With the station's jump in power came an uncommonly talented group of on-air personalities, staffers and technicians, all of whom contributed originality, inventiveness and skill to the operation. Their efforts garnered much attention for WSM and in particular the Grand Ole Opry. Even Hollywood took notice, and in 1940 Republic Pictures produced The Grand Ole Opry, a full-length feature film starring Judge Hay, Uncle Dave Macon and Roy Acuff along with other members of the Opry cast.

Francis Craig Orchestra Not only was WSM instrumental in bringing country music to the world via film but the station also played an integral role in establishing the city of Nashville as a recording center. Prior to the 1940's, Southern musicians had to travel to New York, Chicago or other cities to make their records. This all changed when engineers at WSM decided to expand their radio studio into a recording facility.

While WSM continued to spread the word that Nashville was a great town for music and musicians, the station's engineers were now beginning to record that music. For some time WSM had been making discs of their music programs in a manner very much akin to making a record. It was only a matter of time then that these pioneering engineers would began to conduct actual recording sessions in the station's studios.

Although RCA Victor had recorded in Nashville as early as 1928, the first modern country recording was made at the WSM studio in 1944 by Eddy Arnold. In 1947, one of the first million-selling records to come out of Nashville was made in WSM's studio "C"; "Near You" by pop bandleader Francis Craig and his Orchestra.

Later, these same WSM engineers would look to other locales to perfect their recording techniques and they soon fashioned a studio out of the ballroom of the now defunct Tulane Hotel. Dubbed "Castle Studio" (after the station's nickname "Air Castle of the South"), it was the busiest studio recording country music in the early 1950's. Another favorite recording location was the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. Aside from being known as the Mother Church of Country Music, the Ryman is also world-famous for its extraordinary acoustics making it an ideal locale for live recording, a practice which continues there to this day.

Red Foley (playing guitar) and David Cobb The initial success of WSM's early recording efforts was enough to convince others that Nashville had a viable future as a music industry center. It wouldn't be long before record labels set up shop in Nashville on what was to become "Music Row", marking the beginning of an expansion which would eventually earn the city the nickname "Music City USA". In fact, it was WSM personality David Cobb who came up with the nickname. And the man generally considered the father of Music Row's recording industry was WSM's former musical director Owen Bradley.


The First Commercial FM Station in America

By the late 1930s, the communications industry was in the throes of rapid change. WSM's Chief Engineer "Jack" DeWitt had been following the progress of "high frequency" broadcasting closely, as he had an eye on eventually expanding the station's holdings. Finally, in 1941, WSM continued its role as an industry trailblazer by giving America its first commercial FM station at an assigned frequency of 44.7 megaHertz. DeWitt, who had manned the audio controls at the first Opry broadcast, was the driving force behind this new venture.

WSM's FM operation first went on the air under the designation "W47NV." The call-code was a combination of the "W" (radio) prefix, the number forty-seven for the last two digits of the assigned frequency, and the letters NV representing Nashville. The station operated with an effective radiated power of 65,000 watts and cast a healthy signal into Kentucky and Alabama.

In 1947, the Federal Communications Commission reappraised its pre-war rulings and moved the commercial frequency modulation to 100.1 Mhz. In the process, the station re-designated itself "WSM-FM". Four years later, DeWitt saw greater promise in the new medium of television and WSM-FM and its all-classical programming format went off the air.


Continued Growth

WSM Radio Studio in 1969 WSM's absence from the FM airwaves, however, was temporary, for in 1968 WSM purchased an existing station, WLWM-FM, and used the frequency to return to the FM band at 95.5 Mhz. Soon after WSM AM and WLWM-FM's move to the Opryland complex in 1982, WSM Radio and the Associated Press launched the Music Country Radio Network (MCRN). MCRN was a late-night programming service broadcast via satellite.

WSM became Nashville's first AM stereo station on December 6, 1982 before WSM-FM made its debut as "Nashville 95 FM - "The New Country" the following month.


Excellence in Broadcast Journalism

While the musical legacy of WSM is certainly a rich one, it's not the only part of their programming day which has earned the station a national reputation. Since 1925, generations of Americans have depended on WSM as their source of news and information and with good reason -- WSM is serious about its news operation and it shows. By combining seasoned, professional journalists with state-of-the-art technology, its audience is ensured of getting the fastest, most accurate information available. It's dedicated to providing full coverage of national as well as regional events, and often furnishes the only radio coverage in the area.

Maybe that's why WSM stands as one of the most honored news operations in the country. In 1995 the station received the coveted George Peabody Award (the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism), the Scripps-Howard Foundation National Journalism Award, and the Edward R. Murrow Award...all in the same year. And it doesn't end there. In fact, WSM News has received over 100 awards since 1984.

As nice as it is to be recognized by the music industry though, it's even more important to give back to the community. WSM News prides itself on taking an active role in helping to solve the issues we cover. A five-part series "A Stalker's Prey" for instance, has been requested by numerous domestic violence shelters, and is currently being used in their educational programs.

WSM was founded on the principles of good will and public service, and it continues to uphold those same standards today, over seventy years later. Many radio stations have come and gone since 1925, but WSM remains a nationally-known leader and major influence in the broadcast industry. WSM...three letters that stand for the best radio has to offer.

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