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100 Years Ago today in Radio History: National Barn Dance debuted on the radio today in 1924. The National Barn Dance began on April 19, 1924, more than a year before its rival, WSM Nashville's Grand Ol' Opry. The show's popularity with its live audience soon outgrew the WLS Studios and the broadcast moved to the 1,200 seat Eighth Street Theater. NBC picked it up as an hour-long show in 1933, but the Saturday night festivities went on for four hours in the theater. The highly rated program took advantage of the migration of country folks to urban jobs, and may have benefitted from the Opry's success, Barn Dance came on at nine and fans would likely stay tuned unto 10:30 to hear the Opry.