About

Clay Hunnicutt is the Co-Founder of Honey Music, and was most recently the EVP Label Operations of Big Machine Label Group. He helped to oversee the day-to-day operations of 5 major record label imprints encompassing Marketing, Digital, Creative, Accounting, Brand Partnerships, Music Sync, and other vital areas of operation. Before the move to EVP, Clay was the General Manager of Big Machine Records. Home to acts including Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Carly Pearce, Midland, Jackson Dean, and more. Prior to joining Big Machine, he was the fellow Creator, President, and Partner of Big Loud Records. Creating a genre defining record label and boasting the signings of Morgan Wallen, Hardy, Jake Owen, Chris Lane and other.

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Clay began his 27-year radio career in Chattanooga at US-101 FM while still in college at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He began as an unpaid intern in the Production Department which turned into a part time position, then Production Director, Imaging Director, Assistant Program Director, and ultimately Program Director of the 9-time CMA Radio Station of the Year. Clay also spent a year and a half as Program Director of WGAR-FM in Cleveland, Ohio. That was followed by a 3-year tour of duty as the Director of Programming for Clear Channel’s 5 station cluster in Nashville, TN. (WSIX, WRVW, WLAC, WNRQ, and WUBT). After Nashville, Clay was the Director of Programming for the Atlanta 5 station cluster (WKLS, WUBL, WWVA, WBZY, and WGST), along with the Atlanta Braves Radio Network, and a Regional Vice President of Programming in the Southeast. For 2+ years, Clay also led Clear Channel Media and Entertainment’s division of Community Engagement (now called “Communities”), which coordinates all the public service creation and outreach for CC M + E’s 850 stations. 

 

Next for 5 years he served as the Executive VP of Programming for Clear Channel’s major markets working with all formats, talent, and stations. 

His final step in IHeartMedia was the two primary capacities as Executive VP and General Manager of iHeartMedia’s National Programming Platforms, and VP/Brand Manager of Country Programming.

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Clay is also on the Board of Directors for the Country Radio Broadcasters. Alumni of Leadership Music – Class of 2005. AND he is a 2025 inductee into Country Radio Hall of Fame!