[1] He was the founder of the original Grand Ole Opry radio program on WSM-AM in Nashville, Tennessee, from which the country music stage show of the same name evolved.
[1] His popularity increased and in May 1924 he left for WLS in Chicago, where he served as the announcer on a program that became National Barn Dance.
Getting a strong listener reaction to 78-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson that November, Hay announced the following month that WSM would feature "an hour or two" of old-time music every Saturday night.
After the show ended, "Judge Hay" opened the WSM Barn Dance with this announcement: Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics.
After Bailey's performance, Hay commented, "For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera.
In 1945, Hay wrote A Story of the Grand Ole Opry,[2][6] and he became an editor of Nashville's Pickin’ and Singin’ News in 1953.