Best Country Today (formerly known as Country Coast-to-Coast, The Best Country Around and Today's Best Country) was one of the 24-hour live formats produced by

Cumulus Media Networks Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), whi ...

. It is designed to appeal to a wide range of listeners, concentrating on a younger audience than would generally listen to traditional Country stations. It is one of two country formats produced by Cumulus, the other being Real Country, which skews toward older listeners. Some of the featured artists were

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country singer. With 30 million albums sold worldwide, he released his debut, '' In My Wildest Dreams'', in 1994, and has since released 19 follow-ups. His albums spawned 27 singles tha ...

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...

The Wreckers The Wreckers were an American country music duo formed in 2005 by Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp, both of whom had solo recordings before the duo's foundation. In 2006, the duo released its debut album '' Stand Still, Look Pretty'', which pr ...

and other contemporary country music artists.

History

Beginning as one of the original

Satellite Music Network Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered Radio network, network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to radio stations, local stations, under several different formats. History Affiliate stations, mostly i ...

formats over 30 years ago, its studios and offices were located in

Mokena, Illinois Mokena ( ) is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwest suburb of Chicago. The population was 19,887 at the 2020 census. The Census Bureau's 2019 estimate found that the population had increased to 20,159. Etymology ...

, just outside

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Shortly after SMN was purchased by ABC/Capital Cities in 1990, the format was moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, along with the other SMN formats such a
The TouchTimeless ClassicsThe Classic Rock ExperienceOldies RadioHits & FavoritesReal Country
an
Today's Best Hits
had previously been established at the Dallas location. In its over 20-year history, Today's Best Country/Country Coast-To-Coast has had three Operations Managers, Mark Edwards, Dave Nicholson and Gary Reynolds.

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...

purchased ABC Radio Networks (now Cumulus Media Networks) and the ABC Owned and Operated radio stations from

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

in February 2006 and continue to use the ABC name for several years afterward. The Citadel acquisition does not include

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

or the

ESPN radio stations ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Communica ...

. Citadel merged with

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

on September 16, 2011. Best Country Today was discontinued months after Cumulus Media Networks' merger with

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

as there's already a contemporary country music satellite format.

Programming

Hosts heard on Best Country Today included Charlie Derek, Darcy, Cadillac Jack, Jeremy Robinson, and Chaz Mixon.

American Country Countdown ''American Country Countdown'', also known as ''ACC'', is a weekly internationally syndicated radio program which counts down the top 30 country songs of the previous week, from No. 30 to No. 1, according to the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard ...

is distributed on the network on weekends. Robinson's show was also syndicated outside the network as an evening show.

Alumni

* Jim Beedle * Mark Edwards * Doug Thompson * Jim Brady (deceased

* Hubcap Carter (deceased) * Ted Clark * Kurt Schaeffer * Bob Forester * Michael Hardema

* Ed Leal * Bill Lee * Dave Marcum * Catfish Prewit

* Steve Sharp * Joe Sot

* Jerry Walker * Jim Weave

* Becky Wight * Randy Williams * Jim Casey * Bill Fortune * Gary Semro

References

External links

* http://eclecticmax.blogspot.com/
John Tyler, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
{{Westwood One Radio formats Westwood One Defunct radio networks in the United States Radio stations disestablished in 2014 Radio stations established in 1985 Defunct radio stations in the United States