Early history Beginning in 1967, the
Music City News Awards were presented yearly by the now–defunct
Music City News magazine. In 1988,
The Nashville Network (TNN) began a fan–voted awards show dubbed the '''Viewers' Choice Awards
to help the network celebrate its fifth anniversary; two were broadcast in 1988 and 1989. In 1990, the two awards shows merged to become the TNN/Music City News Country Awards'''. TNN's contract with
Music City News ended in 1999, and the magazine ceased publication shortly thereafter.
Country Weekly briefly became the presenting sponsor of the awards show in 2000, and the show was known as '
Country Weekly
presents the TNN Music Awards'.
2001–2021 In 2001, as TNN began to phase out its association with country music, the decision was made to shift the awards show to sister network
CMT. The 2001 show, known as the '
TNN/CMT Country Weekly
Music Awards', was simulcast on both networks. When the show moved permanently to CMT,
Country Weekly ended its brief association with the production. During this era, viewers voted for nominees by telephone or mail in traditional categories such as "Entertainer of the Year," "Male/Female Artist of the Year," "Song of the Year," etc. Most categories mirrored those at the
CMA Awards and
ACM Awards, except all were fan—voted. The ceremony was completely retooled in 2002 as the
CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards, named for the network's branding concept at the time for its most popular videos. "Flameworthy" was coined by program development vice president Kaye Zusmann, and aimed to symbolize the
waving of
lighters or similar lights at concerts (this was before the current negative meaning of the word
flaming from the Internet became more commonplace). The show became more production—based, rather than awards—based, and was modeled after sister network
MTV's
Video Music Awards. In the process, the traditional awards were shifted to specifically honor the music videos of country artists. The show included several non—traditional categories highlighting especially funny, sexy, and patriotic videos; however, these categories were phased out over the years. It differentiated itself furthet from the CMA Awards and
ACM Awards by showcasing
bluegrass performers such as
Alison Krauss and
Earl Scruggs. In 2020, the awards were delayed until October due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, with that year's CMA Fest not going forward. Initially planned for October 14, a scheduling conflict with that year's
Billboard Music Awards caused the ceremony to be pushed back to October 21.
2021–present On June 28, 2021, ViacomCBS (now known as
Paramount Global) announced that the ceremony would move to broadcast television on sister network
CBS and shift to April beginning in 2022. CBS subsequently declined to renew its broadcast rights to the ACM Awards (which were also traditionally held in April), citing declining viewership in comparison to increased rights fees demanded by
Dick Clark Productions. In 2023, after over twenty years in Nashville, the CMT Music Awards were hosted for the first time at the
Moody Center in
Austin, Texas. In February 2025,
Bruce Gillmer of
Paramount International Networks announced a one-year pause for a few selected events scheduled for 2025, including the CMT Music Awards, as Paramount seeks "to reimagine and optimize [our] events slate going forward". ==Major awards==