[BC] Country Music plight in top towns

[Reader]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092200252.html



With last month's format switch in Los Angeles, the nation's two 
largest markets now have no country on the radio. New York lost its 
last country station in 2002, a year after San Francisco fell into 
the same status.
...

Country fans in some big urban centers eventually might find 
themselves with nowhere to go but satellite radio. XM and Sirius 
devote several channels to various specialized country formats, where 
listeners can choose between country classics, contemporary hits and 
themed channels, such as Sirius's Outlaw Country, where the deejays 
play up their renegade personalities and the afternoon jock signs off 
each day with "See ya later, fornicators!"

What WMZQ offers to counter the appeal of the thinly sliced niches on 
satellite radio is local deejays, news and traffic -- and the sense 
of being part of a community based where listeners live. The 
station's programming is all local except for the overnight show, 
which is syndicated fare from Los Angeles.

It's too soon to say which technology will prevail. In Los Angeles, 
the format switch on KZLA meant that the city's largest country music 
festival lost its sponsor. Within hours, however, another source of 
country stepped into the breach: XM announced it would take over 
sponsorship of the festival.