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Bill Cody, the Grand Ole Opry<\/a> and longtime WSM Radio host who woke up listeners with his velvet voice and country music lore, has died. He was 67.<\/p>\n The Tennessee radio station confirmed Cody\u2019s death on social media<\/a> on Tuesday, writing, \u201cIt is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our dear friend and beloved WSM voice, Bill Cody.<\/p>\n \u201cA singular presence on WSM-AM Nashville for more than three decades, Bill welcomed listeners each morning on Coffee, Country & Cody with a broad smile, a conversational ease, and an unerring ability to make both artists and audiences feel at home. He joined WSM in 1994 and had Charlie Daniels as his first in-studio guest. He built more than a morning show; he created a gathering place rooted in his deep love for country music and the people behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n In late May, Cody\u2019s daughter Hannah Davis shared that the radio host had been admitted to the intensive care unit with heart and kidney failure. \u201cAfter weeks of being on a roller coaster of emotions, tests, dialysis, medications, steps forwards and steps backwards, it was determined earlier this week that his only option for survival would be a double transplant, heart and kidney,\u201d she wrote on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cWe need a miracle and we know God is able.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, she wrote<\/a> that Cody had died peacefully surrounded by family and \u201cwas welcomed into heaven as thunder bellowed outside, and we laughed because we knew it was a band of angels rejoicing.\u201d<\/p>\n With nearly 50 years on the airwaves across syndicated radio, television and film, Cody was honored with a star on the Music City Walk of Fame in the fall of 2024. His credits included the film \u201cAmerican Saturday Night: Live From the Grand Ole Opry,\u201d the television show \u201cTennessee\u2019s Wild Side\u201d on PBS, \u201cRay Stevens\u2019 Nashville\u201d on RFD-TV, and GAC TV\u2019s \u201cMaster Series.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2008, the beloved Nashville host was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame, and across his career, he earned multiple nominations from the Country Music Assn., the Academy of Country Music and Billboard for his contributions to broadcasting.<\/p>\n Born Trent Clutts on Dec. 16, 1958, in Huntsville, Ala., Cody was inspired to pursue a career in broadcasting during visits to a Kentucky radio station with his dad. His father was a Southern Baptist minister, and his Sunday morning sermons were broadcast on the radio in the afternoons. Cody couldn\u2019t get enough of the goings-on at the station when the two would stop by to drop off cassettes. <\/p>\n In 1971, when the radio host was 17, he was hired as a night deejay at WVLK in Lexington, Ky., but the program director didn\u2019t think \u201cTrent Clutts\u201d had the right ring for radio. Cody named himself after \u201cBuffalo Bill,\u201d one of the most famous showmen of the American Old West, and used the moniker for the rest of his career. <\/p>\n As a teenager, Cody noticed a girl named Rebecca during study hall and, according to Davis, winked at her from across the room. The wink sealed the deal and the two spent more than 50 years as a couple, welcomed three children \u2014 Luke, Hannah, and Levi, who died in 2025 \u2014 and eventually grandchildren, who called him PoPo. The family lived in Cross Plains, Tenn.<\/p>\n \u201cLike so many of us at the Opry, Bill Cody lived out his dreams on the Opry stage. More times than I could count he and I would look at each other as if to say, \u2018Can you believe we get to do this?\u2019\u201d Dan Rogers, executive producer at the Grand Ole Opry, wrote<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cEven better, he made Opry audiences tuned in from around the world feel like they were here too, themselves a part of country music\u2019s most famous show. Then, he\u2019d get up early the next morning and \u2014 with that signature smile in his voice \u2014 tell everybody about it on his show.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was the best of friends to country music and to everyone who was a part of it. We\u2019re sure going to miss him.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n