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CMT Music Awards
Current: 2024 CMT Music Awards
Awarded for	Achievements in country music videos voted on by fans
Location	Austin, Texas
Country	United States
Presented by	Various
First awarded	1967 (as Music City News Awards)
Website	www.cmt.com/cmt-music-awards
Television/radio coverage
Network	CBS CMT

The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The ceremony launched in 1967 as Music City News Awards; it is the oldest award show currently airing under Paramount Global.

The ceremony originally aired on TNN, prior to its parent company's acquisition of former rival network CMT in 1991. The show would then air on CMT from 2001 to 2021. Beginning in 2022, the show is currently broadcast live on CBS.

History

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Early history

Beginning in 1967, the Music City News Awards were presented yearly by the now—defunct Music City News magazine. In 1988, The Nashville Network (TNN) began a fan—voted awards show dubbed the Viewers' Choice Awards to help the network celebrate its fifth anniversary; two were broadcast in 1988 and 1989. In 1990, the two awards shows merged to become the TNN/Music City News Country Awards. TNN's contract with Music City News ended in 1999, and the magazine ceased publication shortly thereafter.

Country Weekly became the presenting sponsor of the awards show in 2000, and the show was known as Country Weekly presents the TNN Music Awards.

2001—2021

In 2001, as TNN began to phase out its association with country music, the decision was made to shift the awards show to sister network CMT. The 2001 show, known as the TNN/CMT Country Weekly Music Awards, was simulcast on both networks.

When the show moved permanently to CMT, Country Weekly ended its brief association with the production. During this era, viewers voted for the nominees by telephone or mail in traditional categories such as "Entertainer of the Year," "Male/Female Artist of the Year," "Song of the Year," etc. Most of the categories mirrored those on the CMA Awards and ACM Awards, except all awards were fan—voted.

The awards show was completely retooled in 2002 as the CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards, named for the network's branding concept at the time for its most popular videos. The "Flameworthy" name was coined by program development vice president Kaye Zusmann, and aimed to symbolize the waving of lighters or similar lights at concerts (this was before the current negative meaning of the word flaming from the Internet became more commonplace). The show became more production—based, rather than awards—based, and was modeled after sister network MTV's Video Music Awards. In the process, the traditional awards were shifted to specifically honor the music videos of country artists.

The show included several non—traditional categories highlighting especially funny, sexy, and patriotic videos; however, these categories were phased out over the years. The show further differentiated itself from the CMA Awards and ACM Awards by showcasing bluegrass performers such as Alison Krauss and Earl Scruggs.

In 2003, the show was moved to April but returned to June in 2009 to coincide with the CMA Music Festival (the renamed "Fan Fair") and the influx of tourists to Nashville as well as capitalize on a time when many of the artists would already be in Nashville at once.

The name of the show was changed to the CMT Music Awards in 2005.

In 2020, the awards were delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with that year's CMA Fest not going forward. Initially planned for October 14, a scheduling conflict with that year's Billboard Music Awards caused the ceremony to be pushed back to October 21.

2021—present

On June 28, 2021, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global) announced that the awards would move to broadcast television on sister network CBS and shift back to April beginning in 2022. The ceremony's new scheduling would jettison the Academy of County Music Awards, which also had been typically held in April and historically broadcast by CBS; the network subsequently declined to renew its contract to air the ACM Awards, citing declining viewership in comparison to increased rights fees demanded by Dick Clark Productions.

In 2023, after more than twenty years in Nashville, the CMT Music Awards were hosted for the first time at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

Major awards

Winning records

Carrie Underwood is the most awarded artist overall in CMT Music Awards' history (2005–present), with 25 wins.

By category

• Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; ten wins
• Male Video of the Year: Kenny Chesney; five wins
• Female Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; eight wins
• Collaborative Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood; four wins
• CMT Performance of the Year: Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean (tie); two wins each

CMT Artists of the Year

References

1. Grein, Paul (2021-06-28). "CMT Music Awards Set to Move to CBS in 2022". Billboard. Retrieved 2022-01-16.
2. ^ Havighurst, Craig (June 12, 2002). "Front-row video". The Tennessean.
3. Cooper, Peter (May 15, 2002). "Look for sexy, funny, patriotic at CMT video awards show". The Tennessean.
4. Cooper, Peter; Brad Schmitt (April 11, 2005). "You might be a redneck if you prognosticate correctly". The Tennessean.
5. White, Peter (2021-06-28). "CMT Music Awards Move To CBS In 2022". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
6. Willman, Chris (2021-06-28). "CMT Music Awards to Air on CBS Beginning in 2022". Variety. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
7. "CBS Balks at Airing 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards Over $22 Million Asking Price, Declining Ratings". TheWrap. June 16, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
8. Andreeva, Nellie (2021-08-19). "Academy Of Country Music Awards To Stream On Amazon Prime Video In Milestone For Award Shows". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
9. Willman, Chris (2021-08-19). "Academy of Country Music Awards Will Bypass Networks, Stream Exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in 2022". Variety. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
10. "Austin or Nashville to host 2024 CMT Music Awards?". 3 April 2023.
11. "Rock, Country and Blues Merge at 2023 CMT Music Awards in Austin". 2 April 2023.
12. "'CMT Music Awards' Moving to Austin from Nashville for 2023 CBS Telecast". 3 November 2022.
13. Celebretainment, By. "Carrie Underwood wins big at CMT Music Awards". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
14. ^ "Carrie Underwood Is Now The Most Awarded Artist In CMT History". Forbes. 7 June 2017.
15. "Male Video of the Year winners". CMT. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009.

External links

• Official website

• CMT Music Awards
• Awards established in 1967
• 1967 establishments in Tennessee