FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)–Bill Mack has been nominated for two Grammy awards — for “Country Song of the Year” and for “Song of the Year.” He will be in New York City Feb. 26 for the Grammy Awards show at Madison Square Garden, which will be aired on the CBS Television Network from 8-11 p.m. Eastern.
Mack was nominated for a song he wrote in the late ’50s titled, “Blue.” Sung by 14-year-old LeAnn Rimes of Garland, Texas, the song went to number one on the sales charts the first week of release in the summer of last year.
Mack is host of both the radio and television versions of “Country Crossroads,” which are produced by the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission. He has been host of the 30-minute weekly radio version of “Country Crossroads” for 24 years. The syndicated program is currently carried on 773 stations.
The 30-minute weekly TV version of the program, which is different than its radio counterpart, began airing in January 1994. It is carried on FamilyNet, the RTVC broadcast television service, and by ACTS, the commission’s cable television service. ACTS programming is aired on the Odyssey Cable Channel.
It is also carried on WHNO-TV in New Orleans, WBSV-TV in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., and WSVI-TV in St. Croix, Virgin Islands (an ABC affiliate).
Known as the “dean of country music disk jockeys,” Mack has been with Dallas radio station WBAP since 1969. He was inducted into the Country Music Disk Jockey Hall of Fame in 1982.
His all-night program is heard throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico via The Bill Mack Trucking Network, a satellite affiliation that includes four 50,000-watt clear-channel stations. They are WBAP, WJR in Detroit, KBOI in Boise, Idaho, KTWO in Casper, Wyo.
Over the years Mack has written a number of songs and his compositions have been recorded by artists such as Dean Martin, Conway Twitty, Ray Price and George Strait.
For 10 years he was the announcer for Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys on both radio and television. He also hosted comedian Bob Hope’s 80th birthday party.
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