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In Houston, Elizabeth Reat, a spokesman for American General, said that, ''Opry just didn't fit in at all with our main business, which is financial services. We are primarily an insurer, and we don't know anything about managing a hotel or running a theme park.''
''We plan to retain Grand Ole Opry's separate identity and to continue the existing management and staff,'' the publishing executive said in a prepared statement.
What attracted Gaylord to the Opry, he said, ''was not the return on the investment but the people here.'' If not for Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl and the people in Hee Haw, he said, referring to two of the show's best known performers, ''we wouldn't be here.''
It was founded in 1925 and became an entertainment staple in the Great Depression, the answer to an impoverished people's yearning for inexpensive family entertainment. At one time, it was likened to a religion for the spiritual hold it had on millions of Americans of simple means.
Now, nearly 60 years after its founding, that distinctively American institution known as the Grand Ole Opry has been sold for only the second time in its existence.
At a news conference yesterday on the Opry's cavernous stage in Nashville, the American General Corporation, the big Houston-based insurer that owns the center, announced that it had agreed in principle to sell its interest to the Gaylord Broadcasting Company, a Dallas-based subsidiary of the Oklahoma Publishing Company of Oklahoma City. Closing of the deal is expected within 90 days, the companies said.
Terms of the sale were not announced. Gaylord said in a statement that it planned no changes in either the Opry's format or management. Last March, American General said it was seeking $200 million to $300 million for the Opry's properties, which in addition to the main theater includes Opry Land U.S.A., a 120-acre theme park; the Opry Land Hotel, an 1,100-room convention facility; two radio stations, and the Nashville Network, a cable television network begun last spring to broadcast country music across America.
American General acquired the Opry properties last November as part of its $1.5-billion purchase of the NLT Corporation, a Nashvillebased insurance holding company that was the Opry's first sponsor. At the time of the merger, American General said it would seek to sell the Opry properties so that it could concentrate on its principal businesses.
In Houston, Elizabeth Reat, a spokesman for American General, said that, ''Opry just didn't fit in at all with our main business, which is financial services. We are primarily an insurer, and we don't know anything about managing a hotel or running a theme park.''
Analysts believe the sale of the theater, which through its radio broadcasts each Friday and Saturday night still claims to attract the largest single listening audience in the world, was necessary for American General to work off some of the debt it acquired in the NLT buyout.
The Opry may make better sense for Gaylord Broadcasting, the prospective new owner. Gaylord, a wholly owned subsidiary of the privately held Oklahoma Publishing Co. of Oklahoma City, owns and operates television stations in seven major cities as well as two newspapers in Oklahoma City. It also produces the syndicated country music television show Hee Haw.
Edward L. Gaylord, the chairman and chief executive of both Oklahoma Publishing and Gaylord Broadcasting, could not be reached for comment. Through a spokesman, however, Mr. Gaylord said he had no plans to change the Opry's format or management.
''We plan to retain Grand Ole Opry's separate identity and to continue the existing management and staff,'' the publishing executive said in a prepared statement.
What attracted Gaylord to the Opry, he said, ''was not the return on the investment but the people here.'' If not for Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl and the people in Hee Haw, he said, referring to two of the show's best known performers, ''we wouldn't be here.''
The Opry is a live country music radio show that says it has never missed a performance since it began in 1925, making it the longestrunning radio show in the world. To thousands of entertainers, an invitation to sing at the Opry or join its permanent troupe was considered the surest sign that one had arrived in country music.
The show, presented by about 60 country acts which are members of the Opry, has been broadcast live on Friday and Saturday nights over WSM-AM since 1925. As one indication of its appeal to the faithful, studies have shown that the typical visitor travels more than 1,000 miles roundtrip to attend a performance.
The show, which originated at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, a former church, is now produced from a new multimilliondollar facility at the suburban theme park.
According to Miss Reat, American General, through its investment banker, the First Boston Corporation of New York, negotiated for three months with numerous prospective buyers of the Opry properties before deciding on the Oklahoma media group, which expects to complete its acquisition sometime this fall.
photo of Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Edward & Thelma Gaylord
Copyright New York Times Company Jul 2, 1983