WLS 1537 aired a local weekend variety program, Night Train, which fea- In 1968 the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Ten- tured many of the African -American artists heard nightly on nessee was acquired by American General, the Houston -based WLAC "blues" radio. insurance conglomerate. Life and Casualty's so percent inter- Life and Casualty also operated a successful separately est in WLAC -TV was sold in 1975, and in 1977 WLAC AM- programmed FM station during the 196os and 197os. From FM were sold to the publishers of Billboard magazine. studios on the observation deck of the company's Nashville By 1980 historians of popular culture had begun to recog- skyscraper -the tallest building in the southeastern United nize Gene Nobles as the first person in the United States to States when built in 1957- WLAC -FM featured an easy lis- play "race music" on a "power" station. WLAC's impact as a tening format that introduced many middle Tennesseans to principal conduit of rhythm and blues music throughout the FM. eastern half of North America during the 195os and 196os has It is important to recognize that during the day, when its made it one of America's most frequently cited radio stations signal covered a rz5 -mile radius of Nashville, WLAC sounded in historical treatments of the early rock and roll era. In 2.003 like an entirely different radio station from the one listeners in WLAC was again a CBS affiliate and featured an award -win- distant places received via night -time skip signals. Daytime lis- ning all- news -talk format. teners in middle Tennessee, southern Kentucky, and northern ROBERT M. OGLES Alabama heard a full array of mass -appeal adult programming that included CBS news and features, local news and interview See also Black- Oriented Radio; WSM programs, editorials by F.C. Sowell ( "The South's Foremost Radio Commentator "), helicopter traffic reports, and upbeat Further Reading middle -of- the -road music. Cohodas, Nadine, Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess In 1971 WLAC introduced Nashville's first news -talk for- Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records, New York: St. mat, but the next year the station dropped its CBS affiliation Martin's Press, and Maidenhead, Berkshire: Melia, z000 and switched to a Top 4o music format. WLAC enjoyed sev- Cooper, Daniel, "Boogie -Woogie White Boy: The Redemption eral years of good audience ratings with Top 4o. It was dur- of `Hossman' Allen," Nashville Scene (4 March 1993 ) ing those years that the station gradually retreated from its Egerton, John, Nashville: The Faces of Two Centuries, 1780- legendary night -time schedule. John Richbourg retired in 1980, Nashville, Tennessee: PlusMedia, 1979 1973 rather than play Top 4o music. Bill Allen and Gene Fong- Torres, Ben, The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History Nobles continued to host a few late -night PI shows for long- of Top 4o Radio, San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, time sponsors, but by 1977 Top 4o music aired until mid- 1998 night. The PI and paid religious programming that had Smith, Wes, The Pied Pipers of Rock 'n' Roll: Radio Deejays distinguished WLAC from other clear channel stations was of the 5os and 6os, Marietta, Georgia: Longstreet Press, relegated to overnights. 1989 WLS Chicago, Illinois Station Chicago's WLS -AM started as WJR, but in April 192.4 the in homes from Minnesota to Ohio, from the Upper Peninsula Sears -Roebuck company took over the station and renamed of Michigan to the cotton fields of Arkansas and Mississippi. it -in one of the most famous of radio's early logos -for the WLS -AM ought to be remembered as the home base for "World's Largest Store." First under Sears, then after 1928 one of radio's most popular programs of its golden age. under a new owner -the Prairie Farmer magazine-and finally Although the Grand Ole Opry survived longer, the WLS later in the zoth century under the American Broadcasting National Barn Dance before World War II pulled in a far Companies (ABC), WLS -AM has long helped define radio larger listenership and ranked as America's most popular coun- broadcasting in Chicago and the upper Midwest. Clear chan- try music program. After being picked up by the National nel status, granted in the early 193os, made WLS -AM a fixture Broadcasting Company (NBC) network in 1933, the National .