WSM-FM (defunct)

WSM-FM
City Nashville, Tennessee
First air date March 1, 1941[1]
Last air date 1951
Language(s) English
Power 20,000 watts (W47NV)
66,000 watts (on 103.3 in 1950)[2]
HAAT 878 feet
Callsign meaning Sister F.M. station of WSM
Former callsigns W47NV
Former frequencies 44.7 MHz[3]
100.1 MHz (1946)[4]
103.3 MHz (1948–1950)
Affiliations NBC
Owner National Life and Accident Insurance Company
Sister stations WSM, WSM-TV

WSM-FM was a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was originally named W47NV, began broadcasting in 1939, and in 1941 became the first commercial FM station in the nation.[5][6] It was launched by Edwin Wilson Craig of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company (NL&AI) together with chief engineer John DeWitt Jr. as a replacement for experimental AM short-wave station W4XA.[6] WSM-FM operated as a radio station in Nashville until 1951.[6]

W47NV was initially broadcast on 44.7 MHz, before becoming WSM-FM and switching to 100.1 and then 103.3 MHz by 1948.[7] The station operated for about 10 years, until NL&AI realized that few area households had FM radio receivers and thus commercial potential was lacking. NL&AI shut down WSM-FM in 1951 and returned the license to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The company's AM station, WSM (which it owned until 1981), and television station WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV), both had commercial success. NL&AI is now defunct, though its television station and AM station continue under different ownership.

References

  1. ↑ Chronology of F.M. broadcasting. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  2. ↑ List of F.M. stations in the U.S. in 1950. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ List of F.M. stations in 1941. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ List of 1946 F.M. stations. Retrieved January 25, 2016. It also lists WSM-FM's start date of March 1, 1941.
  5. ↑ Havighurst, Craig. Air Castle of the South: WSM and the Making of Music City, pp. 7, 10, 99 (University of Illinois Press, 2011).
  6. 1 2 3 "WSM Was First", The Tennessean (November 3, 1968).
  7. ↑ List of 1948 F.M. stations. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
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