Final nominees for the nation’s top Country radio stations and broadcast personalities were announced today when rising Country stars Bucky Covington and Chuck Wicks revealed the 2008 CMA Broadcast Personality and Radio Station of the Year finalists during the CMA Awards Nominees Press Conference at The Sommet Center in Nashville.

The announcements were carried live to Country radio stations by CMA’s official radio partner Premiere Radio Networks.

The winners will be notified in mid-October and will be acknowledged at “The 42nd Annual CMA Awards,” to be held Wednesday, Nov. 12

Country music superstar Kenny Chesney received a leading seven nominations for the Country Music Awards Wednesday, boosting his chances to retain his coveted title of entertainer of the year.

Chesney’s “Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates” was released in September 2007 to great success, both critically and commercially. It made its debut on the Billboard 200 at No. 3.

Chesney's nominations included album of the year, male vocalist and entertainer of the year, a category he has won for the past two years. Other nominees for the award included Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, George Strait and Sugarland.

The latter two each received five nominations, including single of the year - Strait for I Saw God Today and Sugarland for Stay.

Jennifer Nettles garnered six nods, five of which came from her band Sugarland. Other multiple nominees included Urban, Carrie Underwood and Alan Jackson.

Chesney's Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, competes with Underwood's Carnival Ride, Jackson's Good Time, Strait's Troubadour and Brooks & Dunn's Cowboy Town for album of the year.

The nominees for male vocalist were Chesney, Jackson, Paisley, Strait and Urban, while Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood were nominated in the female vocalist category.