Country music is once again playing in the New Jersey and New York area with the new radio station, Nash FM 94.7, which switched from WRXP, a rock station, on January 21, 2013, and many are wondering how long the station will last.
According to Jerry Barmash from Mediabistro.com, the last time a country station played in the New Jersey and New York area was 17 years ago. It got kicked off the air because ratings started to suffer when people found country music not as interesting as John Travolta’s music. However, in today’s society, country music has top-charting new artists such as The Band Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lady Antebellum. Having big names in country is really paying off. Besides in the tri-state area, country music is one of the most popular radio formats with more than 2,000 stations playing in America.
Part of country’s comeback is due to TV. Country music can be found on the hit drama show Nashville, and reality competition shows such as American Idol, and The Voice, often feature country music and country stars such as Keith Urban on American Idol and Blake Shelton on The Voice. According to Ben Sisario, writer for The New York Times, “Country stars are among the most consistent moneymakers in the concert industry. The genre’s growing sales are among the few bright lights of the music industry.”
Nash FM 94.7 has currently been playing for five months and opinions about the music have been both bad and good. HHS senior, Emily Provencher, states that she was always a country fan. “I always was a big fan of Keith Urban, and it’s great now that I can listen to his music on the radio.” While many students are big fans of the country radio, other students rather listen to a different style of music. Sophomore Bridget Grenier stated, “Country music doesn’t appeal to me because the lyrics don’t have a meaning to me along with the annoying accents.” However, Nash FM 94.7 seems to be pulling in listeners. Senior Kimberly Mulvey noted, “I never really use to listen to country music before, but I hear it all the time on the radio now and it’s starting to grow on me.”
Country music seems to be growing with popularity as more people begin to tune into the station. On Twitter the station at NashFM947NY has approximately 12.1 thousand followers and receive numerous tweets from followers about the station. Some tweets state, “NashFM947NY is absolutely killing it with song choices” and “I’m pretty obsessed with this station right now.” As for the stations competition, Z100’s Twitter account has 130.9 thousand followers, but it has been around since 1983. NashFM just started six months ago and seems to be gaining followers rapidly. It doesn’t look like it will be off the air any time soon.