Winners Revealed For 2026 CRS/Country Aircheck Awards
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
