Singer Chris Gardner, CMA Texas Song of the Year artist featured on Newsmakers

(From KGCS)

Texas is its own brand when it comes to country music. This week on Newsmakers, Mary Minter, director of Country Music Artists Association (CMA) of Texas explains the music circuit there and why she doesn’t believe music charts are the best measure of quality. She’s joined by singer/songwriter Chris Gardner whose song “Real American Hero” was named Song of the Year for 2025 by CMA Texas which celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2025.

Gardner and Minter talk about notching a career in music, the challenges of touring versus playing locally in Texas and the importance of storytelling in songwriting.

Newsmakers is airing nightly at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. the week of September 29 on KGCS-TV and will air at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, October 5 on KOAM-TV. It is also posted on the station’s YouTube channel: KGCS - Missouri Southern State University.

KGCS programming can be seen on channel 21 and is also available on regional cable television systems such as Sparklight, Mediacom and Optimum Internet in Carthage. The station operates as a service of the Department of Communication at Missouri Southern State University.