Country Fans Prefer Humans Over AI by 5-to-1, CRS Study Finds.

Country radio may have a competitive edge over streaming that has nothing to do with the music. It’s the humans.

That was a key finding from the annual CRS perceptual study, presented Thursday morning by Strategic Solutions Research. In a survey of 1,500 fans nationwide, listeners preferred human-curated playlists over AI-generated ones by more than five to one — 57% to 10%.

“If you’re not talking about the fact that your radio station is curated by someone, a human, you should be talking about it starting next week,” said SSR partner Hal Rood.

The preference held across all age groups, including digital natives. Real on-air personalities ranked as the No. 2 most important feature of local country radio — behind only playing the best songs — with three out of four respondents rating it 8 to 10 on a 10-point scale.

“Every once in a while, we get something that comes back in the data that makes us go, ‘What?’” said SSR owner Kevin Cassidy. “We were not expecting it to be near that high.”

The finding carried a nuance that could reshape how programmers think about voice-tracking and syndication. Personality-driven programming ranked more important to listeners than live-and-local broadcasting — meaning the content a host delivers matters more than their geography.

“It isn’t as important that the host is in that listener’s area code,” Rood said. “What is important is giving that listener a sense that they are feeling more connected to their community because of that host, wherever that host may be.”

Listeners in SSR’s video discussion groups reinforced the point. One woman said she preferred human-curated playlists because “you get a variety of different types of country music, but it’s not going to be the same sound throughout the whole program.” Another was blunter about the alternative: “With an AI-driven playlist,” she said, “you’re getting more of what that system wants you to listen to.”

The emotional engine

The findings came from a two-phase study — 50 video interviews followed by the 1,500-person survey, designed to mirror U.S. Census demographics — and pointed to a deeply engaged audience. More than half of respondents (54%) said country music is part of their identity, and over half said they’re listening more to country now than six months ago.

The top emotional drivers were consistent: Country makes listeners feel good, its storytelling connects to their own experiences, and the music triggers responses other formats don’t.

“Country listeners more than other formats really listen to the lyrics,” Cassidy said. “They’re getting those stories, and it’s relatable.”

One woman in the video discussions put it simply: The best thing about country music is the stories, she said. “It makes you really listen to the song, songs that are gonna kick back a memory.”

Only 16% of respondents were exclusive country listeners — a reminder for programmers that most of their audience is also sampling other formats and can't be taken for granted. Several respondents mentioned a seasonal pattern, turning up country during the summer months.

Streaming is here. So is radio’s edge.

Eight out of 10 radio listeners in the study also use streaming services. YouTube led at seven out of 10, and Spotify topped DSPs two to one over Pandora and Apple Music. Two-thirds hold paid subscriptions, and eight out of 10 aren’t considering canceling.

“Streaming is here. It’s not going away, and they’re streaming to listen to country,” Cassidy said. “So we’ve got to really wake up and make sure that we go to where the people are.”

The low-hanging fruit, Rood said, is listeners on free, ad-supported DSP tiers. Three out of four perceive as many or more commercials on those free subscriptions as they hear on local radio.

The vehicle remains radio’s stronghold, with four out of 10 listening most in the car. Home listening isn’t far behind — but that’s also where streaming dominates. Only 17% listen most at work, a gap SSR flagged as a growth opportunity, particularly as individual listeners increasingly control what plays during the workday rather than deferring to an office gatekeeper.

A contemporary format — with a gold appetite

The study confirmed country as a contemporary format. Today’s hits, new songs becoming popular and tracks from the past five years ranked at the top across age groups.

But 70% of respondents wanted a mix of new and older songs — a group Cassidy called “spectrum listeners.” Only 24% wanted exclusively new country. Only 6% wanted exclusively classic.

“Don’t think that just playing new country is going to give you the biggest audience,” Cassidy said.

Among 35-to-54 listeners, 90s gold climbed from the bottom of the rankings to midpack — driven by listeners who were there for the Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson era. Songs from the 80s struggled to gain traction with any group. And 94% rated their station's current music mix as excellent or very good, though a third said they weren't hearing enough 90s or older material.

Cross-genre collaborations drew 58% approval. Artists from other genres got more buy-in when paired with a country star; 20% of respondents resisted solo crossover efforts entirely.

Contesting, commercials and the road ahead

SSR declared a "golden age of contesting," with over half of respondents having participated in a radio contest and one in three enjoying them passively. Multiple $1,000 winners proved more appealing than a single $10,000 prize, and gas cards ranked as the No. 2 most desired prize — a reflection of inflation pressures that Rood predicted would only intensify.

When asked what they'd change about local country radio, listeners' top answer was more music variety. The second: fewer commercials, cited by one in five.

"Consistently, we see the number one thing that radio could do differently to improve its performance with consumers is playing less ads," Rood said. "So we need to have a conversation in the industry about how do we reduce our reliance on spots."

SSR's action plan urged programmers to reject AI on-air talent, prioritize app activations and maintain a spectrum playlist balancing contemporary hits with select gold. The full research deck will be posted on the CRS website within a week, with at least one CRS 360 follow-up webinar planned.

But the study's sharpest message was its simplest: In a format where listeners already value storytelling and emotional connection, the voice between the songs may matter as much as the songs themselves — and no algorithm has figured out how to replicate that.