the early years of the station featured, as most big-city stations of that time, network programming, local news, studio-orchestra musical features (accompanied by an in-studio pipe organ), farm reports, and some educational programming. its main competitor in that era, wsm, became known as the radio station where country music essentially developed and became a national phenomenon. when country music became a big business in the late 1940s, wlac added early-morning and saturday-afternoon shows in an attempt to steal some of wsm's thunder. otherwise, the station prided itself as a pillar of the community and placed emphasis on general full-service programs.