This country isn’t big enough for Lew Dickey.
Country music, that is.
The CEO and chairman of the $1.2 billion Cumulus Media, owner of about 460 radio stations in the US, is expected to put into play this week a plan to take his NashFM country music station radio brand and stretch it across TV, print, streaming audio, concerts and even household products, The Post has learned.
After planning the Nash-brand blow-out for about a year, Cumulus will take the first step on Tuesday when it is expected to announce it is buying a 50 percent interest in American Media’s 17-year old magazine, Country Weekly.
The Nashville-based title, with a circulation of 505,000 a week, will be re-branded Nash magazine.
For the 52-year old Dickey, whose Atlanta-based company saw its shares grow 104 percent over the past 12 months, 2014 is targeted as a year of change as it takes on radio’s No. 1, Clear Channel, which has 800 radio stations.
Here’s Dickey’s five-point plan after buying Dial Global, and its NFL, NCAA and Nascar rights, last summer for $260 million:
- Form a dedicated Nash channel on digital radio service Radio, in which Cumulus recently purchased a major stake;
- Launch a Nash Bash concert series;
- Team with a cable channel to form the Nash Network;
- Establish a home-goods line including furniture, paint and clothing;
- Explore a partnership with Guggenheim Media’s Dick Clark Productions to create a new country awards show for radio.
Dickey is set to begin reaching out to several TV content companies which already have country-branded assets to explore partnership opportunities. Scripps Networks Interactive owns Great American Country, while Viacom owns CMT.
Discovery Communications’ two channels, Destination America and American Heroes, are being eyed by Dickey, sources said.
Cumulus isn’t the only company seeing a business in country. Rival Clear Channel is planning a big country festival to help promote iHeart, its own digital radio offering.
Marketers are turning to country stars more frequently to be the squeaky- clean face of their brands, in part because the biggest names — Toby Keith, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw — are among the top 25 highest-paid musicians, according to Forbes.
Last year, country music replaced classic rock as America’s favorite music genre, NPD Group reported.
Cumulus closed Friday at $6.74, down 1.8 percent, but analyst Amy Yong, of Macquarie Capital, has a $10 price target on the stock in part because of Dickey’s expansion plans.