Gaylord Entertainment Co. - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock Certificate printed by Security-Columbian United States Banknote Company. Please specify color.

Gaylord Entertainment Company is a diversified entertainment and communications company whose holdings include the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel, and Opry Mills, a massive retail and entertainment center in Nashville, Tennessee. Gaylord Entertainment also owns three Nashville radio stations and controls Christian web sites Musicforce.com and Lightsource.com. The Gaylord and Dickinson families began what would become the Gaylord Entertainment Company in the Oklahoma Territory in 1903--Oklahoma would not become a part of the Union until 1907. The company was created as a newspaper publishing business to capitalize on the increasing demand for news in the burgeoning region. The two families incorporated the business in 1925 as the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Realizing the future potential of radio, which was still in its infancy during the early 1920s, the Gaylords and Dickinsons branched out into the broadcasting industry in 1928 with the purchase of WKY-AM, a station in Oklahoma City. WKY, which started broadcasting in 1920, was the first radio station to operate west of the Mississippi and is the second oldest station in the United States. Shortly after Oklahoma Publishing bought it, WKY gained stature as a 'beacon of hope' in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Interestingly, another radio station of import to Oklahoma Publishing's future was getting its start in the mid-1920s: WSM-AM, of Nashville, began broadcasting in 1925. It was WSM's announcer, George D. Hay, that gave birth to the renowned Grand Ole Opry with his country music radio show. Under the direction of cofounder Edward King Gaylord, Oklahoma Publishing Company prospered during the early and mid-1900s with its radio and publishing operations. Beginning in the late 1940s, the company made a seemingly natural progression into the television broadcasting industry. In fact, television became a primary focus of the company during the 1950s and 1960s. Gaylord snapped up several stations, including KTVT in Dallas, WVTV in Milwaukee, Houston's KHTV, and KSTW in Seattle; at one point, the company was operating seven stations. Oklahoma Publishing Company's television and radio operations were organized under its wholly owned Gaylord Broadcasting subsidiary. By the early 1970s, Oklahoma Publishing Company was a multimillion-dollar mini-conglomerate primarily comprising radio, television, and newspaper companies. Because the company was privately owned by the Gaylord family, financial and operating data was generally not made available to the public. Furthermore, the Gaylords led relatively private lives and had a reputation for keeping a firm grip on the company. Amazingly, Edward King Gaylord, who had helped start the company in 1903 at the age of 32, was still actively managing the company in the early 1970s. Edward King died in 1974 at the age of 101. His son, Edward L., became chief executive. An Oklahoma billionaire, Edward was described in the media as rich, ultra-conservative, and reclusive. Read more: https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/71/Gaylord-Entertainment-Company.html

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