CMA 50th Anniversary: The Second Decade
Deborah Evans Price
May 26, 2008
During its first decade, CMA emerged as a vital tool for expanding the sound and business of Country Music. This process accelerated to the point that the next 10 years, from 1969 to 1978, became a remarkably productive decade for CMA, beginning that first year when the CMA Awards was broadcast live on national television for the first time.
"We had great ratings in the '70s," recalled former CMA Executive Director Jo Walker-Meador. "There weren't as many cable channels and other things to distract people. Kraft Foods was the sole sponsor for the first 20 years, and we got to know all the people there, from the President of Kraft on down. It was just wonderful."
The CMA Awards wasn't the only television exposure afforded to Country artists during the '60s and '70s. Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Flatt & Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed and Porter Wagoner were among the artists who hosted their own series - and then, of course, there was "Hee Haw."
"Those shows were very important because there's nothing like network television exposure to get things known and it gave a lot of artists an opportunity to perform," said Walker-Meador. "Glen Campbell's show ["The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour"] came on as a summer replacement for 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' and of course it turned out to be such a popular show. And 'The Jimmy Dean Show' was also important in bringing Country Music to a wider audience; CMA was proud to play a role in persuading ABC to keep it on the air. It was very important in getting the artists known and growing the interest in Country Music. A lot of people kind of turned their noses up at 'Hee Haw,' but I thought that was a wonderful show and that it did a lot of good for Country Music."
Specifically, those early programs proved invaluable in reflecting the essence of real Country Music to the American public, according to E.W. "Bud" Wendell, member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, former General Manager of The Grand Ole Opry and former President/CEO of Gaylord Entertainment. "People like Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash were so dynamic and offered such great exposure for artists that it gave a whole new meaning to the industry than it had before," Wendell observed.
Nothing, though, brought Country Music closer to its audience than Fan Fair, which enjoyed its first run April 12-15, 1972. The event was created to give fans a chance to interact with their favorite artists and also to define the Country Music Disc Jockey Association convention, held each fall, specifically as an industry event. "The incentive for Fan Fair was to get the fans out of the fall convention," said Walker-Meador. "Fans were coming, and the artists couldn't tell whether they were talking to a fan or a disc jockey. We got some complaints about that, so we wanted to do something special for the fans."
The first Fan Fair was held in April, but the CMA Board of Directors decided to move the event to June the following year, when kids would be out of school and parents could bring the entire family to Nashville for the festivities. Five thousand fans attended the first event and by 1979, attendance had grown to 14,000. During the event's early years, Wendell was involved heavily in promoting it. "I went around the country to all the major all-night disc jockeys, like Bill Mack [then on WBAP-AM in Fort Worth] and Charlie Douglas [on WWL-AM in New Orleans], and spent the night to promote Fan Fair. They all were just so helpful."
As Fan Fair grew, so did the challenges that came with it. Not the least of these involved making sure the huge crowds could be fed at the event. "We found a caterer out of Odessa, Texas, that one of the DJs told me about," Wendell said. "It was a promotion of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce called the Odessa Chuck Wagon Gang. I went down to Texas to watch them feed about 15,000 people and decided real quick that's what we needed because at that time Nashville didn't have a caterer who could feed that kind of crowd. So every year this group would come in, very colorfully dressed, and they would provide the food service. It was a great relationship, and they did a wonderful, wonderful job."
CMA membership grew from 2,000 to 5,000 during this 10-year period. "I joined while I was still in New York," said Country Music Hall of Fame member Jim Foglesong, former President, Capitol Records Nashville, and currently Director, Music Business, at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. "Jo Walker-Meador just took it on herself to call a lot of people in New York. I'll never forget her saying 'Jim,' as if we'd known each other for all our lives, even though I'd never met her. She said, 'Jim, I sure would like to have you at CMA. It's only $5 a year to join.' I was already a member when I moved here."
Walker-Meador was tireless in her efforts to recruit new members and attract press for Country Music - even in the sports pages. "CMA sponsored a golf tournament for 11 years," she remembered. "It started in the late '60s. The reason we did the golf tournament was to get information about Country Music onto sports pages around the country. It was called the Music City Pro Celebrity Golf Tournament."
As the popularity of Country Music grew throughout the United States, CMA aimed to raise its profile abroad. The CMA Board made this goal clear by meeting in Canada, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Tokyo and the United Kingdom, while also assisting Country artists from overseas make their ways to Nashville to perform at the DJ convention. "We had a very small budget to help on their international travel," Walker-Meador said. "And sometimes I would have to go to Memphis to help artists from countries behind the Iron Curtain do something about their visas."
Audiences proved eager to embrace Country Music abroad. "[British promoter] Mervyn Conn started the Wembley Festival for Country Music fans," said Foglesong. "A lot of our acts went over there and performed. There are an awful lot of Country Music fans in Scandinavian countries and other countries around Europe, not just in England, Scotland and Ireland. We had artists like Don Williams, who became one of the biggest starts in the United Kingdom and eventually around the world."
CMA also committed itself at this time to combating music piracy. By joining forces with the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to lobby against unauthorized duplication and sale of recorded music, CMA helped facilitate passage of the Federal Copyright Act of 1972. "There was no law to protect the recordings made prior to 1972," said Walker-Meador. "We divided up the states - CMA had 15 states, and it took two years to get the law passed in all the states."
Walker-Meador recalled getting requests by phone for her help in sending artists to call and lobby on behalf of the legislation. "Sometimes I'd get a call, saying 'You've got to get Chet Atkins or some artist to call Senator So-and-So and tell him how important this is to their livelihood to get this deal passed. So we worked on that for two years - and I started smoking again," she said, reflecting that stressful time in the industry's history.
The '70s were indeed a decade of tremendous activity for the Country Music community. And 1972 marked the opening of the Opryland USA theme park. In 1974, the Grand Ole Opry moved to its new home in Opryland. By 1976, attendance at Fan Fair had grown to 12,600. Johnny Cash and Roy Clark co-hosted "The 10th Annual CMA Awards", which expanded to 90 minutes and moved to the Grand Ole Opry House. And in 1977, the newly remodeled and expanded Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened to the public, with Elvis Presley's gold Cadillac among its new exhibits.
As CMA celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1978, Billboard honored the organization with the Billboard Trendsetter Award for "expanding Country Music around the world." SESAC also saluted CMA with the Paul Heinecke Citation of Merit Award, named after the performing rights organization's founder.
For the first time that year, the CMA Awards were simulcast on radio stations across the United States. Fan Fair drew 13,500 attendees as well, and CMA enrolled its 5,000th member.
Equally important, CMA at 20 had developed a reputation not only as an advocate for Country Music but also as a legislative force dedicated to protecting the intellectual property of its members. "The industry really said, 'Hey, these people are getting it done,'" Foglesong recalled. "We got the respect we deserved."
On the Web: www.CMAworld.com
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
"We had great ratings in the '70s," recalled former CMA Executive Director Jo Walker-Meador. "There weren't as many cable channels and other things to distract people. Kraft Foods was the sole sponsor for the first 20 years, and we got to know all the people there, from the President of Kraft on down. It was just wonderful."
The CMA Awards wasn't the only television exposure afforded to Country artists during the '60s and '70s. Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Flatt & Scruggs, Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed and Porter Wagoner were among the artists who hosted their own series - and then, of course, there was "Hee Haw."
"Those shows were very important because there's nothing like network television exposure to get things known and it gave a lot of artists an opportunity to perform," said Walker-Meador. "Glen Campbell's show ["The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour"] came on as a summer replacement for 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' and of course it turned out to be such a popular show. And 'The Jimmy Dean Show' was also important in bringing Country Music to a wider audience; CMA was proud to play a role in persuading ABC to keep it on the air. It was very important in getting the artists known and growing the interest in Country Music. A lot of people kind of turned their noses up at 'Hee Haw,' but I thought that was a wonderful show and that it did a lot of good for Country Music."
Specifically, those early programs proved invaluable in reflecting the essence of real Country Music to the American public, according to E.W. "Bud" Wendell, member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, former General Manager of The Grand Ole Opry and former President/CEO of Gaylord Entertainment. "People like Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash were so dynamic and offered such great exposure for artists that it gave a whole new meaning to the industry than it had before," Wendell observed.
Nothing, though, brought Country Music closer to its audience than Fan Fair, which enjoyed its first run April 12-15, 1972. The event was created to give fans a chance to interact with their favorite artists and also to define the Country Music Disc Jockey Association convention, held each fall, specifically as an industry event. "The incentive for Fan Fair was to get the fans out of the fall convention," said Walker-Meador. "Fans were coming, and the artists couldn't tell whether they were talking to a fan or a disc jockey. We got some complaints about that, so we wanted to do something special for the fans."
The first Fan Fair was held in April, but the CMA Board of Directors decided to move the event to June the following year, when kids would be out of school and parents could bring the entire family to Nashville for the festivities. Five thousand fans attended the first event and by 1979, attendance had grown to 14,000. During the event's early years, Wendell was involved heavily in promoting it. "I went around the country to all the major all-night disc jockeys, like Bill Mack [then on WBAP-AM in Fort Worth] and Charlie Douglas [on WWL-AM in New Orleans], and spent the night to promote Fan Fair. They all were just so helpful."
As Fan Fair grew, so did the challenges that came with it. Not the least of these involved making sure the huge crowds could be fed at the event. "We found a caterer out of Odessa, Texas, that one of the DJs told me about," Wendell said. "It was a promotion of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce called the Odessa Chuck Wagon Gang. I went down to Texas to watch them feed about 15,000 people and decided real quick that's what we needed because at that time Nashville didn't have a caterer who could feed that kind of crowd. So every year this group would come in, very colorfully dressed, and they would provide the food service. It was a great relationship, and they did a wonderful, wonderful job."
CMA membership grew from 2,000 to 5,000 during this 10-year period. "I joined while I was still in New York," said Country Music Hall of Fame member Jim Foglesong, former President, Capitol Records Nashville, and currently Director, Music Business, at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. "Jo Walker-Meador just took it on herself to call a lot of people in New York. I'll never forget her saying 'Jim,' as if we'd known each other for all our lives, even though I'd never met her. She said, 'Jim, I sure would like to have you at CMA. It's only $5 a year to join.' I was already a member when I moved here."
Walker-Meador was tireless in her efforts to recruit new members and attract press for Country Music - even in the sports pages. "CMA sponsored a golf tournament for 11 years," she remembered. "It started in the late '60s. The reason we did the golf tournament was to get information about Country Music onto sports pages around the country. It was called the Music City Pro Celebrity Golf Tournament."
As the popularity of Country Music grew throughout the United States, CMA aimed to raise its profile abroad. The CMA Board made this goal clear by meeting in Canada, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Tokyo and the United Kingdom, while also assisting Country artists from overseas make their ways to Nashville to perform at the DJ convention. "We had a very small budget to help on their international travel," Walker-Meador said. "And sometimes I would have to go to Memphis to help artists from countries behind the Iron Curtain do something about their visas."
Audiences proved eager to embrace Country Music abroad. "[British promoter] Mervyn Conn started the Wembley Festival for Country Music fans," said Foglesong. "A lot of our acts went over there and performed. There are an awful lot of Country Music fans in Scandinavian countries and other countries around Europe, not just in England, Scotland and Ireland. We had artists like Don Williams, who became one of the biggest starts in the United Kingdom and eventually around the world."
CMA also committed itself at this time to combating music piracy. By joining forces with the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to lobby against unauthorized duplication and sale of recorded music, CMA helped facilitate passage of the Federal Copyright Act of 1972. "There was no law to protect the recordings made prior to 1972," said Walker-Meador. "We divided up the states - CMA had 15 states, and it took two years to get the law passed in all the states."
Walker-Meador recalled getting requests by phone for her help in sending artists to call and lobby on behalf of the legislation. "Sometimes I'd get a call, saying 'You've got to get Chet Atkins or some artist to call Senator So-and-So and tell him how important this is to their livelihood to get this deal passed. So we worked on that for two years - and I started smoking again," she said, reflecting that stressful time in the industry's history.
The '70s were indeed a decade of tremendous activity for the Country Music community. And 1972 marked the opening of the Opryland USA theme park. In 1974, the Grand Ole Opry moved to its new home in Opryland. By 1976, attendance at Fan Fair had grown to 12,600. Johnny Cash and Roy Clark co-hosted "The 10th Annual CMA Awards", which expanded to 90 minutes and moved to the Grand Ole Opry House. And in 1977, the newly remodeled and expanded Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened to the public, with Elvis Presley's gold Cadillac among its new exhibits.
As CMA celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1978, Billboard honored the organization with the Billboard Trendsetter Award for "expanding Country Music around the world." SESAC also saluted CMA with the Paul Heinecke Citation of Merit Award, named after the performing rights organization's founder.
For the first time that year, the CMA Awards were simulcast on radio stations across the United States. Fan Fair drew 13,500 attendees as well, and CMA enrolled its 5,000th member.
Equally important, CMA at 20 had developed a reputation not only as an advocate for Country Music but also as a legislative force dedicated to protecting the intellectual property of its members. "The industry really said, 'Hey, these people are getting it done,'" Foglesong recalled. "We got the respect we deserved."
On the Web: www.CMAworld.com
2008 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
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