Hi. I hope you’ll check out Country Comedy on Slacker Radio.
Back in 2006, under the guidance of Jeff Foxworthy, I had the pleasure of putting together Blue Collar Radio.
As part of that process I attended a Blue Collar Comedy concert in Nashville and asked NOT to be VIP’d. There I sat with the regular folks, and what always stuck with me was three things that got an ovation. Wal-mart, Jimmy Buffett, and Elvis. That was my guide. Red, white and blue. Keep it simple. Don’t be too cool for school. Don’t curse for the sake of cursing.
It’s easy to sit in the big office tower on of the coasts and forget there is a lot of America out there. When I worked in Manhattan and had a commute that took me past the HQ of several TV networks, and I would encounter celebrities every day of the week, it could be easy to forget about America. If you follow the cool blogs and the cool media influencers it can be easy to forget about America.
It’s easy to read an article in the Times about Aziz Ansari at Madison Square Garden, or a blog about how funny Broad City is, and they are funny and they are great. But beyond the buzz is some below the radar popularity.
One of the top selling comedy albums of 2014, topping the charts for most of November? Rodney Carrington.
Check a list of the top earning comedians and you’ll see names like Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Dunham.
Most comedy records sold (career)? Foxworthy.
Now in 2015 I have been blessed with an opportunity to create a modern version of the type of station I built in 2006. Taking my cue from the Slacker DNA concept, I was able to incorporate some storytellers like Gabriel Iglesias, John Mulaney and Chris Titus that at first glance may not be what you’d jot down on a list of “country comedians”, but in the mix they sound just right. That’s what we do as programmers. We pick the right records. A mix of familiarity and discovery. Play the hits and introduce folks to some new artists they might not know. I think by mixing the expected with some unexpected we’ve got something really cool here.
I hope you’ll check out Country Comedy. It’s a modern cool take on an old favorite. Just grab the Slacker Radio app, and it’s a free listen.