Music

The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee and broadcast live on CMT. Voting takes place on CMT's website, CMT.com. The show was first established in 2002 as the CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards, a name coined by program development vice president Kaye Zusmann. Patterned after the MTV Video Music Awards, the show included several non-traditional categories highlighting especially funny, sexy, or patriotic videos. The show also differentiated itself from the CMA Awards and ACM Awards by showcasing bluegrass performers such as Alison Krauss and Earl Scruggs. In 2004, the Johnny Cash Visionary Award was introduced to honor innovation and vision in creating music. Reba McEntire was the first recipient of the award. The name of the show was changed to the CMT Music Awards in 2005, although the format remained the same as in previous years. In 2007, the Wide Open Country Video Award was introduced to recognize music not normally played on country radio. Jack Ingram's "Love You" was the first recipient.

Last year, MTV hosted the Video Music Awards in its birth place, New York City. But this year, it's time for a change of scenery, and the VMAs will take it to the West Coast when the show airs live from Los Angeles on September 12. And after 27 years, you know that when you tune in, you'll be treated to an unforgettable awards ceremony starring the biggest A-list presenters and rockin' performances from your favorite artists, plus plenty of Moonmen to give away.