WESTERN FASHION & LIFESTYLE

Rodeo arenas may have historically featured cowboy-oriented events, but the recent explosion of popularity in women’s rodeo sports such as barrel racing and breakaway has shown that women are just as hungry as men to make names for themselves in western sports.

These combined factors made 2023 the right time to launch the Cowgirl Channel, an all-new television network dedicated to celebrating the women of western sports and culture. It’s the newest offering from Rural Media Group, Inc., the team behind the Cowboy Channel and RFD-TV.

FARM & RANCH LIVING

The Cowgirl Channel, which officially launched on March 1, celebrates the lives and accomplishments of America’s cowgirls. It looks to honor everything that defines the cowgirl who aspires for greatness in her many roles. She may be a leading rodeo athlete who’s not afraid to get her hands dirty on the farm, while at the same time, she may be a loving and dedicated wife and mother who works hard always to ensure the best for her family.

MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT

The channel boasts an array of original programming, including documentary and reality shows that put a unique lens on women and their roles in rodeo sports. It will also feature educational content, such as shows about horsemanship and women’s history in western culture.

Patrick Gottsch, the founder of Rural Media Group, Inc., knew for quite some time that there was room for another western-focused channel on cable television. But the seemingly sudden explosion of women’s western sports made right now the perfect time for his team to launch the Cowgirl Channel.

“The Cowboy Channel has been on the air for five years now, and it was obvious that the programming being made available to us from women’s organizations, sports, and events was growing and growing and growing. Starting a channel devoted to women made sense,” he says.

Viewers can expect live broadcasts and round-ups of women’s sports, just as they might see on the Cowboy Channel. Soon, they’ll be able to tune in for a daily women’s western sports roundup similar to the one on the Cowboy Channel. However, the content will be more than just rodeo, as Gottsch expects also to have coverage of other events and competitions of interest to Western women, such as horse shows. Viewers will also find content unique to the Cowgirl Channel, such as programming that explores the lives of women ranchers or, eventually, shows that broadcast western cooking and fashion. The channel acts as a platform for women to share their stories and their contributions to the unique culture of the American west.

“I’m really excited about western home shopping,” Gottsch says. “We’ve wanted to do that for quite some time, both on RFD-TV and the Cowboy Channel, and just never figured out how to do it. The Cowgirl Channel will now be able to produce western home shopping daily and do fashion shows down in the stockyards that will air on the Cowgirl Channel.”

However, rodeo is a time-honored tradition for both men and women, and Cowgirl Channel viewers can expect to see plenty of it. It will feature interviews with women rodeo athletes and document their lives as professional ropers and riders. Women’s rodeo sports are more popular than ever, and more coverage and exposure can only lead to more growth opportunities. With the Cowgirl Channel’s launch, people across rural America will now have access to the daily lives of Western women, who not only compete to be the best in rodeo sports like breakaway roping and barrel racing.

Exclusive Feature

As another benefit, the channel also serves as another conduit for live event coverage. For example, if the Cowboy Channel is live broadcasting a major rodeo event that overlaps with another, then the Cowgirl Channel’s programming schedule can take the reigns on that second event, allowing viewers to check in on their preferred event and thereby providing more comprehensive coverage of the rodeo scene overall.

But ultimately, the channel is all about having a womenoriented focus.

“We want to help create events directly for women and plan on doing some of that ourselves. Right here in the Fort Worth stockyards, we’ve got the Coliseum available to us here during the daytime hours and some weeknights where we could even be holding Cowgirl Channel competitions and jackpots for breakaway roping, barrel racing, ranch rodeo, and everything else that’s out there,” Gottsch says.

Shining a spotlight on these women becomes an ongoing exchange, as this coverage leads to more opportunities to put on women’s events. These events lead to more opportunities for sponsorships, endorsements, advertisements, and overall industry growth.

“It’s a real partnership. Obviously, we want content. We want original content that people are going to be interested in watching. And they want to create events,” Gottsch says of the women in the industry.

Knowing the channel needs the right talent to thrive, Gottsch personally selected Hailey Frederiksen as on-air talent. And for Frederiksen, who was ending her tenure as Miss Rodeo America 2022 and always had the Cowboy Channel on her mind as a future career, it was a dream come true.

“What Patrick and his family have done is truly remarkable and has changed the face of this industry. And we’ll just keep doing it with the Cowgirl Channel. I can’t wait to be one of the pioneers, so to speak, on the channel and to help grow what he and his family have done.” she says.

Frederiksen has a deep passion for the Western lifestyle and is thrilled to have a chance to share that with a national audience.

“When you look at the cowgirl, she’s so much more than just a gal that rides horses. She’s a mother, she’s a daughter, she’s a sister. She’s a friend, she can be in the kitchen. She could whip out an apple pie but still hop on a horse and break colts. It’s amazing what a cowgirl can do. And I think we’re trying to showcase the beauty and the grit of the cowgirl,” she says.

It’s easy to know what your audience wants to see when you also represent a channel’s target demographic. Frederiksen is particularly excited to see channel content around fashion, cooking, and of course, rodeo sports.

“I actually got to attend an event called Art of the Cowgirl in Queen Creek, Arizona, this year. And if I could describe the Cowgirl Channel, it would be that event. It had art, it had cooking, it had women ropers, it had women’s ranch riding. It had everything that a cowgirl is, all wrapped up into one event,” she says. “There’s just so much content that we have yet to tap into on the Cowboy Channel that we’re going to do on the Cowgirl Channel. I think that’s what’s so exciting about all this.”

The Cowgirl Channel is available on DISH Network channel 269 and SlingTV. And, if it’s unavailable where you live, you can also subscribe via Cowboy Channel+ to view Cowgirl Channel content on demand from anywhere you can get internet access, plus watch live feeds of major rodeo events. You can also support the Cowgirl Channel and its mission by following its official accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. •