Nash FM is a media brand and network owned by Cumulus Media in the United States and Bell Media in Canada. The brand serves as a platform for the Country format and offers two different products: Nash FM, airing current hits, and Nash Icons, airing an adult-contemporary-focused playlist of more established artists. Its name comes from Nashville, Tennessee, the center of the commercial country music industry in the United States, which in turn was named for colonial-era politician and Continental Army General Francis Nash.
Nash FM is, as of 2014, used on FM radio stations carrying country music (typically hot country) formats owned by Cumulus, and is the primary brand. Nash FM stations, since March 2015, have included in their rotations a blend of country and acoustic-leaning pop music.
The first station to become Nash FM was 94.7 at Newark, New Jersey in the New York City area on January 21, 2013.
Syndicated programming common to stations using the brand includes Ty, Kelly & Chuck (formerly called America's Morning Show), Nash Nights Live with Shawn Parr and The Blair Garner Show. National news is provided through an agreement with CNN.
List of Nash FM-branded stations
Former "Nash FM" stations
- WJCL-FM - Savannah, Georgia - Station dropped the Nash FM branding and reverted to its previous "Kix" branding on December 4, 2015.
- KSJO - San Jose, California - Cumulus operated the station under a leasing agreement with Universal Media Access from May 25, 2014 to March 1, 2016, when Universal ended the arrangement, as it dropped the format for Bollywood music music as "Bolly 92.3." The Nash FM format moved to KSAN's HD2 subchannel the same day as the flip.
- KAMO-FM - Fayetteville, Arkansas - Dropped Nash Fm and switched over to Nash Icon on July 3, 2016.
- KRMD-FM - Shreveport, Louisiana - Dropped Nash FM branding and reverted to its previous Country 101.1 branding on July 5, 2016.
- KQFC - Boise, Idaho - Dropped Nash FM branding and switched to classic country on April 3, 2017.
- WHLZ - Florence, South Carolina - Dropped Nash FM branding to Hot AC as Q100.5 and changed call letters to WQPD on April 17, 2017.
- KBUL-FM - Reno, Nevada - Dropped Nash Fm branding and returned as K-Bull 98.1 FM.
- WRKN - New Orleans, Louisiana, Louisiana - Moved over to 106.1 FM on June 19, 2017.
Nash Icon
In May 2014, Cumulus Media announced a spin-off of the Nash brand known as Nash Icon (previously announced as Nash Icons). The Nash Icon brand encompasses radio stations, content, and events oriented towards the "biggest country artists of the last two decades, who are still recording and touring but not getting enough exposure today"; Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey felt that there was not yet a "middle ground" between modern and classic country similarly to that of the Adult contemporary format (which lies between Contemporary hit radio and classic hits). The first Nash Icon stations were launched at 12:00Â p.m. ET on August 15, 2014 with the flips of W255CJ in Atlanta and WZAT in Savannah, Georgia, followed by a number of other Cumulus stations throughout the day. In January 2015, WestwoodOne began to syndicate Nash Icon to non-Cumulus stations.
The Nash Icon brand also includes a vanity label for veteran country artists operated in partnership with Big Machine Records. On October 21, 2014, it was announced that Reba McEntire would be the first artist to be part of the label. Shortly after McEntire's announcement, Ronnie Dunn began to tease that he would be the next artist to sign. Dunn officially confirmed on December 1, 2014 that he was indeed the second artist to sign with the label. Martina McBride announced that she had signed with the label on December 29, 2014. On April 29, 2015, Hank Williams Jr announced that he had signed with the label.
The airstaff of Nashville's WSM-FM serves as the network's 24/7 airstaff, although individual stations reserve the right to use local personalities. Some Nash Icon stations also carry Westwood One's "Ty, Kelly, and Chuck" morning show, which primarily serves Nash FM stations.
Notes:
1 - Indicates a Station that is not owned by Cumulus.
Former "Nash Icon" stations
- K273BZ/KCMO-HD2-Kansas City, Missouri. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to alternative rock on November 2, 2015.
- W255CJ/WWWQ-HD2-Atlanta, Georgia. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut as the first station to join. Flipped to Christmas music on November 23, 2015. The station then changed to a mainstream adult contemporary format on December 26, 2015, then flipped back to an alternative rock format on January 1, 2016.
- WRYD-Snow Hill, Maryland/Delmarva Peninsula. Became the first non-Cumulus owned station when it became syndicated by Westwood One. Flipped to a current-based country format a few months later, then gospel music on October 5, 2015.
- WZRR-Birmingham, Alabama. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to Southern Rock/Country on May 20, 2016, then flipped to News/Talk on May 24, 2016.
- KRRF-Ventura, California. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to classic hip hop on May 27, 2016.
- WOMG-Columbia, South Carolina. Flipped to classic hits on July 1, 2016.
- KRMW-Fayetteville, Arkansas. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to Adult Alternative on July 15, 2016. Nash Icon was moved to sister station KAMO.
- KLSZ-Fort Smith, Arkansas. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to Nash FM brand on October 31, 2016.
- WELJ-New London, Connecticut. Bought by Bold Broadcasting and flipped to Christmas music on November 1, 2016.
- WUVA-Charlottesville, Virginia. Joined the network on September 18, 2015. Rebranded as C-Ville Country 92.7 on March 1, 2017 after WUVA is currently being sold to Saga Communications on Jan 2017.
- WZAT-Savannah, Georgia. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to Hot AC on March 24, 2017.
- WCKR-Hornell, New York. Flipped to Hot AC on May 1, 2017 as "Fun 92.1."
- W237DE-Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Flipped back to sports as "CBS Sports Harrisburg" during Spring 2017.
Critical reception
While there has been some good feedback on the launching of the Nash FM brand, it was a different story involving the Nash Icons' launching. In a commentary from Radio Insight, Lance Venta notes that Nash Icon's soft launch did not generate the attention that Nash FM got, adding that the stations that flipped to the format are in markets with more than 2 Country outlets (or in the case of Kansas City, 3 and Toledo, Ohio, 4) that have better ratings and more established, while others (like KQLK/Lake Charles, Louisiana) flipped from a format that had good ratings in order to cut into the ratings of a competitor (KNGT) and to protect a sister Country station (KYKZ). Venta later stated "Does this mean Nash Icon is destined for failure? Not at all. Cumulus is putting resources behind the Nash and Nash Icon brands that puts other formats to shame. This launch though has felt disjointed, rushed, and not what Cumulus and Big Machine first hyped it to be. Once the brand is fleshed out and additional features/shows are added, there could easily be additional demand for a brand to acts as the Adult Contemporary equivalent for Country listeners in a world where many of the format’s stations are evolving towards a CHR styling."
Cross-branding
Nash FM also has a Television Outlet called Nash TV, which is an American video on demand television network that is owned by Cumulus Media and operated by Music Choice through an agreement, building on Cumulus' Nash FM and Nash Icon brand. The channel launched January 26, 2015.
The magazine Country Weekly has carried the Nash brand and logo since June 2015.
References
