Audacy’s Nashville Sound Space, located inside the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Nashville, Tenn., is set to open on Sept. 5.
The broadcast and performance studio will launch with a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring country music star Thomas Rhett. It’s Audacy’s third such partnership with Hard Rock International since 2021, adding to its venues in New York and Miami.
A press release by the company describes the space as a state-of-the-art production facility with sets for interviews, photography and private performances, while adhering to the original building space. The Hard Rock Nashville opened on Broadway — Tennessee’s equivalent of the Las Vegas Strip — in 1994. The studio is close in proximity to The Reverb, the Hard Rock’s second floor venue for live music performances, which Audacy envisions as a way for gaining access to performers slated for concerts.
The company’s nationally-syndicated County show, “Katie & Company,” hosted by Katie Neal, will also originate from the new space. Neal won the 2024 ACM National Daily-On Air Personality, and Audacy says she is the “cornerstone” of its country programming.
“The proximity of a professional studio coupled with an intimate performance venue and the singular talent of Neal as a host and interviewer enables us to produce exclusive experiences for listeners,” Audacy Chief Programming Officer Jeff Sottolano said in the release. He cited the space as evidence of the company’s commitment to the country music format.
The broadcaster doesn’t own any stations in the Music City. But it has 20 country stations in its portfolio, including in Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Detroit. Audacy said its country stations generate 14 million monthly listeners. “Katie & Company” doesn’t air on all of its country properties, but the company said it is expanding the show to 37 total affiliates, including via syndication.
(Read Audacy’s release on the opening of its Nashville Sound Space.)
