WSMV-TV, virtual channel 4, is the NBC-affiliated television station serving the Nashville, Tennessee area. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10. Its transmitter and tower are located adjacent to its studios on Knob Road in west Nashville, south of Charlotte Pike. Prior to the government-mandated conversion to a digital signal, WSMV was broadcast on analog channel 4.
WSMV began broadcasting as WSM-TV on September 30, 1950 at 1:10 p.m. It was Nashville's first television station and the second in Tennessee, behind WMCT (now WMC-TV, also an NBC affiliate) in Memphis. It was owned by the locally-based National Life and Accident Insurance Company along with WSM radio (650 AM & 95.5 FM); the AM station is renowned for broadcasts of the country music show "The Grand Ole Opry," which has been heard since 1925. The stations took its callsign from their parent's slogan, "We Shield Millions."
The television station has been an NBC affiliate from the very first day, though it also carried some programming from CBS, DuMont, and ABC. Affiliation with CBS ended in 1953 when WSIX-TV channel 8 (now WKRN-TV channel 2) signed on as a CBS primary affiliate. WSM shared ABC programming
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