(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Some of country music's hottest new stars will announce the finalists for the CMA Broadcast Awards on August 26 (7:15 AM/CDT) at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The audio announcement of the finalists, which is one of the most anticipated events of the year for country radio, will be available live via StarGuide from CMA's official radio partner MJI Programming, a division of Premiere Radio Networks.
Announcing the finalists for the 2003 CMA Broadcast Personality and Station of the Year honors will be Steve Azar, Jennifer Hanson, Buddy Jewell, Jimmy Wayne and Darryl Worley. The announcements will be made prior to the announcement of the finalists for "The 37th Annual CMA Awards," which will be carried live by "The Early Show" on the CBS Television Network with CBS News Anchor Hannah Storm, reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Martina McBride and special guests reigning CMA Horizon Award winners Rascal Flatts.
"What an outstanding group of artists to announce our Country radio finalists," said CMA executive director Ed Benson. "Radio helps drive awareness of our new artists and Country radio has certainly embraced this group during the past year."
The CMA Broadcast Award winners will be recognized during "The 37th Annual CMA Awards," which will be broadcast live on November 5 (8:00-11:00 PM/EST) on the CBS Television Network from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
The finalists for Broadcast Personality and Station of the Year are selected in four categories (small, medium, large and major markets). The categories are established by market size based on population as ranked by Arbitron. There is a separate category for National Broadcast Personality of the Year. CMA members, who are full-time, country on-air personalities and CMA member radio stations in the U.S. and Canada, were eligible. Personalities who were not CMA members but were employed by a CMA member station were also eligible.
