WORTH NOTING ON TV

* WEDNESDAY

28th Annual Country Music Association Awards (CBS, 8-11 p.m., EDT): The country-music version of the Oscars and Emmys is this splashy event naming the entertainer of the year, top male and female vocalist, and a string of other prizes.

Some 60 country stars will appear as performers or presenters, including host Vince Gill, who has five nominations this year, among them entertainer of the year, top male vocalist, and album of the year. The singer-musician-songwriter also has won 11 CMA awards in the past, along with five Grammys.

Alan Jackson also has five nominations, but the leader this time is Reba McEntire with six. The program airs live from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

William Kennedy's Albany (PBS, 10-11 p.m.): This literary documentary examines novelist (``Ironweed,'' others) and screenwriter William Kennedy's relationship to his home city of Albany, N.Y., the literal and metaphorical setting for a whole cycle of his works. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle award, Kennedy often depicts troubled men and women grappling with past demons as they deal with the problems of the place and its people.

As the program explores Kennedy's view of Albany it mixes interviews, old clips, enacted scenes from Kennedy works, and talks with the author himself, showing how he discovers and deals with a range of subjects for writing.

* THURSDAY

Billy Ray Cyrus: a Year on the Road (ABC, 9-10 p.m.): Just in case you haven't had your fill of country music after the CMA awards show described above, here is a special that chronicles life on the road with one of country music's biggest stars. The popularizer of ``Achy Breaky Heart'' (sorry, but that's what it's called) is seen singing before a hometown audience in Kentucky, unveiling a statue of himself (no, really), and more.

At a concert in Virginia Beach, Va., he introduces songs from his new album, ``Storm in the Heartland.''

Please check local listings for these programs.