Winners Revealed For 2026 CRS/Country Aircheck Awards

/by

The winners of the 2026 CRS/Country Aircheck Awards were announced Friday night (March 20) during the annual New Faces of Country Music dinner at the Omni Nashville Hotel.

Triple Tigers was honored as the Platinum Label of the Year, while Big Machine took home the Gold Label of the Year award. Individual label awards included Big Loud’s Lauren “LT” Thomas for SVP-VP/National Promotion and Records Nashville’s Jamice Jennings as Label Streaming Specialist of the Year. MCA’s Katie Bright was named Director/National Promotion of the Year, and the label’s Annie Sandor earned the Regional Promoter honor.

Nashville’s own WSIX was named Medium Market Station of the Year with other station honors going to WUSN/Chicago for Large Market and WUSY/Chattanooga and for Small Market.

Spotify was named DSP of the Year, and Pandora’s Johnny Chiang was honored as Streaming Programmer/Editor. Lyric Ridge’s Louie Newman received the Independent Promotion Executive award, while Amazon Music’s Michelle Tigard Kammerer accepted DSP Partner Specialist award.

2026 CRS/Country Aircheck Award Winners:

Station
— WUSN/Chicago (Large Market)
— WSIX/Nashville (Medium Market)
— WUSY/Chattanooga (Small Market)

— Platinum Label: Triple Tigers
— Gold Label: Big Machine

OM/PD
— Marci Braun, WUSN/Chicago (Large Market)
— Heather Froglear, KFRG/Riverside (Medium Market)
— Brent Michaels, KUZZ/Bakersfield (Small Market)

APD/MD (tie):
Chris Huff, KILT/Houston; Lauren “Lo” Sessions-Barker, KKBQ/Houston

DSP: Spotify

Streaming Programmer/Editor: Johnny Chiang, Pandora

SVP-VP National Promotion: Lauren “LT” Thomas, Big Loud

Label Streaming Specialist: Jamice Jennings, Records Nashville

Director/National Promotion: Katie Bright, MCA

Market Manager/GM: Sarah Frazier, KILT/Houston

Personality/Show
— Lauren “Lo” Sessions-Barker, KKBQ/Houston (Large Market)
— Melissa Quinones, WWKA/Orlando (Medium Market)
— Brent Michaels & Ness Heraldez, Brent & Ness In The Morning, KUZZ/Bakersfield;
— Nancy Wilson & Aaron “Woody” Woods, Nancy & Woody, WHKO/Dayton, OH (Small Market [tie])

National Personality/Show
— Rob Stone & Holly Hutton, The Rob & Holly Show, Audacy (Daily)
— Lon Helton, Country Countdown USA, Compass (Weekly)

National Radio Programmer: Tim Roberts, Audacy

Regional Promoter: Annie Sandor, MCA

DSP Partner Specialist: Michelle Tigard Kammerer, Amazon Music

Independent Promotion Executive: Louie Newman, Lyric Ridge

New Face Of Country Music: Ashley Petro, Warner

John Nix Arledge
Latest posts by John Nix Arledge (see all)