Country Aircheck Today - July 3, 2007

July 3, 2007

TODAY'S NEWS

» Miami Vise: Beasley WKIS/Miami PD Bob Barnett has exited the station after five years. Beasley WXTU/Philadelphia PD Bob McKay will be handling programming for WKIS in the short term, with assistance from WKIS night jock Jeffrey T. Mason. GM Carole Bowen is seeking Barnett's replacement. Resumes here.

» Stung: WUBE (Bee 105.1) & WYGY (The Wolf)/Cincinnati PD Marty Thompson has exited the Bonneville Country combo. He joined WUBE as PD two-and-a-half years ago and added WYGY PD duties last November. Contact him here.

» Bud Riser: A major shake-up today at Citadel's WKDF/Nashville, where the morning and afternoon shows are both out. Exiting wake-ups were Eddie Foxx and Lisa Manning, while Stuntboy Justin is gone from MD/PM drive. PD Bud Ford will add MD/PMs to his workload.

Ford is on a massive hunt for a new morning show. Airchecks and resumes to Human Resources, Citadel/Nashville, 506 2nd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37210 or here. Veteran Nashville personality Shannon McCombs and a variety of celebrity guest hosts will handle mornings in the interim. Andy Griggs is on Thursday, while Hal Ketchum visits Friday.

» Punky Rooster: Clear Channel AC WGSY/Columbus, GA PD Alan Quin has officially been named PD for Country sister WSTH (The Rooster). Quin has been handling Rooster programming on an interim basis since Miller Robson's late March departure for a promotions position at the local NBC affiliate. Concurrently, night jock Mike Kelly adds Programming Assistant/MD duties. WSTH has also added Sarah in voice-tracked middays from CC WOBB-FM/Albany, GA.

» Outstanding In The Field: Mid-West Family Broadcasting Light Rock WNNS-FM/Springfield, IL morning teamers Brian Pierce and Kellie Michaels have been hired for mornings at Journal's KFDI/Wichita, KS, replacing the exiting Dan Tooker and Jonathan Watkins. The Brian and Kellie show, Springfield's top-rated morning duo for 15 years, starts in Wichita on July 30.

» You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm On: Cumulus KRMD/Shreveport, LA has hired Kix Brooks for nights. Yes, that Kix Brooks. He fills the slot vacated by Derek James, who joined Hillary in mornings a few months ago. PD Paul Orr says of hometown hero Brooks, "He had some spare time between sold-out shows and worldwide countdowns. Not much going on, so we inked him."

» Talk Is Jeep: Power couple Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are teaming up with their "Soul2Soul Tour 2007" sponsor Jeep to auction off a brand-new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited to benefit the couple's Neighbors Keeper Foundation. Bidding starts tomorrow (7/4) here.

» Chronicle: Condolences are extended to family and friends of famed Nashville saxophone player and session ace Boots Randolph, who passed away today following a cerebral hemorrhage suffered last week. He was 80.

» When In The Course Of Human Events: Country Aircheck will be closed tomorrow, July 4, in observance of the Independence Day holiday. We wish all of you a safe and enjoyable Fourth, and we'll resume publishing on Thursday (7/5).

» Country Aircheck Today Top 5: Here are our Top 5 songs for July 2 airplay:

GEORGE STRAIT/Wrapped (MCA) 1976 points
BIG & RICH/Lost In This Moment (Warner Bros.) 1894 points
MONTGOMERY GENTRY/Lucky Man (Columbia) 1869 points
KEITH URBAN/I Told You So (Capitol) 1792 points
KENNY CHESNEY/Never Wanted Nothing More (BNA) 1584 points

Country Aircheck Today's Mover: GEORGE STRAIT/Wrapped (MCA) +57 spins (Biggest increase by a previously charted song, 7/1 - 7/2).

Country Aircheck Today's Shaker: RASCAL FLATTS/Take Me There (Lyric Street) +149 spins (Biggest increase by a previously uncharted song, 7/1 - 7/2).

All daily airplay data is from Mediabase 24/7.

» Country Aircheck Today Top 5 Downloads: Here are Play MPE's Top 5 for July 2:

RASCAL FLATTS/Take Me There (Lyric Street)
CHRIS CAGLE/What Kinda Gone (Capitol)
BRAD PAISLEY/Online (Arista)
JOSH TURNER/Firecracker (MCA)
DOUG STONE/Nice Problem (Spinville)

» Tube Check Tonight (7/3): Big & Rich, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS).

Tube Check Tomorrow (7/4): Dierks Bentley, A Capitol Celebration (PBS); Lee Greenwood, Good Morning America (ABC) and Your World with Neil Cavuto (Fox News); Trace Adkins, Glenn Beck (CNN); Martina McBride, Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular (NBC); Rodney Atkins, Taylor Swift, Van Zant, Music City July 4: Let Freedom Sing (GAC).

Tube Check Thursday (7/5): Johnny Cash in San Quentin (CMT).

» Tomorrow's Birthdays (7/4): Teddy Carr, Bill McCorvey, Woody Mullis, Ray Pillow, James Stroud, Tony Toliver

Thursday's Birthdays (7/5): Aaron Asida, Denny Dabmun-Bixby, Chris Houser, Doug Howard, Laurissa Juzwiak, Ted Greene, Rick Russell, Charles Vente, Doak Turner

Rainman: Warner Bros.' Blake Shelton (second from left) recently played a show in Albany, NY that was nearly cancelled by a torrential downpour. The opening band's performance was shelved and Shelton finally took to the stage 45-minutes late when the skies cleared, playing to a devoted-and soaked-crowd. He's pictured (l-r) with WGNA/Albany, NY PD/afternooner Tom "Jake" Jacobsen, weekend jock Scott Blaine, Marketing Director Selena Dutcher, morning show Newsgirl Casey Danton and morning show Producer Chris Sousis.

That's Not Nicole! KKNG/Oklahoma City morning co-host KC Shepard snuggled up with Keith Urban while he was in town performing on Monday.

Bus-ted: WRBT/Harrisburg, PA morning co-host Nancy Ryan hopped on the bus to check out Degg's digs when Cole Deggs & The Lonesome rolled into town recently. Pictured top to bottom with her are band members David Wallace, Shade Deggs, Cole Deggs and Jimmy Wallace.