WFYR FM PRESENTS PEORIA’S EMERGING COUNTRY MUSIC TALENT AT THE NASH NEXT 2016, PART OF CUMULUS MEDIA’S NASH NEXT 2016, NATIONAL AND GRASSROOTS COMPETITION TO DISCOVER AMERICA’S NEWEST COUNTRY STAR
Peoria’s
Most Talented New Country Artists Compete in First-Ever Contest to Guarantee
Winning Artist Major Label Recording Contract and Opportunity for National Play
on Cumulus, #1 for Country
Local
Semi-Finalist to be Named at Live Event and Will Advance to National
Competition
Event
is Free to the Public at Limelight Eventplex
Peoria loves country music, and Cumulus Media, #1 for
Country, is showcasing the area’s best new country artists in an exciting live
challenge event, the NASH NEXT 2016, that is the next step to stardom for local
country artists competing in Cumulus’ NASH Next 2016 national country music
talent competition. NASH Next 2016 will be held at The Limelight Eventplex on
Sunday, September 11th at 2pm. This event is free and open to the
public. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Featured Peoria area country artists will each perform two songs
at NASH Next 2016. The WFYR judging team, comprised of local music industry
professionals and a station listener, will select the area semi-finalist at the
culmination of the live music competition.
Local artists entered the competition via the NASH Next
website 973nashfm.com and to date, have been judged on two challenges, by local
music industry professionals, as well as listeners in their communities. First
asked to submit an original song, contestants then adapted a popular song, with
a new style.
Local winners will move on to the national challenge,
submitting a live performance video showcasing their best original song, with
the top ten artists selected by top country music professionals. Those national
finalists will then compete at a live concert event in Nashville, in late fall,
where the NASH Next 2016 winner will be selected by a celebrity judging panel
and one listener fan judge.
A total of 68 NASH/Cumulus stations in 60 markets, including
Dallas, New York, Atlanta, Detroit and Nashville, have conducted extensive
local talent searches for the past two months, with additional national
participation made possible by Cumulus’ digital properties and syndicated
country shows.
The winner of this four-month-long national competition, announced
by country legend Reba McEntire,
will receive a record deal with Big Machine Label Group, home to such superstars
as Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw, as well as substantial exposure,
commensurate with a major label release, on Cumulus radio stations nationwide. While
television boasts several talent competitions, no other contest --
on any platform -- has ever offered its winners a similar
opportunity for coveted
radio play, which is the most effective medium to cultivate
an artist and propel a
major music career.
Finalists, and the 2016 winner, will be selected by a panel
of country luminaries, including Scott
Borchetta, founder, president and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, the
world’s #1 independent record label, Kix
Brooks, half of Brooks & Dunn, one of country music’s most successful
duos of all time, Jay DeMarcus of
chart-toppers Rascal Flatts, and Danielle
Bradbery, joined by a Cumulus listener.
WFYR Program Director Shelly Knight said: “NASH
Next 2016 creates an opportunity for country’s best new singer/songwriters to
break into an ever-expanding format with a fast-growing and passionate fan
base. We are thrilled to showcase our
area’s incredibly talented country musicians at this live challenge event and
to select Peoria’s semi-finalist, who will advance to Nashville for the final
portion of this one-of-a-kind national competition. We hope that country’s next
superstar will come from Peoria and look forward to hearing some great new
country music from the stellar talent here at what is sure to be a phenomenal
show! Come on out and cheer on your favorite local country artists!”
In the last five years, country has supplanted pop as the #1 most
popular music genre, with 97 million fans (MRI,
Fall, 2015). This is due, in part, to the fact that country has been
influenced by both pop and rock styles to gain mass appeal.
“While
it might not be the only place for listening and discovering, it (radio) is still
the most important place. We couldn’t have the success that we have without
country radio. There is no way,” Borchetta
has said.
“Internet, Twitter and
everything else put together doesn’t equal what country radio does for us as
artists, and as an industry,” Brooks
has noted.
For more
information, visit WFYR or contact: Shelly
Knight at shelly.knight@cumulus.com or call 309-669-1243.
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