Syndicated country music programming

[pgtcf7806]

There hasn't been any syndicated country music programming since "Hee Haw" was cancelled in 1993 and the very short-lived show "Countdown at the Neon Armadillo" aired shortly after that.  But since CMT and to an extent GAC have become like MTV and feature very little actual music these days, I think a show like "Pop Goes the Country" or "That Nashville Music" could make nice comebacks in new modern versions, as long as they stick to the formula that made these show popular back in the day and don't water down the product.

What do y'all think?

[Kent T]

Seconded. And would be a hit and TV staple in rural markets across the land. A nice concept to revive on TV in my opinion.

[Mike]

Isn't this the audience the "new" Nashville Network is aimed at?

[Bob1370]

You probably won't see new syndicated or network country programming on TV for the same reason you don't have a country music radio station in New York City or anyplace within 40 miles of it...the ad agencies, and the people who run them, don't think country music sells in metropolitan areas on radio or TV.

They're actually wrong, of course; modern country is nothing like the country music they remember from WHN back 30 years ago, and it has a lot of appeal today to 25-54 suburban men and women precisely because it's a lot like '80s vintage rock in its sound and subject matter. But ad agencies have a lot of veto power over what you see--which is why it's surprising when something innovative or different of any kind makes it on the air (Seinfeld almost didn't make it on to the schedule, but an NBC programming exec really believed in it and pushed it through) and when something unusual does make it, it immediately gets imitated to death.

[KS-IL-IA]

I loved those shows, which in my market were usually on late Saturday afternoons. But in 2012, I don't think they'd fly. Country acts get plenty of exposure already thanks to the music videos where they are in control of their images. Yes, some singers end up on Leno and Letterman et al, but that's an entry point to a larger audience.

Maybe CMT or GAC could get a classic country subchannel where they could show those programs.

[jh]

Porter Wagoner, Nashville on the Road, Pop Goes the Country, and Hee Haw are all showing on RFD-TV.  And they're making some new shows, too; not all country, some are from the RFD-TV theater in Branson.

[pgtcf7806]

The problem with the exposure that the current so-called country artists "enjoy" is the fact that they all sound the same these days.  Unless you're looking up at the t.v. and see who it is when they pop it up on the bottom of the screen you have no idea who it is!  Back in the good old days, you knew it was Loretta Lynn or Conway Twitty or Don Williams as soon as you heard their voice because everybody did something different and had a distinctive sound.

My theory as to why is simple.  Nashville has run out of ideas although it took Music City U.S.A. about 15 years to catch up to the rest of music as a whole on that trend.  And when Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, etc. became so huge that record labels were more interested in duplicating the success with almost duplicate acts instead of trying to fashion a better sound with somebody with a totally different style.  Every song on contemporary country radio with few exceptions is the same thing with the same meaningless lyrics. They almost sound like what somebody would say to their lover right when they were at the pinnacle of a sexual act, and that's no joke, just jibberish that is repeated over and over again.

A lot of country acts that people still love like George Jones, Sammy Kershaw, Joe Diffie, Clint Black, Tracy Byrd, and Aaron Tippin couldn't get past the receptionist at the front desk at the major Nashville recording companies today.  That's a damn shame too.

[pgtcf7806]

And it isn't even modern pop acts that they're trying to emulate:  it's 80's and early 90's heavy metal crap like Poison, Metallica, and Aerosmith with the fiddles and steel guitar gone and very very loud drums going full blast.

[CrankyYankee]

Somewhere on a shelf, sit reels of "The Roger Miller Show", which I'd love to see again.
His sign-off:  "Welcome to the end of The Roger Miller Show!"

[visaman]

A lot of country acts that people still love like George Jones, Sammy Kershaw, Joe Diffie, Clint Black, Tracy Byrd, and Aaron Tippin couldn't get past the receptionist at the front desk at the major Nashville recording companies today.  That's a damn shame too.

*cough Carrie Underwood*cough