THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 36 MARCH 26, 2020
The Business
Creative Space
Photographed by Diana King
HAIR^ A
ND
MAKEUP^ BYKE
ISH
A^ BUTTS.Leslie Fram
CMT’s Nashville-based music guru talks country’s
gender-parity problem, the Dixie Chicks’ return and the
impact of coronavirus and Tennessee tornadoes
By Ashley CullinsA
few hours after Leslie
Fram discussed how the
COVID-19 outbreak might
affect the entertainment indus-
try — and talked about bringing
DIY hand sanitizer to victims of
the deadly March 3 tornado that
devastated Middle Tennessee —
the Nashville-based exec found
out she had her own brush with
the virus. Fram, the senior vp of
music strategy at CMT (Country
Music Television), was among
the network staffers who worked
a March 5 Rebuilding Tennessee
Telethon where one attendee
tested positive for the coronavi-
rus. Now, like most Americans,
Fram and her 60-person team
are working remotely. Just before
she shifted to her home office
(and again over the phone),
the Alabama native and radio
veteran sat down with THR totalk about keeping one foot in
each of two rapidly transform-
ing industries — cable television,
where her net averaged 234,000
primetime viewers in 2019, and
country music. For Fram, who’s
been at CMT since 2011, 2020
means pushing for equal airplay
for female artists (including the
long-shunned Dixie Chicks), plan-
ning their marquee awards show
(CMT Music Awards) during a
pandemic, helping evolve a genre
full of “purists” and navigating
the merger of newly combined
parent company ViacomCBS.Coronavirus has already affected
the music industry, especially live
events. How do you plan for a situa-
tion with so many unknowns?
Look at what happened with
South by Southwest being can-
celed. That’s just two weeks, andthat’s devastating for Austin. I
think it brings $360 million to
the economy. We have not even
started to understand the ramifi-
cations of this.Where do you stand about whether
to move forward with the CMT
Music Awards on June 3?
That’s very fluid. We’re continu-
ing as if we’re moving forward
— calls about talent, host ideas,
nomination research. We’re
also having conversations about
rescheduling and taking this
month by month.Has there been an uptick in viewer-
ship since so many people have
been ordered to stay at home?
Ratings are up. That’s been
positive, across the board, with
all our channels. People need a
break from the news. [The week
of March 16, CMT ratings rose
11 percent.]You do music programming, but
there’s not a whole lot of music left
in music television.
It’s hard because it’s financial.
A lot of music doesn’t rate on TV.
Awards do, but they’re events.As for the genre, Lil Nas X’s “Old
Town Road” didn’t quite fit in hip-
hop or in country — until Billy Ray
Cyrus came in and sort of brought
him into the fold. What does that
say about expanding the scope of
what is a country song?
We need to open the aperture.
The fans are listening to every-
thing — hip-hop, pop, EDM,
country. That is the reality.
We are never going to go back.
Unfortunately, there are a lot
of purists. We are playing Blake
Shelton singing with Pitbull,
and a lot of people probably hate
that. But if Blake is going to do a
collab with Pitbull, we know our
fans are listening. We can’t keep
narrowing and narrowing and
narrowing and making every-
thing bland.The Dixie Chicks were shunned
by the country purists after their
2003 comments about George
W. Bush. What do you think about
their return to recording?
I’ve heard five or six songs off the“My female wall
of fame gives me
inspiration,” says
Fram, who works next
to framed albums
by Carrie Underwood
and others.The Nashville
Business Journal’s
Women in Music City
Award, which Fram
received in 2016,
2017, 2018 and 2019,
looks like a mic.Gifts from country
artists who count
Fram as a supporter
include a signed
paddle from Chris and
Kelly Janson and a
Colt Ford doll.The signed cajón,
a box instrument Fram
uses as a side table,
is from Collective Soul,
a band Fram
supported at Atlanta
radio station 99X.10biz_CSfram_L [P]{Print}_53633979.indd 36 3/24/20 6:05 PM