Change the Conversation was founded by music executives Leslie Fram, Tracy Gershon, and Beverly Keel in 2014 to address the growing gender disparities in country music. Despite country’s history of strong female voices, by the 2010s, few women were played on country radio. Fueled by their growing frustration with the lack of female artists being played, the founders organized their first meeting in January 2015, quickly gaining momentum with growing attendance each month.
The movement gained a national spotlight in May 2015 following controversial comments by radio consultant Keith Hill, who advised against playing multiple songs by female artists consecutively, claiming men like Luke Bryan were the "lettuce" of country music while women were merely "tomatoes." This incident, dubbed "Tomato-gate," visibly illustrated the biases female artists faced and ignited widespread support for Change the Conversation.
