For the purposes of the format, the core will be those artists and songs that were top sellers during the period 1960 to 1985. It is believed that this era represents the “modern country” period during which country as a genre became widely accepted in America with every market having its own fulltime country format radio station. This is the mass appeal country otherwise known as the “Nashville sound.”

In addition to sales documentation, which will be necessary to defend every song in the play list (basically top 10 songs), other selection factors will include overall “sound” that must be compatible with the overall format. Also desirable, HIGH EMOTIONAL CONTENT, which is that part of the lyrics that “tugs at your heart strings.” And it will be important that each song contributes positively to the format’s mass appeal, thus eliminating certain “hits” that might have had a distasteful emphasis on sexual innuendo or drinking and drunkenness.

The key to the appeal of this particular radio format is rotation. Each song will be categorized for the purpose of its individual rotation using numerical parameters in the music logging system. Such characteristics as tempo (fast, moderate or slow), lyric emphasis (ballad, love song, or novelty) and type of artist (male, female, duet or group) will be considered.

There will be an attempt to vary the tempos, lyric content and artist type in order to produce a unique, appealing format that can be listened to for hours without causing fatigue, repetition, or irritation.

We will eliminate the use of back to back female artists, duets, and groups as much as possible. This contributes to the overall rotation and appeal. Some hit instrumentals will be included such as Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date” and Buck Owens’ “Buckaroo”, both hits in their own right. Because of their relative scarcity, instrumental hits will be included only once every few hours.

One of the particularly unique factors about this format will be the inclusion of some of the “crossover” artists that have generally been excluded from country circles. These will include selected songs by Buddy Holly, Elvis, and the Everly Brothers, some of whose songs fit perfectly into the format.

Although this is not considered an “all-Texas” format by any means, artists from the Southwest, and particularly Texas, will be given special consideration. Popular local or regional country artists will be given some emphasis.

Although the core of the format will be original hit songs from 1960 to 1985 (the pre-Garth era), some of the older hits from the 40’s and 50’s will be occasionally played (perhaps once each hour) “from the vaults of the Country Legends classics”. This will include Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Sr., Bob Wills, and maybe even Slim Willet.

It is believed that the total library will eventually contain 2,000 to 2,500 selections-all original hits, original artists-with very few “re-makes”. When making a choice between multiple artists singing the same song, care will be given to which artist had the most widely known and sold version of the song. Because of their special emotional attachment to their own song which becomes obvious in the rendition, artists who also wrote the song will be often used.

Some of the artists to be included will be: Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Charlie Pride, Mel Tillis, Loretta Lynn, Charlie Rich, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Roger Miller, Bobby Bare, the pre-outlaw Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, Kenny Rogers, Ray Price, Connie Smith, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ronnie Milsap, Dottie West, the Statler Brothers, Alabama, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and many more.

Some special rules will apply, at the option of the director. One, for instance, is that we will play only a single Hank Williams, Jr. song, that being the hit song from the movie “Kelly’s Heroes”, “All for the love of Sunshine”. The director will have the final say on every selection played. Remember, in producing a radio format, THE SONGS YOU DON’T PLAY ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE ONES YOU DO PLAY! The main idea is to maintain the audience and reduced their reasons for changing the dial to another station.

During the mid 60’s, George Jones recorded two versions of the song “Take Me”, which illustrates the incorporation of orchestral strings in the background of the second version. We will play an edited mix which begins with the fiddle/steel background version and segues to the string background version about half way through.

We will feature “Sunday in the Country” each Sunday morning from 7-10 a.m. spotlighting well known gospel songs and hymns sung mainly by famous country music artists like Tennessee Ernie Ford, Elvis, Jim Reeves, the Statler Brothers, and more. Use of some of these same songs at a “Hymn of the Hour” might be considered if it is deemed to be a salable feature and not a “turn-off” factor for the audience.

Bruce H. Campbell