Did I Hear Correctly?

Rick Collins · From: Claremont , CA USA

I just heard that the Grand Ole Opry will begin broadcasting live in April. Does anyone know which network? Is this a television broadcast? I thought it was already a live radio broadcast.

Rick

Fred Justice · From: Mesa, Arizona

Rick,a T V broadcast of the whole night? that would be great,maybe we could catch it here in Arizona on its way to you in Ca.

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

Two-hour Opry package to be syndicated nationally

By JEANNE A. NAUJECK
Staff Writer

The Grand Ole Opry will be distributed nationally in April as a syndicated two-hour weekend show on the Westwood One radio network.

America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend will highlight live performances from the Grand Ole Opry ,which is broadcast weekly on WSM-AM 650 from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House.

As part of the package, Westwood affiliates also will receive a two-minute feature of behind-the-scenes stories called Backstage at the Opry.

Gaylord Entertainment, which owns the Opry and WSM, wants to make the Opry available to ''every market across this nation,'' Gaylord president Colin Reed said.

WSM's broadcast signal — including the three Opry shows each weekend and the Tuesday shows during the tourist season — is streamed on the Internet at www.wsmonline.com. It also is available as ''WSM Entertainment'' on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The Opry, which has aired on WSM for more than 77 years, is the world's longest running radio show.

Westwood One distributes more than 150 news, sports, talk and music programs, including Country Gold and The Weekly Country Music Countdown, to more than 7,700 radio station affiliates. It is managed by Infinity Broadcasting Corporation.

[This message was edited by Janice Brooks on 25 February 2003 at 04:43 PM.]

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

This idea came up last year when the threat to change WSM was in the news.
I will be interested to see wheather it's an option or requirment for Westwood One stations to pick this up.

Here's a related note from 1-02
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum10/HTML/001856.html

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

[This message was edited by Janice Brooks on 25 February 2003 at 05:01 PM.]

[This message was edited by Janice Brooks on 27 February 2003 at 06:27 PM.]

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

Bump

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

Great news.

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

Opry's show competes for crowded air

By JEANNE A. NAUJECK
Staff Writer

The new radio program America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend has a lot going for it.

The live show from which it's derived, The Grand Ole Opry, is a singular, instantly identifiable brand, having aired on Nashville's WSM-AM 650 for 77 years. And it's being marketed by the Westwood One radio network, which will offer the two-hour program to 2,000-plus country radio stations.

But it's entering a crowded field of country programming that airs primarily on weekends. The show will compete for timeslots with established shows like Bill Cody's Classic Country Weekend, Rick Jackson's Country Hall of Fame, Jeff Foxworthy's Country Countdown, After Midnight, Country Gold, Lon Helton's Country Countdown USA, and the most popular, American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley, which is carried by about 750 stations.

''The directory of syndicated shows could choke a horse,'' said Helton, who is Nashville bureau chief of Radio & Records magazine. Helton's show is syndicated by Westwood One and carried by about 350 stations.

''There are only 48 hours in the weekend. Any shows out there are indeed competing for time with everybody else on those radio stations.''

Stations will be allowed to air the two-hour show, which packages recent Opry performances with archived segments, between 6 a.m. to midnight on Saturday or Sunday, according to Westwood One.

Independent radio consultant Robert Unmacht said Westwood probably would offer the show on barter instead of selling it to stations. Westwood would sell commercials to advertisers during the Opry show or in some other programming slot in exchange for a certain number of listeners. The deal is a win for both partners, he said.

''Westwood has virtually nothing on the line because it doesn't cost much to produce or distribute, and even WSM doesn't have a lot to lose since the original programming is already there.''

Abby Krasny, a Westwood One spokeswoman, said last week that the network was still assessing the show's market appeal. She wouldn't comment on sales or pricing.

Unmacht said the packaged Opry show would be considered successful if it gets picked up by about 100 stations, the rough threshold for profitability. Westwood One is managed by Infinity Broadcasting, which owns 180 stations in 22 markets.

But Helton said success depends not on the number of stations America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend attracts, but on which markets they're in: ''You really don't know the success of a show if it's on 100 or 300 stations. You have to count the audience.

''Here in Nashville, I can go to four different (country) radio stations. Most big markets in America have only one, and if that station doesn't play you, then you're not on in Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Miami, Washington, D.C., or Boston.''

But both analysts and Westwood One said they believe the Opry show name will stand out from the field.

''That's what they hope and believe will separate it,'' Helton said. ''The Grand Ole Opry brings with it such wonderful cachet. People who don't even live within earshot of WSM-AM know about the Opry, its heritage and what it means in the country world.

''The beauty of what they're doing is they're not carrying it live — they're taking the best of the Grand Ole Opry and packaging it in such a way that it fits with today's country radio stations.''

Although Opry owner Gaylord Entertainment Co. said the show would comprise a mix of new and old performers, Westwood is clearly skewing toward a younger audience, not the older folks who tune in to the Opry on WSM to hear Hall of Famers like Porter Wagoner and Charlie Louvin.

Westwood One's promotions bill America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend as ''featuring today's biggest country music stars including the Dixie Chicks, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson, recorded live from the Grand Ole Opry stage.''

''To me, any syndicated show must provide a station with programming they can't do themselves,'' Helton said. ''The Opry ... puts star power on a country radio station that it might not otherwise have.''

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Janice Brooks · From: Pleasant Gap Pa

{qoute}Although Opry owner Gaylord Entertainment Co. said the show would comprise a mix of new and old performers, Westwood is clearly skewing toward a younger audience, not the older folks who tune in to the Opry on WSM to hear Hall of Famers like Porter Wagoner and Charlie Louvin.{/quote}

There's that discrimination again.

I also can't see how this will make an impression if not exposed to mass markets.

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

[This message was edited by Janice Brooks on 03 March 2003 at 06:59 PM.]

Patrick Ickes · From: Upper Lake, CA USA

Hi Janice,
So... What you're saying is that they are going to broadcast poorly mixed,lousy,live versions of perfectly mixed, lousy, recorded new country music on the stations that normally play perfectly mixed,lousy recorded new country music and this is supposed to be good?????

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I'll continue to not listen to commercial radio as I have for the past 7 years.

Pat

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