Jane Grams

WSM-TV, Showbiz, Inc., Opryland, USA and Gaylord Syndicom Ent. Group

Jane Grams blazed a trail for women in the television and country music industry in Nashville.

Her career began at WGAP radio in Maryville, TN, but she moved to Nashville in 1951 to join the staff of WSM-TV. She become one of the South's most influential women in advertising while serving as a media vice president at Nobel-Dury & Associates. In 1965, after working for nine years in the ad agency business, she co-founded Show Biz, Inc. and served as its president for ten years. At Show Biz, Inc. she helped launch television programming such as The Porter Wagoner Show, The Wilburn Brothers Show, Jim Ed Brown's Country Place, The Bobby Goldsboro Show, Pop Goes the Country and Nashville on the Road.

Jane produced her first country music television program in 1959, followed by more than 1,200 additional programs before switching gears to television station management. At one time, she was described by the peers as the "General Motors of country music television."

In 1975, Jane accepted a job at WTVC in Chattanooga, Tennessee and became the first female general manager of a network affiliated television station in the U.S. WTVC consistently was ranked #3 in the market but rose to a dominant #1 in the Chattanooga market within eighteen months under her guidance and direction. She served four years on the ABC affiliated board of directors (another first in the industry).

Jane retired in 1981 but after a three- year sabbatical, she returned to Nashville and accepted the position of vice president of Opryland USA and general manager of the Gaylord Syndicom Entertainment Group, from which she retired in March 2001.