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650 WSM's long term future

PTBoardOp93 said:
WSM is a programming mess. A 100th anniversary can't save you from bad programming for long. Just to verify, I tuned into the stream now and heard three straight non-hits.

As a different kind of example, I had some childhood nostalgia for a restaurant chain known as Big Boy. I visited one of the few remaining while on a work trip to Dayton, OH. Everything about it was bad. Bad food, bad service, bad prices.

I use that anecdote to illustrate how a "100 year celebration" might get someone to tune in... once.
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Great analogy — I had the same experience at a Big Boy in Dayton. Even though I have great childhood memories of Frisch’s Big Boy, my Dayton experience is the last time I’ve eaten there (and will be the last time).

Same thing with AM radio stations I grew up with in the 1960s and 1970s. Those stations are now just a shell of their former selves and pretty much just run the “Angertainment” talkers. Sad, but time does march on.
 
Mike in Destin said:
I'm really sorry to hear that. I never thought that would happen. Those dj's were what made them great. Jeff took over after Eddie Stubbs retired. Automation sucks!
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For the last couple weeks, WSM played reruns of the Grand Ole Opry from the 1960s in the evening. I’m 72 and often hear artists I didn’t know exist along with some well known deceased artists like Marty Robbins and Hank Snow. I would think such ancient reruns would be a tuneout. They often play Art Devine hosting it. He was no Ralph Emery or Bill Cody. Art has an ok, nothing special, voice. The shows may have historic significance, but is not great entertainment. I wish they had someone, even a voice tracked announcer, playing more recent hits.
 
KilowattKat said:
I have to wonder.... if they were available on FM, how much larger of an audience would they have. The AM dial in Nashville is truly DEAD. The only AM station that shows up in the ratings other than WSM, is WLAC with a 3.0 share. Everyone in Nashville is listening to FM.
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3.0 sounds great compared to .1
 
Gravel Switch said:
Great analogy — I had the same experience at a Big Boy in Dayton. Even though I have great childhood memories of Frisch’s Big Boy, my Dayton experience is the last time I’ve eaten there (and will be the last time).

Same thing with AM radio stations I grew up with in the 1960s and 1970s. Those stations are now just a shell of their former selves and pretty much just run the “Angertainment” talkers. Sad, but time does march on.
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Many Frisch's location lost their lease and closed, there are lawsuits ongoing and some have re-opened as Dolly's Burgers (NOT Parton). Last one I visited was in London, KY and it was a dissapointment, and it was a favorite when I lived in Dayton.
 
100 year anniversary and see the 'fanfare?" There is none.

For what it is worth, ILOVERADIO, are you possibly referring to OTT Devine? He was a true Nashville original and was, in his day, cutting edge and local royalty on the air, on stage and behind the scene.

I have to admit that as a young whippersnapper coming out of Top 40 / CHR / Rock formats, I thought I was something. After getting to know him, I pretty much shut my damn mouth. He was perhaps the one person in the industry that could stare through steel and then come up with a hell of a great story. Laser focused. Soft spoken, too the point and I had no clue who he was until someone explained too me...who he was. That was the beauty of Nashville. Everybody had time back then. Now, no one has time for anything but themselves and that is why I worry about the industry here.
 
There was some pretty serious talk of bringing WSM-AM to FM. The powers within did not see the appeal of it, either.

One thing is for sure, WSM-FM (Cumulus) has little listener loyalty left on a 100kw signal.

It's is odd, but, Nashville never was a huge country town. The powerhouses were Jerry House (he could have been huge on any format) and Rock, Classic Rock and CHR. The pop country and cool stars of the 80's and 90's changed that. Now, Nashville originals are a tiny part of the overall population and probably less than five percent of all Nashvillians would even know what WSM-AM is...or was back in the golden age.
 
Tibbs4 said:
100 year anniversary and see the 'fanfare?" There is none.

For what it is worth, ILOVERADIO, are you possibly referring to OTT Devine? He was a true Nashville original and was, in his day, cutting edge and local royalty on the air, on stage and behind the scene.

I have to admit that as a young whippersnapper coming out of Top 40 / CHR / Rock formats, I thought I was something. After getting to know him, I pretty much shut my damn mouth. He was perhaps the one person in the industry that could stare through steel and then come up with a hell of a great story. Laser focused. Soft spoken, too the point and I had no clue who he was until someone explained too me...who he was. That was the beauty of Nashville. Everybody had time back then. Now, no one has time for anything but themselves and that is why I worry about the industry here.
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Very interesting. I guess his accent made him sound like “Art Devine” to me. You know way more than me about Mr. Devine. Your story reminds me of Ed Sullivan. Most people I knew growing up thought Ed was bland and dull. Turns out he had a great ability to predict future stars who appeared on his show. Similarly when I’ve heard Cousin Brucie and Scott Muni on NY radio I heard their thick, somewhat annoying NY accents. But they both had amazing careers in the largest US market.

It’s sad that WSM with it’s current great talent is doing so poorly. All their weekday jocks sound very good to me including until his recent layoff Jeff Hoag. I do think their music block programming with classics in the evening, mostly talk in the morning, bluegrass at 5 AM and recent gold and new country the rest of the day is confusing. But the great George Jones wrote in his bio the only station he ever listened to was WSM. It has a great history that appears to be over as America’s most famous and important country station.
 
ILOVERADIO - Happy 4th of July, a bit belated. You truly get the beauty of radio. The people have changed. You can be a star now for nothing more than the time you spend making and posting videos. I wonder if Johnny Cash or George Jones could even get recognition of a record deal these days.

It's funny, too, I swear that as I recalled my story, he was Art Devine too me. Maybe he was just the "Art of the Devine Deal." Or was that "Ott of the Deal." Sorry, nothing political intended, Lance. More a bad play on words and another bad attempt at humor. That's why you will never read my name in lights.
 
Gravel Switch said:
Great analogy — I had the same experience at a Big Boy in Dayton. Even though I have great childhood memories of Frisch’s Big Boy, my Dayton experience is the last time I’ve eaten there (and will be the last time).

Same thing with AM radio stations I grew up with in the 1960s and 1970s. Those stations are now just a shell of their former selves and pretty much just run the “Angertainment” talkers. Sad, but time does march on.
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Even into the 90s and early 2000s. You felt like you were listening into New Orleans on WWL or Louisville on WHAS. WJR, one of the nation's great stations for multiple decades, did a 1.4 12+ in the last book. Behind a K-Love signal and the big FM sports talker's... stream. 40 years ago you could add a 1 to that.
 
Tibbs4 said:
ILOVERADIO - Happy 4th of July, a bit belated. You truly get the beauty of radio. The people have changed. You can be a star now for nothing more than the time you spend making and posting videos. I wonder if Johnny Cash or George Jones could even get recognition of a record deal these days.

It's funny, too, I swear that as I recalled my story, he was Art Devine too me. Maybe he was just the "Art of the Devine Deal." Or was that "Ott of the Deal." Sorry, nothing political intended, Lance. More a bad play on words and another bad attempt at humor. That's why you will never read my name in lights.
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Happy Independence weekend to you, Tibbs4. I winder if WSM switched to a non-country format, if Opry attendance and overall profits would increase or not. A .1 local share is so dismal that my guess is that its streaming ratings are terrible as well. I wonder if Huff, David E, or the descendants of George Jones who loved WSM know the streaming ratings or raw number of listeners for this station.
 
ILOVERADIO said:
I winder if WSM switched to a non-country format, if Opry attendance and overall profits would increase or not.
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There have been attempts over the years to flip WSM to a sports format.

In 2002:


And again in 2019:

savingcountrymusic.com

Grand Ole Opry’s WSM-AM Adding Sports Program is a Bad Idea -...

A sports program is coming to the most historic and iconic radio station in country music to fill the critical afternoon drive slot. 650 WSM-AM---The Home of the Grand Ole Opry and one of the primary reasons country music even exists as a popular enterprise---has hired long-time Nashville sports...
savingcountrymusic.com savingcountrymusic.com

It resulted in a lot of bad PR for the station and for the owners. George Jones himself showed up to protest the proposed change.

Grand Ole Opry station WSM-AM says it will retain country music format

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Country music stalwart WSM-AM can't be judged like other radio stations, said an executive who ended two weeks of heated speculation and public protest by announcing the station
www.newson6.com www.newson6.com

ILOVERADIO said:
A .1 local share is so dismal that my guess is that its streaming ratings are terrible as well. I wonder if Huff, David E, or the descendants of George Jones who loved WSM know the streaming ratings or raw number of listeners for this station.
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All we know are the local streaming numbers. The owner knows the international streaming numbers from the server. They aren't publicly available. But the owner has to report them to SoundExchange in order to pay music royalties.

The station is owned by the Opry. They would know if the radio station was hurting attendance. They've tried to do other things. The public objects. This is what they're doing.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Well, maybe in 2002. George showing up in 2019 would have been quite the story…🤪🤯
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From the 2002 article:

A great moment of the protest, and a big personal mark out moment for me, was when the legendary George Jones showed up with his wife Nancy to show their support. Too cool! Mrs. Jones said she was mad about the whole deal. The old possum talked to several media people as well. Other artists who did turn out were Billy Yates, Shawn Camp, and a member of BR549.
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KilowattKat said:
Yes, radio is a miniscule part of Gaylord's portfolio. They just built and opened what is now the largest hotel in California.

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Thanks everyone for your interesting comments. I didn’t know the late George Jones and his wife were at the 2002 protest against WSM reducing country music, nor that WSM’s owner Gaylord owned the biggest hotel in California. A real wealth of interesting knowledge on this discussion site.
 


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