The insurance
company which owned WSM for decades.
(State Capitol in
the background)
The insurance company which owns WLAC.
MUSIC CITY - AND MORE!
Around the world NASHVILLE is known as
"Music City." This is correct, even though Insurance
and religion have been the number one and number two in terms of
money generated. The music industry was number three all of those
decades. The strangest story was how it was the number one
industry, the insurance companies, started a change in the field
of popular music world wide, and helped to spread and popularize
three of the souths most successful forms of music.
|
The insurance |
The insurance company which owns WLAC. |
|
TWO INSURANCE COMPANIES
CHANGE THE WORLD
Two great insurance companies based in Nashville decided to go
into broadcasting in the early days of radio. These were the days
when an AM station could be granted a license for 50,000 watts -
and get a clear channel (no one else on that spot on your dial).
The National life company used their slogan, "We Shield
Millions" as the acronym for their radio station call
letters, "WSM." In the 1920's they
started broadcasting a live radio show which they called their
"barn dance." This powerful signal reached across a
vast area of the U.S. - and even could be heard in parts of
Canada. The "WSM barn dance" was re-named "The
Grand Ol' Opry" and is to this day the longest running live
radio broadcast. Because of WSM, country music was reaching new
audiences and growing decade by decade. Local stations followed
in various markets popularizing country, western, and gospel
music in areas far from its roots. It is all thanks to one of the
insurance companies based in Nashville.
There was another insurance company with a giant 50,000 watt
station in Nashville also. The Life And Casualty
insurance company showed their faith in the future of downtown
Nashville in the 1950's, by building the first skyscraper in the
old downtown area. More important to the world of music, they put
a radio station on top of the building and made the decision to
broadcast what was then called "race music." This was
rhythm and blues and it was the first time many people had heard
it. Until then, black recording artists had a hard time getting
their records played and heard. WLAC had a powerful signal
which carried their music to the bottom tip of Florida and beyond
as well as far to the East, West, and North. New fans of all
races found music they really enjoyed and the market started to
grow.
The result of this was that two southern sounds, country music
and rhythm & blues, spread far beyond their old borders and
were often mixed in live performances for fans. A new music form
was born. Carl Perkins, who had not yet met Elvis Presley, was
doing a version of the bluegrass hit "Blue Moon of
Kentucky" which he did upbeat and leaning toward the R&B
side. When he and his brothers in their family band soon heard
Elvis on the radio doing the very same song in the same way,
their first reaction was, "He does the same kind of music we
do." All over the south, "rockabilly" was being
performed by different entertainers who came to the same type of
music through the blending of R&B with country music. This,
combined with stations in the north starting to play R&B as
did WLAC, launched a new form of music, Rock 'n' Roll which
eventually spread world wide. All pioneered by a radio station
atop the L&C tower broadcasting R&B over a wide
area of the country while another station, over on knob hill,
broadcast Country with its equally powerful 50,000 watt
clear channel signal. Two insurance companies changed the world
of music forever.
 |
The tower that changed the music world forever. |
Once the tallest building in Nashville, The L&C tower now has taller neighbors closing in on it. None of the newcomers share the place in history that this tower created for itself. | |
| Because of the radio station at the top and the decision to program R&B music, the L&C tower literally changed the course of music worldwide. | The L&C tower in Nashville Tennessee. |
 |
|
 |
The Ryman Auditorium. (Where country music spread across the land.) For many years the WSM broadcast of the "Grand Ol Opry" was performed live in this building and broadcast from WSM . |
|