadcasting “Go Country 105” KKGO Los Angeles starting Monday. The Curb Records recording artist will host weekdays 10am-2pm for four weeks. “Lee has a huge following in Southern California, and we look forward to working with him on an exciting show,” Station Manager Michael Levine said in a release. Read More.

Westwood One Mainstream Country afternoon host Terry King, evening personality Nikki Walker and Mainstream Country Gold/Silver night talent Steve Edwards are among approximately two dozen employees affected by last week’s round of layoffs within the company’s 24/7 Format division. “If you wanna be in radio, you must be able to flow with change like water,” Walker said in an Instagram post Friday. Read More.

Retired broadcaster Albert “Gene” Guthrie, who spent nearly three decades at country KRGO AM-FM Salt Lake City, UT (1550-107.9), died Saturday of natural causes in Grantsville, UT. He was 83. A native of Alamogordo, NM, Guthrie began his career as a teenager at KHEY-AM El Paso, TX. Guthrie spent nearly three decades at KRGO, ultimately owning the station and selling it in 1996. Read More.

Independent music company Reservoir Media, Inc. has acquired shares of Travis Tritt’s publishing and recorded music catalogs. “The Reservoir team is so happy to be supporting both his publishing and master recordings, and building on our foundation of country catalog classics with more of the genre’s biggest songs,” Reservoir Executive VP of Creative John Ozier said in a release. Read More.

Jimmie Allen has added dates and support acts to his “Down Home Tour 2022,” which kicks off Thursday, Feb. 3, at the famed Troubadour. “American Idol” winner Chayce Beckham and Madeline Merlo join previously announced opener Neon Union. Additionally, the singer’s “Bettie James Fest” will return to Allen’s hometown of Milton, DE, on Aug. 13. Details and tickets will be announced in the coming months. Read More.

On the heels of “Buy Dirt” reaching No. 1 on this week’s Mediabase country chart, Jordan Davis has announced the second leg of his “Buy Dirt Tour.” The trek returns April 8, in Orlando with stops in South Carolina, Arizona and Cleveland before it wraps Sept. 27 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for the singer’s first headlining show at the venue. Tickets are on sale Friday. Read More.

“I’ve been rehearsing for this job for 20 years,” Justin Moore said early this month during his fifth day co-hosting “Morning Mayhem,” Signal Media sports “103.7 The Buzz” KABZ Little Rock’s newest show.A longtime listener and frequent on-air guest, Moore joined co-hosts David Bazzel, Roger … Read More.