Actually,  Colin Reed has heard traditional country music fans! After weeks of protests, 10,000 + signatures on an online petition and countless calls and e-mails to WSM and Gaylord Entertainment, Colin Reed made the announcement this afternoon at the historic Ryman Auditorium that WSM will remain 'too country and proud of it'!

Rumors began flying just after the New Year when trade publications began making ominous inferences that the oldest country music station and home of the Grand Ole Opry, WSM-AM 650 would be moving to a sports/talk format before the end of the month. Country music fans, momentarily caught of their guard, quickly mobilized creating online petitions, organizing an onsite protest forcing Gaylord to set up telephone lines to channel the calls admonishing the reported change. 

Thank you to country music fans and artists who made their voices heard, protest organizers and petition circulators. You are proof positive that effective change can occur when people band together for a common cause. Throughout this time Gaylord has heard the combination of many voices from all over the world, joining together to urge Gaylord to listen to the most important voice of all, their corporate conscious.

Where do we go now with all of the energy we have unleashed? I don't know about you, but I've listened to WSM online more in the past couple of weeks than I ever have, and I will continue. I have gained a new appreciation for Eddie Stubb's encyclopedic mind and Bill Cody's humor. We need to support WSM-AM more concretely than we have in the past. 

In the long run, I believe WSM will be healthier and more appreciated. This has been a wake up call to Gaylord that the public doesn't see them merely as a business conglomerate but a caretaker of the historic institutions with which they have chosen to be entrusted.

For as many of us who wrote and expressed our dismay at the contemplation of changing formats, I hope there are equal numbers writing to the same addresses recognizing and appreciating the decision that's been made.

In this life there aren't many second chances. Country music fans, we've been given a second chance. Let's cherish the heritage of our music, share it, and support it.

Laurie Joulie - January 2002