Media brand and network owned by Cumulus Media in the United States
Nash logo
Nash is a media brand owned by Cumulus Media. It covers country music-related properties owned by Cumulus, including radio stations, digital properties and publications (Nash Country Daily), Nash TV (a video on-demand service operated in partnership with Music Choice),[1] concerts promoted by Nash FM stations (Nash Bash), and associated programming syndicated by Westwood One—including The Ty Bentli Show (formerly Ty, Kelly & Chuck and America's Morning Show), Nash Nights Live with Shawn Parr (heard evenings) and The Blair Garner Show (heard overnight). The Lia Show, which has been separately syndicated by Westwood One in the evening hours, will replace Garner in August 2020. Its name comes from Nashville, Tennessee, the center of the commercial countrymusic industry in the United States, which in turn was named for colonial-era politician and Continental Army General Francis Nash. The Nash FM branding is similar to the Hank FM branding in that these stations play over 1000 songs as opposed to other stations which play 300 to 600 songs.
The brand launched in 2013 with the launch of WNSH (now Classic Hip-Hop formatted WXBK) in New York City, and has since been adopted by other Cumulus-owned stations carrying country music (typically hot country formats with a focus on current hits and acoustic-leaning pop crossovers),[2] although those with heritage brands have not always switched to the Nash FM branding (but may still carry programming associated with it).
A sub-brand, Nash Icon, covers radio stations and a record label oriented towards acts associated with the 1990s and early 2000s.
WNSH — Newark, New Jersey — Original and flagship Nash FM station under Cumulus ownership.[8] Operated by Entercom since March 1, 2019, then owned outright after May 13, 2019.[9][10] Rebranded as "New York's Country 94-7" on March 25, 2019.[11] Switched to classic hip-hop on October 22, 2021 and new calls WXBK.[12]
WJCL-FM - Savannah, Georgia - Station dropped the Nash FM branding and reverted to its previous "Kix" branding on December 4, 2015.[13]
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 as "Bolly 92.3". The Nash FM format moved to KSAN's HD2 subchannel the same day as the flip.[14]
KRMD-FM - Oil City, Louisiana - Dropped Nash FM branding and reverted to its previous Country 101.1 branding on July 5, 2016.[16]
KQFC - Boise, Idaho - Dropped Nash FM branding and switched to classic country on April 3, 2017.[17] KQFC flipped to Soft AC in October 2019 and adopted the moniker Magic 97.9.
WHLZ - Marion, South Carolina - Dropped Nash FM branding to Hot AC as Q100.5 and changed call letters to WQPD on April 17, 2017.[18]
KBUL-FM - Reno, Nevada - Dropped Nash FM branding and returned as K-Bull 98.1 FM.
WTNR - Holland, Michigan - Dropped Nash FM branding and reverted as Thunder Country on January 4, 2019.[23]
WPSK-FM - Pulaski, Virginia - Dropped Nash FM and reverted to its original branding, "107.1 PSK" during early 2019.
KRST - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Launched Nash FM on May 30, 2014.[24] It was later dropped and reverted to its original branding, "92.3 KRST" in June 2019.
WNNF - Cincinnati, Ohio - Dropped Nash FM and rebranded as "Cat Country 94.1" on October 1, 2019.[25]
WPCK - Denmark, Wisconsin - On November 1, 2019, Nash FM was dropped and flipped to Christmas music ahead of sale to EMF. Eventually, it has flipped to KLove on January 8, 2020.[26]
WFYR - Peoria, Illinois - Dropped Nash FM and reverted to its previous "River Country" branding on February 3, 2020.[27]
WDRQ - Detroit, Michigan - Launched Nash FM on December 13, 2013.[28] It was dropped and relaunched as New Country 93.1 on February 18, 2020.[29] As of August 2, 2023, it switched to Family Life Radio after being sold to Family Life Broadcasting.
WXBM-FM - Pensacola, Florida - Launched Nash FM on February 3, 2014 but was dropped and reverted as 102.7 WXBM on March 9, 2020.[30]
KAYD-FM - Silsbee, Texas - Launched Nash FM on July 3, 2013[31] Dropped Nash FM and reverted as KAYD 101.7 on April 1, 2020.[32]
WKDF - Nashville, Tennessee - Launched Nash FM on February 3, 2014 but was dropped and rebranded as "103.3 Country" on May 14, 2020.[35]
WVLK-FM - Lexington, Kentucky - Launched Nash FM on May 24, 2013 but was dropped and rebranded as "K 92.9" on September 4, 2020.[36]
KXKC - New Iberia, Louisiana - Launched Nash FM on September 6, 2013 but was rebranded back to "99.1 KXKC" on September 4, 2020.[37]
WHKR - Rockledge, Florida - Launched Nash FM on July 3, 2013 but was rebranded back as "102.7 The Hitkicker" on October 5, 2020.[38]
WKAK - Albany, Georgia - Launched Nash FM on July 3, 2013 but was rebranded as "FM 104.5" shortly after the sale to First Media Services closed on December 18, 2020. It was later changed to Georgia 104.5 on April 7, 2021.[39]
WFBE - Flint, Michigan - Launched Nash FM on February 3, 2014 but was rebranded back to "B95" after 7 years on April 1, 2021.[40]
WPKR - Omro, Wisconsin - Launched Nash FM on May 24, 2013 but was rebranded as "99.5 PKR" on April 5, 2021.[41]
WYZB - Mary Esther, Florida - Launched Nash FM on February 3, 2014 but was rebranded as "Y105.5" on March 30, 2023.[44]
Nash Icon
In May 2014, Westwood One 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"; Westwood One 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).[45] The first Nash Icon stations were launched at 12:00 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 Westwood One stations throughout the day.[46][47] In January 2015, Westwood One began to syndicate Nash Icon to non-Westwood One stations.[48]
The Nash Icon brand also includes a vanity label for veteran country artists operated in partnership with Big Machine Records.[45] 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.[49]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.
Serves as the nominal flagship station, although its programming is locally focused and differs slightly from all other stations on the network; WSM-FM airstaff serves as network airstaff
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.[58]
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.[59]
KRRF-Ventura, California. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to classic hip hop on May 27, 2016.[60]
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.[65]
WZAT-Savannah, Georgia. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to Hot AC on March 24, 2017.[66]
WKCM-Hawesville, Kentucky. Dropped the National Nash Icon Format and switched to localized music on August 1, 2018.
KJJY-Des Moines, Iowa. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Quietly flipped back to its former branding "92.5 KJJY" on May 28, 2019.
WNUQ-Albany, Georgia. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Dropped Nash Icon on November 27, 2019 due to the sale closing to Pretoria Fields Collective Media from The Mainstay Station Trust. The station was rebranded as "Q102, The Queen Bee" and a new format was launched on January 27, 2020. The call letters were also changed to WPFQ.
KBZU-Albuquerque, New Mexico. Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut. Flipped to a simulcast to sister station KKOB (AM) on January 6, 2020.[68]
WOGT-Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dropped Nash Icon for Christmas music on November 5, 2020.[69] Shortly after stunting Christmas, the station rebranded as "New Country 107.9" on December 28, 2020.[70]
KORL-FM-Honolulu, Hawaii. K298BA (KORL-HD3) flipped Nash Icon to Smooth Jazz as "Jazzy 107.5" on March 12, 2021.[71]
WHLL-Springfield, Massachusetts. Launched as Nash Icon in December 2018 before swapping to Entercom in February 2019.[72][73] On March 22, 2021, WHLL rebranded as "Hall Of Fame Country 98.1"[74]
KTOP-FM-Topeka, Kansas. Dropped Nash Icon after 6 years[75] and rebranded as "102.9 Cat Country" on September 13, 2021.[76]
WDRQ-HD2-Detroit, Michigan Joined the network on its August 15, 2014 debut but was quietly dropped as of 2023.
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 at 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."[77]
^ abVenta, Lance (May 24, 2013). "Cumulus Launches Five Additional NashFM's". RadioInsight. RadioBB Networks. Retrieved March 17, 2014. Source claims that change "already" happened at noon, but with a last update time of "5:00 am", it is unclear whether the article originally referred to May 23 or some other date.
