CMT is trying to broaden its viewership -- toward feminism and racial diversity and away from its historical white roots

The Washington Post

Executives at Country Music Television are hopeful that the summer of Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" is a sign that country music is looking to diversify. CMT isn't trying to abandon its core country demographic -- just broaden its appeal. "At the heart of CMT's shift is a question bedeviling much of Hollywood: how to deliver content for an underserved red-state audience while satisfying an impulse for progressivism," reports Steven Zeitchik. “We’re saying: ‘Let’s look at the programming slate. Let’s look at shows that appeal to the audience of CMT,'" says Chris McCarthy, the president of MTV, VH1 and Logo who began overseeing CMT last October. “But let’s not do it through residual eyes...We’re not leaving country’s traditional audience behind — we’re taking them with us."