I have some very exciting news to share with everyone: Patsy Cline is to be honored as one of the outstanding women in Virginia history. Of course we all know this, but The Virginia Foundation for Women, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the welfare of women and girls, and Delta Kappa Gamma, an organization of women educators, have selected Patsy as one of eight women to be honored this year. This is the third year the group has paid tribute to historically significant Virginia women. Patsy was chosen because of her outstanding contributions to music and to women. The names of the others added to the ranks of the state's outstanding women have not been announced. This honor, in the form of a plaque and poster, will be presented at a reception in Richmond, Va. on February 28, 2002. This is quite an honor and we are anxious to take part in the presentation. I just had to share this with everyone!! At last, many, many years later people realize what they had, what they have now, and what they will remember about her.

Judge Clears Proposed Settlement in Royalty Suit Against Universal

Court: Class-action status expands number of potential plaintiffs to about 300 artists

By: Ann W. O'Neill and Jeff Leeds
Los Angeles Times

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has given preliminary approval to a $4.75-million settlement between Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group and what could be as many as 300 aging and deceased recording artists who are owed royalties.

An attorney for the lead plaintiff, torch singer Peggy Lee, said it was the first class-action lawsuit to accuse a record company of employing questionable accounting tactics to cheat artists of royalties dating as far back as the 1940s.

The settlement papers, signed Monday by Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney, characterize the agreement as "reasonable and fair." Universal admitted no wrongdoing. On Monday, the judge also formally declared the suit a class action, expanding the number of potential plaintiffs to nearly 300 artists who recorded with the Decca label before Jan. 1, 1962.

A final settlement could be reached by early May, after a so-called fairness hearing is held to determine whether anyone objects.

Long-Time Radio Home For Grand Ole Opry To Remain

By: Pat Harris
Reuters

Nashville's venerable Grand Ole Opry, where many country music stars got their start, will not be evicted from its longtime broadcast home, the radio station owner said on Monday.

Nor will station WSM-AM change its country music format in favor of sports talk despite posting a $150 million loss last year, said Colin Reed, Gaylord Entertainment Co. president and chief executive officer.

Reed ended weeks of speculation with the announcement at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, the Opry's former venue, that WSM-AM will continue a 70-year tradition of broadcasting the show -- the longest running on radio.

O Bluegrass, Where Art Thou Headed?

Without the aid of radio play, a music revolution has taken root.

By: Jennifer Mendelsohn
USA Weekend

Patty Loveless starts her show at The Birchmere, a music hall in Alexandria, Va., by performing contemporary hits like "I'm That Kind of Girl" and "Lonely Too Long" -- the kinds of songs that have made her a country radio staple. But midway through her set, Loveless and her musicians unplug and regroup. They cluster around a single microphone and break into the old-time, knee-slapping ditties from Loveless' most recent CD, "Mountain Soul", a celebration of the mountain music on which the Kentucky coal miner's daughter was raised. The audience jumps to its feet and begins to cheer and scream as if Loveless were doing magic tricks or acrobatics.

"I think we're onto something," Loveless says with a laugh.

She sure can say that again. Last year saw an almost unprecedented boom in all types of "roots" music. Everything from twangy bluegrass and mountain ballads to old-time gospel is suddenly back in style. "There isn't even another year we could compare it to," marvels Dan Hays, executive director of the Kentucky-based International Bluegrass Music Association.

WSM Keeps Classic Country As Gaylord Says Station Won't Change Format

By: RICHARD LAWSON and CRAIG HAVIGHURST
Staff Writers

There will be a future for country's past on WSM-AM 650 after all.

Pressured by fans and country music stars, Gaylord Entertainment Co. yesterday announced it has shelved any further consideration of a format change at the historic, classic country station.

Chief Executive Officer Colin Reed said Gaylord will consider a long menu of technological and programming innovations to bolster WSM's flagship program, the Grand Ole Opry, including satellite radio and potential spin-off shows branded with the Opry name.

"I'm not saying we will continue business as usual," Reed said. "That is not an option for us. Things are going to change, and our goal is to make those changes positive."

Since news broke before Christmas of Gaylord's rethinking on WSM's mission and format, listeners protested through phone banks, e-mail and an 8,500-name cyber-petition. Some even took their pleas to Mario Gabelli, whose New York-firm manages investment funds that collectively are the largest shareholder outside of the Gaylord family.

What The Stars Are Saying: Talk of WSM-AM Format Change Concerns, Frustrates Many

By: PETER COOPER
Staff Writer

After years of worrying that country music's commercial sky was falling, Nashville's music community now fears its roots are in danger.

Those roots have been nourished by WSM-AM, home of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 75 years. Parent company Gaylord Entertainment's admission that it may change the station's focus from music to sports, a shift that would necessitate a new radio home for the Opry, has brought the company a groundswell of phone calls and e-mails of protest.

Now some of country's biggest names have entered the fray, expressing anger and frustration but mostly worry.

While contemporary stars including Vince Gill, Garth Brooks and Brad Paisley have been criticized for not taking public stances against the proposed changes, the truth is that many artists have quietly made their positions known to Gaylord higher-ups.

Boycotts Would Get Gaylord's Attention

To the Editor:

I am not a country music fan. In fact, I can't tolerate it. I haven't listened to WSM in 40 years nor have I ever attended the Grand Ole Opry. But Gaylord Entertainment is a classic example of why Metro Nashville should stop giving away the store.

Too many times, corporate entities are solicited with huge tax breaks and other perks, and then suddenly they turn and bite the hand that has fed them. It just goes to prove that Gaylord has no interest in the welfare of Nashville or the economic impact that the Opry has on Nashville.

Rather than having a bone-chilling demonstration on Music Row, a grass-roots effort ought to be made to boycott Opry Mills.

Let Opry Mills sit empty for two or three days, and you will get Gaylord's attention in a hurry. You want to talk about making an economic impact.

~ Jerry Yates

Patsy’s Home May House Museum

By: Stephanie K. Moran
The Winchester Star

The house in which Patsy Cline spent many of her Winchester years may become a museum dedicated to her memory and music.

The home at 608 S. Kent St. would have an “aura of Patsy being there,” Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. President Jim Stutzman Jr. said late last week.

The concept of setting up the house as a museum is a change of direction for CPC.

The group had approached Winchester City Council in June with an idea to transform the former Solenberger hardware building on the Loudoun Street Mall into a museum dedicated to the country music legend and Winchester native.

Rally Seeks To Keep Country Tunes Comin' On WSM

By: CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer

About 100 protesters raised their voices yesterday in support of keeping a Nashville radio station that has become a country music icon.

The mix of fans and music industry devotees chanted "Keep country alive" on the street beside an entrance to Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center as other supporters drove by on McGavock Pike honking their car horns.

Country legend George Jones, who passed by in a Cadillac Escalade EXT, got out and shook hands with some fans. "The hopes look awful slim, and the problem lies in the big dollars of Gaylord," said Jones from behind the wheel.

Protests came on reports that Gaylord Entertainment is contemplating reformatting WSM-AM into a sports talk station, and removing country music from broadcasts.

Keep WSM Country

Gaylord Entertainment is a business. It makes its decisions based on the bottom line.

Yet Gaylord must know why its consideration of changing the format of WSM-AM from its classic country music format to sports programming has struck such a sour chord in Nashville. The significance of the change wouldn't merely eliminate a listening option for country music lovers, it would seriously alter the sound and the identity of Music City.

The proposed switch immediately raises concerns about the crown jewel of WSM, the Grand Ole Opry radio show. Speculation has surfaced that Gaylord would move the Opry to its WSM-FM station with plans to syndicate the show nationally. But the FM station can't begin to give the Opry the reach of the 50,000-watt AM home it has, going to 38 states.

WNSR Refused Gaylord Appeal To Drop ESPN

By: RICHARD LAWSON
Staff Writer

Almost two months ago, Gaylord Entertainment Co. asked the local ESPN radio affiliate to end its deal with the sports network, reflecting Gaylord's effort to weigh options for WSM-AM 650.

Nashville-based Gaylord met with the owners of WNSR-AM 560 on Nov. 12, recalled Ted Johnson, the station's vice president and general manager.

"At that meeting, I was asked … to vacate our ESPN affiliation, presumably so they could place it on WSM-AM," Johnson said in a statement. "We respectfully declined their request."

He added in a telephone interview, "There was never any money talked about."

Fans Fall To Pieces At Rumor That Opry To Lose Radio Home

By: Anne Michaud and D.F. Weyermann
Globe Correspondents

NASHVILLE - The protests are pouring in, even before any official word that WSM-AM will switch its 76-year-old country music format to sports talk and sever its ties with the Grand Ole Opry.

Station owner Gaylord Entertainment Co. has set up a special comment line to handle the calls, and 3,568 people from New Jersey to Washington state have signed an online petition to preserve the weekly live broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry, which can be heard in 38 states and Canada.

While market forces are changing radio stations everywhere, WSM-AM is more an institution than a radio station. It first broadcast the Opry in October 1925 and has since given national exposure to such country greats as Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, and Loretta Lynn.

Changing the tradition "would be akin to snuffing out the Statue of Liberty's torch, dynamiting Mount Rushmore, or burning down the White House," wrote petition signer Charlie Hansen.

WSM Fans To Rally Behind Country Format

By: CARLY HARRINGTON
Staff Writer

The prospect that WSM-AM radio station might drop its classic country music for sports has prompted a handful of listeners to plan what they hope will be a lively demonstration tomorrow at the Gaylord Entertainment building on Music Row.

"We want them to know there's a lot more listeners than they think," said musician Mike Armistead of the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band. "They can make this economically viable."

Armistead, who says such a move would be "sacrilegious," anticipates a good turnout, which could include some celebrities who may bring their music and guitars to play out in the streets.

Protesters should arrive between 10:30 and 11 a.m. bearing signs and banners, Armistead said. Those who don't want to stand in the cold are encouraged to decorate their cars and drive around the block honking their horns.

Petition Protests Proposed WSM-AM Format Change

By: CRAIG HAVIGHURST
Staff Writer

Key country music figures and thousands of fans have signed an online petition in the last two days protesting a proposed format change at classic country WSM-AM, the station that gave birth to the Grand Ole Opry and much of Nashville's country music business.

Legendary guitarist Duane Eddy is number 2,898 on the list. Country music scribe Hazel Smith is number 2,916, while bluegrass great Uncle Josh Graves is number 1,486.

The petition, which had more than 3,000 names as of yesterday evening, was the most visible sign of gathering protests, as word spread that the 76-year-old station might abandon its heritage country music format for sports.

The protest drive was launched by Elizabeth Davis, a 21-year-old fan from Douglasville, Ga.

Gaylord Still Mulls WSM Format Switch

By: RICHARD LAWSON
Staff Writer

Gaylord Entertainment Co.'s president and chief executive officer yesterday reaffirmed that no decision had been made on whether the company will switch WSM-AM 650 from country music as it tries to reverse the station's $1.5 million loss last year.

"We're not at a point yet that we have determined absolutely, unequivocally we are going to migrate from classic country music on WSM-AM at this stage," Colin Reed said in an exclusive interview at the company's headquarters.

"At the end of the day we may not convert WSM-AM to anything other than what it is today."

Reports that Gaylord was on the verge of switching WSM-AM, which broadcasts the Grand Ole Opry, to sports have been rampant among news outlets over the past couple of days.

All Sports, No Country For WSM Radio?
Format Change Worries Many Listeners

By: Sharon Puckett

Loyal listeners of WSM Radio have taken a campaign to save the station all the way to Congress. Senators, congressmen, even the Governor is being asked to stop what insiders say will be a change in format from country music to sports. An official announcement has not been made, but listeners and artists don't like what they're hearing.

A billboard promoting WSM Radio says, Too Country and Proud of It. But will it last? Reports the past couple of weeks indicate the new year may bring a dramatic change in what listeners will hear.

WSM Radio went on the air October 5, 1925. It wasn't long before WSM, country music and Nashville became synonymous. The station known as the Air Castle of the South soon became important to Nashville in more than one way. Little more than a year ago when there was a 75th birthday party for the WSM, radio executives were eager to sing the praises of its accomplishments and its future. Station employees are not talking publicly now about what may or may not happen. But, veteran country music star Porter Waggoner believes any change would be a big mistake.