Super Bowl Update

Nielsen released the list of television market rankings for 2012-13 today, and the big story is that, while the overall estimated number of TV homes across the country dropped again, the drop didn't make enough difference to change the rankings for any of the markets in our part of the country.

Nationwide, the number of TV households stands at 114,173,690.  That's down nearly a half of million - or less than 1% - from last year's 114,649,310.

So how did the markets in our neck o' the woods fare?  Let's look at them from largest to smallest:

Despite not losing position, all of the stations, as you can see above, lost TV households - some more than others.  Among the three larger markets in the region, Indianapolis was the biggest loser, shedding 20,270 households in just the past year.  St. Louis lost the next highest number, at 10,430.  Nashville was third with a decline of 9,650.  Louisville's loss was least at 3,170.

Among the mid-sized markets, Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg shed the most at 4,990; Evansville lost 3,840.

The smaller markets lost even less:  Terre Haute lost 3,180 households, with Bowling Green losing 1,110.

Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush and his band kick off the new season of Jubilee, recorded live at the third-annual International Newgrass Festival in Bowling Green, KY. The new season premieres Tuesday, Aug. 7 at 7 p.m. CT on KET and Saturday, Aug. 11 at 10 p.m. CT on KET2.

Bush has helped expand the horizons of bluegrass music, fusing it with jazz, rock, blues, funk and other styles. He's an in-demand musician who has played with Emmylou Harris, Bela Fleck, Lyle Lovett, Garth Brooks, and more.

In the 1970s, Bush, along with musicians Courtney Johnson, John Cowan and Curtis Burch, joined together as New Grass Revival and incorporated contemporary music elements in their performances and recordings. Since their music wasn’t bluegrass, technically, they coined the term “newgrass music,” which quickly became popular.

“I was very much encouraged to play music,” Bush, who was born and raised in Bowling Green, says in a Jubilee interview. “My sisters and I grew up loving music and playing and singing.”

Musicians like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix performing on television inspired and influenced him as a teenager, Bush says.

“It was a very fortunate time, because in the sixties, when I was learning to play music and going through high school, music was very wide open. I was just a sponge for all types of music.”

Bush appears in several episodes throughout the new season of Jubilee. In this season premiere, the Sam Bush Band performs, among others: “Roll On Buddy, Roll On;” “Unconditional Love;” “Ridin’ that Bluegrass Train;” Leon Russell’s “One More Love Song;” “Circles Around Me;” and “Howlin’ At The Moon.”

Members of the Sam Bush Band include: Bush on mandolin, fiddle and vocals; Chris Brown on drums; Stephen Mougin on guitar and vocals; Todd Parks on bass and vocals; and Scott Vestal on banjo, synth banjo and vocals.

Upcoming performances in this season of Jubilee include, among many others: Curtis Church Band, The Greencards, Act of Congress, and The Farewell Drifters.

Jubilee is a KET production. Nick Helton is the producer/director and Teresa Day is the executive producer. More information about Jubilee is available at ket.org/jubilee. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at ket.org.