With tonight’s “unofficial” opening event — the Country Music DJ and Radio hall of Fame dinner honoring longtime WSIX Nashville morning man Gerry House — the 40th Anniversary edition of the Country Radio Seminar is off and running. Additional Hall of Fame honorees include Chuck Collier (DJ Hall of Fame) and Bob McKay and Moon Mullins (Radio Hall of Fame). Merle Haggard will receive the Career Achievement Award and Shelia Shipley Biddy will accept this year’s President’s Award.
Wednesday’s official opening will feature a not-to-be-missed keynote address from marketing guru Seth Godin and will be followed by the Motivational Speaker/Life Coach panel, hosted by former country artist Sylvia Hutton.
This year’s Artist Radio Taping Session will be combined with the afternoon A.R.T.S. panel. Songwriters Jimmy Wayne, Kelley Lovelace, Ashley Gorley and Jonathan Singleton are set to perform at ASCAP’s KCRS Live! Later in the evening, Tim McGraw will host the Music City Jam.
Thursday has been designated Music Industry Town Meeting Day, with single-day tickets available for $265. The day’s agenda will include the Tech Track and Small Market Track panels, with a total of sixteen panels offered throughout the day. Incidentally, CRB has announced that free, full-length video clips of the seminar’s daily panels will be made available for same-day viewing at their website, www.CRB.org.
Miranda Lambert and Jake Owen will perform at Thursday’s Sony Music Nashville luncheon, while this year’s WCRS Live! will feature performances from Bobby Pinson, Paul Overstreet, Josh Turner and Jamey Johnson.
Friday dubbed “Radio Sales Day,” with single-day admission available for $370 kicks off with the Manager’s Breakfast, followed by CRS-40’s second research study, showcasing findings from the Edison Research/CRB National Country P1 Study 2009. Little Big Town and Darius Rucker will perform at Friday’s Capitol Nashville luncheon, while Lady Antebellum, James Otto, Kellie Pickler, Chuck Wicks and The Zac Brown Band will take the stage for this year’s New Faces show.
CRS-40 will culminate at Lower Broadway’s Cadillac Ranch with the “40th Anniversary Jam: A Musical Thanks to Radio.” Artists including Emerson Drive, Andy Griggs, Julianne Hough, Jamie O’Neal, James Otto, Blake Shelton, Jimmy Wayne, Chuck Wicks, Mark Wills and Darryl Worley will hit the stage to perform hits from the last 40 years.
“We have created a good balance of education, entertainment and networking opportunities, the importance of which cannot be overstated in our industry,” says CRB Executive Director Ed Salamon.
