WSM Radio

650 AM WSM is the most famed country music station in the world. Each day, the station shares country, bluegrass, and Americana as well as the excitement of Music City with friends in Middle Tennessee and listeners around the world. WSM debuted on October 5, 1925, and less than two months later, the station would birth its most famous show — and the show that would make country music famous — the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry was the first of WSM’s shows to develop such an excited audience that fans would visit live studio broadcasts. That tradition continues today not only with the Opry but with other signature programming. In 1928, WSM was given the frequency of 650 kilohertz and admission to an elite group of maximum power, Class 1-A clear-channel broadcasters. In 1932, the station’s new 50,000-watt transmitter made it a nation-spanning giant. At the heart of this expansion was a diamond-shaped vertical antenna located just south of Nashville, the tallest tower in the nation at the time. The station today still spans the nation with its AM signal, of course, while also circling the globe online. WSM has gone on to become a broadcasting giant and a friend to hundreds of thousands of fans. The station has won hundreds of broadcasting awards and was named Country Radio Station of the Century by “Radio & Records” in 2000. WSM’s personalities are nationally recognized figures in country music, and listeners range from U.S. Presidents to Country Music Hall of Famers to artists climbing the charts toward their first No. 1 hit. You never know when a famous listener might drop in for a visit or to take the studio’s reigns for a while.