Edwin W. Craig It was the middle of the "Roaring Twenties" and "The Jazz Age". All across America, folks were buying radio sets by the thousands, anxious to become part of the new "miracle" which brought entertainment directly into the living room. While radio today may be considered just one more of technology's modern conveniences, it was quite the opposite in the mid-1920s. Back then, radio was a wondrous, big-as-outdoors marvel, filled with magic and mystery. And it was in this spirit of wide-eyed amazement that the groundwork for WSM was laid.

The driving force behind the creation of WSM was Edwin W. Craig. Craig had joined his father's company, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, as a field representative fresh out of college and by 1922 he had risen to vice-president. It was around this time that Craig began tuning into the pioneer radio stations which were popping up around the country.

In time, Craig began corresponding with a number of broadcast personalities, anxious to learn more about radio's possibilities. He was soon convinced a radio station would enhance National Life's identity while also providing a valuable public service to the community. The board of National Life readily agreed, and appointed Craig to serve as the liaison between the parent company and its fledgling offshoot.

Craig was determined that the call letters of the new radio station would be "WSM" to reflect National Life's motto: "We Shield Millions." Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy had already been assigned those letters. Undeterred, Craig successfully petitioned the Secretary of Commerce to transfer the call letters and thus was born WSM.

With characteristic foresight, Craig and National Life sought out the best and the brightest to build and operate their new enterprise. Thomas L. Parks, a former ship board radio operator, was hired on as the Chief Radio Engineer. Parks and his brilliant young Assistant Engineer John H. DeWitt (who would later go on to become president of the station), installed the first thousand-watt transmitter at the antenna site on Fifteenth Avenue, South in downtown Nashville.

WSM's first official broadcast day was October 5, 1925. As the eight o'clock opening ceremony approached, hundreds of intrigued Nashvillians gathered beneath the loudspeakers mounted on the corners of Seventh and Union. Others crouched over their improvised radio sets at home listening over their ear pieces. Meanwhile, upstairs in the National Life Building, a group of company executives, government officials and invited guests were busy getting ready for the hallmark event.

Beasly Smith with Orchestra While the dignitaries applied last minute polish to their prepared remarks and dedication speeches, two orchestras provided "live" entertainment over WSM via remote lines: Beasley Smith and his Orchestra played in the Hermitage Hotel ballroom while Francis Craig serenaded diners at the Andrew Jackson. Fittingly enough, both bandleaders would come to be closely identified with WSM's early programming.

By eleven o'clock, the speeches had been made and the evening took a lighter turn. National Life had invited America's leading radio announcers to enliven the inaugural broadcast, and a parade of ad-lib talent entertained those insomniacs who chose to stay up all night with their radios. This all-star cast of personalities included the man who had just been awarded the "most popular radio announcer" title from a radio publication poll, George D. Hay of Chicago's WLS. Hay, who worked under the pseudonym "The Solemn Old Judge", was a 30-year-old former newspaperman with a keen wit who took an instant liking to WSM and its surroundings. Apparently the feeling was mutual, and within a month George Hay was hired on as the station's first Program Director. Hay wasted no time in creating new shows. While the station relied mostly on classical and dinner music for its programming fare, the night of November 28, 1925 would change all that forever.

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