Air Castle of The South: WSM And The Making Of Music City

WSM 650 AM is probably the most impactful radio station in American history, because while other stations provided rocket fuel for certain genres and scenes, WSM changed the course of an entire city’s history, economy, and identity. In 2025, we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the day WSM radio went on the air on Oct. 5, 1925, as well as the show that it gave birth to a few weeks later, first called the WSM Barn Dance, later the Grand Ole Opry. 

Launched as a promotional and good-will gesture by the relatively young National Life and Accident Insurance Company, WSM was given the resources to quickly become a leading station in the South in the early days of radio, largely because of the leadership of its founding National Life director Edwin Craig. It broadcast a wide mix of music, public affairs, news, drama and specialty shows, captivating people across not only Tennessee but much of the nation. It became the first NBC affiliate in the South and a founding force behind the National Association of Broadcasters and the music industry royalty body BMI. And its production of live music became a beacon for other musicians looking for opportunity. 

After riding out the Great Depression and serving the nation nobly through World War II, WSM was in a position to name Nashville “Music City USA” on the air in 1950. By then it had directly spawned the Opry, Nashville’s first recording studio, an FM station (the nation’s first), music publishing companies, and at least one independent record label. Its big band leader Francis Craig released Nashville’s first national pop hit. Its studio musicians became the fabled A-Team of Music Row. It developed stars by the dozen, including harmonica player DeFord Bailey, pop singer Dinah Shore, old-time banjo player Uncle Dave Macon, bluegrass legends Flatt & Scruggs, country icon Hank Williams, female pioneer Kitty Wells and many more. 

In the late 1990s, soon after arriving in Nashville to live, I got fascinated by the WSM story and began doing independent research, uncovering archives that hadn’t ever been investigated before. I interviewed key players from the station’s past, including some who’d been around as early as the 1920s and 30s. I found a home for my research at the University of Illinois Press, and the book was launched in November of 2007. The 100th birthday of the Opry and WSM is a great time to dive into this epic story.

PRAISE FOR AIR CASTLE OF THE SOUTH

"Havighurst has done a service in preserving the colorful and instructive history of WSM--and in reminding us that giants once lived on the radio dial."--Wall Street Journal 

"Havighurst provides impressive detail. . . . [And] has created a fascinating and compelling work, shedding significant new light on how Nashville, 'The Athens of the South,' evolved into Music City USA."--No Depression 

"[Air Castle of the South is] a fascinating narrative that describes in exhaustive detail the behind-the-scene stories, larger-than-life characters and an unwieldy trajectory that mirrored the increasing complexity of the broadcasting business in general. . . . [A]n engrossing paean to a station that became an American institution."--Performing Songwriter 

"Havighurst and the University of Illinois Press have produced a first-rate history, a biography of a radio station and a town, and a document that will help future generations appreciate the true story of country music. Highly recommended."--Bluegrass Unlimited 

"A deeply interesting . . . book. Craig Havighurst tells the tale mostly through a mosaic of biographical bits and pieces about a wide range of major players through the earlier years of the station's development. . . . A useful resource."--Dirty Linen 

"4 stars. Riding the airwaves through the history of Nashville's premier radio station."--MOJO 

"This is a vital book in the canons of country music history, but it's also a delightful read because the corporate growth and technological advances are peppered with stories such as Ernest Tubb's arrest for firing a gun in the National Life lobby and Hank Williams's call from jail. Havighurst treats WSM as if it's a character as rich and important as those it made famous, and he recreates the intangible studio moments that evaporate into thin air after reaching listeners' homes."--Weekly Standard 

"A well-researched and comprehensive history of one of the most influential radio stations in the history of both broadcasting and country music. . . . Anyone even remotely interested in country music will enjoy this long overdue history of early radio days and the large part one station in particular played in the evolution and dissemination of the genre."--Sing Out

"Craig Havighurst has written an indispensable and long overdue history of WSM, which is likely to stand as the definitive work for some time. This book is a jewel in the crown of the country music list published by the University of Illinois Press."--Michael Streissguth, author of Johnny Cash: The Biography