The Grand Ole Opry is a regular live country-music radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the time of year. It was founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as the WSM Barn Dance, taking its current name in 1927. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment, it is the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, Americana, folk, and gospel music as well as comedic performances and skits. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and internet listeners.
Bridgestone Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League.
WSM-FM is a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a country music format, with an emphasis on recordings released since the 1990s.
WSM is a commercial AM radio station, located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a country music format and is known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running radio program. The station is owned Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. After nearly 40 years broadcasting from a studio within the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, WSM currently operates out of a temporary studio at its parent company's offices. A new, permanent studio inside the former home of Roy Acuff, just outside the Grand Ole Opry House, is set to open in July 2024.
Opryland USA was a theme park in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 to 1997, and for a special Christmas-themed engagement every December from 1993 to 1997. During the late 1980s, nearly 2.5 million people visited the park annually. Billed as the "Home of American Music", Opryland USA featured a large number of musical shows along with typical amusement park rides, such as roller coasters.
Ryman Auditorium is a historic 2,362-seat live-performance venue and museum located at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, in the downtown core of Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is best known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974. It is owned and operated by Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. Ryman Auditorium was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was later designated as a National Historic Landmark on June 25, 2001, for its pivotal role in the popularization of country music. A storied stage for Rock & Roll artists for decades, the Ryman was named a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark in 2022.
Pleasure Island was an area of the Downtown Disney shopping, dining and entertainment district at Walt Disney World Resort. It officially opened on May 1, 1989. In September 2008, all of its clubs were closed, but its retail stores and restaurants remained open. The area is now called The Landing and is the central part of Disney Springs.
Edward Lewis Gaylord was an American billionaire businessman, media mogul and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Gaylord Entertainment Company that included The Oklahoman newspaper, Oklahoma Publishing Co., Gaylord Hotels, the Nashville Network TV Channel ; the Grand Ole Opry, and the Country Music Television Channel (CMT) as well as the defunct Opryland USA theme park and a bankrupt airline, Western Pacific Airlines.
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, formerly known as Opryland Hotel, is a hotel and convention center located in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Ryman Hospitality Properties, and operated by Marriott International.
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. is a hotel, resort, entertainment, and media company named for one of its assets: the Ryman Auditorium, a National Historic Landmark in Nashville, Tennessee. The company's legal lineage can be traced back to its time as a subsidiary of Edward Gaylord's Oklahoma Publishing Company, however the backbone of the modern entity was formed with the company's acquisition of WSM, Inc. in 1983. This purchase resulted in the ownership of the Grand Ole Opry and associated businesses, including the company's flagship resort property, then known as Opryland Hotel. As such, Ryman Hospitality cites 1925 as its origin year.
At the Ryman is a 1992 live album by Emmylou Harris and her then-newly formed acoustic backing band, The Nash Ramblers, recorded at the one-time home of the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Gaylord Hotels is the large convention hotel brand of Marriott International. As of 2024, it consists of five large hotels with a total of 9,918 rooms, along with attached convention centers and one overflow support hotel property, in addition to one hotel with 1,903 rooms in the pipeline. The properties are owned by Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.
Broadway is a major thoroughfare in the downtown area in Nashville, Tennessee. It includes Lower Broadway, an entertainment district renowned for honky tonks and live country music.
Keith Bilbrey is an American country music disc jockey and television host in Nashville, Tennessee. He served as a disc jockey at Nashville's WSM, as an announcer on the Grand Ole Opry, and as the host of TNN’s Grand Ole Opry Live. He is also the show announcer for Huckabee, a variety show hosted by Mike Huckabee, on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
The 2010 Tennessee floods were floods in Middle Tennessee, West Tennessee, south-central and western Kentucky and northern Mississippi areas of the United States of America as the result of torrential rains on May 1 and 2, 2010. Floods from these rains affected the area for several days afterwards, resulting in a number of deaths and widespread property damage.
Music City Roots is a live radio show, created and produced by John Walker and Todd Mayo. The show is owned and its international trademark is held by Heng Dai Media, LLC, a Tennessee corporation. The television show is distributed via American Public Television, and airs on PBS affiliate stations across the US and Canada.
Earl Wade "Bud" Wendell is an American country music executive. Wendell was the chief executive officer and president of Gaylord Entertainment from 1991 until his retirement in 1997. He was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America in 1996 and inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.
Circle Country, previously known as Circle, is a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service owned by Gray Television as part of its PowerNation Studios division. The network's programming consists of country music oriented shows, western films and rural/blue collar themed material, featuring a mix of original and off-network shows sourced from Opry Entertainment Group.
The 56th Academy of Country Music Awards were held on April 18, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast from various locations around Nashville. The evening was co-hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton. The ceremony involved no ticketed audience due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but featured a limited number of health care workers.
