November 28, 1925…”The Grand Ole Opry” Was Born

“The Grand Ole Opry” started as the “WSM Barn Dance” in the new fifth-floor radio station studio of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville, Tennessee on November 28, 1925.

On October 18, 1925, WSM management began a program featuring “Dr. Humphrey Bate and his string quartet of old-time musicians.” On November 2, WSM hired long-time announcer and program director George D. “Judge” Hay, an enterprising pioneer from the “National Barn Dance” program at WLS Radio in Chicago, who was also named the most popular radio announcer in America as a result of his radio work with both WLS in Chicago and WMC in Memphis.

Hay launched the “WSM Barn Dance” with 77-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson on November 28, 1925, which is celebrated as the birth date of the Grand Ole Opry.

The name “Grand Ole Opry” came about on December 10, 1927.

The Barn Dance followed NBC Blue Network’s “Music Appreciation Hour”, which consisted of classical music and selections from the Grand Opera genre. Their final piece that night came with comments from the conductor who stated that “there was no place in the classics for realism”.

In response to this Judge Hay quipped, “Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics, and the host told us told us that there is no place in the classics for realism. However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism. It will be down to earth for the ‘earthy’.”

He then introduced the man he dubbed the Harmonica Wizard…DeFord Bailey who played his classic train song “The Pan American Blues”. After Bailey’s performance Hay commented, “For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the ‘Grand Ole Opry'”. -Bobby Ellerbee

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