Vacation ideas

From its humble origins, the Grand Ole Opry has become a symbol of America, and anyone planning a Nashville vacation knows, the Grand Ole Opry is Nashville’s premier draw. It began as a live music radio presentation in 1925, and just continued active and going. And today it has lived on to be the oldest uninterrupted radio broadcast in America. It is also played on XM Radio, and is on television Saturday nights on the Great American Country network.

The Grand Ole Opry began just five years after commercial radio broadcasting was initially started out in North America. In 1925, a radio station was established in Nashville by an insurance company (National Life and Accident) trusting that this fresh programming medium could be exploited to promote insurance policies. Country & western music lovers are familiar with the station’s call letters, WSM, but most don’t know that WSM stood for the company’s motto: “We Shield Millions.”

National Life employed one of the nation’s most popular radio broadcaster, George D. Hay, as WSM’s program director. On November 28, 1925, the 30 year old Hay called himself “The Solemn Old Judge” and set up the show that would become well-known as the WSM Barn Dance.

George D. Hay’s weekly Barn Dance programs proved tremendously popular, and in 1927 he changed the name to the Grand Ole Opry. Droves of fans overfilled the studio as they came to see & hear the stars, so National Life constructed a larger studio with a capacity of 500.  In 1932, WSM increased their broadcast power to 50,000 watts and most of the country could hear the Opry on Saturday nights.

The crowds kept growing, so in 1934 the Opry moved outside its second studio to the Hillsboro Theater (now operated as the Belcourt Theater). The audiences kept increasing, so next the Opry moved to the Dixie Tabernacle in East Nashville, then to the War Memorial Auditorium next to the State Capitol.

In 1943, still requiring more space, the Opry moved to the Ryman Auditorium, where it stayed on until 1974, when it moved to its new home, the 4,400 seat Grand Ole Opry House, located beside to the Opryland Hotel, where you can see shows several times each week, except for several weeks in winter when the Opry travels back to the Ryman Auditorium.

On the stage of the new Opry House, there’s a six-foot circle of dark, oak wood; it’s lustrouus but conspicuously worn. Sawed from the stage of the Opry’s famous former home, the Ryman Auditorium, this circle of oak gives newbies and old timers alike the opportunity to play on the same spot that at one time supported Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, Uncle Dave Macon, and others.

There have been lots of changes at the Opry over the decades - its members, its music, and its home. But that dark oak circle remains, a reminder for every musician who stands on it that they are taking part in something that’s much bigger than themselves, and wherever they may go they are linked to the legends who came before.

The Opry’s stars and music have defined Country & western in the USA. Hundreds of musicians have performed as members over history. Being honored with membership in the Grand Ole Opry, country’s most enduring “Hall of Fame”, is to be selected as one of the most elite musicians of country music.

Membership in the Opry is not just earned, but must be maintained with frequent performances during the musician’s career.

Today you can see the Grand Ole Opry in more ways than before. There are Tuesday Night Opry performances from April through December. A two-hour radio show, can be picked up in 200 cities across the USA. Just like country & western stars in the past  grew up tuning their radio to listen to the Opry, future generations of Opry artists can pick it up on satellite radio or the internet.

Wherever they’re listening, those future Opry stars some day will assume their spot standing on that noted round piece of oak.