Top 40 country is perfect for the NY market.Thunder 106 is not your typical country outlet but it works for that part of Jersey.I see small indications of Thunder's mark on NASH-fm but we will see Thunder adapt to the situation of being in the shadows of 94.7.Thunder has given country programmers a wake up call since it has rolled out a welcome mat to artists that have not reached the big time yet.This is a fine way to save and even create jobs!!!!!!!

John Schaefer must not know a lot about Cumulus, the huge company that owns Nash FM, because he seemed to suggest it's not completely impossible that they might play local or alternative country music at some point. That'll never happen. Some people in the radio industry have suggested that Cumulus makes Clear Channel look like a friendly little mom-and-pop organization by comparison. You can expect to hear only the slickest, most shiny new plastic pop-country from the Nashville factories on this station. Also, the station is reportedly the flagship of a new initiative by Cumulus to syndicate even more country programming nationally and fire even more local DJs at its many country stations around the country to save money (not that NPR stations as a whole are any stranger to that approach, WNYC being one of the few NPR member stations that originates significant amounts of local programming).

Believe it or not the country music scene is quite vibrant in NYC. That said, what NASH passes off as country music is really insipid, droll pop music masquerading as country music. It is not their fault really as this is what the Nashville music machine churns out for public consumption. A cute pop tune with a steel guitar does not a country song make. If the owners of NASH had real balls and hired a music director with some balls only then would NYC get real country music on its airways.