Country radio is thriving and still connecting to its audience like no other format, thanks to loyal and extremely active fans. They buy lots of tickets. They attend events and are passionate about the music. And they are finally starting to show up in the streaming world. Country fans live their lifestyles out loud, and Country radio is doing very good job of keeping them engaged. We reached out to three format leaders—iHeart’s Rod Phillips, Greg Frey of Cumulus and Audacy honcho Nick Russo—to ask them how they do it and what they think is the key to growing and retaining this passionate listenership.

“It’s an interesting relationship, one that does seem to have direct ties to the Country format,” Phillips observes. “Our artists are so interactive with our radio stations and their fans, it creates a feeling that you know the artist, even as a general fan. Plus, Country radio has done a great job of cultivating those relationships through promotions featuring access to the format stars, so it’s like we’re the conduit to meeting your favorite artist.”

“Country artists value the connection to their fans,” notes Frey, “and we try to create opportunities to make our artist experiences feel personal through both our local events and our larger events such as our New Music First, as well as our Music Partnerships division, which looks for creative ways to expose new music to our audience. We want to tell them about the artist and about the story behind the new music, not just play the new song. Basically, we want to be a better music curator.”

We asked these broadcast bigwigs to help us understand how they define country music and what criteria they use to decide which tracks to play. “I’m not sure we look at it as criteria, but most PDs have a filter for sounds they feel is a fit for their brand,” mused Phillips. “Some stations and PDs might be open to sounds that don’t fit in other markets, whether it’s pop sound consideration, a Southern-rock flavor, or we’ve even seen songs from Canadian artists that clearly work in more Northern territories. Research has shown that songs most people would call ‘pop country’ fit in some markets, but not in all. This conversation has been in play since at least the 1950s, literally. There were discussions back then about what ‘sounds’ fit country and has country become ‘too pop.’”

Russo supports this regional perspective. “Country depends on where you are in the country—how rural your location/audience is can be a big factor in determining what songs to play,” he says. “We decided to play tracks by Zach Bryan because I walked into a sold-out arena of 18- to 34-year- olds in cowboy boots and hats who are singing along to every word, with no real radio exposure. So it’s a no-brainer: Your audience knows it and likes it. Jelly Roll fits because he is a storyteller in classic Southern-rock style.”

“Back in the ’90s and early 2000s,” Frey points out, “you had Rascal Flatts and George Strait being played next to each other. But the format turned monochromatic—everything sounded alike. Now I think we are getting back to the value of the connection with the songwriting and the artist.”

But what about breaking new artists? “A lot of my music discovery is done at a country/honky-tonk dance bar here in Houston that I DJ every weekend,” Russo replies. “People are always coming up and telling me about new songs they love to dance to, some that are off the Texas Country charts and some that are unsigned, like Braxton Keith or Don Louis-—great tracks to dance to that we now play for our local audience.”

Frey says that Cumulus’ new nationwide overnight show, Pickle Jar, Up All Night, features a live DJ and “a lot of new artists, signed and unsigned, because of the audience participation in the show,” adding that the company is very pleased with the level of engagement thus far.

“We do a lot to break new artists, both on the national level as well as the very local level,” says Phillips. “We feature a lot of new music shows locally, in addition to weekly programs like Women of iHeart Country, which features a vast amount of new country music from female voices. But nothing we do is more impactful than iHeart Country on the Verge. 90% of the songs selected for this program have reached #1 on the Mediabase chart. It’s a massive program with airplay on 125+ mainstream stations at the same time, helping a new artist establish a song in a relatively sort amount of time.”

As Country radio continues to evolve, these major players affirm, maintaining a strong bond with fans and embracing the artistry and storytelling of country music remain essential.