Best known for The Grand Ole Opry, WSM Nashville also created Sundays Down South, a delightful combination of Southern gentility and Protestant religiosity.
There is a tendency to think of network radio as being a "Big City" thing. The Red and Blue Networks were centered around WEAF New York and WJZ Newark (which would soon transfer facilities to New York City). A good deal of programming, especially Soap Operas, were originating from WBBM, WGN, WLS, and other Chicago stations, and Los Angeles with all its film studio talent was always important. As important as these urban markets were, the majority of the American population still lived in rural areas.
The capital of Tennessee, Nashville, was an important trading port on the Cumberland River, a tributary of the Ohio, and was a hotspot of the growing Jazz movement as well as a hotbed of post-Civil War Confederate Pride. It was also the home of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, whose company motto was "We Shield Millions". The company founder's son, Edwin Craig, had dutifully attended college, graduated, and joined the company in 1922, and worked his way up to Vice President. However, Edwin was more fascinated by the potential of radio technology than actuarial tables. He convinced the board to back his plan to create a broadcasting station to serve the public as well as spread the Company's message. The call letters WSM for "We Shield Millions" was selected and a gala first broadcast was held from the studios atop the National Life Building at Seventh and Union Streets. Local politicians, businessmen, and celebrities made speeches on the air, there were two orchestras playing remotely, and "Judge" George D. Hay, a popular announcer from WLS Chicago who helped to popularize The National Barn Dance.
Despite Hay's claims, he did not create The National Barn Dance, he was simply an announcer for the program which Edgar Bill created. It was simply a story he told to impress the executives at WSM. However much the truth was stretched, it was effective enough that just a couple of weeks later, Hay was leading WSM Barn Dance. Although the Chicago station broadcast to a larger audience at first. The Nashville station, nestled in the Smoky Mountains, had a deeper and more authentic talent pool to draw on. WSM was an early Red Network affiliate, playing network content during the day and primetime hours and broadcasting country music and local shows at other times. On December 10, 1927, "Judge" Hay and the studio audience were impatiently waiting for NBC's Music Appreciation Hour to close so they could begin some "red-hot fiddle playin'". Hay informed the audience that after an hour of grand old opera music, they were ready for some "Grand Ole Opry". The name stuck, especially after National Barn Dance was picked up by the Blue Network in 1933.
There was a good deal more to the Nashville sound than the raucous sounds of the Opry. With more that 700 churches in town, Nashville was also "the buckle on the Bible Belt". NBC had a long-standing policy against broadcasting prerecorded content, so if a hole appeared in the schedule, the New York studios would, sometimes, contact one of the affiliates to create a filler. One Friday afternoon in 1940, WSM staffer Jack Stapp received a call from the network asking for a half-hour program for Sunday afternoon. Although barely two days is a short time to put together a program, Stapp was able to draw upon the local Gospel talent pool, many of whom were preparing for Sunday Services anyway. He called the result Sunday Down South, a combination of Gospel Music and a few Bible verses, and the Network thought it was great, calling for the program to continue. The program also benefited from a post-Gone with the Wind boost in Southern pride. It bounced around the Sunday timeslots until finding a home at five in the afternoon. This is about the time Sunday dinner was going on the table in many homes.
Country and Gospel music were not the only impacts on the Red Network from Nashville. When WSM's 832-foot-tall broadcast tower was built in 1932, it was the tallest in North America. It would subsequently be reduced to 806 feet, but for a time during WWII the tower was designated as an emergency broadcasting tower to the US Navy Submarine fleet in case of an interruption in ship-to-shore transmissions. WSM's established Clear Channel status meant that it was heard through most of North America after dark. National Barn Dance made the shift from the Blue Network ABC Radio but went off the air in 1968. The Grand Ole Opry continues to be a Country Music institution, and the Saturday Afternoon multi-hour broadcasts are carried on WSM, Satellite Radio, and Cable TV outlets. Sundays Down South has been recreated by WSM on-air personality Danny Boyles using classic and contemporary Gospel recordings.
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