Nash (brand)

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), 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 country music industry in the United States, which in turn was named for colonial-era politician and Continental Army General Francis Nash.
The brand launched in 2013 with the launch of WNSH 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), 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.
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). 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. In January 2015, Westwood One began to syndicate Nash Icon to non-Westwood One stations.
The Nash Icon brand also includes a vanity label for veteran country artists operated in partnership with Big Machine Records. 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. 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.
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."