From Rock to Country, Shannon has done it all!
Shannon McCombs, host, writer, and producer of the weekly syndicated show, CDX Country News has been nominated for the 2021 class of the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame. The 10th Anniversary Induction Ceremony will take place on July 31, 2021.
A personal note from Preshias…
Shannon and I are lifelong friends! I was listening when it was her very first time on the air, broadcasting from WKVE-FM in Cave City, KY. I can remember jumping for joy and screaming at the top of my lungs. The same thing happened when she started her first night at WKDF-103 Rock in Nashville, Tennessee, as the overnight air personality. My mother and I were both whooping and hollering just after midnight on January 1, 1986 when she played the Smokey Robinson song we requested!
Visit Shannon’s YouTube channel here to see her interviews with Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Trisha Yearwood, Hunter Hayes, Ricky Skaggs and many more.
“I’ve been in radio my entire life, even when I was a kid, I pretended to be in radio. Along with my brother and cousin, we would play DJ for hours with our cassette recorder.,” shared Shannon McCombs. “So, the fact that my peers have honored me in this way is extremely humbling.”
“I fully endorse the nomination of Shannon McCombs to the Tennessee Radio Hall Of Fame. Shannon has dedicated her life to radio in the Great State of Tennessee,” expressed CDX President – Joe Kelly. “She epitomizes a radio pro and deserves to be included among the great broadcasters already in the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame.”
McCombs early days in Nashville were spent on-air at 103-KDF Rock, where her show was consistently #1 in the market. During her last year at WKDF she began to move into Country music and started hosting a show for The Nashville Network (TNN). Showing her versatility, she once interviewed Motley Crue for radio and 4 hours later did a TV show with Randy Travis! That triggered the beginning of her multi-genre career. Watch Shannon’s video air check from her time at 103-KDF here. It ROCKS!
Her experience includes producing artist-hosted shows for 650 AM-WSM in Nashville with Dierks Bentley, Pam Tillis, Dana Williams of Diamond Rio, and several others. She has also spent time on the air there, as well as the fill-in afternoon host at 98-WSIX.
She worked with Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn and produced and wrote his award-winning syndicated Billboard show, American Country Countdown.
She was hired to help launch XM Radio (that later merged with Sirius to become SiriusXM) and establish satellite radio’s presence in the country music industry in Nashville. Her strong relations brought in hundreds of interviews with artists and songwriters, and created a comfort level for a media that was unknown at the time.
In the late 90’s, McCombs launched the very first syndicated show for Americana music. As co-creator and owner of the company, she wrote and hosted the show each week.
She did all the backstage interviews for America’s Opry Weekend, the Opry’s syndicated weekly show that ran for 13 years. Prior to that she had hosted Opry’s backstage live show on CMT.
Shannon’s love of music keeps her involved with multiple formats, writing music news and doing interviews for Rock, Pop, Rap, and Country music.
Prior to Nashville, Shannon worked with 5 other radio stations in Southern Kentucky as On-Air talent, Station Manager, Program Director, and Music Director.
Hall of Fame membership is voted on by members of the radio community and winners will be announced this spring.
More about Shannon at her website and on Facebook here.
About CDX: CDX was founded in 1991 by late Country Music Hall of Fame Broadcaster Charlie Douglas and national record promotion veteran Paul Lovelace as a delivery system for labels and artists to supply their upcoming singles to all full-time US country stations, satellite providers, syndicators, and programming consultants. CDX also expanded by creating CDX TRACTION that monitors radio stations through the online web stream of their broadcast signal. For more information about CDX Nashville visit https://www.cdxnashville.com.
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com