Blair Garner is an American radio personality. According to his After MidNite with Blair Garner show website, he purchased his first car at age 12. He is the host of the syndicated radio programs After MidNite with Blair Garner and The Blair Garner Show. As a country music air personality he won the Academy of Country Music's On-Air Personality of the Year award in 2004 and 2006 and has also been nominated for the prestigious Marconi Award and for Nationally Syndicated Air Personality by Billboard Magazine. Over his career, Blair has worked at stations across the country, including Dallas, Washington, D.C., Houston, New York City and Los Angeles.
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Garner's programs focus on country music hits from the past 10 years, along with some idle chatter and at least one contest, usually a giveaway of a recent CD release, per hour. In addition, Blair is recognized as one of Nashville's best interviewers. Country Music's top stars, including Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Reba McEntire have made it a point to appear on Blair's show to promote their projects. Garner has also interviewed stars outside of Nashville, including actor Kevin Costner, CNN's Larry King and WWE superstars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The Blair Garner Show and After MidNite with Blair Garner are syndicated nationally by Premiere Radio Networks. Both programs are identical to each other in every manner except for name. After MidNite is heard on, at last count, 234 affiliates across the United States, while the Blair Garner Show was last known to be on about 40 stations. The After MidNite portion of the show is currently heard on the Nashville! channel on Sirius XM Radio.
"From High Atop the Hills of Hollywood, it's after midnite with Blair Garner."
Eight hours of programming are produced each night, two under the name of the Blair Garner Show and six under the name of After Midnite. When After Midnite first launched in 1993 it aired six hours each night, five nights per week, and when the Blair Garner Show was added in 2006, that initially expanded to eleven hours, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. (to compete with shows such as The Lia Show, The Big Time with Whitney Allen, GAC Nights: Live from Nashville, and others). Since most stations had a local host in the 7-10 p.m. time slot, the show as a whole has since been reduced to eight hours. The Blair Garner Show airs from 10 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time and After Midnite airs from midnight to 6 a.m. Eastern Time (each time zone has its own tape-delayed broadcast).
Garner's programs, prior to 2007, only aired five nights per week and a separate host would be brought in to host After Midnite Weekend on early Saturdays and Sundays. The host of this version of the show changed frequently; J.T. Cole, Whitney Allen and Larry Morgan were among the hosts of After Midnite Weekend. Since 2007, snippets of Garner's weeknight shows (with the contests removed) have been aired on the weekends instead, following budget cuts at Clear Channel. Morgan remains listed as a "fill in" host.
The show, traditionally, has been broadcast from Clear Channel's studios in Los Angeles, as revealed in the show's opening slogan, "Broadcasting from high atop the hills of Hollywood, this is After Midnite with Blair Garner." However, as of 2009, the show is being broadcast from Blackbird Studio in Nashville, TN, making the show's flagship station WSIX-FM, a Clear Channel station. It is unclear whether this move is permanent or temporary, as the show would occasionally do remote broadcasts from Nashville for special events, such as Fan Fair.
In 2007, the show was nominated for the Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year award by Radio & Records magazine. Other finalists included Delilah, Steve Harvey, Kidd Kraddick, The Lia Show, and John Tesh.[1]