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WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
Not the kind of story you see done very often, but then WSM is not your average radio station. It has a heritage that goes back almost to the beginning of radio, in addition to being synonymous with the Grand Ole Opry.
"When it was built in 1932, the WSM antenna was the tallest in the country, standing at 878 feet tall. Seven years later, the height was reduced by 70 feet to improve the signal."
Happy to see that someone did a story on the transmitting tower - and not just the station.
WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
- paterson1
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Re: WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
When working at CFOS in 1981, we hosted three busloads of listeners to Nashville for a six day excursion. We went to the Grand Ole Opry for the Saturday evening live show on WSM. No country heavyweights showed up that night, but the auditorium was packed.
The thing I remember most was the live broadcast on WSM. It was fine except for all of the many "live copy" commercials on air. Most of these were read by the announcer live right on the stage. I felt sorry for the guy, he kicked the hell out of half of the live ads he read that night. As an announcer it was cringe worthy.
On the bus going back to the hotel one of our listeners commented out loud how poor the WSM announcer was reading the ads on air. He said any of the CFOS announcers would have done a better job! Our station manager and his wife were also on the trip, and he heard the comment loud and clear.
- RadioAaron
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Re: WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
WSM slipped through all the cracks of corporate consolidation and is currently the only radio station run by the company the owns the legendary Ryman Auditorium.
It is currently the 5th ranked of 5 Country stations in Nashville, with a 0.5 share.
- mace
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Re: WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
Were the WLW and WSM towers designed by the same company? They look very similar except the Nashville tower is taller [808' vs 747']
- turkeytop
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Re: WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
mace wrote:
Were the WLW and WSM towers designed by the same company? They look very similar except the Nashville tower is taller [808' vs 747']
Blaw Knox.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.
- RadioActive
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Re: WSM radio tower: Broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry across generations
This remarkable article is filled with behind-the-scenes pictures of the WSM transmitting tower, a 50,000 watt giant that has been keeping the clear channel radio station on the air for nearly a century. You don't have to be an engineer to enjoy this one.
And things have changed a lot over the years.
"There was a time when WSM was broadcasting with AM stereo. I remember driving along and listening to the C-QUAM stereo as entertainers joked, played and sang at microphones on stage, live on this, the most well-known country station. Stereo encoding has since been turned off due to lack of AM stereo receivers, but the country music continues."
A Visit to Nashville’s WSM(AM)
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