Last week, KIIM Tucson, Ariz., PD Buzz Jackson posed an interesting question and comment. “Of all the songs I added last year, less than a third are still on the radio,” he said. “There were a bazillion new acts going for adds this month. How many will still be here in a year?”

This week, we set out to try to answer his question. While there’s no telling which of this year’s new acts will still be viable next year, we were able to look back at the last few years and see which of the newbies had legs, and how many simply failed to connect.

In the first installment of this study, we look at the track record of the whopping 71 new artists introduced to country radio in 2008. Of that batch, just 10 acts are still releasing singles that are being taken seriously by radio programmers. That’s about a 14% success rate!

From the class of 2008, just two major stars have emerged so far—Zac Brown Band and Darius Rucker—although several others have also achieved significant success. They include Jewel, Justin Moore, Ashton Shepherd and Randy Houser, who was introduced that year with a debut single (“Anything Goes”) and an ad campaign depicting him as remarkably well-coiffed and groomed compared to the more comfortable look he’s settled into today.

For the purposes of this exercise, both Rucker and Jewel were considered to be “new” artists, although both had big successes previously as pop artists. Also “new” to country that year was the much less successful Jessica Simpson, who was quickly shown the door by country radio. Rockers Eddie Money and John Mellencamp both also had singles unsuccessfully worked to country radio that year.

Among the artists who seemed to quickly come and go in 2008 were Mica Roberts, Adam Gregory, Dean Brody, Canadian band The Road Hammers (who have since broken up), Emma Mae Jacob (touted in trade ads that year with the tag line “A star is born”), and numerous others. And it wasn’t just acts on small indie labels who faded fast. Big Machine Records had a rare miss with Fisher Stevenson and his single, “No Tomorrow Here Tonight.” Ditto for Arista Nashville with Kristy Lee Cook’s “15 Minutes of Shame.” Emily West was introduced by Capitol Records Nashville in early 2008, and by the time she finally earned her first Academy of Country Music Award nomination three years later, she’d already been dropped by the label, but not before they’d made a dedicated and sustained effort to break her—unusual in today’s churn and burn label climate.

Cook, an “American Idol” finalist, was part of a larger trend of reality TV stars who landed with a thud at country radio. Also included in that group in 2008 was “AI” finalist Phil Stacey, “Nashville Star” winner Melissa Lawson, previous “Nashville Star” finalist Joshua Stevens, and “CMT’s Gone Country” winner Julio Iglesias, Jr. whose “The Way I Want You” was dead on arrival at country radio.

One 2008 exception was “Dancing With The Stars” cast member Julianne Hough, who debuted with good sales and very respectable airplay for her debut single, “That Song In My Head.” But her follow-up album, while recorded, has yet to be released, as she appears to be concentrating on an acting career.

It’s not only the artists that have come and gone quickly. Several of the 71 acts introduced in 2008 were on labels that no longer exist, including Country Thunder, Equity, Midas, Montage and Rocky Comfort.

In Tuesday’s Stark Country newsletter, we’ll take a look at the track record of new artists from 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile, feel free to weigh in on this topic by e-mailing me at phyllisstark@radio-info.com.