Every radioprgramme needs a voice to trust and the voice of choice for country music radio was George D. Hay. Before he assigned to Chicago's WLS he was a journalist specialising on court reports.He published some of his stires under the alias of "The Solemn Judge" a name that would become his trademark as well as his radio jingle: the imitation of a steamboat whistle. In 1924 he was elected as the most favourite radio announcer. In the following year Hay moved to Nashville to work for a radio station that was run by an insurance company. The name of the station was "We shield Millions" (WLS) and tried to built up a format reflecting the music of the rural south. The new programme was known as the "National Barndance" and was aired once a week, every Saturday night. Later it changed the name to what would bcome the big institution of country music: "The Grand Old Opry". Under his influence the local music programme became a nationwide broadcast towards the end of the thirties. But with that change the old Opry was doomed. The old hoedown was soon to be swept out of the institution, replaced by crooners who were thought to be more convnient to city slickers. Disappointed of these developments George D. Hay left the Opry in 1947.