 | November 28, 1925The Grand Ole Opry started on radio. |
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music program broadcast live in Nashville, Tennessee. The show features performers in the country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and Americana genres as well as comedy and skits. It is the longest-running radio broadcast in American history. WK George D. Hay started the show on November 28, 1925 as an hour-long barn dance. The radio station, WSM, hired him after he hosted a similar barn dance program at WLS in Chicago. The first Opry episode was broadcast live in the studio at the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville. It featured a 77-year-old fiddler named Uncle Jimmy Thompson, an African-American harmonica player named DeFord Bailey, and a hammered-dulcimer player named Kitty Cora Cline. WN The name “Grand Ole Opry” didn’t come about until December 10, 1927, when Hay opened the show announcing that the station’s classical classical music appreciation program had just aired selections from grand opera and now he would present the Grand Ole Opry. It expanded to four hours in the 1930s and became a Saturday night musical tradition which reached primarily regional audiences (although close to 30 states could access the program). WK It debuted nationally on NBC radio in 1939. On occasion, performances have been televised. The show’s growing importance helped establish Nashville as America’s “country music capital.” WK When the Opry outgrew its radio station studio, it was moved to the Hillsboro Theatre from 1934 to 1936, then the Dixie Tabernacle from 1936 to 1939. It was then hosted at the War Memorial Auditorium before moving to the Ryman Auditorium in 1943. Since 1974, it has been broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry House which is east of downtown Nashville. The Country Music Association Awards were presented at the Opry from 1974 to 2004. In 2015, the site was added to the National Registry of Historic Places. Hank Williams made his debut on the Opry in 1949, performing six encores. WN Other notable performers over the years included Roy Acuff, Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins, Clint Black, Garth Brooks, the Byrds, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, the Everly Brothers, Red Foley, the Gatlin Brothers, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Alison Krauss, Jerry Lee Lewis, Patty Loveless, Loretta, Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Ronnie Milsap, Bill Monroe, Lorrie Morgan, Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Webb Pierce, Elvis Presley, Rascal Flatts, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, Blake Shelton, Ricky Skaggs, Hank Snow, Marty Stuart, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt, Ernest Tubb, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Kitty Wells, Bob Wills, Tammy Wynette, and Trisha Yearwood. Resources and Related Links:
First posted 11/25/2023. |
