Bill Cody, Longtime WSM Radio Host and Grand Ole Opry Announcer, Dies at 67

"Country music has lost one of its pillars," remarks Dierks Bentley.

Bill Cody

Grand Ole Opry

Bill Cody, the beloved presenter whose decades-long presence on WSM-AM Nashville, and as a regular host of the Grand Ole Opry, made him, for several generations, the voice of country music radio, died Tuesday (June 9) following a health battle. He was 67.

Cody joined the team at WSM on April 25, 1994, fronting the flagship morning show, Coffee, Country & Cody, the format for which he developed into a series on the Circle Network. Charlie Daniels was the first of Cody’s incalculable in-studio guests, many of whom became close friends. Later in the decade, Cody hosted mornings on WSM-FM before returning to the AM dial at the turn of the millennium.