A “David vs Goliath” moment in Knoxville radio occurred this past Saturday in Nashville.  Merle FM radio host, Jack Ryan, not only attended the Country Music Association  Festival…he became a major part of it. CMAfest  is  a major four day  festival event held in Nashville  for country music fans around the globe.  The festival features many country music singers who perform, sign autographs, and make appearances.  Ryan found himself the host at “Transition Performance Park” on Saturday afternoon.

“Transition Performance Park” was a free concert site location with the best  marketing strategy at the festival.  Many corporate sponsors tried to associate their name with country music but had difficulty making the connection. Transition Lenses did absolutely everything right. They enlisted Darius Rucker as a spokesman. They also integrated Twitter-  hashtags were used in a competition which featured really cool prizes. They also sponsored a stage with great musical acts who signed autographs after the show. They even created a special stage with a viewing platform so fans could view the stage better!

Then to enhance the country music ambiance they hired Jack Ryan to host the stage on Saturday afternoon. It was a perfect fit, and a huge momentum lift for Merle FM. For Mr. Ryan to get selected to cover such a major event out of thousands of radio hosts is a huge honor.  What makes it even more interesting is that it appears the other radio stations in Knoxville had either little or no real presence at the festival. At least none visible by this reporter.

In conclusion, Transition lenses is all about clarity. Judging from what they did at CMAfest- a few things are very clear. One, Merle FM has the strongest talent pool with Jack Ryan at he helm on the air. Two, Transition Lenses had a great well focused marketing plan. It is very clear that Merle FM has no problem rolling with the big stations.

Dan Andrews reporting from inside CMAfest…