George Dewey Hay (November 9, 1895 – May 8, 1968) was an American radio personality, announcer and newspaper reporter. He was the founder of the original ''

Grand Ole Opry The ''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. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a div ...

'' radio program on

WSM-AM WSM (650 kHz) is a 50,000- watt clear channel AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a full-time country music format (with classic country and Americana leanings, the latter of which is branded as "Route 650") at ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, from which the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

stage show of the same name evolved.

Early newspaper and radio career

Hay was born in

Attica, Indiana Attica is a city in Logan Township, Fountain County, Indiana, United States. History Attica was laid out by George Hollingsworth and platted by David Stump in 1825. The completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal through the town in 1847 brought ...

, United States. In

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

, after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he was a

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

for the ''

Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

''. While on a reporting assignment in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas in 1919, Hay was invited to a hoedown in a local cabin. There, a fiddle player, a guitar player, and a banjo player performed until dawn. Hay was impressed, and that planted the seed for his later efforts. When the newspaper launched its own radio station, WMC, in January 1923, he became a late-night announcer at the station. His popularity increased and in May 1924 he left for WLS in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where he served as the announcer on a program that became '' National Barn Dance''.

Founding The Grand Ole Opry

On November 9, 1925, Hay's 30th birthday, he moved on to WSM in Nashville. Getting a strong listener reaction to 78-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson that November, Hay announced the following month that WSM would feature "an hour or two" of old-time music every Saturday night. He promoted the music and formed a booking agency. The show was originally named ''WSM Barn Dance,'' and Hay billed himself as "The Solemn Old Judge." The ''Barn Dance'' was broadcast after

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''Music Appreciation Hour,'' a program featuring

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

and

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

. One day in December 1927, the final music piece on the ''Music Appreciation Hour'' depicted the sound of a rushing

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

. After the show ended, "Judge Hay" opened the ''WSM Barn Dance'' with this announcement: Hay then introduced the man he dubbed "The Harmonica Wizard," DeFord Bailey, who played his classic train song, "The Pan American Blues," named for the crack

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of t ...

passenger train ''The Pan-American.'' After Bailey's performance, Hay commented, "For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the ''Grand Ole Opry''."

Newspaper, announcing, touring and film appearance

During the 1930s, he was involved with ''Rural Radio'', one of the first magazines about country music, developing the ''Opry'' for NBC and working on the movie ''Grand Ole Opry'' (1940). He was an announcer with the radio show during the 1940s and toured with ''Opry'' acts, including the September 1947 ''Opry'' show at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

. He was featured in ''

Hoosier Holiday ''Hoosier Holiday'' is a 1943 American comedy film directed by Frank McDonald and written by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E. McGowan. The film stars George D. Hay, Isabel Randolph, Shug Fisher, Lillian Randolph, Dale Evans and George Byron. The ...

'', a 1945 film from

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...

, in a cast that also included Dale Evans.

Publication and legacy

In 1945, Hay wrote ''A Story of the Grand Ole Opry'', and he became an editor of Nashville's ''Pickin’ and Singin’ News'' in 1953. He was inducted into the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has ama ...

in 1966.

Death

Hay moved to

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

, where he died in 1968. He was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery on 8100 Granby Street, Norfolk, Virginia 23505.

References

External links

Opry.com: Judge Hay and the OpryHay's bio at the Country Music Hall of FameGeorge D. Hay at WLS-AM Chicago
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, George D. American country singer-songwriters American magazine editors American writers about music Radio personalities from Chicago Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Grand Ole Opry members Radio personalities from Memphis, Tennessee Radio personalities from Nashville, Tennessee People from Virginia Beach, Virginia Radio and television announcers Tennessee culture 1895 births 1968 deaths People from Attica, Indiana Journalists from Mississippi Singer-songwriters from Virginia Journalists from Virginia 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Tennessee Country musicians from Illinois Country musicians from Indiana 20th-century American journalists American male journalists Singer-songwriters from Indiana Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Illinois