Country Countdown USA
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''Country Countdown USA'' is a nationally syndicated weekly
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
top-30 chart countdown program hosted by Lon Helton.


Debut

The show premiered on the
Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...
in April 1992. The program began as the brainchild of
Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and ...
Chairman
Norman J. Pattiz Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
who assigned the project to his Programming VP, Gary Landis. Although Westwood One had several country programs mainly broadcast on its co-owned Mutual network, the company didn't have a weekly country countdown show. At the time, the leader was ''
American Country Countdown ''American Country Countdown'', also known as ''ACC'', is a weekly internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 40 country songs of the previous week, from No. 40 to No. 1, according to the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay cha ...
'' with
Bob Kingsley Robert Gibson Kingsley (March 19, 1939 – October 17, 2019) was an American country music radio personality and a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was best known as the host of two nationally syndicated radio programs: ''American Cou ...
(now hosted by
Kix Brooks Leon Eric Brooks III, better known by his stage name Kix Brooks (born May 12, 1955), is an American country music artist, actor, and film producer best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn and host of radio's ''American Country Co ...
). It was a traditional countdown show modeled after
Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...
’s ''
American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...
''. Other shows on the air at the time included
Unistar UniStar Nuclear Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF (Électricité de France), formed in 2007 to develop new nuclear energy facilities in the United States. Unistar has one project under development, Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 in Maryland - t ...
’s ''Weekly Country Music Countdown with Chris Charles'' (no longer on the air) and TNN’s ''
Crook & Chase ''Crook & Chase'' is an American television talk show hosted by Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase, focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on country music. The pair had first worked together on the weekly syndicated program "This Week In Count ...
Top 40'' (still on the air). The latter two included pre-recorded interview clips with artists, while ''ACC'' was strictly a scripted show (although interviews would later be added).


Format

Landis' concept was simple: A DJ and a country star co-host would count down the week’s top 30 and talk about the songs and artists in the chart. Gary first began looking for talent. Numerous DJs were considered, before they decided on ''
Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
''' Country Editor, Lon Helton. Gary called Lon directly and offered him the job. The country star was a more difficult decision. No single country star was willing to commit to a 52-week schedule. So the decision was made to have a different country star act as co-host every week. It would be a three-hour show, playing the week’s Top 30. Unlike other syndicated shows at the time, the show featured only three commercial breaks per hour, and a music sweep at the top of the hour, based on the formats of most country radio stations. Landis then looked for a producer to oversee the program. Mutual Broadcasting System Senior Producer George Achaves quickly jumped at the chance. George had worked with Lon on a short-lived weekly country show called ''Listen In''. He also did Mutual’s holiday country specials with WHN DJ Lee Arnold. Lon’s office manager, Jo Pincek, was tapped to handle artist relations. The show became the first Westwood One show to be delivered exclusively on compact disc.


History

When Country Countdown USA began on April 4, 1992, the show had about 75 affiliates, including WYNY-FM
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
and
KLAC KLAC (570 AM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles and much of surrounding Southern California. Owned by a joint venture between iHeartMedia, Inc. and the Los Angeles Dodgers bas ...
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. The first co-host was
Steve Wariner Steven Noel Wariner (born December 25, 1954) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Initially a backing musician for Dottie West, he also worked with Bob Luman and Chet Atkins before beginning a solo career in the late 1 ...
, who was enjoying his first hit on the
Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...
label, “The Tips of My Fingers.” The song ultimately went to #1. Other co-hosts during the shows first year included
Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...
,
Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single " She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard'' c ...
, and
Brooks & Dunn Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were solo ...
. The show's unique live sound and funny conversation quickly made it a favorite with the “hot new country” stations that were becoming popular. It wasn't long before the show became one of the biggest country shows in the US, and one of the most popular syndicated shows in Westwood One's line-up. When
Amber Radio Amber Radio was a classic hits/gold radio station operating from studios in both Norwich and Ipswich, in the region of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It was the AM sister station of Radio Broadland and SGR and served Norfolk and Suffolk, ...
launched in the east of England in September 1995, it included the show in its line-up, country having long been popular in the region.''
Cambridge Evening News The ''Cambridge News'' (formerly the ''Cambridge Evening News'') is a British daily newspaper. Published each weekday and on Saturdays, it is distributed from its Waterbeach base. In the period December 2010 – June 2011 it had an average dail ...
'' listings on
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, page 18, 30 September 1995
On July 20, 2022, it was reported that Compass Media Networks would began distributing Country Countdown USA on August 1.


Features

Regular features in the show include The Week's Hottest Song, which was originally based on a feature in Radio & Records. The newspaper eliminated the feature in the late 90s, but it was kept in the radio show, basing it on the song in the Top 5 with the most increased points. During the early years, the show also featured disc jockeys from the show's affiliates talking about upcoming concert attractions in their area before introducing a hot-breaking song at their station (always a song that had yet to reach the top 30). One popular new element in recent years has been taking tape clips of previous co-hosts talking about artists in the chart, and playing them for those artists. This allowed listeners to get unique insights into their favorite stars. The last two weeks of December feature CCUSA's annual year-end countdown. A "Top 70 program" split in two parts (songs 36–70 in Week 1, the top 35 in the following show), Helton features interview highlights from the past year, plus a "live" interview with the artist having the No. 1 song of the year. Stations can play each three-hour program separately, while many often will play both parts—as a six-hour program—during at least one of the two weekends.


Success

The success of Country Countdown USA and the continued boom in country music led to the creation of several other regular country shows at Westwood One. At the time, the company did a new release show for pop radio hosted by Joel Denver called Future Hits. So Norm Pattiz asked his staff to create a Country Future Hits. The show, also produced by CCUSA producer George Achaves, was named Country's Cutting Edge, and it debuted in 1993. The first host was Brad Chambers, program director of the influential Dallas station
KPLX KPLX (99.5 MHz, "99.5 The Wolf") is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting a gold-based mainstream country radio format. It is licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serves the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. KPLX is owned by Cumulus Media, wit ...
. That same year, Lon Helton suggested to Norm that some highlights from CCUSA could be turned into a daily 90-second show. That show was named Country's Inside Trak, and was launched as a companion to the weekly show. Over the years, Lon Helton hosted numerous country specials for Westwood One. Country Takes Manhattan was a week-long live concert series broadcast live from venues in New York. The Country Freedom Concert was a live simulcast of the CMT concert special which raised funds for victims of 9–11. In 2002 the show was renamed CMT's Country Countdown USA, as part of the newly launched collaboration with CMT. When ''Radio & Records'' was merged into
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
in 2006, CMT's Country Countdown USA continued using the
Mediabase 24/7 Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analy ...
chart, which is also used by
Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 ''Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 with Fitz'' (sometimes abbreviated as CT40) is an American country music radio countdown show created by former ''American Country Countdown'' host Bob Kingsley, who hosted the show from its January 2006 debut until ...
. Concurrently, in August 2006 Lon exited Radio & Records to launch his own Country trade publication, Country Aircheck.


Jingles

When Country Countdown USA debuted, the show used a custom jingle package from Jam Creative Productions in Dallas, which included chart number jingles that segued between songs on the show. 2 chart number jingles were used each hour. After the relaunch as CMT's Country Countdown USA in 2002, the show switched from Jam to TM Studios. The chart number jingles were officially removed in 2001. The show switched from TM Studios to RadioScape in 2013, and switched the show back to its original Country Countdown USA branding. Country Countdown USA continues to use RadioScape to this very day.


Awards

CCUSA host Lon Helton was named the National Air Personality of the Year by the
Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...
in 2002 and 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021. He won the same award from the Academy of Country Music in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018. In 2006, Lon was inducted into the Country DJ Hall of Fame in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
.


References

{{Reflist *http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1677943/cmts-cody-alan-lon-helton-nominated-for-acm-on-air-radio-personality-of-the-year.jhtml


External links


Country Countdown USACountry Aircheck
American record charts Music chart shows American country music radio programs