The Grand Ole Opry celebrates a historic milestone tonight when WSM-AM (650) broadcasts its 5,000th … [+]
The Grand Ole Opry celebrates a historic milestone tonight when WSM-AM (650) broadcasts its 5,000th Saturday night show. Country music’s longest-running weekly radio show, the Grand Ole Opry debuted on Saturday, Nov. 28, 1925. Now in its 96th year, the Opry has survived floods, wars and a global pandemic while remaining a touchstone for country fans across the globe during uncertain times.
When COVID-19 halted touring and live music in early 2020 the Opry continued its weekly broadcast on WSM and Circle TV. For nearly seven months the show aired from an empty Grand Ole Opry House as Opry members and rising country stars kept the music going without a live audience.
Opry VP/Executive Producer Dan Rogers, who has been with the company for 23 years, says the decision to continue Saturday Opry performances was at first one of reverence for those who came before. The Opry had managed to stay on the air during two floods and WWII, why stop now?
“There was never a discussion of whether or not to continue,” Rogers tells me. “It was always how we go about continuing. With the first show we realized that that era of the Opry was going to be about much more than just being able to say we hadn’t missed a Saturday night performance. It was very much going to be about widening our audience, and first and foremost, providing people around the world entertainment when they needed it most.”
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What began as WSM Barn Dance has transformed into a global brand. The Grand Ole Opry can still be heard on WSM as well as opry.com, wsmonline.com and SiriusXM, and viewed on Circle and Gray TV stations as well as livestreamed on Circle All Access’ Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Very early Grand Ole Opry broadcast when it was still WSM Barn Dance. Solemn Old Judge George D. Hay … [+]
Throughout the pandemic the Opry broadcast has been streamed more than 70 million times on its social channels in over 100 countries. Opry Entertainment Group President Scott Bailey says the decision to partner with Gray TV three years ago was to better serve the country lifestyle consumer.
“They’re a company that has similar sensibilities in the way that we approach our brands and the reverence associated with that and really serving their communities as well,” Bailey says. “The combination of both a cultural fit, a distribution partner that could really help us on the distribution piece coupled with our brands, our archives, our IP and our content made an awful lot of sense.”
The Grand Ole Opry is an iconic brand that has evolved with the times. It embraces social media and has its own TikTok account, something somewhat surprising for a 96-year-old establishment.
“You have to stay relevant and continue to innovate,” Bailey stresses. “I think that the innovation that we did around live streaming, pay-per-view streaming, the distribution that we’re doing with ad supported video on-demand services, we are literally reinventing how we talk to consumers and that’s critically important. … The way that I look at the Opry, you have to respect and protect the legacy and the history and where we’ve come from, but you have to reinvent it as well.
“One of the things that I’m really pushing our teams to constantly think about is the next generation of consumers: How are you becoming more and more relevant? How do you make sure that the brand is as accessible to the next generation of consumers as it is to our current core customer or those that have been with us for a long period of time? If we aren’t willing to innovate in those areas and surprise people and be in locations like TikTok we run the risk of being irrelevant.”
Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner reuniting on the Grand Ole Opry stage, April 19, 2007
The Opry hired SmithGeigerGroup to research its audience and consumers with a focus on the impact Circle TV is having being distributed to several other platforms. The results show that the broadcast of Opry Live had the largest category of intent in the 25-44 age demo, widening the Opry’s reach and introducing it to a new demographic who, in turn, now visits the Grand Ole Opry.
As the Opry continues to evolve with the times it remains a career milestone for country artists. Mandy Barnett, the newest Opry member to be inducted on Nov. 2, has performed on the Opry stage more than 500 times.
“Truly, the Grand Ole Opry epitomizes history, longevity, and perseverance…just like country music,” she says. “For almost a hundred years, through good times and bad times, the Opry has maintained its legacy and brought entertainment and delight to generations of loyal listeners. The Grand Ole Opry is the ultimate show business survivor proving the proverbial ‘the show must go on.’ And proving that country music itself will go on!”
Connie Smith invites Mandy Barnett to become a Grand Ole Opry member on September 28, 2021
Barnett performed at the Opry during the first Saturday show without an audience during COVID-19 on March 14, 2020. More than a year later she was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
“I was completely shocked, ecstatic, and grateful, and I cried tears of joy,” Barnett, who was invited to be an Opry member on her birthday earlier this year, says. “I’m surprised that I could even gather myself after that to finish out my performance set, but I did. I’m still walking on air about the invitation. … I revere the Opry; it was, and remains, the absolute pinnacle of country music.”
Trisha Yearwood agrees, adding that being invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry is the ultimate goal for a country singer. It’s a club you have to be invited into and the invitation isn’t based on an artist’s career achievements but instead whether the person understands the history of country music and represents the genre well.
“It was really the ultimate goal,” Yearwood says of her induction in 1999. “I love everything about the Grand Ole Opry and I’m so proud to be a part of that family. To be going strong as long as they have done through so many different hardships, they’ve made it work and they’ve sustained. That’s a lot of episodes, a lot of performances. Garth and I both are really excited to be a part of the celebration.”
Patsy Cline on Opry stage in May 1962.
Tonight’s show is a who’s-who cast of Opry members that highlights the Opry’s philosophy of celebrating the past, present and future of country music. The 5,000th Saturday night lineup includes performances by Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Dustin Lynch, Darius Rucker, Bill Anderson, Terri Clark, Vince Gill, Chris Janson, Jeannie Seely, Connie Smith, The Gatlin Brothers and Chris Young.
“It’s been my goal with this 5,000th show that it truly portrays where I believe the Opry is in this era of its history,” Rogers says. “I’m hoping when that curtain comes up, you’ll see and hear artists who have a tremendous respect for those 5,000 shows that have come before but also everyone looking ahead to the path we’re clearing to make the Opry even bigger and better in the years ahead.”
