• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WSM-AM

I guess I have to plead guilty to contributing to getting this whole conversation away from radio and WSM-AM in particular, but even this "side street of conversation" is probably helpful to the original conversation.

Neighborhoods have changed. Political expectations of people have changed. The business world is hardly recognizable compared to 30, 40 years ago. And when it comes to church in today's mix, our grandfathers are turning over in their graves.

And yet... many of us expect radio to be just like it used to be. We have all these pet ideas that will surely restore the world of radio if THEY will just listen to ME! But there is hope. I think in maybe another five years I will finally give up and admit radio is not going back to the 1960s after all.

But maybe we could make an exception for WSM. ;)
 
briancraig said:
As long is there is always a Krispy Kreme near Nolensville and Thompson, all is right with that neighborhood by me.
Click to expand...

now this thread is back on topic...
thanks, Brian!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...donuts
 
Dammit, I am trying to live healthy. Loved that place. And, yeah, Buddy - liked the old version (that, imagine this, was torn down.)

I dunno, my food addiction would have to be Ralph's Donuts in Cookevegas! In my thin, formative years --- I uh, became fatter than hell. ;D
 
Is there a chance in hell that WSM can ever come back to the good old days of popularity? Such heritage call letters and a rich history. To bad they cannot or have not been able to hold on to it. I know the AM vs FM thing but with the signal that WSM has it just seems to me they could be a bigger "contender". Could be as mentioned earlier they (Gaylord) is more interested in selling tickets and not the radio end of their business. I too have seen the "jock in a box" at the hotel and you are right! Listeners who look through the glass to see real radion in progress might as well be watching a monkey scratch his butt!
 
I used to live in the Nolensville Road/Harding Mall/Harding Place area (Paragon Mills) as recently as 2002. Lived at what used to be Welch Bend Apartments. It's Whispering Oaks or something now. I liked the area when I lived over there, but wouldn't want to live there now. I knew even then that the neighborhood was "going south." English was rapidly becoming a second language down there. But I believe I liked that area better than the Murfreesboro Road/Briley Parkway area (Glenview) where I lived until 1995. It says something about those areas that both apartment complexes that I formerly lived in have now changed names!

Back on topic now, the Opry is now back home in the Opry house. How long until the "newness" wears off of that place? ;D
 
nuffsaid said:
Could be as mentioned earlier they (Gaylord) is more interested in selling tickets and not the radio end of their business.
Click to expand...

I don't believe ANY owner could do a better job. That would include an artist owner or turning it over to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The on-air people are top professionals, and no one with any knowledge can question the integrity of the programming. Eddie Stubbs is once again nominated for a CMA Award as best radio personality, competing against top name FM jocks.

The reality is (1) AM is dead or dying, especially with music, (2) The audience for legendary music is over 50, and (3) the advertising market for radio is still in the toilet.

I like the studio in the hotel. I think radio hurts itself by becoming isolated from the audience.
 
I have heard....from a reputable source...AM is moving back into the white building we called home for so many years. Don't know if it's just while they finish the hotel or what...but is a better location than the tower...where they are now. And for those who missed it the first time i told it, Ralph Emery said in moving from the hill where we were broadcsting along with channel 4......we had gone from the 'Air Castle of the South' to the 'little house on the prarie'
 
After the contracts run out could House go to 650AM? IMHO he was responsible for much WSIX’s success. Another question: Does WSM have to play country during the day? IIRC WSM played “Chicken Rock” during day in the 1970’s and survived.
 
olebud said:
I have heard....from a reputable source...AM is moving back into the white building we called home for so many years. Don't know if it's just while they finish the hotel or what...but is a better location than the tower...where they are now. And for those who missed it the first time i told it, Ralph Emery said in moving from the hill where we were broadcsting along with channel 4......we had gone from the 'Air Castle of the South' to the 'little house on the prarie'
Click to expand...

Hey, Buddy...why not move WSM up to the 12th floor of the Stahlman Building? I'm sure there are some good radio vibes still left there. Just remember Jim Ragan's note to not put cigarette butts in the urinals!

Yes, I did have the pleasure of working on the other side of the glass from you at 1240 in the early 70's.
 
Yes, I did have the pleasure of working on the other side of the glass from you at 1240 in the early 70's.
Click to expand...

Bob....if it was a pleasure.....was probably because you were on the other side of the glass. But thanks for saying so.....how do you know the pleasure wasn't all mine?
 
Buddy - are you sure you are only referring to a former radio station or is there something (off Nolensville road, of course) that your remembering that probably best left unspoken??? Just kidding. :D
 
I used to spend a LOT of time in Nashiville, staying at the Brentwood Hol Inn, my companies location was just a stones throw from the once-awful Trousdale/Harding quagmire, and just east of the delightful L & N railroad yard (continuous wheel flange squealing, all day long).

I actually liked the nieghborhood on the east side of Nashville sloping down toward the fairgrounds. It felt like home to me.
Or it did in the 90's. Seems most like a real neighborhood. In 1992, about 120 employees of that company moved to Nashville,
but only ONE moved into a real city neighborhood, an old German man, who moved somewhere near music row.
Everyone else moved to some outlying unincorporated development or smaller towns like Franklin or La Vergne amd M'boro.

I liked the fairgrounds and went to many antique shows there, but only ever once saw some practice lap racing.

I saw the Opry twice, and now feel I should see it at the Ryman while I can.
Never went to the park, I have "problems" with certain aspects of such parks.
I like the idea of an outlet mall even less, which was poor planning anyway, with the derelict Hundred Oaks Mall half empty
sitting there as a testament to overbuilding in retail.

I wish that WSM can retain a useful night signal many places, and that it can somehow continue to be unique.
I love the deep Americana, and really creaky bluegrass from 78s.
No one else can do it, and MEAN it, like WSM. And I hope somehow, that keeps happening.

It's been more or less impossible for me to hear WSM in the car lately, so I have no idea how they're sounding lately.
 
Here's an Idea for WSM it may be a stretch but here it goes:
If someone bought WSM or the current owners changed it to a Non-commercial entity then they could get a non-comm full power FM to mate with it. Then they could tweak the format a bit still playing the old country and bluegrass and maybe lean towards what WDVX here is East Tenn is doing. A Blue Plate special "Live" midday show and other type events.
Just a thought.
 
knoxbob said:
If someone bought WSM or the current owners changed it to a Non-commercial entity then they could get a non-comm full power FM to mate with it.
Click to expand...

where would the revenue come from to keep NES paid?
underwriters and pledge drives can only go so far...
 
I dunoo CR, ever seem the "rate card" for sponsprships of PLN? It makes a Mix 30-seconder look like a virtual bargain.
 
Do you know much the Opry charges a sponsor like Cracker Barrel or US Bank? It's more than PLN's annual budget. And those sponsorships would be more limited on non-com radio.
 
Uh no Big A, I don't have a clue how much Gaylord charges or anything else about radio. ??? Geez man- it was a JOKE with a lot of truth in it directed to Chris Romer mainly about the rates on Mix. Do you know how much PLN charges? It's steep for what you get. Compared to the rest of what is charged elsewhere in radio, I think it's actually outrageous for the results. Not on a $$ to $$ ratio compared to a spot in MD or AD on the #1 and/or #2 stations, P 25-54 ---but in the scheme of "all things" radio in Market #44.

Radio may have stolen my brain, but please Lord, don't let it take my bad sense of humor.
 
Tibbs...this thread is why I have a custom message at the bottom left of each post
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom