23 Facts About Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28,1925, by George D Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM.

The Grand Ole Opry moved to a permanent home, the Ryman Auditorium, in 1943.

In October 1934, the Grand Ole Opry moved into then-suburban Hillsboro Theatre before moving to the Dixie Tabernacle in East Nashville on June 13,1936.

The Grand Ole Opry then moved to the War Memorial Auditorium, a downtown venue adjacent to the State Capitol, and a 25-cent admission fee was charged to try to curb the large crowds, but to no avail.

One hour of the Grand Ole Opry was nationally broadcast by the NBC Red Network from 1939 to 1956, and for much of its run, it aired one hour after the program that had inspired it, National Barn Dance.

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Two decades later, long after Parsons's death, members of The Byrds reconciled with the Grand Ole Opry and collaborated on the 1989 album Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two.

Already 51 years old at the time the Grand Ole Opry moved there, the Ryman was beginning to suffer from disrepair as the downtown neighborhood around it fell victim to increasing urban decay.

The Grand Ole Opry's operators wanted to build a new air-conditioned theater, with greater seating capacity, ample parking, and the ability to serve as a television production facility.

The new Opry venue was the centerpiece of a grand entertainment complex at that location, which later included Opryland USA Theme Park and Opryland Hotel.

Grand Ole Opry continues to be performed every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and occasionally Wednesday and Sunday at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Grand Ole Opry House was the home of the Country Music Association Awards from 1974 to 2004, and hosted three weeks of tapings for the long-running game show Wheel of Fortune in 2003.

On Sunday, October 18,1998, the Grand Ole Opry held a benefit show at Ryman Auditorium, marking its return to the venue for the first time since its final show on March 15,1974.

In May 2010, the Grand Ole Opry House was flooded, along with much of Nashville, when the Cumberland River overflowed its banks.

Grand Ole Opry closed its doors to spectators and trimmed its staff in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tennessee but continued to air weekly episodes on radio and television, relying on advertising revenue to remain solvent.

The Grand Ole Opry resumed allowing spectators on a limited basis in October, and resumed full operations in May 2021.

Grand Ole Opry livestreams were celebrated by viewers as something to look forward to during the pandemic, with the majority of viewers being under lockdown.

Grand Ole Opry is broadcast live on WSM-AM at 7 pm CT on Saturday nights, changed from a previous time start of 6:30.

Grand Ole Opry provides a fourteen-piece house band for performers should they not have a band of their own.

Grand Ole Opry can be heard live on Willie's Roadhouse on channel 59 on Sirius XM Satellite Radio, and the program streams on WSM's website.

The most recent induction took place on August 30,2022, when Don Schlitz became the first-ever member of the Grand Ole Opry inducted for his songwriting and not as a performer.

Electric amplification, new in the beginning days of the Grand Ole Opry, was regarded as the province of popular music and jazz in the 1940s.

Grand Ole Opry did not use his drums on the Opry, but this particular Saturday night, the Opry was cancelled due to FDR's death.

In 2004, the Grand Ole Opry sold naming rights to its first "presenting sponsor, " Cracker Barrel.