WSM (AM)
Encyclopedia
WSM is the callsign of a 50,000 watt AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee
. Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America
and various countries, especially late at night. It now bears the distinction of being the only AM clear channel station in the eastern U.S to broadcast music; practically all the others employ a variation of a news/talk format, such as all-sports, all-business, all-news, etc. The WSM callsign is also assigned to an FM station in Nashville, and was shared by Nashville's then co-owned television
Channel 4, now WSMV, until 1981. WSM has been nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South". The station is most known as the home of The Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running radio program.
In addition to music, WSM broadcasts headline news segments from CBS Radio Network News
at the start of most hours. However some hours are led off by local news reports from WSM, while times blocked for music programs such as the Grand Ole Opry do not include any news segments.
It first signed on in 1925 and is primarily associated with the popularization of country music
through its weekly Saturday night program the Grand Ole Opry
, the longest-running radio program in history. Grand Ole Opry began as the WSM Barn Dance in 1925. In 1932, it boosted its power to 50,000 watts, becoming Tennessee's first clear-channel station. In addition to its vast nighttime coverage area, the station boasts one of the largest daytime coverage areas in the country. It provides at least grade B coverage as far east as Chattanooga, as far north as Evansville, Indiana
, as far west as Jackson, Tennessee
and as far south as Huntsville, Alabama
. Under the right conditions, it can be heard in nearly all of Tennessee and much of Kentucky
, and can be picked up as far away as Atlanta and the Metro-East
portion of the St. Louis area.
The station traditionally played country music in the nighttime hours, when listeners from around the United States would tune in. Before the advent of television, the station broadcast long-form radio (both local and NBC
network) programs in addition to music. After television became popular (thus largely eliminating the audience for the old full-length radio programs of the past), WSM adopted a "MOR" (middle of the road) music format during the daytime hours, and continued to play country music at night. It was not until about 1979 that WSM adopted a 24-hour country music format, which it continues to program to this day.
(manufactured by Blaw-Knox
) is visible from Interstate 65
just south of Nashville (in Brentwood
) and is one of the area's landmarks. When the 878-foot tower was built in 1932, it was the tallest antenna in North America. Its height was reduced to 808 feet (246 m) in 1939. For a period during World War II it was designated to provide transmissions to submarines in the event that ship-to-shore communications were lost. It is now one of the oldest operating broadcast towers in the United States. It was also part of the CONELRAD
US National Emergency Plan in the event of a nuclear war
, or another national catastrophe
.
As a tribute to the station's centrality in country music history, the diamond antenna design was incorporated into the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's design in 2001. The tower is listed as a National Engineering Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
on March 15, 2011.
, the full owner of WSM-FM since 2003, ended its joint sales agreement with the AM (see below). Despite identical callsigns, the two stations are no longer related.
, along with WSM-TV, and the Grand Ole Opry. The stations' call letters derived from the company's motto, "We Shield Millions". Studios were first located in the NL&AI building on Seventh Avenue and Union Street in downtown Nashville; this was the original home of the Opry, until 1934. The studios remained until the mid-1960s, when NL&AI began carrying out plans to build a new headquarters building
downtown and construct new studios for WSM-TV in west Nashville (the TV station had been located near Belmont College
). Upon construction of the new headquarters, NL&AI chose to relocate WSM radio to the TV station's building, and the station, joined in 1968 by its new FM sister, broadcast from that location, on Knob Road, from 1966 to 1983. In 1974, NL&AI reorganized itself as a holding company, NLT Corporation, with the WSM stations as one of the major subsidiaries.
In 1981, the American General Corporation (now part of the American International Group
) bought NLT. American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance operations, and sold Opryland Hotel, Opryland USA
, The Grand Ole Opry
, WSM-FM, and WSM-AM, to Gaylord Entertainment Company
. WSM-TV was sold to Gillett Broadcasting and is now WSMV. However, there was still considerable overlap between the stations' on-air personnel for some years after the ownership change. Gaylord would add the Nashville Network, now Spike TV
, to those holdings soon after those acquisitions. It would also move the WSM radio stations to new facilities at the Opryland Hotel, departing their 1970s building on Knob Road, which still houses WSMV today.
WSM broadcast in the C-QUAM format of AM stereo, which could be heard over several states at night, from 1982 until 2000.
WSM currently operates out of the former Roy Acuff
and Minnie Pearl
museums adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry House. The studio itself is located within the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, and visitors to the hotel may look into the studio 24 hours a day, provided the curtains are open, which they usually are. However, following the May 2010 floods that filled up to ten feet of water into parts of Gaylord Opryland, the station is currently broadcasting from its transmitter site in Brentwood and expects to remain there until the hotel is re-opened following cleanup, which could take several months.
In 2001, management had sought to capitalize on the success of sister station WWTN
's sports trappings by converting WSM to an all-sports format. Word was leaked to other media resulting in protests, including longtime Opry personalities and country music singers, outside the station's studios. Management eventually made the decision to keep the station on its classic country format.
In recent years, the operations have been reorganized again. In 2003, WSM-FM and WWTN, sister stations to 650 WSM, were sold to Cumulus Media. Cumulus intended to purchase 650 WSM as well, but Gaylord decided to maintain ownership at the eleventh hour. Through a 5-year joint sales agreement, however, Gaylord paid Cumulus a fee to operate WSM's sales department and provide news updates for the station. Gaylord Entertainment continued to control WSM and operate all other departments, including programming, engineering, and promotions. The agreement ended in 2008, at which point all control of the station reverted to Gaylord. The Opry, WSM, and its hotel division are now Gaylord Entertainment's core holdings.
, which carried a full-time simulcast of WSM's AM 650 signal, except during NASCAR
races. In 2006, the Sirius channel programmed by WSM ceased carrying the AM simulcast. WSM still programmed the channel known as WSM Entertainment (Channel 111) as a separate satellite radio feed, and it carried the same classic country music format as the AM signal. WSM personalities voiced announcements on WSM Entertainment. Some programs on AM 650 were still carried on WSM Entertainment, such as the evening request program and the Grand Ole Opry
. As of September 13, 2006, WSM programming is no longer carried on Sirius. About a year later, then-rival XM Satellite Radio
announced the carriage of the Grand Ole Opry
on Nashville!
channel 11 beginning in October 2007, as well as the Eddie Stubbs
Show on America
channel 10 beginning in November 2007. After the merger between Sirius and XM, the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts were moved to the service's The Roadhouse
channel, which is heard on both Sirius and XM.
WSM continues to reach a worldwide audience, through both its powerful 50,000 watt clear channel AM signal and via its Internet
simulcast.
parodied the distinctive style of WSM DJs on the album Aereo-plain, humorously changing the station's call letters to the phrase "Dorothy S. Ma'am."
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and various countries, especially late at night. It now bears the distinction of being the only AM clear channel station in the eastern U.S to broadcast music; practically all the others employ a variation of a news/talk format, such as all-sports, all-business, all-news, etc. The WSM callsign is also assigned to an FM station in Nashville, and was shared by Nashville's then co-owned television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
Channel 4, now WSMV, until 1981. WSM has been nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South". The station is most known as the home of The Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running radio program.
In addition to music, WSM broadcasts headline news segments from CBS Radio Network News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
at the start of most hours. However some hours are led off by local news reports from WSM, while times blocked for music programs such as the Grand Ole Opry do not include any news segments.
Heritage
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
through its weekly Saturday night program the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
, the longest-running radio program in history. Grand Ole Opry began as the WSM Barn Dance in 1925. In 1932, it boosted its power to 50,000 watts, becoming Tennessee's first clear-channel station. In addition to its vast nighttime coverage area, the station boasts one of the largest daytime coverage areas in the country. It provides at least grade B coverage as far east as Chattanooga, as far north as Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
, as far west as Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
and as far south as Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
. Under the right conditions, it can be heard in nearly all of Tennessee and much of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and can be picked up as far away as Atlanta and the Metro-East
Metro-East
Metro East is a region in Illinois that comprises the eastern suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It encompasses five Southern Illinois counties in the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. The region's most populated city is Belleville at 45,000 residents...
portion of the St. Louis area.
The station traditionally played country music in the nighttime hours, when listeners from around the United States would tune in. Before the advent of television, the station broadcast long-form radio (both local and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
network) programs in addition to music. After television became popular (thus largely eliminating the audience for the old full-length radio programs of the past), WSM adopted a "MOR" (middle of the road) music format during the daytime hours, and continued to play country music at night. It was not until about 1979 that WSM adopted a 24-hour country music format, which it continues to program to this day.
Tower
WSM's unusual diamond-shaped antennaRadio masts and towers
Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. They are among the tallest man-made structures...
(manufactured by Blaw-Knox
Blaw-Knox
Blaw-Knox is one of the most prominent manufacturers of road paving equipment in the world. After Ingersoll-Rand divested of their road-making equipment operations in 2007, the company became part of Volvo of Sweden's construction equipment division....
) is visible from Interstate 65
Interstate 65
Interstate 65 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States. The southern terminus is located at an intersection with Interstate 10 in Mobile, Alabama, and its northern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 90 , U.S. Route 12, and U.S...
just south of Nashville (in Brentwood
Brentwood, Tennessee
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,445 people, 7,693 households, and 6,808 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,889 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.63% European American, 1.89% African American,...
) and is one of the area's landmarks. When the 878-foot tower was built in 1932, it was the tallest antenna in North America. Its height was reduced to 808 feet (246 m) in 1939. For a period during World War II it was designated to provide transmissions to submarines in the event that ship-to-shore communications were lost. It is now one of the oldest operating broadcast towers in the United States. It was also part of the CONELRAD
CONELRAD
CONELRAD was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to serve two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing in on American cities by using radio or TV stations as beacons, and to provide...
US National Emergency Plan in the event of a nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
, or another national catastrophe
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
.
As a tribute to the station's centrality in country music history, the diamond antenna design was incorporated into the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's design in 2001. The tower is listed as a National Engineering Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on March 15, 2011.
FM sister
W47NV 47.7 MHZ was America's first commercial FM broadcast station. Its antenna is still mounted to the top of the Blaw Knox tower at Brentwood. It is rumored that Major E.H. Armstrong (inventor of Frequency Modulation) installed the antenna personally (as he loved climbing towers). After World War 2 W47NV became WSM-FM and moved frequencies to 103.3 MHZ, and was eventually sold off. Other stations on the east coast had signed on with FM, and Major Armstrong's "Yankee Network", but W47NV was the first commercial FM, the rest were non-commercial licenses. The current incarnation of WSM-FM was bought by National Life, and redesignated WSM-FM in 1968, an acquisition from another broadcaster. WSM-FM (95.5 MHz) was WSM's sister until 2008, when Cumulus MediaCumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
, the full owner of WSM-FM since 2003, ended its joint sales agreement with the AM (see below). Despite identical callsigns, the two stations are no longer related.
Ownership and facilities
For most of its history, WSM was owned by the Nashville-based National Life and Accident Insurance CompanyNational Life and Accident Insurance Company
The National Life and Accident Insurance Company is a former life insurance company which was based in Nashville, Tennessee.National Life and Accident began in 1900 as the National Sick and Accident Association, a mutual company...
, along with WSM-TV, and the Grand Ole Opry. The stations' call letters derived from the company's motto, "We Shield Millions". Studios were first located in the NL&AI building on Seventh Avenue and Union Street in downtown Nashville; this was the original home of the Opry, until 1934. The studios remained until the mid-1960s, when NL&AI began carrying out plans to build a new headquarters building
William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower
The William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower is skyscraper in downtown Nashville, Tennessee that houses Tennessee government offices. The tower was built for the National Life and Accident Insurance Company and served as its National Life Center until the State of Tennessee acquired it on January 3,...
downtown and construct new studios for WSM-TV in west Nashville (the TV station had been located near Belmont College
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...
). Upon construction of the new headquarters, NL&AI chose to relocate WSM radio to the TV station's building, and the station, joined in 1968 by its new FM sister, broadcast from that location, on Knob Road, from 1966 to 1983. In 1974, NL&AI reorganized itself as a holding company, NLT Corporation, with the WSM stations as one of the major subsidiaries.
In 1981, the American General Corporation (now part of the American International Group
American International Group
American International Group, Inc. or AIG is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is located in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in...
) bought NLT. American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance operations, and sold Opryland Hotel, Opryland USA
Opryland USA
Opryland USA was an amusement park located in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 until 1997...
, The Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
, WSM-FM, and WSM-AM, to Gaylord Entertainment Company
Gaylord Entertainment Company
The Gaylord Entertainment Company operates a number of hotel, resort, and media companies that were built by Edward Gaylord. It was previously a subsidiary of the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoma Publishing Company, which is owned by the Gaylord family and publishes the Daily Oklahoman newspaper...
. WSM-TV was sold to Gillett Broadcasting and is now WSMV. However, there was still considerable overlap between the stations' on-air personnel for some years after the ownership change. Gaylord would add the Nashville Network, now Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
, to those holdings soon after those acquisitions. It would also move the WSM radio stations to new facilities at the Opryland Hotel, departing their 1970s building on Knob Road, which still houses WSMV today.
WSM broadcast in the C-QUAM format of AM stereo, which could be heard over several states at night, from 1982 until 2000.
WSM currently operates out of the former Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
and Minnie Pearl
Minnie Pearl
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...
museums adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry House. The studio itself is located within the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, and visitors to the hotel may look into the studio 24 hours a day, provided the curtains are open, which they usually are. However, following the May 2010 floods that filled up to ten feet of water into parts of Gaylord Opryland, the station is currently broadcasting from its transmitter site in Brentwood and expects to remain there until the hotel is re-opened following cleanup, which could take several months.
In 2001, management had sought to capitalize on the success of sister station WWTN
WWTN
WWTN is a 100 kW, Class C0 FM radio station serving the Nashville, Tennessee media market. Its dial position is 99.7 MHz. Home to many local and national talk radio shows, the station is marketed as SuperTalk 99.7 WTN...
's sports trappings by converting WSM to an all-sports format. Word was leaked to other media resulting in protests, including longtime Opry personalities and country music singers, outside the station's studios. Management eventually made the decision to keep the station on its classic country format.
Reception outside the Nashville area
Since October 2002, the station has been a choice on Sirius Satellite RadioSirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
, which carried a full-time simulcast of WSM's AM 650 signal, except during NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
races. In 2006, the Sirius channel programmed by WSM ceased carrying the AM simulcast. WSM still programmed the channel known as WSM Entertainment (Channel 111) as a separate satellite radio feed, and it carried the same classic country music format as the AM signal. WSM personalities voiced announcements on WSM Entertainment. Some programs on AM 650 were still carried on WSM Entertainment, such as the evening request program and the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. As of September 13, 2006, WSM programming is no longer carried on Sirius. About a year later, then-rival XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
announced the carriage of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
on Nashville!
Nashville!
Nashville! was a commercial radio channel on XM Satellite Radio. It was located on XM 57 and lays a wide range of country music hits from the early 1990s through today. The channel was programmed out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Advertising sales are handled by Premiere Radio Networks...
channel 11 beginning in October 2007, as well as the Eddie Stubbs
Eddie Stubbs
Eddie Stubbs is a radio disc jockey broadcasting old-style country music on WSM, a radio station with a nighttime clear channel signal broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee...
Show on America
America (XM)
America was a channel on the XM Satellite Radio network that specialized in playing classic country music. It was available on channel 10 on XM and channel 808 on DirecTV...
channel 10 beginning in November 2007. After the merger between Sirius and XM, the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts were moved to the service's The Roadhouse
The Roadhouse
The Roadhouse was a Classic Country radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 62, XM Satellite Radio channel 10 and DISH Network channel 6062...
channel, which is heard on both Sirius and XM.
WSM continues to reach a worldwide audience, through both its powerful 50,000 watt clear channel AM signal and via its Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
simulcast.
Miscellany
Country and bluegrass legend John HartfordJohn Hartford
John Cowan Hartford was an American folk, country and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore...
parodied the distinctive style of WSM DJs on the album Aereo-plain, humorously changing the station's call letters to the phrase "Dorothy S. Ma'am."
Famous station alumni
- Ralph EmeryRalph EmeryWalter Ralph Emery is a country music disc jockey and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. He gained national fame hosting the syndicated television music series, Pop! Goes the Country, from 1974 to 1980 and the nightly Nashville Network television program, Nashville Now, from 1983 to 1993...
served as the overnight host of WSM from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. Because of his time slot, listeners all over the U.S. could hear Emery spin country music records. This and the Grand Ole OpryGrand Ole OpryThe Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
solidified WSM's central role in the history of country music. In the 1980s, Emery gained further national fame as the host of Nashville Now! on The Nashville NetworkSpike TVSpike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
; before then, he hosted syndicated radio and television country music interview shows, and a long-running, highly-rated morning show on WSMV-TV. - Pat SajakPat SajakPat Sajak is a television personality, former weatherman, actor and talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show Wheel of Fortune.-Early life:...
(host of TV's Wheel of Fortune) served as the afternoon air personality on WSM during the mid-1970s. During that time, he doubled as a voice-over announcer and weekend weathercaster on WSM-TV, channel 4. - Larry MunsonLarry MunsonLawrence Harry "Larry" Munson was a sports announcer and talk-show host based out of the U.S. city of Atlanta. He was best known for handling radio play-by-play of University of Georgia Bulldogs football games from 1966 to 2008...
was a sportscaster for the Nashville VolsNashville VolsThe Nashville Vols were a minor league baseball team based in Nashville, Tennessee from 1901 to 1963; the team was inactive in 1962. Known as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they were officially named the Nashville Volunteers in 1908 for the state's nickname, The...
, Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketballVanderbilt Commodores men's basketballThe Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball team represents Vanderbilt University in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference . The Commodores have won three SEC regular season titles . They have competed in ten NCAA Tournaments, making it to the Elite Eight once and the Sweet 16 six times...
and Vanderbilt Commodores footballVanderbilt Commodores footballThe Vanderbilt Commodores football program is a college football team that represents Vanderbilt University. The team currently competes in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Southeastern Conference...
in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as working for WSM-TV. He is best known today as the legendary voice of Georgia Bulldogs footballGeorgia Bulldogs footballThe Georgia Bulldogs football team represents the University of Georgia in football. The Bulldogs are a member of the Southeastern Conference and are frequently a top-25 team. The University of Georgia has had a football team since 1892 and has an all-time record of 738–398–54...
. - Grant Turner (born Jesse Granderson Turner) was known as the "dean of the Opry announcers" and had a nearly 50-year association with the station, also announcing country music programs in the early morning hours. His show was so popular that NL&AI used its title, Opryland USA, as the name for the theme park built in 1972.
- Teddy Bart, another Nashville broadcaster of long tenure, began as a singer on shows like Waking Crew and parlayed his skills into hosting that show and Nashville's first-ever call-in talk show in the late 1960s. He also hosted WSM-TV's Noon Show in the 1970s and anchored WKRN-TV's newscast briefly in the early 1980s before launching the group-discussion radio talk show Roundtable on WLACWLACWLAC is a clear channel radio station based in Nashville, Tennessee, operating at 1510 kHz on the AM dial.-Early history:Its first broadcast took place on November 24, 1926. The call letters were chosen to contain an acronym for the first owner of the station, the Life and Casualty Insurance...
in 1985, a show that ran for 20 years on several different stations. - Keith BilbreyKeith BilbreyKeith Bilbrey is an American country music disc jockey and television host in Nashville, Tennessee. He served as a disc jockey at Nashville's WSM, as an announcer on the Grand Ole Opry, and as the host of TNN’s Grand Ole Opry Live....
moved to Nashville in 1974 to begin working for WSM, first as a substitute announcer for WSM-FM and then as a full-time disc jockey on WSM’s FM and AM stations. Throughout his career, Bilbrey worked every single time slot at WSM and became an iconic voice in the modern history of the station and was truly a fan favorite. In 1982, Bilbrey began announcing on the Grand Ole Opry. When The Nashville Network (TNN) began televising a thirty minute portion of the show in 1985, the young announcer became the first host of Grand Ole Opry Live. Bilbrey hosted Opry Live, along with the Opry warm-up show, Backstage Live, until TNN stopped airing the show in 2000. He also hosted the Opry Warm-up show on WSM. His 35 year career at the station came to an end in 2009.
Airstaff
- Morning Drive (5:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.): Coffee, Country & Cody w/ Bill Cody & Charlie Mattos
- Middays (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.): WSM @ Work w/ Joe Limardi
- Afternoon Drive (3 p.m. - 7 p.m.): The Ride w/ Mike Terry
- Evenings (7 p.m. - 12 a.m.): The Eddie Stubbs Show
- Overnights (12 a.m. - 5:30 a.m.): The All Nighter w/ Marcia Campbell
External links
- WSM online
- WSM music player
- A visit to WSM
- Country Music Hall of Fame
- Traditional Country Hall of Fame-particularly strong on early WSM history
- Information on WSM's unusual tower