US99.5's Lisa Dent talks about her new contract

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: Dent basks in WUSN deal : MEDIA AND ADVERTISING | Top-rated morning show gets her a new, multiyear contract : Lisa Dent sounded really upbeat on the telephone Thursday. Why shouldn't she be? Dent had just signed a multiyear contract extension to keep her on air as co-host of "The Lisa Dent & Ramblin' Ray Morning Show" on CBS Radio's country WUSN-FM (99.5). The station that has been Dent's professional home for the last eight years is a very good place to be these days. WUSN has been at or near the top of the pack in the key 25- to 54-year-old adult demo for the last several Arbitron monthly ratings books. WUSN also is now the most-listened-to country station in America. No small feat on both counts. : Dent, however, knows nothing is forever. She has been around the radio business and country music long enough to see the format's popularity rise and fall and rise again. Prior to country's current surge, Dent remembers the format being on top in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when red-hot talents such as Garth Brooks and Shania Twain were focusing attention on country music. : But Dent believes the worried mood of the country now is a big part of the reason country is hot again. "We're in crisis, and at a time like this, I think more people turn to country because they can relate to the lyrics," explained Dent. Then, there's also a little meteor in the country music business right now called Taylor Swift, who has managed almost single-handedly to give the country music biz a big jolt. Dent said Swift herself deserves a lot of the credit for her becoming the huge country star she is today -- and doing so at such a young age. "Taylor really is responsible for creating a large part of her fan base, and she did a lot of that by reaching out through MySpace," said Dent, who also pointed out that Swift, who turned 20 in December, has brought large numbers of young people into the country fold. : Having re-signed with WUSN, Dent said she's really comfortable with -- and relates well to -- the audience she talks to every morning at the station. "Many of them live in the suburbs and go to work every day and face the same struggles I do," said Dent, adding "we're all everyday Americans." The country audience, as Dent has come to realize, also spans the entire economic spectrum from the very rich to the less well-off -- another factor she believes has helped sustain country as a popular radio format. : As for her on-air relationship with morning drive co-host Ray Stevens (a k a Ramblin' Ray), Dent says it works well because they are total opposites. "He likes to go snowmobiling in Wisconsin, while I'm in a warmer place snorkeling." : A new sound : On Thursday, Clear Channel Radio Chicago's WGRB-AM (1390) moved to a more contemporary gospel sound that emphasizes what Clear Channel Radio Chicago's director of urban programming Derrick Brown calls the "new, hotter gospel artists." They include performers such as Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams. WGRB has been a gospel-formatted station for the last 10 years. : WGRB also is introducing a new tag line -- "Music of Power and Praise" -- that acknowledges and underscores the shift in focus in the station's sound. Brown said that the old gospel format was about 50 percent classic gospel music and 50 percent contemporary. "The new sound will be 80 or 90 percent contemporary," said Brown. WGRB's on-air talent lineup will not change with the introduction of the new gospel mix, with "The John Hannah Morning Show" remaining in morning drive and "The Joy Ride Home" with Sonya Blakey in afternoon drive. : Brown also said the updated gospel music format should help the station pull in more listeners. In the most recent December Arbitron radio ratings book, WGRB was tied for 33rd place in the rankings overall among adults 25 to 54.

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