WSM-FM

This article is about the American radio station. For the Philippine radio station owned by Bombo Radyo Philippines, see DWSM.

WSM-FM

City	Nashville, Tennessee
Broadcast area	Nashville, Tennessee
Branding	95-5 Nash Icon
Slogan	"The music that made country great...and the best of today."
Frequency	95.5 MHz
First air date	November 1, 1962
Format	Country
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	374.8 meters (1,230 ft)
Class	C
Facility ID	74065
Callsign meaning	We Shield Millions (slogan of former owner, National Life & Accident Insurance Company)
Former callsigns	WLWM-FM (1962-1968)
Owner	Cumulus Broadcasting (Cumulus Licensing LLC)
Sister stations	WKDF, WGFX, WQQK, WWTN
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	955NASHICON.com

WSM-FM is an FM radio station in Nashville, Tennessee. The station broadcasts at 95.5 MHz and broadcasts a country music radio format, with an emphasis upon recordings released since the 1990s.

From 1968 to 2008, WSM-FM was the sister of the legendary clear-channel WSM. The station is now owned by Cumulus Media and no longer has any organizational relation to the AM. A transmitter site is co-located with the station's former television partner WSMV in West Nashville, and its studios are located in Nashville's Music Row district.

History

Original WSM-FM, 1941-1951

Main article: WSM-FM (defunct)

The National Life and Accident Insurance Company, owners of WSM, became the first commercial broadcaster in the U.S. to receive an FM license from the Federal Communications Commission in 1941. Originally known as W47NV, the station operated for about 10 years, until NL&AI realized that few area households had FM radio receivers and that its commercial potential was lacking, unlike the company's television station, WSM-TV (now WSMV). NL&AI shut down WSM-FM in 1951 and returned the license to the FCC.

Early 95.5 MHz operations, 1962-1976

The present-day FM began broadcasting on November 1, 1962 as WLWM-FM, owned by C. Webber Parrish (d/b/a Barlane Broadcasting Corporation), a local Nashville businessman.^[1] National Life & Accident Insurance purchased the 95.5 MHz frequency from Parrish in 1968, and after a short period of simulcasting the AM, programmed an easy listening format (the format WLWM used) on it from 1969 until early 1976.

SM95, 1976-1983

WSM-FM logo from the early '80s

Afterward, NL&AI allowed a change (despite some management misgivings) to a soft-rock playlist that was very broad by today's standards; during those years, the station adopted the branding "SM95".

In demographics, the station went after an audience of people in their twenties and thirties who, obviously enough, wanted something more musically interesting than easy listening but disliked the harder and louder rock that was becoming popular among teenagers then. SM95 was one of the few outlets in the nation for up-and-coming singer-songwriters to get airplay without having a smash record elsewhere; some of the artists were in fact Nashville-based, reflecting the growth in non-country artists recording there. One might consider the moderately eclectic format a forerunner of the "adult alternative" playlists that achieved some success years later, in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Former SM95 disc jockey Nick Archer operated a Live 365 internet-only streaming re-creation of the station's format (featuring the original station IDs and jingles) from November 2001 until February 2008, almost longer than the original broadcast station's run. Archer attempted it again in 2014, mixing in newer music, but it was not as successful.

Under the country music format, 1983-present

95.5 The Wolf logo
2008-2009

The ratings of SM95 began to decline (and thus advertiser appeal) as its audience began aging in the early 1980s. By 1983, some four years after the conversion of the AM to a full-time country format and after the sale of WSM, Inc. to Gaylord Broadcasting, management decided to bring the FM in line with the AM, and flipped the format to country (with an emphasis on current hits, instead of the AM's emphasis on oldies).

Gaylord moved the studios of both AM and FM to an outlying building at the Opryland Hotel complex at that time, from their 1970s home on Knob Road in west Nashville, where former sister TV station WSMV still operates today. In the 1990s, WSM-FM operated from a studio inside Opryland USA theme park, which visitors could view through a glass window. Following the theme park's demolition, the station moved into a renovated guestroom at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. The station had an auxiliary studio at the Wildhorse Saloon downtown, and later at Opry Mills.

For most of the 1980s and 1990s, 95.5 FM was a highly competitive, yet usually #2 (behind rival WSIX-FM), country station. For much of the 1980s and 1990s, the station was branded as "Nashville 95". However, upon the arrival of a fourth country station in the market in 1999 (WKDF, which had played rock music since the mid-1970s), WSM-FM fell to a distant third place, and sometimes fell to fourth behind then-sister WSM.

In 2001, WSM-FM attempted to differentiate from the other FM country outlets by shifting to a format consisting mostly of live performances provided by the artists' labels or those within the WSM archives (such as Opry performances and in-studio appearances). The station was known during this era as "Live 95", and also simulcast the Opry live every Friday and Saturday night. After abandoning this approach to return to a traditional method of programming, and until the end of the Gaylord era, the station was called "Back to Back Country 95.5 WSM-FM".

In 2003, WSM-FM (along with sister news/talk/sports station WWTN) was sold to Cumulus Media, and its studios and offices moved to Cumulus' existing property on Music Circle East, in Nashville's Music Row district. Cumulus promptly dropped WSM-FM's "Back to Back Country" tagline, and began referring to the station only by its frequency and callsign. Along with the purchase came a joint sales agreement between Cumulus and Gaylord, which allowed Gaylord to maintain ownership and programming of WSM (AM), while Cumulus operated its sales and news departments. This five-year agreement expired in 2008, once again giving Gaylord Entertainment full control of WSM (AM), and ending the 40-year association between WSM (AM) and WSM-FM.

In September 2004, the station adopted a revised country format (branded as "95.5 The Wolf") that included some Southern rock music, and minimizing the amount of talk by the air personalities. After some initial ratings success, the station fell to a consistent third place behind WKDF and WSIX, and a more traditional country approach was once again employed.

On December 16, 2010, while rival station WSIX was in the midst of a reboot and stunting with nonstop Christmas music, WSM-FM itself relaunched, dropping "The Wolf" moniker. The station returned to using its heritage call letters, while offering a mainstream country playlist that included the top country hits of the day, as well as a heavy reliance on familiar hits dating back to the early 1990s.

In 2012, due to the bankruptcy of Citadel Broadcasting and subsequent acquisition by Cumulus, WSM-FM and rival WKDF became sister-stations, operating from the same building, yet still competing for the same mainstream country audience. Their operations were streamlined in January 2014 with the hiring of a common program director. WKDF adopted Cumulus' "Nash FM" moniker and format in February 2014, six months ahead of a similar change to come on WSM-FM.

On August 15, 2014, the station rebranded as "95.5 Nash Icon", thus serving as the nominal flagship station of Cumulus' new Nash Icon brand, a spin-off of Nash FM that focuses on more familiar traditional country titles ranging back to the 1980s, as well as a focus on new music by more traditional-sounding artists. The format minimizes the amount of talking by the air personalities and places a heavier emphasis on the variety and amount of music. The Nash Icon radio format is a by-product of a joint venture between Cumulus and Big Machine Records to launch and operate the Nash Icon Records label.

In January 2015, WSM-FM's air personalities became syndicated nationally on Westwood One's offering of the Nash Icon format, which is distributed to several Cumulus Nash Icon-branded stations, as well as some non-Cumulus-owned subscribing stations. The personalities provide a unique, locally focused on-air presence on WSM-FM, separate from their more generic presence on the syndicated version.

Grand Ole Opry schedule conflicts

In past years, when WSM had the rights to broadcast Vanderbilt Commodore football and basketball games and Atlanta Braves baseball, it had WSM-FM air them whenever they took place on Friday or Saturday nights, in order not to preempt the live Grand Ole Opry shows on AM 650. Until the end of the 2003-08 Cumulus operating agreement, WSM-FM also aired NASCAR broadcasts under the same circumstances.

References

↑ Broadcasting Yearbook 1963

External links

Cumulus press release on WSM-FM acquisition

Query the FCC's FM station database for WSM

Radio-Locator information on WSM

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WSM

Nashville, Tennessee radio stations

By AM frequency	560 650 760 790 830 880 900 980 1160 1200 1300 1360 1380 1430 1450 1470 1490 1510

By SW frequency	3.195/3.215/6.875/15.825 4.84/13.845 5.07/5.935/7.49/9.35/12.16 5.89/9.98

By FM frequency	88.1 88.3 88.5 88.7/94.5/99.3 89.1 89.5 89.9 90.3 90.7 91.1 91.7 92.1 92.5 92.9 93.7 94.1 94.5 94.9 95.5 95.9 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.3 98.7 98.9 99.7 100.1 100.5 101.1 101.5 101.9 102.1 102.5 102.9 103.3 104.5 104.9 105.1 105.9 106.7 107.1 107.5 107.9

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.475 162.525 162.55

By callsign	KIG79 W214BQ W235BW W240CA W252CM W263AI W270AF WANT WAYM/W233AF/W257AR WAYW WBOZ WBUZ WCJK WCOR WCRT/WCRT-FM1 WCVQ WECV WENO WFCL WFCM-FM WFCN WFFH WFFI WFSK-FM WGFX WGNS WHEW WHPY-FM WJNA WJXA WKDA WKDF WLAC WLVU WMDB WMOT WMTS-FM WNAH WNFN WNG631 WNQM WNRQ WNSR WPLN WPLN-FM WPRT-FM/W271AB WQQK WQZQ WRFN-LP WRLT WRVW WSIX-FM WSM WSM-FM WUBT WVCP WVOL WVWF WWCR WWTN WXK63 WXNA-LP WYFN

Defunct	WRVU WSM-FM (1941–1951)

Nearby radio markets Bowling Green Chattanooga Clarksville-Hopkinsville Cookeville Florence-Muscle Shoals Huntsville Jackson See also List of radio stations in Tennessee

Radio stations in the Clarksville, Tennessee–Hopkinsville, Kentucky market

By AM frequency	540 610 650 790 830 1110 1230 1300 1370 1400 1430 1480 1510

By FM frequency	88.3 89.3 90.3 91.9 92.9 94.3 95.5 96.3 97.5 97.9 98.7 99.1 100.3 100.7 101.1 101.9 102.5 103.3 104.5 105.9 106.5 107.5 107.9

By callsign	W256CI W264CK WAPX-FM WAYQ WCJK WCVQ WGFX WHOP WHOP-FM WHVO WJNA WJXA WJZM WKDF WKDZ WKDZ-FM WKFN WLAC WNKJ WNQM WNRQ WPLN WPLN-FM WPRT-FM WQZQ WRND WRND-FM WRUS WRVW WSIX-FM WSM WSM-FM WUBT WVVR WWH37 WZZP

Nearby radio markets Bowling Green Evansville Jackson Louisville Nashville Owensboro Paducah See also List of radio stations in Tennessee List of radio stations in Kentucky

Radio stations in the Bowling Green, Kentucky market

By AM frequency	610 650 930 1230 1250 1340 1450 1490 1510 1570

By FM frequency	88.1 88.5 88.9 90.7 91.7 92.5 92.9 93.3 94.1 95.1 95.5 95.7 95.9 96.3 96.7 97.5 97.9 98.3 99.3 100.7 101.1 101.5 101.9 102.3 102.5 102.7 103.7 104.5 105.3 105.9 106.3 107.1 107.5

NOAA Weather Radio frequencies	162.4 162.5

By callsign	KIH45 WNG570 W203BI W239BT W240CP W248CF W252CV W268CE W274BQ WAYD WBGN WBKR WBVR WCDS WCJK WCLU WCLU-FM WCVK WDNS WGFX WGGC WHHT WJXA WKCT WKLX WKYU WLAC WLBQ WLCK WLYE WNRQ WOVO WPRT WPTQ WQXQ WRUS WRVW WSIX WSM WSM-FM WUBT WUHU WVLE WWHR WWKU

Defunct	WBLG-LP (107.9 FM) WMJM (96.7 FM) WLBJ (1410 AM) WSMJ (800 AM)

Nearby radio markets Clarksville–Hopkinsville Cookeville Evansville Lexington–Fayette Louisville Nashville Owensboro See also List of radio stations in Kentucky

Country radio stations in the state of Tennessee

Stations	KYTN – Union City WAKM – Franklin WANT – Lebanon WAXO – Lewisburg WBEJ – Elizabethton WBRY – Woodbury WCOR – Lebanon WCYQ – Oak Ridge WDEB-FM – Jamestown WDKN – Dickson WDKW – Maryville WDXE – Lawrenceburg WDYE - Dyer WECO-FM – Wartburg WEIO – Huntingdon WEKR – Fayetteville WEPG – South Pittsburg WEYE – Surgoinsville WFWL – Camden WGAP – Maryville WGKX – Memphis WGOC – Kingsport WGSQ – Cookeville WHIN – Gallatin WHMT - Tullahoma WIKQ – Tusculum WIVK-FM – Knoxville WJDT – Rogersville WJJM-FM – Lewisburg WJLE – Smithville WJLE-FM – Smithville WJSQ – Athens WKBQ – Covington WKDF – Nashville WKJQ-FM – Parsons WKOS – Kingsport WKSR – Pulaski WKVL - Knoxville WKWX – Savannah WKXD-FM – Monterey WLAR – Athens WLCT – Lafayette WLFP – Germantown/Memphis WLIL – Lenoir City WLIV – Livingston WLIV-FM – Monterey WLLX – Lawrenceburg WLNQ – White Pine WLNT-LP – Loudon WLOD – Loudon WLVS-FM – Clifton WLXA - Loretto WMCP – Columbia WMCT – Mountain City WMOD – Bolivar WMTN – Morristown WMUF – Henry WMYL – Halls Crossroads WNCK - Cookeville WNKX-FM – Centerville WNOX – Karns WNPC – Newport WOGT – East Ridge WOGY – Jackson WOOP-LP – Cleveland WOPC - Linden WORM-FM – Savannah WOWF – Crossville WPFT – Pigeon Forge WQLA - La Follette WRGS – Rogersville WSBI – Static WSDQ – Dunlap WSIB - Selmer WSIX-FM – Nashville WSM – Nashville WSM-FM – Nashville WTNK – Hartsville WTNV – Tiptonville WTRB – Ripley WUCZ – Carthage WUSY – Cleveland WVFB – Celina WWLX – Lawrenceburg WWYN – Mckenzie WXOQ – Selmer WYSH – Clinton WYTM-FM – Fayetteville WZLT – Lexington

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Tennessee

Cumulus Media

AM radio stations	KAAY KABC KAOK KARN KBED KBGG KBOI KCMO KCSF KCUB KESP KFAY KFNZ KFRU KGO KIKR KKAT KKOB KKOH KLIF KLIK KMAJ KMJ KNBR KNEK KNML KNSH KPUR KPZK KRMD KRUZ KSCR KSFO KTBL KTCK KTCT KTIK KTOP KTUC KUGN KVEN KVOR KWPN KXZZ KYNG WAAV WABC WALG WAPI WARM WAYS WBAP WBBF WBBW WBMQ WCOA WDUZ¹ WFAS WFNC WFNR WFTW WGLD WGOC WGOK WGOW WGPC WHBT WHGB WHLD WHLL WHSC WIBR WICC WIOV WISW WJBC WJCW WJLG WJOX WJR WJRW WKLQ WKY WLBY WLS WLTI WLWI WLZR WMAC WMAL WMSP WNAM WNML WOSH WPIC WPRO WPRV WRAD WRIE WSBA WSKO WSOM WSSO WTKA WTMA WTRX WUMP WVEL WVLK WVNN WWCK WXLM WXOK WXQW WXSM WYMB WYNN

FM radio stations	K279BI KAMO-FM KARN-FM KARX KATC-FM KATM KATT-FM KAYD-FM KBBM KBBQ-FM KBBY-FM KBCY KBEE KBER KBIU KBUL-FM KBXR KBZU KCDD KCFX KCHZ KCJK KCMO-FM KDJK KDRF KDVB KDVV KEHK KESN KENZ KFFG KFOG KGGO KHAY KHKI KHKK KHOP KHTB KHXS KHYT KIIM-FM KIPR KIZN KJJY KJMO KJOY KKEG KKFM KKGB KKGL KKMG KKND KKOB-FM KKPK KKWD KLAL KLIF-FM KLOS KLSZ-FM KLUR KMAJ-FM KMCK-FM KMEZ KMGA KMGV KMJ-FM KMJJ-FM KMJK KNEK-FM KNEV KNRQ KOLI KOMS KOQL KPLA KPLX KPUR-FM KQFC KQHN KQIZ-FM KQLK KQOB² KQRS-FM KQSM-FM KQXC-FM KQXL-FM KQXY-FM KRBE KRMD-FM KRMW KRRF KRRQ KRST KRWP KSAN KSCS KSKS KSMB KSZR KTCK-FM KTCX KTIK-FM KTLT KTOP-FM KUBL-FM KUJZ KURB KVMA-FM KVYB KWIC KWIN KWNN KWQW KWYE KWYL KXKC KXXR KYIS KYKZ KYYI KZEL-FM KZJF KZRK-FM W264AK WABD WAOA-FM WAQX-FM WARM-FM WBBL-FM WBHD WBHT WBLX-FM WBNQ WBRW WBSX WBWN WBZE WBZF WCMG WCTO WCYN-FM WDAI WDEN-FM WDLT-FM WDRQ WDUZ-FM¹ WDVD WDZZ-FM WEAN-FM WEAS-FM WEBE WEDG WEGC WEMX WFBE WFMS WFTK WFYR WGFX WGKX WGLF WGLO WGNI WGOW-FM WGRF WGRR WGVX WHBX WHHY-FM WHKR WHLZ WHNN WHOT-FM WHRP WHTS WHTT-FM WILZ WIOG WIOV-FM WIVK-FM WIWF WIXO WIXV WJAD WJBC-FM WJCL-FM WJEZ WJJK WJOX-FM WJQX WJTQ WKAK WKDF WKHX-FM WKIM WKKO WKOR-FM WKOS WKQZ WKRU WKSM WKXS-FM WLAV-FM WLAW WLCS WLEV WLFF WLLF WLS-FM WLTO WLWI-FM WLXC WLXX WLZN WMAL-FM WMAS-FM WMDH-FM WMEZ WMGB WMGL WMGS WMGU WMIM WMNX WMOS³ WMXS WMXT WMXU WNBM WNCV WNKT WNML-FM WNMQ WNMX WNNF WNNK-FM WNNX WNSH WNTQ WNUQ WOFX-FM WOGB¹ WOGT WOKI WOMG WORC-FM WPCK¹ WPEZ WPKR WPLJ WPRO-FM WPSK-FM WQGN-FM WQHZ WQKL WQLH¹ WQQK WQQO WQSM WQUT WQVE WQXA-FM WQXK WRBO WRCQ WRKN WROK-FM WRQN WRQQ WRQX WRRM WRRX WRWM WRXP WSEA WSJR WSKZ WSM-FM WSMS WSOX WSSX-FM WSYN WTCB WTNR WTOD WTYB WUHT WVBO WVIB WVLK-FM WVNN-FM WWBU WWCK-FM WWFF-FM WWFN-FM WWFX WWIZ WWKI WWKL WWKX WWLD WWLI WWLS-FM WWWM WWQQ-FM WWSN WWTN WWWQ W255CJ/WWWQ-HD2 WWWW-FM WWWZ WXBM-FM WXFX WXKC WXKR WXKR-HD2/W265CB WXLO WXMX WXTA WXTL WXZZ WYAY WYFM WYNN-FM WYZB WZAT WZCY-FM WZNS WZPW WZRH WZRR WZYP

Radio networks	Arkansas Radio Network CBS Sports Radio* Titans Radio Network Westwood One (see navpage)

Online assets	iHeartRadio¹

Television-related assets	Nash TV

Other assets	Broadcast Software International CumulusJobs.com San Francisco Giants (minority interest in LP)

See also	Citadel Broadcasting Cumulus Media Networks Susquehanna Radio Corporation

¹ = Owned by iHeartMedia; operated by Cumulus under an LMA. ² = Co-owned with Champlin Broadcasting under an LMA. ³ = Operated by the Mohegan Sun under an LMA. AaBbCc = Owned by The Walt Disney Company; operated by Cumulus under an LMA. * = Owned by CBS Radio, operated by Cumulus.

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