''American Country Countdown'', also known as ''ACC'', is a weekly internationally
syndicated radio program which counts down the top 30 country songs of the previous week, from No. 30 to No. 1, according to the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Country Airplay
Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...
chart. The program premiered in 1973 and as of January 2025 is hosted by Ryan Fox. It is syndicated by
Cumulus Media Networks
Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), whi ...
.
History
''American Country Countdown'' was conceived as a spinoff program from ''
American Top 40
''American Top 40'' (abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally radio syndication, syndicated, independent song countdown radio programming, radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs (broadcaster), Ron Jaco ...
'' (''AT40''), which had premiered in 1970 and showcased the week's most popular singles. The new program was a creation of
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio presenter who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40'', as well as the weekly syndicated televi ...
and
Don Bustany, the same duo behind ''AT40'', with
Tom Rounds as co-creator and
Watermark Inc. distributing. "In 1969, when Casey Kasem and I were planning 'American Top 40,' we said, 'Hey, if this works, we can do a country countdown, an MOR countdown, a whatever countdown,'" Rounds explained to ''Radio & Records'' magazine as to the show's conception. However, it was not until 1973 that the AT40 team thought there was sufficient support for a nationally syndicated program.
''American Country Countdown'' launched nationwide on October 6, 1973. Like with its parent series, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' provided the chart information; in this case, the
Hot Country Singles
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart was used. Beginning in the late 2000s, the show used charts compiled by
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...
, and in September 2017 it switched to using the ''Billboard''
Country Airplay
Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...
chart.
Singer
Don Bowman was the first host of the countdown, which was originally three hours long. Bustany was the producer, Hugh Cherry was the head writer, and Bowman was also a writer. There was editing help from Bustany, who was the head writer and producer of ''AT40''.
In June 1974, Bustany stepped aside from his duties in order to focus on ''AT40'' and tapped
Bob Kingsley, who had been program director at country station
KLAC
KLAC (570 AM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by a joint venture between iHeartMedia, Inc. and the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club, KLAC serves as the Los Angeles ...
-
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, to be ''ACC''s producer. It was under Kingsley's watch that the program began to increase in popularity, as more and more stations picked up the countdown.
On May 6, 1978, Kingsley took on the added responsibility of hosting ''ACC''. Don Bowman had not made any mention that he would be departing the program on the previous show; Kingsley informed the audience that Bowman had left the program to pursue other aspects of his career.
The show grew slowly, with fewer than 100 stations the first year before passing the 300-affiliate mark in 1980.
Beginning with the broadcast on January 11, 1986, ''ACC'' was expanded to four hours, adding several new features, including an "ACC Archives" feature (similar to one featured on ''American Top 40'' several years earlier, with a chronological playback of No. 1 hits of the 1970s, and later, the 1980s) and an "ACC Calendar", spotlighting an artist, song, important innovation, or event in country music.
Kingsley hosted the program until December 2005, with his last show being a regular countdown airing Christmas weekend. Like Bowman before him, he never told the audience he would be leaving; in this instance, Kingsley was leaving to host the new ''
Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40''. After three weeks of substitute hosts,
Kix Brooks
Leon Eric Brooks III, better known by his stage name Kix Brooks (born May 12, 1955), is an American country music artist, actor, and film producer best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn and host of radio's ''American Country Cou ...
of
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1988 through the suggestion of songwriter and record producer, Tim DuBois. Before thei ...
assumed the hosting duties as of January 21, 2006.
On November 25, 2024, Westwood One announced that Brooks would step down at the end of the year. Effective the weekend of January 4, 2025 Ryan Fox, morning DJ at Cumulus-owned
KPLX
KPLX (99.5 FM, "99.5 The Wolf") is a commercial radio station broadcasting a gold-based country radio format. It is licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serves the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. KPLX is owned by Cumulus Media, with studios and ...
in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, will host the program.
Awards ceremony
The
Fox Network's awards ceremony,
American Country Awards, which started in 2010, was cancelled and replaced by the American Country Countdown Awards in 2014.
The ratings for ACCA dropped dramatically compared to the 2013
American Country Awards. According to TV By The Numbers, 18-49 ratings/share dropped from 1.4/4 to 0.9/3 and viewership dropped from 5.14 million to 3.39 million.
''ACC'' specials
''ACC'' broadcasts several special programs throughout the year. The most notable include:
* ''Christmas in America'' was a six-hour program aired within the week of
Christmas Day
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...
, with interview clips from country singers sharing Christmas memories interspersed between songs. The first special aired in 1989. While the title and format continued with ''Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40'' production, ''ACC''s version continued as ''American Country Christmas'', with Brooks being joined by Ronnie Dunn (from 2006 to 2008); the 2009 special consisted of Brooks interviewing country music artists. In 2010, clips of Brooks's interviews with students at elementary schools from across the country were included in addition to the artist interviews.
* The ''Year End Countdown''. From 1973 to 1998, the year-end special reviewed the top 100 country hits of the year. The total was halved to 50 in 1979 and from 1999 to 2004, trimmed to 40 from 2005 to 2010, and cut to 30 starting in 2011 (with songs that "just missed" the top 30 played as extras). From 1978 through 2004, the most notable highlight was a montage of all the No. 1 songs included in the countdown's survey period (usually the previous November to the current November, although it has included early December for a time in the late 1980s) before Kingsley played the year's top song.
Other special programs, usually centering on a theme or to promote a much-anticipated album that was about to go on sale, air throughout the year. Past specials have paid homage to the West, presented unusual or notable chart facts and performer accomplishments, counted down the top acts of all time, profiled a performer, and presented the top female and male singers of the past decade.
Reairing of older shows
In April 2015,
Nash FM, the media brand and network of country music stations owned by
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...
, announced it would begin re-airing classic ''ACC'' programs from the Kingsley era, starting the weekend of May 2. The show, featuring programs originally aired between 1990 and 2005, was three hours in length (for four-hour programs, the first hour wasn't included).
The first aired ''ACC Rewind'' program featured an ''ACC'' show which originally aired May 1, 1993. The final program, a re-airing of the 1999 year-end countdown, aired the weekend of December 28, 2019.
Awards
''ACC'' was named ''Billboard'' magazine's "Network/Syndicated Program of the Year: Country" from 1987 to 2002. Kingsley twice won the
Country Music Association's National Broadcast Personality of the Year award (in 2001 and 2003).
Worldwide syndication
When ''ACC'' premiered in October 1973, it aired on just 45 stations. Today, the show is heard on more than 1,000 radio stations in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and worldwide, and can be heard on the
Armed Forces Radio Network
The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...
. In the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, it aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on
Downtown Radio
Downtown Radio is a Hot Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of FM and DAB transmitters.
As of December 2024, the station has a weekly audience of 309, ...
,
Two Counties Radio, the medium wave service of
Mercia Sound
Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire, formerly Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Co ...
,
Xtra AM
Xtra AM was an Independent Local Radio station which was on the air between 1989 and 1998. It was broadcast to much of Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire and was the 'oldies' station which took over the mediumwave frequencies of both BRMB ...
,
Scot FM,
South East Radio
South East Radio is an Irish radio station based in County Wexford, broadcasting at 95.6; 96.2, and 96.4 MHz., The station also broadcasts on the same frequencies into adjoining counties - including Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny and Waterford. South ...
in Wexford and
Ritz Country 1035 in London.
['']Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' listings on Newspapers.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The ...
, 24 December 1999 and 22 & 29 December 2000
''ACC'' is produced and distributed by
Cumulus Media Networks
Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), whi ...
. Since 2007, the program has been distributed via Cumulus's "
Today's Best Country" network and, since 2013, on most
Nash FM stations as well. Tom Rounds's syndication company,
Radio Express, distributes the program to radio stations outside the United States.
References
Further reading
* Bachman, Katy
"Brooks to Host American Country Countdown."''Mediaweek'', November 9, 2005.
* Durkee, Rob. ''American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century''. Schriner Books,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, 1999. . Includes information about ''American Country Countdown''.
* Stark, Phyllis
"ABC Taps Kix Brooks As New Countdown Host" ''Billboard Radio Monitor'', November 9, 2005.
* Battistini, Pete, "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem (The 1970s)." Authorhouse.com, January 31, 2005. . Includes information about ''American Country Countdown''.
External links
''American Country Countdown'' official website
{{Kix Brooks
American country music radio programs
American record charts
1973 radio programme debuts
American Top 40
Music chart shows
Westwood One