Garth Brooks is back in rotation at Kicks thanks to the station's new emphasis on older songs. CREDIT: AP

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Kicks 101.5 shifted its music mix significantly on Friday, salting in more songs from 1991 to 2005 and cutting back on newer cuts.

This means artists that hadn’t gotten much love from Kicks in years (e.g. Garth Brooks, Patty Loveless, Jo Dee Messina, Travis Tritt) are back in rotation. Miss Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen”? It’s back!

On Thursday, Kicks played 67% songs that were two years older or newer. By Friday, that percentage had fallen to 37%, according to data from Mediabase 24/7. The average age of a song on Kicks increased five years, from 3.5 years old to 8.5 years old.

Kicks now sounds closer to what Eagle 106.7 was before it died in early 2008.

This is the first major shift in Kicks’ music mix in at least a decade. It has been the market’s No. 1 country station for more than 15 years. From my memory, it has emphasized new music at least since ABC, which owned Kicks at one time, purchased Y106 (later dubbed Eagle) and differentiated the two station’s music by making Kicks focused on currents. Since 94.9/The Bull debuted in late 2006, Kicks and the Bull have gone toe to toe with a similar emphasis on a current blend.

Ratings for Kicks took a bit of a nosedive this summer, though its most direct rival 94.9/The Bull didn’t appear to benefit. The station was tied for fifth in April both overall and 25-54. By September, it was tenth in both categories and its 3.8 share overall was one of its worst showings since people meters were installed in early 2009.

Kicks was recently acquired, along with the rest of Citadel Broadcasting, by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media last month. New management obviously has a new strategy for Kicks. Budget cuts have already been made, resulting in the the departure of Kicks afternoon host Tim Michaels. Music director Mike Macho has taken over that shift.

This change will likely skew Kicks’ audience older. The Bull has generally done better with younger listeners but has generally lagged behind Kicks across the board this year.

See what happened in one day. Here’s a typical hour on the day before the change:

Kicks 101.5 at 1 p.m. Thursday, October 20, 2011
1:01 p.m. Rascal Flatts “Life is a Highway” 2006
1:05 p.m. Luke Bryan “I Don’t Want This Night To End” 2011
1:08 p.m. Taylor Swift “Back to December” 2010
1:12 p.m. Rodney Atkins “Farmer’s Daughter” 2010
1:16 p.m. Zac Brown Band “Knee Deep” 2010
1:19 p.m. Kid Rock “All Summer Long” 2006
1:23 p.m. The Band Perry “You Lie” 2010
1:27 p.m. George Strait “Here For a Good Time” 2011
1:29 p.m. Sugarland “Stuck Like Glue” 2010
1:33 p.m. Keith Urban “Put You In a Song” 2010
1:37 p.m. Brooks & Dunn “Proud of the House We Built” 2007
1:40 p.m. Dierks Bentley “Home” 2011
1:44 p.m. ad break
1:51 p.m. Kenny Chesney “Somewhere With You” 2010
1:55 p.m. Jason Aldean “Big Green Tractor” 2009
1:58 p.m. Sara Evans “A Little Bit Stronger” 2010

And here was what it sounded like yesterday:

Kicks 101.5 at 1 p.m. Friday October 21, 2011
1:01 p.m. Alan Jackson “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” 1991
1:04 p.m. Rodney Atkins “Take A Back Road” 2011
1:08 p.m. Faith Hill “Mississippi Girl” 2005
1:12 p.m. Trace Adkins “You’re Gonna Miss This” 2007
1:15 p.m. Dwight Yoakam “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere” 1993
1:19 p.m. Keith Urban “Raining on Sunday” 2002
1:22 p.m. Jake Owen “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” 2011
1:24 p.m. Garth Brooks “Two Pina Coladas” 1997
1:28 p.m. David Lee Murphy “Dust on the Bottle” 1995
1:31 p.m. Lady Antebellum “We Owned the Night” 2011
1:34 p.m. Brooks & Dunn “It’s Getting Better All the Time” 2004
1:38 p.m. Tim McGraw “Felt Good on My Lips” 2010
1:43 p.m. commercial break
1:50 p.m. Gary Allan “Her Man” 1996
1:53 p.m. Easton Corbin “A Little More Country Than That” 2009
1:55 p.m. Blake Shelton “Honey Bee” 2011
1:58 p.m. Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” 2005
SOURCE: Mediabase 24/7

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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk