How Country Radio Has Changed

Originally published in the October 28, 1997 issue of Country Weekly magazine.

Country radio once was notable for its loyalty to artists: Not many became stars, but those who did could expect long careers. Today, radio tends to favor newer artists. The point becomes clear if you compare the acts who created country radio’s top songs in 1996, 1986 and 1976. Twenty years ago, the biggest songs came from longtime artists — on average, they had enjoyed a career of more than 11 years before they hit the top of Billboard‘s country chart for the first time. Today’s top stars have been around less than half that time.

1996 Top 10 Average career length: 4.6 years

Artist	Song	Length of career on radio*
Brooks & Dunn	My Maria	4 years, 11 months
George Strait	Blue Clear Sky	15 years, 1 month
Tracy Lawrence	Time Marches on	4 years, 7 months
Ricochet	Daddy’s Money	7 months
Tim McGraw	She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart	3 years, 11 months
Ty Herndon	Living in a Moment	7 months
Shania Twain	No One Needs To Know	3 years, 3 months
Patty Loveless	You Can Feel Bad	10 years, 4 months
Clay Walker	Hypnotize the Moon	2 years, 9 months
Lonestar	No News	8 months

1986 Top 10 Average career length: 8 years

Artist	Song	Length of career on radio
Rosanne Cash	Never Be You	6 years, 4 months
The Statler Brothers	Too Much on My Heart	19 years, 2 months
Lee Greenwood	I Don’t Mind the Thorns (If You’re the Rose)	4 years, 3 months
The Judds	Have Mercy	2 years, 1 month
Gary Morris	I’ll Never Stop Loving You	5 years, 1 month
Kenny Rogers	Morning Desire	16 years, 6 months
Steve Wariner	You Can Dream of Me	7 years, 10 months
Reba McEntire	Whoever’s in New England	10 years
Judy Rodman	Until I Met You	1 year, 4 months
Randy Travis	On the Other Hand	7 years, 7 months

Top 10, 1976 Average career length: 11.2 years

Artist	Song	Length of career on radio
C.W. McCall	Convoy	1 year, 5 months
Waylon & Willie	Good Hearted Woman	12 years (avg. of the two)
Dave & Sugar	The Door Is Always Open	8 months
Crystal Gayle	I’ll Get Over You	5 years, 8 months
Red Sovine	Teddy Bear	21 year, 3 months
Marty Robbins	El Paso City	23 years, 6 months
Ronnie Milsap	(I’m a) Stand by My Woman Man	3 years, 2 months
Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius	I Don’t Want To Have To Marry You	6 years (avg. of the two)
Johnny Cash	One Piece at a Time	20 years, 6 months
Johnny Duncan	Thinkin’ of a Rendezvous	9 years, 4 months

*Radio career length measured from the debut date of the artist’s first hit song to the day the Top 10 song hit No. 1, as reported in Billboard magazine