The Country Radio Seminar had its 36th edition in Nashville from March 2-4 and the town was filled with all kind of radio people and country stars. If you like country music and love to see the people whose voices you frequently hear on the radio, CRS-week is the time to be in Nashville.

The actual seminar knew 2,701 attendees, who could enjoy very special shows, lunches with showcases and diners. And if that wasn’t enough already, all the labels – big and small – organized after hours events that lasted until far after midnight. Hardly any time to sleep, but then again........ who comes to Nashville to sleep??

Tuesday night, prior to the “official” CRS, Dolly Parton was honored at the DJ Hall of Fame Event. Martina McBride and Catherine Britt performed a tribute to Dolly Parton, after which the “Songbird” accepted her CRB Career Lifetime Achievement Award with a mixture of humor, gratitude and accolades for those who had helped her over the years. This lady knows what she wants and never forgets where she came from! And boy, can she sing.

Wednesday was the first day of CRS and started with the Artists Radio Taping Sessions. This part had been divided in two segments (morning and afternoon), since the number of artists willing to be part of this keeps on growing. The artists were seated behind tables waiting for people to “show-up”. Nobody needed to be worried. It didn’t take long before long lines were formed by dj’s who wanted as many liners for their station as possible.

At noon everybody was gathered in the Performance Hall for a great lunch and the Curb/Asylum Showcase. Cowboy Crush took the stage first, followed by LeAnn Rimes. At 2:00PM the crowd spreaded out again to pursue wanted liners or attend some of the panels. The motto of this year’s seminar was “Growth by Sharing” and, as always, it was very important to share thoughts, knowledge and ideas with a lot of others, which can help you to be a “better” radioperson. More music please......... Imperial Records showcased Ricky Hendrix, who already has three #1 hits in the indy charts. Special guest Keith Bryant performed his latest hit “Ridin’ With The Legend”. Several new artists were introduced and performed.

This showcase was followed by Gulf Coast Records featuring Glenn Cummings. He performed songs from his debut album “Big”. The title track of the album has garnered praise from across the country. Great guy and great singer!

The Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted the CRS Welcome Reception, which was followed by the Music City Jam. Wednesday nights used to be the evening for the Superstar(s), but this time it was an evening featuring country’s newest outlaw group The MuzikMafia. Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson were among the performers. And since you don’t seem to be able to listen to music without eating “Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres” were served.

If you had decided not to attend the CRS After Hours, this was it for the Wednesday, but HEY, this is Nashville!! Still lots of things to do. What to think about either acoustic performances by Joe Nichols, Katrina Elam, George Canyon, Matt Jenkins and Amanda Wilkinson   OR

Live music performed by Warner Bros Records artists       OR

TNT (The Talented and Tenacious) featuring Teresa Wade and her dynamite guests?

You don’t have to be back until 09:00AM.

Thursday, 09:00AM, it seemed that the eyes of most of the attendees were a little smaller then yesterday, or is it me?

Time for the Opening Session!

Diamond Rio was at the scene to sing the National Anthem. Beautiful, just beautiful.

After Country Radio Broadcasters’ President R.J. Curtis made his speech and the Mayor of Nashville, Bill Purcell, welcomed CRS attendees to Music City, the CRB Radio Humanitarian Awards were presented, followed by the Artist Humanitarian Award. This 2005 Artist Humanitarian Award was handed by Brad Paisley (last year’s honoree) to the 6 guys of Diamond Rio. Since the beginning of their career, each individual member of Diamond Rio has donated their time to many charities that touched their hearts. The group has acted as supporters, spokespersons, positive role models, friends and benefactors for many organizations. Their list is endless; therefore this award is so well deserved!

The Keynote Presentation was by Toby Keith with Lon Helton.

The official opening was followed by five concurrent sessions, all with their own subject like:

History of Nashville & Country Music

What You $ay Can Co$t You

Learn To Hire So You Don’t Have To Fire

900 Ideas in 90 Minutes

Boot Camp Sessions #1, which is designed to present a very interactive 90 minutes on the most contemporary topics and issues.

As soon as the clock turns to noon, people from all over the place are gathering again in the Performance Hall for another wonderful luncheon. This time Sony Music Nashville hosted it and music was performed by Gretchen Wilson and Montgomery Gentry.

More sessions to check out! What about: Size Does Matter, But Bigger Isn’t Always Better   or

Dialling for Dollars with Sheila Kirby   or maybe be part of the Talent Coaching   or check out the Record Label Heads Panel? It was very difficult to make a choice, also because at 3:30PM WCRS Live! (Acoustic)  started and top recording artists/singer-songwriters presented songs that have been important to their careers and Country Radio. Sara Evans and Andy Griggs were invited to be part of that and Bob DiPiero hosted this part.

Officially Thursday night you are free, but every record label hosted its own big event and invited the important people to their label. Many artists were present at their labels event.

Of course when this part is over around 10.00PM there were still a lot of the After Hours Events, like the Broken Bow Records Showcase or Blue Diamond Records Showcase or An Evening with Bob Kingsley. Most heard question: “How do you make up your mind if you just want to do it all?”  The answer has not been given so far.

Friday 08:00AM: All aboard for the Managers Breakfast. Again “pictures” were getting smaller and smaller. Still a whole day ahead of you: “Where Can I Find The Coffee?”

This morning was the big kick-off The Research Presentation “Largest Study Ever Of Country’s P-1 Listeners”. After that another 5 concurrent sessions: How To Implement What You Have Learned?, “How To Steal Your Next Idea?”, Don’t Fear The Ratings, Digital Revolution Is Here and Boot Camp Sessions, #3.

This seminar is way too short!

Capitol Nashville hosted the luncheon on Friday and features performances by Jamie O’Neal and Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband. And again, 5 sessions in the afternoon.

Last part of the afternoon knew the CRS-36 Town Meeting to further discuss any issues raised over the course of the seminar and topic not already covered.

CRS-36 concluded with their grand finale: The R&R New Faces of Country Music Banquet and Performance, showcasing talent selected to appear by vote of Country Radio.

This year we were able to see Blue Country, Billy Currington, Josh Gracin, Julie Roberts and Sugarland. A wonderful show with a lot of talent.

However this is mentioned as the finale, it is obvious that the after hours events went on and on.

I really wonder at what time most people got up on Saturday. However, one day is absolutely not long enough to catch up with the sleep you lost over this week. And it is not just the loss of sleep, what to think about the numerous amounts of drinks shared with all the relations?

This is also business (I guess).

CRB, thank you for another great Country Radio Seminar! Do hope to see you again for the

2006-CRB in Nashville.

March, 10^th 2005

For That’s Country, Rineke Van Beek