Radio listeners now have even more country music to listen to.
Last week, Big FM 107.9 became Nash Icon 107.9, switching from playing classic rock hits to Top 20 country hits of the last two decades. It is owned by Cumulus Media.
On Tuesday, iHeart Media, formerly Clear Channel, switched 96.1 The Beat to US101 The Legend at 96.1. It's designed to complement US101 (100.7) on the dial by playing country hits from the '80s, '90s and early 2000s while the flagship station will continue to play new country hits.
"US101 has a 30-plus-year heritage playing Chattanooga's country," says on-air personality Dex.
"There's just not enough airtime on one radio station to play all the country that made Chattanooga great, so we made two."
Regional market manager for iHeart, Jared Stehney, says, "If you want today's country, listen to US101 at 100.7. If you want the classics, now you can listen to US101 The Legend at 96.1."
> Though he doesn't live here, Knoxville's Ashley Capps does influence Chattanooga. His company, AC Entertainment, books all of the regional and touring acts at Track 29, and it produces shows at Memorial Auditorium and the Tivoli Theatre. AC, in fact, brought "Elf: The Musical" to town last week.
Capps has been nominated by Pollstar for the the Bill Graham Award for Promoter of the Year as part of its annual Concert Industry Awards.
In addition, the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which Capps co-founded and AC co-produces, was nominated for Major Music Festival of the Year for the 13th year in a row. Winners will be announced Feb. 21 in Nashville.
> For all these years, I honestly thought the Station House at the Chattanooga Choo Choo had always employed singing waiters and waitresses.
Not so. It has had live entertainment since its opening, but those same singers didn't start also waiting tables until a couple of years later. I bring this up because last week I wrote that James Rogers was a popular singing waiter there. He was, in fact, a featured performer who drew large crowds to hear him sing.
A couple of people wrote to correct me, including Rogers' good friend Dennis Haskins, who wrote, "James went from singing solo at the Light Fantastic to starring at the Choo Choo with lines every weekend to get in. Allen Casey managed him, and they both made a lot of money."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.