APPLE DIALS IN NEW RADIO STATIONS

Apple Music is ramping up its live radio operation, renaming Beats 1 as Apple Music 1 and introducing two new stations, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country.

Apple Music 1 will “stay true to what Beats 1 has been,” Oliver Schusser, VP of Apple Music, Beats and International Content, said during a live online presentation. Zane Lowe, Ebro Darden and other regular hosts remain.

Apple Music 1 also features several shows dedicated to Latin music, including a new show from J Balvin. The station is also home to Africa Now Radio with Cuppy.

Apple Hits 1 will focus on music from the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, with Estelle as a host along with Jayde Donovan, Estelle, Lowkey, Jenn Marino, Sabi, Nicole Sky and Natalie Sky, and George Stroumboulopoulos. Snoop Dogg, Alanis Morissette, Ciara, Huey Lewis and Backstreet Boys are among the artists who will have shows.

Apple Music Country will be beamed out Apple’s new studio in Nashville.

With a goal of becoming “the modern epicenter for country music,” according to Apple’s Jen Walsh, the station will feature Kelleigh Bannen, Ty Bentli, Bree, Alecia Davis, Ward Guenther, Nada and Tiera as daily on-air hosts.

Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line and Morgan Wallen are among the artists with shows; Dirks Bentley will host the Nashville Countdown shows. Dave Cobb, Jesse Frasure and Luke Laird will also have shows.

Noting Apple music has long been on human curation, Schusser said they “built Apple Music to give artists a platform to express themselves … talk about new projects or anything else that’s going on in their lives. It allows us to give voice to experts we have and context to the 70m songs we have in our catalog. We’re excited to invest more in it.”