Ralph Emery: 1933-2022

It's been such a sad couple of weeks in the world of country music. On New Year's Eve (December 31, 2021) the wife of legendary entertainer/comic Ray Stevens, Penny Ragsdale, passed away at age 78. The two had been married since 1961. Songwriter, musician, music executive/record producer, Jerry Crutchfield, passed away on January 11th at 87. Legendary songwriter, Dallas Frazier, passed away on January 14th at age 82 and the news broke yesterday afternoon that legendary country radio and television broadcaster, Ralph Emery, passed away at age 88.

Born Walter Ralph Emery on March 10, 1933. Ralph, according to his memoir, became infatuated with radio as a way to escape the realities surrounding his childhood. He cites WLAC radio personality, John Richbourg, known on-air as John R, as a major influence. Ralph has often cited sportscaster, Curt Gowdy, as an influence, too. Ralph's broadcasting career began in 1951, first on regional small watt radio stations, and then onto larger radio stations. The early radio stations that Ralph Emery called home between the years of 1951 and 1957 were WTPR, WNAH, WAGG, WSIX, and WMAK. In 1957 he joined WSM radio and he became the all-night disc jockey there. The all-night show, as it was informally called, was officially titled Opry Star Spotlight. The focal point of the show was to play a majority of songs from Grand Ole Opry members, take requests/calls from listeners, deliver weather reports and other information. Truck drivers made up a lot of his listeners even though he didn't specifically tailor the show as a "truckers show". Eventually country music artists began to call-in. One thing led to another and Ralph's all-night radio show became must-hear conversation. Country music artists not only called in to Ralph's show but many of them stopped by in person to talk one on one with Ralph. He'd play their latest recordings or their most recent...if it happened to be a legendary performer Ralph more than likely played that artist's best known songs in between the conversation. On Ralph's programs he preferred to focus on conversation rather than act as a promoter. I've seen quotes from him stressing how didn't want his program to become an arm of a record label's publicity department and that publicity for a singer's latest product would be secondary to the interview/conversation. 

While at WSM Ralph became one of the announcers on the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. It was not too long after this that he ventured into television in a big way. In 1963 he became the host of an early morning local television show called "Opry Almanac" which aired 6-7am Central time. Now, keep in mind, Ralph was hosting the all-night radio program on WSM. This show aired from 12am until 5am Central time, Monday-Friday. This meant that an hour after his all-night show ended he'd have to be in the television studio awaiting his cue to go on the air. This schedule eased up considerably by 1966 when the morning show moved to the afternoons and was re-titled "Sixteenth Avenue". This series ended in 1969. In 1971 he began a brand new syndicated radio program. This show would feature a different guest co-host each week. The co-hosts were country music artists. The program ran 1 hour, five days a week. Ralph recorded 5 hours worth of shows in recording blocks. Those 5 hour recordings were edited down into 5 separate hour long radio programs. This syndicated radio series was in production for more than 15 years. In 1972 Ralph retired from the all-night radio program on WSM after a run of 15 years. The same year he returned to local morning television with "The Ralph Emery Show" in the same 6-7am time slot. 

Ralph's next major career move was becoming the host of the nationally syndicated country music show, "Pop! Goes the Country". This show, due to it airing nationally, is the program that introduced Ralph Emery to most of the television viewers in the United States. In the decades before this show came along Ralph was regionally popular/famous on local radio and television. "Pop! Goes the Country" aired all over the United States. The program debuted in 1974 and Ralph hosted it until midway through 1980. After Ralph stepped down as host in 1980 the show remained in production for another two years...hosted by Tom T. Hall. Cable television station, TBS, went country and hired Ralph to host it's talk/performance show, "Nashville Alive!". This program aired for a season, 1981-1982. The same year it was announced that a brand new cable television station was in the works...called The Nashville Network...it became known by it's initials, TNN. This channel went live in 1983...and Ralph hosted the nightly talk show, "Nashville Now", during the station's first 10 years (1983-1993). This program brought Ralph a lot of Cable Television awards and nominations during this era in his career. He became known as the Johnny Carson of Cable Television. Ralph's other industry nick-names were The Dick Clark of Country Music; The Mike Wallace of Country Music; and Dean of Country Music Broadcasters. He co-authored four books: Memories, More Memories, The View from Nashville, and 50 Years Down a Country Road. The last book, published in 2000, was in reference to Ralph's broadcasting career nearing it's 50th anniversary. 

Ralph's career as a broadcaster brought him numerous awards. In 1989 he was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2010 he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He married his wife, Joy, in 1967. They remained married until his death...a union of nearly 55 years. He had previously been married to country singer, Skeeter Davis, for four years (1960-1964). 

There hasn't been any information released about Ralph's funeral or what he passed away from. 

In 2019 Ralph was among those who spoke at the election of Ray Stevens into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ralph and Ray were great friends...he was one of Ray's strongest supporters within the music industry. Ray appeared as a guest on every radio and television show Ralph hosted from the early 1960's to the early 2000's. 

Ralph Emery: 1933 - 2022

The Resurrection of The Nashville Network

Good early Sunday morning!! The late country music channel, TNN, officially known as The Nashville Network, is being resurrected late this summer according to a myriad of on-line web-sites. The news broke a couple of days ago...but I first heard about it last night while browsing the internet looking up archival footage of TNN from the '80s.

The Nashville Network lived healthy for 17 years, 1983-2000, but it made some bad decisions and it's health deteriorated as a result. The first bad decision was the non-compete where the network dropped it's country music programming in favor of reruns of sitcoms and dramas while awaiting it's facelift. The facelift happened...ultimately leading to a new name, The National Network, but the facelift didn't help. The used goods were then re-branded as Spike TV with a completely different line-up of shows and a completely different demographic target. Now, 12 years after the TNN that I knew passed away, it's being resurrected

Now that you know the back-story, I am just a tiny bit hesitant to become over-the-top excited about the news because so little is really known about it's broadcast method and availability.

I've read some web-sites that make it sound as if this new TNN will be sort of an exclusive kind of channel where people have to, on their own, seek it out by way of paying extra for it or purchasing secondary equipment like antenna's or satellite dishes and installing them on your television sets. I've read other sites that say that the network will be available on TV sets that are digitally serviced...meaning for those who have a converter box hooked up to the TV...and even still there's a web-site which makes it sound as if the new TNN will be internet-only.

It's all confusing to me.

The official web-page, WatchTNN, shows a box where television providers can fill in their information...so it seems as if the new TNN will only be available if a cable, and or, satellite provider agree to add it to their system.

I was hoping that there would be a launch date and then on that day we could turn on our TV sets, pull up the on-screen program guide, and browse the line-up and see that the new TNN is on our line-up...

But...it seems it isn't going to be that simple...but I wish it were!

So, hopefully my cable provider will carry this new TNN.

You can read a news release posted on the Music Row web-site here.

I hope my cable provider will carry it or I’m able to see it at some point. I have RFD-TV and I watch it for some of the country music programming. Hee-Haw currently airs on that channel every Sunday evening at 8pm Eastern and it repeats Monday mornings at 10am Eastern. I saw where “Larry’s Country Diner” will become a program on this new TNN…it currently airs on RFD-TV as well.

I’d love to see a lot of the early programs from TNN resurface again! A lot of legends were given their proper respect on that particular network and so many of them made frequent appearances on the various programs…a lot of those legends have since passed away…but it would be great if the shows from the ’80s and ’90s resurfaced!

Ralph Emery often remarked that there’s a huge audience who wants to see those shows but the powers that be continually keep the shows out of circulation…so here’s hoping the programs from that time period return to the air! Gary Beatty was the voice of TNN in my opinion (specifically during the first 10-11 years of the channels existence). He’d do show promo’s and station I.D.’s…signing the network on and off…in addition to being the announcer on Nashville Now and later a co-host on VideoPM with Kathy Martindale.

The late Archie Campbell once hosted a show called Yesteryear in Nashville and Bobby Bare had a series on the air, too. Charlie Douglas, the famed country DJ that passed away in November 2011, hosted a nostalgic program called Play It Again, Nashville. The series had left the air before I discovered TNN but I found a clip on You Tube showing Freddie Hart singing "My Hang-Up Is You" on this program...and it features Charlie Douglas, too.

A comment that caught my eye while reading various on-line news stories stated that this new TNN sounds like a second RFD-TV. 

Actually, though, RFD-TV does air it’s share of country music programming but it’s in broadcasting blocks on specific days…it’s not a wall-to-wall country music channel like The Nashville Network was during the ’80s and ’90s. RFD-TV’s actual country music programming as of 4/22/2012 consists of Hee-Haw, Crook and Chase, Pop! Goes the Country, Nashville on the Road, Larry’s Country Diner, The Porter Wagoner Show, The Marty Stuart Show, The Wilburn Brothers Show, and Heart to Heart Classics. There are a couple of shows that have what I’d call Appalachia music overtones and then there are polka music shows and other programs catering to Texas-style music as well as gospel music. 

Throughout the day usually there's livestock shows and rural lifestyle programs. Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong host an Agri-Business show. Shotgun Red, the puppet, hosts a variety program. The Nashville Network wasn't that eclectic...TNN was country music and country lifestyles. There wasn't an abundance of farm and livestock shows on TNN (except a rodeo or two hosted by Dan Miller) nor was their any polka music or auctions which RFD-TV airs along side it's country music offerings. TNN, on the weekends, aired outdoor sports shows and auto racing shows on Sunday. 

For those that don’t know, the former TNN (1983-2000) aired sports programs on Saturdays and Sundays…I think the weekends were billed as TNN Outdoors? Anyway, several of those programs featured country music personalities as hosts or participants. Porter Wagoner appeared on fishing programs on TNN as did Jerry Reed, Hank Williams Jr., and many others. Jerry Clower appeared on Roland Martin's fishing program and told some fishing stories. He did an infomercial for what was billed a Helicopter Lure and when cast it was to fly more farther than a typical lure could. Some fishermen didn't have much luck with it but some did...I guess it all depends on the time of day and if "the fish are a bitin'" as the catch-phrase goes. Research shows the product made more than $40,000,000 in sales during just one year of advertising (1995-1996). An image of this lure appears on Clower's 1995 comedy album, Fishin', Frogs, Hogs, and Dawgs. Clower won an advertising award for his appearance in the infomercial and he spoke of it on Primetime Country, a nightly program that had replaced Music City Tonight on TNN. Music City Tonight had, in turn, replaced Nashville Now in 1993.

Before American Idol and other insufferable talent shows there was the talent show You Can Be a Star hosted by country music legend Jim Ed Brown. This program, not completely insufferable due to Jim Ed's likable personality, was sort of a more down to Earth predecessor to the glitzy/glib-hip Nashville Star series, which showcased unknowns in the hopes that one day they would become future recording stars. A winner on You Can Be a Star received a recording contract from Polygram Records, a division of Mercury. The show had a panel of judges and a regular audience feature called The Stairway of Stars. There weren't any major recording artists that emerged from the series, that I recall, but if the reruns ever surface you'll see a lot of acts with big dreams...and in hindsight there may be some that appear where you may wonder why they didn't catch on along with some that leave you wondering why they even attempted a recording career. This series ran until 1989 and was later brought back with a shortened title, Be a Star, and hosted by former Sawyer Brown member, Bobby Randall. Jim Ed also hosted a travel show called Going Our Way where he and his wife drove around in an RV going from place to place taking in the sights. It was sort of like his former program, Nashville On the Road, but without the abundance of music performances. 

Another legend, Bill Anderson, hosted the game show Fandango. One of the show's memorable gimmicks was the 'talking jukebox' named Edgar. At the time Anderson was a spokesman for a chain of restaurants named after one of his hit songs, "Po' Folks", and you'd see advertisements for this restaurant pop-up from time to time...sometimes just a still picture was used showing Anderson and the restaurant's logo. There continued to be Po' Folks restaurants in business for many years after Anderson's involvement as a spokesman ended. Ironically, based on what I found out, the restaurant had used the name of Bill's song without permission which is what led to the commercial appearances in the first place. 

There were two personalities named Dan Miller that worked for TNN. There was the dark haired Dan Miller who was known by local Nashville TV viewers and radio listeners...he would eventually become a host of a series called Miller and Company on TNN. That Dan Miller has since passed away. Then there was the blond Dan Miller...he hosted the game show, Top Card, replacing original host Jim Caldwell. This Dan Miller also hosted a later game show titled 10 Seconds. The blond Dan Miller also co-hosted a rodeo program on the weekend.

The only programming of the old TNN that I wasn’t a viewer of were those dance shows. I don’t like to dance…I don’t mind hearing country songs about dancing…but dancing is something I don’t do…so I never watched the dancing shows.

In closing I just want to reiterate that I hope this new TNN becomes available to a lot of the nation and isn't just available in the southern states.