On this day (December 8) in 1912, Jack Stapp was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He began working in radio and quickly rose to a national position. Later, he started Tree Publishing, which became one of the most important publishing houses in country music. He was also instrumental in adding some legendary performers to the Grand Ole Opry lineup.
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According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Stapp relocated with his family to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1912. A few years later, he got his first radio job, working at the Winehoff Hotel. There, he programmed the station that played in the hotel’s rooms. Later, he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he worked on the campus radio station WGST. When WGST became a commercial station, Stapp stayed on board and worked his way up to the position of program manager. Before long, Stapp moved to New York, where he worked at the CBS network headquarters, eventually becoming a network manager.
It was with that expansive experience that he returned to Nashville and took a program director position at WSM. There, he helped land a sponsorship from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. This led to The Prince Albert Show, a 30-minute section of the Grand Ole Opry getting broadcast nationally on NBC stations.
Stapp was also a major part of adding star power to the Grand Ole Opry lineup. Under his guidance, the show added the likes of Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, and Webb Pierce.
Jack Stapp Forms Tree Publishing
After serving in World War II, Jack Stapp returned to Nashville with new ambitions. He and Lou Cowan founded Tree Publishing. He then hired 20-year-old Buddy Killen to find and pitch songs and record demos. A few years after the formation of Tree, Killen pitched “Heartbreak Hotel” to Elvis Presley. It became the first major hit for the publishing house.
In the years to come, Tree Publishing housed a collection of legendary songwriters. Their roster included Roger Miller and Curly Putman. Then, in the late 1960s, they acquired Pamper Music, which included hit songs penned by Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Willie Nelson. At this point, Tree became the biggest country music publisher in town.
Stapp passed away in 1980, passing control of the company to Killen. He sold the company to Sony Music nine years later. Jack Stapp was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame the same year.
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