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 talk personality George Plaster to host a talk and call-in radio show from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday. The show is scheduled to begin on July 15th.
Though there’s nothing specifically wrong with George Plaster or sports talk, the announcement by WSM-AM represents an alarming encroachment upon important broadcast time for the brand of country music the station has championed over the years in the face of ever-increasing encroachment of pop and hip-hop into the format. One of the last radio stations in the country catering to classic and traditional country as a primary focus, WSM also offers interviews and live performances for both aging and up-and-coming country performers who adhere to the roots and traditions of the genre. Now, fifteen hours a week on this most legendary of country radio stations will be devoted to talking about Nashville’s emerging sports culture at the expense of important country programming.
George Plaster is a cultural fixture of Nashville himself. Having been on-the-air for the better part of 30 years in the market, he’s a local to Nashville who graduated from Vanderbilt University, and got his first sports talk show in 1989 on WWTN-FM 99.7. He’s also hosted sports programs on 102.5 FM “The Game” and 104.5 “The Zone,” as well as The State Auto SportsZone, which is a weekly television show that airs Sunday nights from August to May on WZTV. Plaster was most recently an assistant athletics director at Belmont University.
Sports is an emerging part of Nashville’s civic culture, underscored by the city’s recent hosting the NFL Draft, which both local boosters and national sports pundits were dutifully impressed with. But WSM-AM has been a bulkhead against the gentrification of country music now for many decades. Founded in 1925 and nicknamed “The Legend,” the 50,000-watt station and its broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry are one of the reasons country music became a popular music genre, and why the radio antennae has become a powerful symbol of country music, including adorning the Country Music Hall of Fame rotunda in Nashville.
The owner of 650 WSM-AM is Ryman Hospitality Properties, which also owns the Grand Ole Opry, the Gaylord Opryland Resort, and is a partner of many other important properties throughout Nashville, including Blake Shelton’s Ole Red bar and venue on Lower Broadway. Ryman Hospitality has been one of the primary beneficiaries of Nashville’s recent economic boom, and recently announced the launch of their own television network with Grey Television, expected to be commissioned in mid 2020.
Undoubtedly with the rise of appeal in sports in Nashville and the following George Plaster has put together over the years, the new show will perform better than the current programming in that time slot. But there’s something to be said about keeping the mission and the programming of WSM-AM pure to its original mission, even if it means more moderate expectations on ratings and revenue. The legacy of WSM-AM is bigger than any one generation, and adding sports to the mix would be no different than tearing down an important portion of the Ryman Auditorium to erect some more financially-lucrative structure. The other concern is if this afternoon drive sports show is just the start, and eventually Ryman Hospitality will look to rebrand the station or do a format change, even if they keep the broadcasts of the Opry.
Ryman Hospitality has plenty of money, and there are better options for allocating new talent into this legacy country music radio station to attract listeners. WSM-AM is a cultural institution whose fate should rise above immediate financial concerns. With the rise of interest in traditional and independent country music and Americana, the dwindling of support for these styles of music by corporate radio, and the ability for listeners to tune in from all around the world via the internet, WSM-AM could take the lead in this space as the most legendary radio brand in country music. The rise of podcasts have proven how much people are willing to listen to substantial, in-depth programming about country music. By acquiescing to sports programming, the management of Ryman Hospitality is undercutting what makes WSM-AM unique, and what could help build on the station’s legacy moving forward for a new generation of listeners.
Let sports stations handle the sports talk in Nashville. Let WSM-AM continue to be the heartbeat of traditional country music on the radio like it has been for going on 100 years.
May 15, 2019 @ 7:04 pm
I’ve never heard of George Plaster, but, presumably, he does a segment where certain individuals “get Plastered.”
May 15, 2019 @ 7:20 pm
It is what it is but could be the first volley that leads to a format change in the future with the nod to the past being Opry broadcast. Truth be told if it’s ratings far out pace anything else on the channel the corporate boys will follow the market forces and go where the money is. We shall see but concern about were this leads is warranted.
May 17, 2019 @ 2:34 am
Gaylord tried to turn 650 into sports talk ten years ago. No one should be surprised by this. WSM has been drifting into Americana/bro-country for a few years now. The end is nigh…
May 15, 2019 @ 7:57 pm
This sucks!
May 15, 2019 @ 8:33 pm
What is the new program replacing? I bet Eddie Stubbs and his mundane personality is ruffled by this. Sad to hear it.
May 16, 2019 @ 6:05 am
Eddie is after that slot. Usually goes til midnight. He’s the only one that’s actually live on the air at that time slot in all of Nashville. Personally I love Eddie. He is the smartest man in the world when it comes to country music. A walking encyclopedia of country music.
Don’t forget wsm was also the station of the century for the 1900’s. We can sometimes get it here in Buffalo about 740 miles away.
May 16, 2019 @ 8:50 am
Eddie is the best. The VERY BEST shows are when he and Marty Stuart get together. There is so much knowledge between them and listening to them is like hearing an audio encyclopedia.
May 15, 2019 @ 10:11 pm
Music radio is dead to me.
May 16, 2019 @ 6:54 am
WSM lost it’s way a few years back when they stopped playing music during the afternoon drive timeslot and aired the absolutely insipid Devon O’Day lifestyle program instead. The only time I stream ‘the legend’ is Sunday mornings when 3 hrs of (mostly) old timey and bluegrass gospel programming is on. And occasionally I listen to Eddie Stubbs but other than that WSM pretty much is corporate crap and talk radio nonsense
May 16, 2019 @ 8:14 am
This is bad news. I remember back in the early 2000’s when they tried to convert the whole station to sports, until massive protesting apparently changed their minds.
RHP is nothing but a bunch of greedy corporatist yankees, most of whom couldn’t care less about C(c)ountry music. They’ve priced the Opryland Hotel out of the market for middle class families. They built a water park for rich kids only.
I support their right to do whatever they want to with their business, while simultaneously considering them greedy A-holes for doing it.
May 16, 2019 @ 8:26 am
That instance in the early 2000’s is what has me worried. Now they may try the mission creep approach where slowly but surely more sports programs get added when people’s guards are down.
May 16, 2019 @ 4:45 pm
Trigger,
I’m bummed that more of your readers care about Tyler Childers than about WSM.
May 16, 2019 @ 9:42 pm
Oh thank god…finally! There is a such a shortage of sports programming… Will all of the balls be represented?
May 17, 2019 @ 8:57 am
I have to drive across Nashville several times a year. That’s usually the only time of my 10-plus hour trip where my life has taken me to my hometown that I listen to over the air radio. I’ll flip between WSM-AM and WMOT during the Middle Tennessee segment of the drive. A lot of that is the nostalgia of listening to one of the radio stations of my youth. So many trips home from ballgames or different places in the 1970’s where WSM was the soundtrack. I like George Plaster’s perspective on sports, but this feels like something special is slipping away. Guess I’ll stick to WMOT when driving through Nashville during the afternoon time slot.
May 18, 2019 @ 10:04 am
You should be worried about this programming change, Trigger. I was around for the attempted switch to an all-talk sports format 20 years ago and it wasn’t pretty. Thank goodness public opinion — and a few forceful meetings with highly successful artists — managed to get the station owner to rethink their idea. Seems to me they’re trying to beef up the programming to sell the station off. Handing Plaster the prime evening drive-time slot is only the first cut. Killing off the Opry broadcasts will be next. After all, someone needs to pay for the new television endeavor. Too bad they weren’t smart enough to keep TNN all those years ago.
May 29, 2019 @ 2:35 pm
I’ll personally vote for anything but the Devon O’Day talkshow, which it’s replacing. I’d prefer music, but it’s an upgrade from the current drive time programming.
August 18, 2019 @ 8:48 pm
It’s gone. Did not even last a month. I do agree Devon O Day is awful