» Lady Like: CMT and Coleman Insights have released findings from the CMT-commissioned research surrounding Country radio listeners' habits and attitudes toward female artists. The research fuels CMT's Equal Play campaign, in which CMT has pledged parity across its CMT and CMT Music video channels (CAT 1/21). Findings include:

• 88% of listeners believe women play a large part in the history of country music
• 84% of all listeners want equal play for female artists
• Approximately 7-in-10 listeners want more female artists in country music
• 72% of listeners say they hear more songs by men on Country radio than songs by women
• 53% of fans do not have a gender preference of artists
• 44% of all listeners would be very interested in a radio station that spotlights women
• 28% of listeners would listen to Country radio more if more female artists were featured; 11% would listen less; a majority say they would listen the same amount as they do now

"When we approached Coleman Insights about this specific line of research, we were shocked to learn no one had ever commissioned data on the listeners themselves," says CMT SVP/Music Strategy & Talent Leslie Fram. "CMT took it directly to the fans, and what we found couldn't have been more clear: listeners want equal play, and women do want to hear women on the radio." See Coleman's full executive summary here, and read more from Fram in an exclusive Q&A with Country Aircheck in tonight's (2/18) Country Aircheck Weekly.