CMT, ‘NASHVILLE’ CHANGE TOGETHER
‘Nashville’ and ‘Sun Records’ help revamp lineup.
Outside the CMT building, Nashville is booming.
Cranes dot the skyline downtown, and thousands of tourists flood the neonlighted clutch of clubs on Lower Broadway. In recent years, Music City has gained “It City” status, with new arrivals prompting a surge in everything from retail and real-estate ventures to food culture.
Fortunately for CMT (otherwise known as Country Music Television), “Nashville” is also booming.
When ABC canceled the soapy, country-centric drama in 2016, CMT saw an opportunity. Not only could it breathe new life into the series but it could also expand its umbrella with a more inclusive approach to programming to attract a broader, and more upscale, audience.
Network executives were already tinkering with the reinvention, but slating “Nashville” for a January premiere helped speed the process.
“We knew we were inviting a lot of new people to go out on a date with us,” says Anthony Barton, senior vice president of consumer marketing and brand creative for CMT. “And we wanted to make sure our house was ready when they got there.”
The date went well: The fifth-season premiere notched the highest rating for an original program in CMT history — nearly 2 million viewers across CMT and Nick at Nite — besting the previous record holder, the 2012 premiere of reality show “Redneck Island.”
While ratings for the first half of the season are a fraction of what they were when “Nashville” was on ABC, that’s still good news for a niche network, especially since that rising tide has lifted the boat for another new CMT series, “Sun Records.”
Inspired by the stage musical “Million Dollar Quartet,” “Sun Records” tells the rock ’n’ roll origin story of the famed label that launched the careers of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. It drew more than 2 million viewers when it ran after the recent “Nashville” episode that featured the farewell of Connie Britton’s character, Rayna Jaymes.
There’s a symmetry to putting a fresh coat of paint on a familiar show and relaunching the network in a place where growth has been a hot topic.
“CMT reminds me a lot of ‘Nashville’ itself,” says “Nashville” star Charles Esten. “Nashville was on the rise and making moves before we got here, but (the show’s) arrival sort of coincided with that, and the two of us really served each other well. I think it’s the same thing with CMT with these goals.”
“We really didn’t lean into the appeal of ‘Nashville,’” says Brian Phillips, president of CMT, sitting with Barton and Leslie Fram, senior vice president of music and talent, on a recent morning in a conference room in the network’s colorful offices downtown.
“There’s a sort of modern culture of country that’s emerged over the last couple of years, and that’s at the foundation of what we do,” Phillips adds. “It’s tradition, because that’s fundamental to country music, and it’s also being willing to step into change.”
As CMT refreshes its brand, one tradition will not be altered: its dedication to country music, an area in which the network has been much more progressive than its radio counterparts.
In addition to featuring mainstream performers such as Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood, the network has routinely showcased new acts and female artists and championed vintage names and those in the folk and Americana-leaning arenas.
“We’ve always been able to do anything under that country umbrella. Whether it was the Lumineers to Sturgill Simpson or Jason Isbell,” says Fram. “We’ve been a home to even unsigned artists. Booking these shows, I feel it’s always about balance - who’s a breakout star that we can expose? Let’s make sure that we have enough female artists that are represented and also a nod to tradition.”
Chris Janson is one of those artists CMT took a chance on, playing him before he was signed to a major label. CMT even bankrolled, for the first time in its history, a video for his eventual No.2 hit, “Buy Me a Boat.”