THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN iHEARTCOUNTRY; THEY CALL HIM ROD

iHeartMedia announced today that Rod Phillips will lead its Nashville-based iHeartCountry team. iHeartCountry has north of 140 Country broadcast stations across the U.S., reaching more than 97m listeners per month, making it the largest Country broadcast radio group in America.

The announcement was accompanied by a statement from Tom Poleman, iHeartMedia’s programming chief. "iHeartMedia has more Country stations than any other format and reaches more Country listeners in America than anyone else across multiple platforms—broadcast, digital, social and events,” he said. “And because Country is also one of the closest-knit music and radio communities, it's important that iHeartCountry has a leader like Rod, who knows both the people behind the music and the nuances of the format. Given his programming experience with more than 40 Country stations, Rod is the right person to lead the iHeartCountry team and continue to build our Country platform for the benefit of our listeners, advertisers and the Country music community."

iHeartCountry’s initiatives include the annual iHeartRadio Country Festival and original programs like Artists On the Verge, Artist Integration Programs, iHeartRadio album release parties, the Country Music Summit and more. Interestingly, Country acts make up four of iHeartRadio’s top five most listened-to artist stations.

The iHeartCountry team, which includes Brand Coordinators Doug Montgomery, Steve Geoffries, Gregg Swedberg and Chad Heritage, supported the recent launch of iHeartCountry stations in key markets including Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and more, as well as providing all iHeartCountry stations with strategic resources and product leadership, while connecting key advertisers to iHeartMedia's audience.