Nash FM is a media brand and network owned by Cumulus Media the United States. The brand serves as a platform for the Country format, using two different radio presentations (one based around current hits, the other using a AC-focused presentation featuring more established and veteran artists), along with in-house media tie-ins through print and online platforms. 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
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.
Syndicated programming common to stations using the brand includes America's Morning Show with Blair Garner, Nash Nights Live with Shawn Parr and Kickin' It with Kix Brooks. National news is provided through an agreement with CNN.
Nash Icons
In May 2014, Cumulus Media announced a joint venture with Big Machine Records to form a spin-off of the Nash brand known as Nash Icons. The Nash Icons brand will encompass content and events oriented towards veteran, along with a planned record label to house these acts. Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey felt that there was not yet a "middle ground" between modern and classic country similarly to that of the Adult Top 40 format (between Contemporary hit radio and classic hits), and stated that the Nash Icons brand would emphasize the "biggest country artists of the last two decades, who are still recording and touring but not getting enough exposure today."[2] The first Nash Icons 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 Cumulus stations throughout the day.[3][4]
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) 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."[16]
^ abcdefghijk"Cumulus Launches Five Additional NashFM's". RadioInsight. RadioBB Networks. May 24, 2013. Retrieved 2014-03-17. Source claims claims that change "already" happened at noon, but with a last update time of "5:00 am", it's unclear whether the article originally referred to May 23 or some other date.
