About this episode
Legendary Nashville broadcaster Shannon McCombs joins Johnny B, Jay Harper, and Jim McCarthy for a fast-moving tour through rock and country radio history. From being yelled at by Sebastian Bach and an enraged artist at XM, to co-hosting a Buddy Holly birthday bash at the request of Paul McCartney, Shannon shares candid, funny, and sometimes cringeworthy stories from decades behind the mic. She talks about breaking into a male?dominated Nashville radio scene in the mid?80s, surviving multiple format flips and firings, building country relationships through XM and Fan Fair/CMA Fest, producing Kix Brooks’ countdown, and why radio people share the same bizarre “dead air” nightmares. Along the way you’ll hear about Travis Tritt’s oversharing, Lee Greenwood’s Speedo moment, cat rescues, and why Shannon never chased the artist/songwriter dream in Music City. Highlights 0:00:00 Skid Row backstage disaster and Sebastian Bach meltdown 0:01:30 Show open: Circling The Drain welcomes first female guest 0:03:00 Shannon’s move from Kentucky to Nashville and landing at KDF 0:07:50 Getting fired (twice) from KDF during format and staff overhauls 0:09:30 Working with Carl P. Mayfield, Slats, and returning to KDF for country 0:10:50 Transition to country, syndicated “Shannon’s Country News,” and Bill Anderson documentary 0:12:10 Shooting Bill Anderson’s writing session and interviewing Billy Bob Thornton 0:13:40 Linda Ronstadt interview goes sideways thanks to a forbidden Jerry Brown question 0:14:50 Co?hosting Paul McCartney’s Buddy Holly birthday bash livestream in New York 0:16:15 Being briefed on how to approach “Sir Paul” and what not to ask 0:17:10 Buddy Holly’s widow and early internet-era red carpet streaming 0:18:10 Favorite country interviews: Eddie Arnold, John Conlee, and Hall of Fame drop?ins at XM 0:20:00 Becoming XM’s unofficial engineer with a toolbox and a phone to DC 0:21:10 Breaking Nashville resistance to XM by going through publicists, not promotion 0:22:20 Fan Fair/CMA Fest bus and Ford Theater sessions, pairing Charlie Louvin with Dierks Bentley 0:25:20 The infamous live XM moment: skipping CD, furious star, and a security check 0:28:30 Naming names: the Sebastian Bach listener insult story revisited 0:30:30 Country vs rock backstage behavior; Randy Owen and Lee Greenwood in a Speedo 0:33:00 Trying to break into WSM, seeing Kathy Martindale, and realizing “it’s possible” for women 0:34:30 How stations refused to put women on daytime air shifts in the 80s 0:36:30 Remembering trailblazers: Mary Glenn Lassiter, Diana Lynn Bracey, Patty Murray 0:38:50 The great T?shirt rebellion: refusing unflattering station swag 0:39:45 Travis Tritt and the “I’m not wearing underwear now” TV moment 0:41:00 Aaron Tippin’s measuremen
