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2019

  • A&O&B’s Year End Music Rewind: 2019 Ends with Cautious Optimism

    • 12/22/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music, country radio programming, radio programming
    No Comments

    Each December for the past 26 years, A&O&B has released our Year End Music Rewind which includes music trends, our list of the Best Testing Songs of the Year and advice going forward. In last year’s report we predicted that 2019 would be the “set up” year for a musically stronger 2020.  Our Year End

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  • How Your Station Can Tap Into the Incredible Power of Recognition

    • 11/30/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: advertising, coaching, management, marketing, Thanksgiving
    No Comments

    Thanksgiving seems like the perfect time for the recognition of others and to share a reciprocal “thank you.” In this case, the thanks goes to Lamar Outdoor. They gifted Cat Country 98-7 Pensacola (WYCT) multiple billboards congratulating the station on its most recent CMA Station of the Year award. For sure Cat Country is a

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  • Christmas Music: How Much Do You Need? (Hint: Not a Lot)

    • 11/14/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: Christmas, country radio programming, Country ratings, Nielsen ratings, radio programming
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    Christmas music on the radio means it’s the least wonderful time of the year… for country ratings that is. Diary market Decembers are hit and miss for Country shares (often miss) while in PPM markets the Holiday Book are ALWAYS the lowest ratings periods of the year for country. How much lower? Using PPM data

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  • Making Your Station Part of the Conversation

    • 10/08/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: branding, country music, country radio, radio programming
    No Comments

    It’s a no brainer: making your station part of the conversation is good business. However if you’ve been in country for any length of time you’ve probably encountered these sorts of conversations when it comes to our format: I like most music but I don’t understand country Is that the same as country and western?

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  • A Great Country Song Makes You Feel – Are You “Feeling” Ken Burns’ “Country Music?”

    • 09/23/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music, country radio, country radio programming
    2 Comments

    As I write this there are four episodes yet to air. But even at the halfway point, it has been hard to watch “Country Music” and not feel something. But that’s how a show about country music should be, right? Because a great country song makes you feel. The Feel Sometimes a great country song

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  • 7 Showmanship Lessons from Blake Shelton

    • 09/18/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: Blake Shelton, country music, country radio programming, DJs, radio programming
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    We learn by watching and imitating. From perfecting a dance move to watching a YouTube DIY video, the process of observation and modeling is powerful. This struck me at a recent Blake Shelton show. Here was a master showman plying his craft so deftly that I was compelled to make notes. I shared 15 of

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  • #ChickenWars: Y’all Capitalizing?

    • 08/26/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: advertising, branding, country radio programming, marketing, radio programming
    No Comments

    As your’e reading this, #ChickenWars is delivering the ultimate marketing fantasy. Imagine that your brand is being seen and talked about by hundreds of thousands of people. And that this social talk/exposure has not just raised awareness of your product but it has simultaneously and instantaneously resulted in a dramatic spike in your product’s consumption.

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  • 21 Things that Can Help or Hurt Your Time Spent Listening

    • 08/08/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country radio programming, Nielsen ratings, radio programming, Radio Ratings
    No Comments

    Spring 2019 ratings data from Eastlan and Numeris are out now and the last of the Nielsen diary reports hit desks next week. The three metrics most programmers will go to first are Share, Cume and TSL. It’s the latter that often generates the most conversation and sometimes the most controversy. That’s because there are

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  • Shark Week: A ‘Finny’ Thing Happened on the Way to the Marketing and Promotions Meeting

    • 07/29/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country radio programming, marketing, Nielsen ratings, radio programming
    2 Comments

    Sunday, July 28th marks the beginning of the 31st annual Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. 31 years. Yes. I know. But strong ratings (39.4 million viewers last year good for 4th among 18-49 according to Nielsen) and a decade of buzz worthiness qualifies Shark Week as an actual “thing.” In fact it’s enough of

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  • Status Update: Country’s Currents Half Way to 2020

    • 07/24/2019
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music, country radio, country radio programming, radio programming
    No Comments

    Each July A&O&B takes the pulse of country’s currents. It’s at this halfway point in the year that we look at where our current music stands, how it compares to previous years, and how to best use this knowledge to have the strongest second half possible. Midway through last year there was a bit of

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