Introduction
WSM’s central role in building Nashville is asserted in Brown, Les, “WSM Stretched ‘Opry’ a Country Mile, Catapulted Nashville as C&W Centre,” Variety, Oct. 29, 1969. The Peter Taylor quote about Nashville comes from the novel A Summons To Memphis. Historical facts about Nashville come from Doyle.
Chapter 1: On the Very Air We Breathe
Jack DeWitt’s interaction with Ward-Belmont School was recorded in the Ward-Belmont Hyphen, Apr. 1, 1920, and Apr. 21, 1922, Belmont University library, Nashville. DeWitt’s biographical details are drawn from an interview with Chuck McDonald and an unpublished autobiography, both in the collection of Gaylord Entertainment; a DeWitt family diary; and a Country Music Foundation (CMF) oral history interview with John Rumble, July 1986. Early radio history comes from Barnouw and Douglas. The origins of National Life are covered in Stamper; the origins of WSM and opening night are covered in the Tennessean, the Nashville Banner, and Broadcast News, Nov. 12, 1932.
ALSO CITED:
DeWitt, John H., Jr., “Early Radio Broadcasting in Middle Tennessee.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly. Spring 1972.
Johnson, Dixon, “Let Jack Alone.” The Nashville Tennessean Magazine, May 12, 1946.
Davis, Louise Littleton, “From Chicken House to the Moon.” Nashville Tennessean Magazine, June 2, 1963.
“WSM, at Nashville, ‘We Shield Millions.’ ” Radio Digest, Nov. 7, 1925.
The Shield: Mar. 11, 1924; Apr. 28, 1925; Aug. 11, 1925; Sept. 22, 1925; Sept. 29, 1925; Oct. 6, 1925; Oct. 20, 1925.
Nashville Banner: Oct. 4–6, 1925.
Author interviews: Ward DeWitt, Elizabeth Proctor, Neil Craig, Margaret Ann Robinson.
CMF oral history with David Stone.
Chapter 2: The Ears Are Eyes
The baseball anecdote comes largely from the Banner, Oct. 5, 1925. Jack Keefe’s biography comes from his obituaries in the Banner and Tennessean on Oct. 15, 1954. Early programming and personality details are drawn from The Shield, which was renamed Our Shield in 1926. Many early WSM performers and shows are described in the Nov. 12, 1932, issue of Broadcast News. Edwin Craig’s struggles with interference come from correspondence in WSM station files at the National Archives. Station budget figures come from WSM testimony before the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), Docket No. 887, Sept. 1930. The riverfront story is from Shelton’s memoir. The chapter also relies on Wolfe’s Good Natured Riot for the origins of the Opry, and Ikard’s Near You on Francis Craig, as well as Jack Hurst’s Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, Morton and Wolfe’s DeFord Bailey, Hawkins and Escott’s Shot in the Dark, Foust’s Big Voices of the Air, and Peterson’s Creating Country Music.
ALSO CITED:
Davis, Louise, “He Raised a Rookus.” Nashville Tennessean Magazine, Aug. 17, 1952.
Garvey, Daniel E, “Secretary Hoover and the Quest for Broadcast Regulation.” Journalism History 3:3. Autumn 1976.
“WSM’s Fourth Birthday.” Radio Digest, Oct. 1929.
The Shield or Our Shield: Sept. 22, 1925; Oct. 27, 1925; Nov. 24, 1925; Jan. 19, 1926; Mar. 16, 1926; May 25, 1926; June 15, 1926; Oct. 5, 1926; Oct. 12, 1926; Nov. 2, 1926; Dec. 7, 1926; Jan. 4, 1927; Jan. 3, 1928; Jan. 11, 1927; Feb. 21, 1928; Mar. 20, 1928; Mar. 27, 1928; Apr. 14, 1928; June 19, 1928; July 3, 1928; Nov. 8, 1928.
Author interviews: Donia Craig Dickerson, Elizabeth Proctor.
CMF oral histories: David Stone, Vito Pellettieri.
Chapter 3: A Pleasing Spectacle
The international fan mail to WSM was recorded in a little-known National Life publication for policyholders called Shielded Homes (fourth quarter 1931) from the collection of Leroy Troy. The full-power hearings and related documents come from the archives of the FRC, National Archives, Docket No. 887. Details of George Hay’s wage garnishing of DeFord Bailey can be found in Morton and Wolfe, p. 84. Francis Craig and Beasley Smith details come from Ikard and from Broome and Tucker’s The Other Music City, plus a Nashville Banner story (“Smith to Conduct 25–Piece Jubilee Orchestra,” March 21, 1951). Minnie Pearl’s story comes from her autobiography. Alton Delmore’s observation of the tower comes from his autobiography. Day-to-day details of the station and programs come from Our Shield, the Tennessean and the Banner.
ALSO CITED:
“Nine Stations Given Maximum Power.” Broadcasting, Oct. 15, 1931.
“WABC Half-Wave Antenna Promising.” Broadcasting, Oct. 15, 1931.
Broadcast News: Mar. 19, 1932; Apr. 30, 1932; June 4, 1932; July 9, 1932; July 23, 1932;
Our Shield: Feb. 5, 1929; Oct. 30, 1928; Jan. 20, 1931; May 10, 1932; May 17, 1932; May 24, 1932; May 31, 1932; June 7, 1932; July 19, 1932; Aug. 2, 1932; June 21, 1932; Aug. 9, 1932 (source of the “steeplechase” metaphor); Oct. 4, 1932; Nov. 8, 1932; Nov. 22, 1932.
Author interviews: Donia Craig Dickerson, Neil Craig, Ridley Wills II, Watt Hairston, Marjorie Cooney.
Chapter 4: Air Castle of the South
The scene with the Pan American is reconstructed from detailed accounts of the broadcast included in Aaron Shelton’s memoir, plus several articles (“Did You Ever See a Locomotive Dress-Rehearse?” Shielded Homes, third quarter 1935; Harris, Jack, “Radio Broadcast Revels in Romance of the Rails,” Radio Varieties, May 1940.) The Depression in Nashville is covered in volume two of Doyle’s Nashville Since the 1920s. The internal National Life correspondence comes from the collection of Ridley Wills II. Ed Kirby’s papers at the Library of American Broadcasting (LAB) include several biographical sketches. Also see Broadcasting (“How Radio Is Selling Life Insurance,” Feb. 1, 1935, and “We Pay Our Respects to Edward Montague Kirby,” Feb. 1, 1937.) The “early training guide” is in the Library of Congress (A Guide Book to Ordinary Production for Old and New Shield Men, National Life, 1932). The Stone story about Jehovah’s Witnesses is from Ed Kirby’s written recollections for a “Radio Pioneers” archive, dated Feb. 15, 1952, at the LAB. Harry Stone’s memories come from “Looking Back,” a first-person account published in Country Music Who’s Who, year unknown. The Opry’s progress comes from Wolfe, Hay, and an Our Shield story from Nov. 2, 1936, plus Vito Pellettieri’s oral history at the CMF. The Tennessean editorial praising the Opry was published July 3, 1935. Jim Denny’s biography comes largely from Cunniff’s Journal of Country Music series, cited in the bibliography. Minnie Pearl’s autobiography is referenced. Jack Harris material comes from an oral history by Joseph Ryan at KPRC-TV, Channel 2, Houston, Aug. 16, 1993, collected at LAB, as well as Shielded Homes, fourth quarter 1934. Snooky Lanson’s story comes from Ikard and the Tennessean (York, Max, “Snooky Still Has a Song,” May 23, 1976). Dinah Shore’s details come from Cassiday. Facts about WSM’s involvement with the Fisk Jubilee Singers comes from Harry Stone’s FCC testimony, 1947, at Vanderbilt University. George Hay’s experience with news wire services comes from Grant Turner’s “Grant’s Corner” script, March 26, 1987, Gaylord collection.
ALSO CITED:
Our Shield: Apr. 4, 1933; Apr. 18, 1933; Apr. 25, 1933; Jan. 1, 1934; Jan. 8, 1934; Jan. 22, 1934; Feb. 5, 1934; Feb. 12, 1934; Mar. 5, 1934; Mar. 26, 1934; Apr. 2, 1934; Aug. 27, 1934; Oct. 8, 1934; Dec. 10, 1934; Mar. 4, 1935; Aug. 12, 1935; Oct. 28, 1935; Dec. 2, 1935; Jan. 20, 1936; Feb. 3, 1936.
Author interviews: Majorie Kirby, Neil Craig, Les Leverett, Charles Wolfe, Ridley Wills II.
CMF oral histories: Irving Waugh, Jack DeWitt, Vito Pellettieri, David Stone.
Chapter 5: We Must Serve These People Tonight
Details about the National Life building come from the Home Office Shield, a company publication (November 1935), as well as Stamper. The news operation is documented in Shielded Homes (third quarter 1937). Remote broadcasts come from Shelton and the Home Office Shield (April 1938). Details of the flood are found in oral histories by Jack DeWitt (CMF) and Jack Harris, as well as written memoirs by Shelton and Ed Kirby, plus Our Shield (Feb. 1, 1937, and Mar. 1, 1937). Also essential is Harry Stone’s FCC testimony, 1947, where the teletype transcript was recorded. Regional context came from the Banner. Clear channel information comes from Foust and Broadcasting. The facsimile experiments are drawn from Rural Radio and WSM’s FCC license renewal application, June 1939, National Archives. The birth of Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) is well covered in Malone, Sanjeck, and Sanjeck, and the CMF book edited by Kingsbury, Country: The Music and the Musicians.
ALSO CITED:
Fuqua, Tom, “Radio Weather Forecast as ‘Stormy’ for Next Five Years.” Tennessean,
July 8, 1934. “WSM Opens Short-Wave Station.” Rural Radio, May 1939.
Author interviews: Beverly LeCroy, Marjorie Cooney, Marjorie Kirby, Bill Barry.
Chapter 6: Guts and Brass
A bit of Jack Harris’s Gone with the Wind coverage can be heard at the Lost and Found Sound archives (www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/001124.wsm.html), and scenes from Atlanta come from Worthy, Larry, “Gone with the Wind Atlanta Premiere,” About North Georgia (http://ngeorgia.com/feature/gwtwpremiere.html). Background on Jack Stapp comes from the Atlanta Constitution (Mar. 13, 1932, and May 29, 1932), the Sunday American (Mar. 25, 1934), a WSM bio from the Gaylord archives, and Stapp’s two oral history interviews at the CMF (Aug. 8, 1972, and May 14, 1974). Show dates and times are confirmed by ten years of WSM program guides prepared for advertisers, on file in Vanderbilt University’s special collections. The Nashville Times celebrated WSM on Oct. 15, 1939, and the Opry on Jan. 18, 1940. Owen Bradley material comes from a long interview with Otto Bash and Edward Morris in the Nashville Musician, Aug./Sept., 1988, as well as Robert K. Oermann’s “In Memory of Owen Bradley” in the Journal of Country Music, Broome and Tucker, and Hawkins and Escott. Pietro Brescia was profiled in the Nashville Times, Dec. 24, 1939. Episodes of Mr. Smith Goes to Town and Riverboat Revels was included in Cantrell’s WSM Remembers radio program, and scripts for Revels are on file at Vanderbilt. World War II staff departures and field reporting are documented in Shelton. Jack Harris’s oral history informs WSM’s news coverage of the war, along with the Harris and Kirby book, Star-Spangled Radio. Wartime service is covered in Harry Stone’s 1947 FCC testimony, the Rinks dissertation, the DeWitt autobiography, the Shelton memoir, and the WSM application for a Variety magazine award, at Vanderbilt special collections.
ALSO CITED:
Harris, Jack, “1939 at WSM in Retrospect.” Shielded Homes, second quarter, 1940.
Sparks, Jim. “An Interview with Owen Bradley.” Advantage Magazine, Oct. 1984.
“Band Goes to Wrong Station but Fast Work Puts It on Air.” Banner, Nov. 27, 1943.
Author interviews: Jud Collins, Ridley Wills, Bill Denny, Irving Waugh.
CMF oral histories: Jack Stapp, Irving Waugh.
Chapter 7: One of Our Boys Shoots the Moon
The section on the Opry’s moves references Sherman’s history of Union Station, Eiland’s history of the Ryman, and Stone’s Who’s Who article. Minnie Pearl’s anecdotes come from her autobiography. John Rumble’s dissertation is the basis for biographical facts about Fred Rose. Country music history comes from Malone and the Encyclopedia of Country Music. Stapp’s remark about the music spreading comes from Hemphill. Grant Turner disclosed many biographical details in his “Grant’s Corner” commentary scripts, Gaylord files. The origins of Noontime Neighbors and John McDonald come from Rinks, Stone’s FCC testimony, the Tennessean (York, Max, “First Broadcast Almost Ended Career,” Oct. 5, 1980.), and a speech by McDonald to BMI (“Building and Holding a Rural Audience,” June 25, 1951), on file at LAB. Particulars of DeWitt’s moon radar experiment can be found in Broadcasting, Jan. 28, 1946; the Washington Post, Jan. 27, 1946; the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 27, 1946; the Kansas City Times, Mar. 18, 1946; DeWitt’s autobiography; and “Project Diana” at www.infoage.org/diana.html.
ALSO CITED:
“WSM Voluntary Transfer Asked of FCC Follows Pattern of WOW Transaction,” Broadcasting. Feb. 12, 1945.
Author interviews: Cal Young, Beverly Le Croy, Jud Collins, Neil Craig, Irving Waugh.
Chapter 8: It Helped Everybody in the Long Run
Thoughts on Harry Stone come from the Cherry R&R interview with Irving Waugh, Jack DeWitt’s CMF oral history, and Cunniff’s Jim Denny articles. The journalists’ visit is documented in memos and letters archived at Vanderbilt University. The origins of Bullet Records and Castle Recording are covered in Hawkins and Escott, Shelton, and the articles listed below. Numerous records cleared for airplay by Francis Craig (and a few that weren’t) are in the collection of Les Leverett. Craig’s success with “Near You” is described in detail in Ikard, as well as in Hawkins and Escott. Jack Stapp’s CMF oral history is the basis for the Anita Kerr material. The Hank Williams anecdotes comes from Elizabeth Proctor and Escott. Origins of the Friday Night Frolic come from CMF oral histories and author interviews with Irving Waugh. David Cobb tells the “Music City” story in a CMF oral history (1983). According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the first Grand Ole Opry trademark application was filed Jan. 3, 1949, and granted July 11, 1950.
ALSO CITED:
Flans, Robyn, “The History of Nashville Recording.” Mix, Mar. 1988.
Rumble, John, “The Emergence of Nashville as a Recording Center.” Journal of Country Music, Vol. 7, No. 3.
Hawkins, Martin, “Bullet Records: A Shot in the Dark.” Journal of Country Music, Vol. 8, No. 3.
Pugh, Ronnie, and David McCormick, “The Ernest Tubb Record Shops: A Fifty-Year History.” Commemorative booklet, May 3, 1997.
“Snooky Lanson Lands Contract on ‘Hit Parade.’ ” Tennessean. Sept. 22, 1950.
Author interviews: W. D. Kilpatrick, Bill Denny, Elizabeth Proctor, Les Leverett, Aaron Shelton, Cal Young, Kyle Cantrell, Dick Frank Jr.
CMF oral histories: Irving Waugh, Jack Stapp.
Chapter 9: The Balance of Power Has Shifted
National Life’s development of television is sourced in Shelton, DeWitt’s Gaylord oral history, the Tennessean (July 30, 1948, and May 1, 1949), author interviews with Irving Waugh, the Home Office Shield (Aug. 1950), Our Shield (Oct. 16, 1950), and Mikelbank, Peter, “On the Air!” Nashville! Magazine, March 1985. WSM’s morning country shows deserve much more coverage than they get here. Chief sources were program guides in the Tennessean and Banner, plus Hawkins and Escott and author interviews with Mac Wiseman and Buddy Killen. Carl Smith’s recollections come from a speech he made at the CMF. The Mother’s Best Flour show with Hank Williams came from Cantrell’s WSM Remembers. Williams’s demise is taken from Escott. Castle Studio’s chart history comes from Shelton.
ALSO CITED:
“Harry Stone Will Resign WSM Job.” Nashville Banner, July 12, 1950.
Author interviews: Eddie Jones, Mac Wiseman, Buddy Killen, Bill Barry, Frances Williams Preston, Jerry Bradley, Elizabeth Proctor.
Chapter 10: Jack, We Got a Real Problem
Eddie Hill’s quotes and profile come from Teeter, H. B., “Platters and Palaver,” the Nashville Tennessean Magazine, Jan. 25, 1953. In addition to sitting for an interview, Tom Perryman provided scrapbooks that were invaluable for impressions of the early DJs and the DJ convention. Accounts of the first DJ convention come from Rector, Lee, “Birthday Celebration Spurs Origin of CMA,” Music City News, Oct. 1979 (revised by Murray Nash), an Eddie Jones Banner column from Nov. 19, 1952, and Ferrell, Liz, “Hey, Mister DeeJay,” Inside WSM, second quarter 2000. WLAC’s DJs are described in Hawkins and Escott and in Havighurst, “Change in the Air,” Tennessean, Nov. 24, 2001. Charlie Lamb’s life story comes from Trott and from an interview with the author. The DeWitt moonlighting memo and Denny narrative is drawn from Cunniff, supplemented by the Country Music Reporter, Oct. 6, 1956, and Oct. 20, 1956, from the CMF library. The WSM-TV tower accident comes from interviews, plus the Banner, Feb. 5, 1957. Webb Pierce’s departure is described in the Tennessean, Feb. 20, 1957. Ernest Tubb’s firearm story is drawn from Pugh, plus the Tennessean, May, 28, 1957. The final national date of the Prince Albert Opry is sourced to Dunning and Shapiro. The CMA’s formation is documented in the Music Reporter (Nov. 10 and 24, 1958) and the Encyclopedia of Country Music. Owen Bradley’s departure is reported in the Tennessean and Banner, both on May 14, 1958. The Charlie Lamb benediction quote is from the Music Reporter, May 25, 1957.
ALSO CITED:
“Grand Ole Opry Seen Over 130 TV Stations.” Banner, Oct. 16, 1955.
“Jim Denny Exits Opry.” Country Music Reporter, Oct. 6, 1956.
Gillis, F. B., “Grand Ole Opry, WSM a Team.” Country and Western Jamboree, Dec. 1956.
“Jack Stapp Leaves WSM, Buys Firm.” Banner, June 11, 1957.
“Ott Devine Picked WSM Program Chief.” Banner, June 14, 1957
“Jimmy Dickens Leaving Opry for Another Show.” Banner, June 18, 1957.
“Eddie Hill Resigns from Station WSM.” Banner, Aug. 12, 1957.
Maples, Bill, “Comeback of Country Music Cheered.” Tennessean, Nov. 16, 1957.
“WSM Brass and Opry Star Reps in Precedent-Shattering Meeting.” Music Reporter, May 25, 1959.
Anderson, Pat, “Country Music Rise Is Debated.” Tennessean, Nov. 13, 1959.
Author interviews: Charlie Lamb, Tom Perryman, Mac Wiseman, Frances Williams Preston, Harrianne Moore Condra, Buddy Killen, W. D. Kilpatrick, George Reynolds, Ward DeWitt Jr., Ralph Emery, Jo Walker Meador, Dolores Watson.
CMF oral histories: Irving Waugh, W. D. Kilpatrick.
Chapter 11: A Code and a Concern
The 1960 DJ festival was described in the Tennessean, Sept. 25 and Nov. 5, 1960. The Bob Cooper story comes from a Hank Fort oral history with interviewer Edwin Dunham, Jan. 12, 1966, at LAB. Jack DeWitt’s scientific pursuits are described in his autobiography, as is the weather satellite episode, supplemented by the Home Office Shield, Oct. 1964, and the Tennessean, Aug. 31, 1964. DeWitt’s relations with the Opry are discussed in his Gaylord oral history. The 1960 WSM promotional brochure is in the Vanderbilt collection, and statistics about Nashville as a recording center come from “A Big New Sound Blows out of Nashville,” Broadcasting, Jan. 28, 1963. Ralph Emery’s autobiography was supplemented by several interviews with the author. Details of WSM’s move can be found in the Banner, Aug. 13, 1965, and the Tennessean, Nov. 25, 1965.
ALSO CITED:
Author interviews: Cal Young, Irving Waugh, Margaret Parker, George Reynolds Jr., Jack Clement, Larry Munson, Ralph Emery, John Seigenthaler, Elmer Alley, Beverly LeCroy, Joe Layne, Teddy Bart, Les Leverett, Ruth White, Kyle Cantrell, Bud Wendell, Elizabeth Proctor.
Chapter 12: The Whole Complex Is a Studio
Life at WSM in the late 1960s and early 1970s is largely based on author interviews, but details of the Opry’s move from the Ryman to the Grand Ole Opry House and the building of Opryland are supplemented by Pirtle and Crawford and by stories in the Tennessean (Oct. 14, 1969, Sept. 28, 1969, Mar. 21, 1971, Aug. 8, 1971, Jan. 30, 1972) and the Banner (July 9, 1971, Nov. 7, 1972, Nov. 28, 1971, Apr. 15, 1981). Bill Carey’s business history of Nashville proved especially helpful in keeping track of the large-scale changes at National Life, and his account of the saga of John Jay Hooker and Minnie Pearl’s Fried Chicken is a must-read. Entertainers graduating from Opryland to more show business were covered in the Banner on June 6 and June 11, 1993. Opryland TV productions were cataloged from the Tennessean Oct. 8, 1978 and Nov. 1, 1979. The Nashville Network (TNN) programming was drawn from Tennesean stories on Oct. 17, Nov. 28, and Dec. 19, 1982.
ALSO CITED:
Hall, Alan, “Cable Television May Turn Nashville into ‘Third Coast’ for Producers.” Banner, Aug. 30, 1981.
Bailey, Greg, “Nashville Network Profits Cheer Chief.” Banner, Apr. 24, 1987.
Baxter, Emme Nelson, “Opryland ‘City’ Booming: CEO.” Tennessean, Dec. 5, 1989.
McCall, Michael, “Critical Year Awaits TNN: Network Fine-Tunes Lineup.” Banner, Aug. 28, 1989.
Wood, Tom, “Opryland Rapids Await Olympic Hopefuls,” Tennessean, Nov. 10, 1994.
Author interviews: Ralph Emery, Bud Wendell, Lloyd Wells, Jerry Strobel, Elmer Alley, Beegie Adair, Don Cook, Margaret Ann Robinson, Donia Craig Dickerson, Alan Nelson.
Epilogue: Signal Fade
Key events in the modern history of Gaylord can be found in Carey and a Gaylord timeline at www.gaylordentertainment.com/AboutUs/7.2_AboutUs.htm, as well as numerous stories in the Tennessean and the City Paper. The Tennessean supplement with the WSM “patron” manifesto appeared Oct. 16, 1966. Gaylord’s disavowal of the Opryland closure is in an article by Jeanne Naujeck, Aug. 15, 2004. The George Hay quote is from his Opry history.
ALSO CITED:
Author interviews: Bud Wendell, Tom Adkinson, Paul Schatzkin, Lloyd Wells, Kyle Cantrell, Liz Ferrell, Eddie Stubbs.