The longest-running radio show in broadcasting history, the Grand Ole Opry has long been the symbolic center of country music. It represents the pinnacle of success for performing artists, for whom the Grand Ole Opry is the country music equivalent of playing Carnegie Hall. The Opry is, however, much more than simply a prestige performance venue. Since its inception in 1925, it has brought country music to listeners all across the United States, helping to transform the genre from a regional musical form to a national one. For its rural listeners, spread out across the vast stretches of open space, the Opry became part of the common bond that united rural folk across the country, not only providing musical entertainment, but also creating a cultural home for its many thousands of rural listeners.

In the early 1920s, radio was still a new means of communication...