Bill Mayne, 72 — a music industry and country radio executive whose career heralded and spanned the genre’s modern-era growth — has died after a long illness.
His roots were borne of the University of Houston’s Film, Radio and Television program. Early success as an on-air talent and program director at Austin, Texas’ KNOW Radio in 1970 led to the first two decades of his career seeing him traversing America as stations in markets including Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Portland widely embraced pop-aimed country music as an FM radio format.
More than anything, Mayne’s career was notable because of his ability to highlight and develop eager leaders in country music’s entrenching mainstream space.
“Bill was a true giant in every sense of the word. His fifty years of passionate work positively impacted everyone he met in nearly every segment of our business,” stated R.J. Curtis, the current Executive Director of Country Radio Broadcasters and the Country Radio Seminar (CRB/CRS).
Notably, in April 2010, Mayne’s storied career saw him join CRB as an executive director, a post he held until retirement in 2018.
Before country music’s industry-changing surge via “Class of 1989” artists including Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black and Travis Tritt, Mayne joined Warner Bros. Records (the home of acts including Tritt) as a Southwest Regional Marketing Manager in 1988. Over two decades, he ascended to being a senior vice president at the label before working with Neal McCoy’s 903 Music in 2005 and Texas and Midwest-based nightlife company Graham Bros. Entertainment as its president in 2007.
Then independent promoters like now Big Machine Label Group chief Scott Borchetta count their interactions with Mayne at this point of their careers as essential development points of their eventual renown. In a 2019 feature in Country Aircheck Magazine, Borchetta notes that he was a hard-driving executive who “made you earn [his respect].”
Current Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern also added that working with Mayne in 1996 on a TV special resonated deeply with her because of his “great passion and enthusiasm” for country music.
Mayne’s 2010 return to radio involved his appointment as CRB’s executive director in 2010, replacing Ed Salomon. About the era, iconic Warner Music Nashville chief John Esposito noted that many felt the impact of CRB and CRS was declining. However, due to Mayne’s inter-industry campaigning, he “[saved CRB and CRS’] butt” and “led it on a path to thriving like it never had before.”
“This organization has a clear vision, a great staff and a dedicated board to help craft the future course for the Country Radio Seminar and all its associated endeavors, stated then CRB president Mike Culotta in 2010.
About Mayne’s time at CRB and CRS, as well as his career in total, RJ Curtis, the current Executive Director of CRB/CRS, shared the following in a press statement:
“The passing of Bill Mayne marks a profound loss for the entire country music community. Bill was a true giant in every sense of the word. His fifty years of passionate work positively impacted everyone he met, in nearly every segment of our business, through his time in radio, the music industry, artist management, entrepreneurialism, and, of course, his decade of leadership as Executive Director for CRB. Bill Mayne navigated the organization through a period of great adversity, ultimately reestablishing CRS as the premier industry event that it is today.”
Also crucial to his career’s legacy is, alongside Alabama’s Randy Owen, co-founding the St. Jude Country Cares for Kids Program in 1989.
In the early 1990s, Mayne secured artists including Holly Dunn and Faith Hill to begin a series of country artists (including Brad Paisley, John Rich and Darius Rucker) to attend the annual St. Jude Country Cares Seminar.
Over the past three decades, the initiative has raised nearly $1 billion for Memphis’ St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Via the program, families never receive a bill from the hospital for food, housing, or treatment.
Mayne was also a former Board member of the Country Music Association and spent over 35 years on the Academy of Country Music Board of Directors. Key to those eras included his roles as Chairman and Chairman of the Board of ACM’s Lifting Lives, ACM’s philanthropic partner dedicated to health-related initiatives.
Mayne also served as the national vice present for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and was a distinguished member of Leadership Music and the Mayor’s Nashville Music Council.
In 2019, Mayne and Country Aircheck Publisher/CEO and Westwood One Country Countdown USA host Lon Helton were honored with the Randy Owen Angels Among Us Award during the St. Jude Country Cares Seminar.
Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music, shared that he was “comforted” that the ACM celebrated him by presenting him with the ACM Service Award at 2023’s 16th ACM Honors event.
“Bill had a huge heart, as evidenced by his incredible philanthropic work, including his service to ACM Lifting Lives. His impact, passion, and devotion to the country music industry and community will live on forever.”
In short, Mayne’s impact is best summarized by a 2018 quote from Gregg Lindahl, a hall-of-fame-level country music radio programmer:
“Bill is a creative innovator and the best advocate for anything and anyone in which he believes.”
Bill Mayne is survived by his wife, Sallie Mayne, sons Bryant and Christopher and grandchild Everleigh. Memorial services for Mayne have not yet been announced, though donations may be made in his honor to St. Jude and ACM Lifting Lives.