WSM (AM)

WSM (650 AM) is a 50,000-watt clear channel station located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a full-time country music format (with classic country and Americana leanings, the latter of which is branded as "Route 650") at 650 kHz and is known primarily as the home of "The Grand Ole Opry", the world's longest running radio program. The station's clear channel signal can reach much of North America and nearby countries, especially late at night. It is one of two clear-channel stations in North America, along with CFZM in Toronto, that still primarily broadcast music; as recently as 2020, the station was live and locally originated during the overnight hours, but the overnight host position was eliminated in February 2020. Nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South," it shares its callsign with WSM-FM, also in Nashville, and formerly with television Channel 4, now WSMV.
Heritage.
 Founded by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, WSM first signed on October 5, 1925. It is primarily associated with the popularization of country music through its weekly Saturday night program, the "Grand Ole Opry", the longest-running radio program in history. The "Opry" began as the "WSM Barn Dance" on November 28, 1925, with Uncle Jimmy Thompson as the first performer. On December 10, 1927, the program's host, "Judge" George D. Hay, referred to the programming as being "Grand Ole Opry" in contrast to the preceding grand opera program on NBC. In 1932, WSM boosted its power to 50,000 watts, becoming Tennessee's first clear-channel station. In addition to its vast nighttime coverage area, the station boasts one of the largest daytime coverage areas in the country. It provides at least grade B coverage as far southeast as Chattanooga, as far northwest as Evansville, Indiana, as far west as Jackson, Tennessee and as far south as Huntsville, Alabama. At night, it can be heard in much of the eastern and central United States.
The station traditionally played country music in the nighttime hours, when listeners from around the United States would tune in. During daytime hours, the station broadcast long-form radio, including both local and NBC network programs, in addition to music. After television became popular (thus largely eliminating the audience for full-length radio programs), WSM adopted a "MOR" (middle of the road) music format during the daytime hours, and continued to play country music at night. It was not until 1980 that WSM adopted the 24-hour country music format of today.
WSM is credited with helping shape Nashville into a recording industry capital. Because of WSM's wide reach, musical acts from all across the eastern United States came to Nashville in the early decades of the station's existence, in hopes of getting to perform on WSM. Over time, as more acts and recording companies came to Nashville, the city became known as the center of the country music industry. Disc jockey David Cobb is credited with first referring to Nashville as "Music City USA", a designation that has since been adopted as the city's official nickname by the local tourism board.
In 1996, the station was named Radio Station of the Year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards.
Tower.
WSM's unusual diamond-shaped antenna (manufactured by Blaw-Knox) is visible from Interstate 65 just south of Nashville (in Brentwood) and is one of the area's landmarks. It is located near the I-65 exit 71 interchange with Concord Road (State Highway 253). When the 878-foot tower was built in 1932, it was the tallest antenna in North America. Its height was reduced to 808 feet (246 m) in 1939 when it was discovered that the taller tower was causing self-cancellation in the "fringe" areas of reception of the station (it is now known that 195 electrical degrees, about 810 feet, is the optimum height for a Class A station on that frequency). For a period during World War II it was designated to provide transmissions to submarines in the event that ship-to-shore communications were lost. It is now one of the oldest operating broadcast towers in the United States.
As a tribute to the station's centrality in country music history, the diamond antenna design was incorporated into the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's design in 2001. The tower is listed as a National Engineering Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 15, 2011.
Former sister stations.
In 1939, WSM began operating an experimental high-frequency, high-fidelity AM "Apex" station, W4XA, on 26,150 kHz. This was replaced in 1941 by a commercial FM station, initially with the call sign W47NV and operating on 44.7 MHz. This was reported to be first commercial FM to be fully licensed; although a few FM stations had begun broadcasting earlier, they were operating under experimental or "Special Temporary Authorizations" and had not yet been granted operating licenses. In 1943 the call sign was changed to WSM-FM, however the station was shut down in 1951, although its antenna is still mounted atop the Blaw Knox tower at Brentwood.
Seventeen years later the current incarnation of WSM-FM was established after a National Life subsidiary purchased WLWM and renamed it WSM-FM in 1968. This WSM-FM (95.5 MHz) was WSM's sister until 2008, when Cumulus Media, the full owner of WSM-FM since 2003, ended its joint sales agreement with the AM (see below). Despite having the same base call sign, the two stations are no longer related; incidentally, both the current WSM-FM on 95.5 MHz and the current occupant of the 103.3 frequency vacated by the original WSM-FM, WKDF, are now sister stations, with each broadcasting variants of the Nash FM format.
Ownership and facilities.
For most of its history, WSM was owned by the Nashville-based National Life and Accident Insurance Company, along with WSM-TV, and the "Grand Ole Opry". The stations' call letters derived from the company's motto, "We Shield Millions". Studios were first located in the NL&AI building on Seventh Avenue and Union Street in downtown Nashville; this was the original home of the "Opry," until 1934. The studios remained until the mid-1960s, when NL&AI began carrying out plans to build a new headquarters building downtown and construct new studios for WSM-TV in west Nashville (the TV station had been located near Belmont College). Upon construction of the new headquarters, NL&AI chose to relocate WSM radio to the TV station's building, and the station, joined in 1968 by its new FM sister, broadcast from that location, on Knob Road, from 1966 to 1983. In 1974, NL&AI reorganized itself as a holding company, NLT Corporation, with the WSM stations as one of the major subsidiaries.
In 1981, the American General Corporation (now part of the American International Group) bought NLT. At one time, American General was the parent company of the Life and Casualty Insurance Company based in Nashville, former owner of WSM-TV rival WLAC-TV (now WTVF), and WLAC AM and FM, but divested the broadcast properties in 1975, long before the NLT merger. American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance operations, and sold Opryland Hotel, Opryland USA, The "Grand Ole Opry", WSM-FM, and WSM, to Gaylord Entertainment Company. WSM-TV was sold to Gillett Broadcasting and is now WSMV. However, there was still considerable overlap between the stations' on-air personnel for some years after the ownership change. Gaylord would add The Nashville Network (later the National Network and Spike TV), now the Paramount Network, to those holdings soon after those acquisitions, disposing of the television property, in part to pay the expenses of starting the nascent cable network. It would also move the WSM radio stations to new facilities at the Opryland Hotel, departing their shared building on Knob Road, which still houses WSMV today.
WSM broadcast in the C-QUAM format of AM stereo, which could be heard over several states at night, from 1982 until 2000.
WSM currently operates out of the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, and visitors to the hotel may look into the studio 24 hours a day, provided the curtains are open, which they usually are. Following the devastating 2010 Tennessee flood that inundated Gaylord Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry House, the station broadcast from a makeshift studio at its transmitter site for six months, while the "Grand Ole Opry" rotated between several performance sites, until the buildings at the Opryland complex were repaired. WSM's administrative offices next door to the Grand Ole Opry House were completely destroyed by the flood and later demolished, resulting in the loss of several priceless documents from the station's history.
In 2001, management had sought to capitalize on the success of sister station WWTN's sports trappings by converting WSM to an all-sports format. Word was leaked to other media resulting in protests, including longtime Opry personalities and country music singers, outside the station's studios. Management eventually made the decision to keep the station's classic country format.
In recent years, the operations have been reorganized again. In 2003, WSM-FM and WWTN, sister stations to WSM, were sold to Cumulus Media. Cumulus intended to purchase WSM as well, but Gaylord decided to maintain ownership at the eleventh hour. Through a five-year joint sales agreement, however, Gaylord paid Cumulus a fee to operate WSM's sales department and provide news updates for the station. Gaylord Entertainment continued to control WSM and operate all other departments, including programming, engineering, and promotions. The agreement ended in 2008, at which point all control of the station reverted to Gaylord. In 2012, Gaylord Entertainment Company was renamed Ryman Hospitality Properties.
Reception outside the Nashville area.
From 2002 until 2006, the station was a choice on Sirius Satellite Radio, which carried a full-time simulcast of WSM's signal, except during NASCAR races. Briefly in 2006, the channel converted to "WSM Entertainment", a separate satellite radio feed that carried the same classic country music format as the AM signal. About a year after the channel was eliminated, then-rival XM Satellite Radio announced the carriage of the Grand Ole Opry on Nashville! channel 11 beginning in October 2007, as well as the Eddie Stubbs Show on America channel 10 beginning in November 2007. After the merger between Sirius and XM, the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts were moved to the service's The Roadhouse channel, which is heard on both Sirius and XM.
WSM continues to reach a worldwide audience, through both its powerful 50,000-watt clear channel AM signal and via its Internet simulcast.
Emergency Alert System.
WSM-AM is also a national and local Primary Entry Point (PEP) for the Emergency Alert System (EAS).
Internet channels.
Route 650.
In 2017, WSM launched Route 650, a full-time Americana music streaming station available via its website, mobile app and services like TuneIn.
Opry Nashville Radio.
In 2018, WSM launched Opry Nashville Radio, a full-time streaming station billed as being "based on the Grand Ole Opry and Nashville lifestyle" and focusing mainly on contemporary country music. During December, this channel flips to all Christmas music.
Miscellany.
Country and bluegrass legend John Hartford parodied the distinctive style of WSM DJs on the album "Aereo-Plain", humorously changing the station's call letters to the phrase "Dorothy S. Ma'am."