in the world not attached to a casino. On March 31, 1979, Opryland opened the Roy Acuff Theater, named after the beloved traditional-country singer and pillar of the Opry. The theater was located next door to the Grand Ole Opry House in the Plaza area outside the park gates. It normally hosted the theme park's premier musical production. Due to its location, tickets to the theme park were not needed to attend shows at the Acuff, which usually required a separately-purchased ticket. This allowed the general public to attend shows at the Acuff without having to pay for park admission, like the Opry itself. Ownership change Beginning in 1980, Houston-based insurer American General began acquiring NLT stock, eventually becoming its largest shareholder and setting the stage for an outright takeover. American General was not interested in NLT's non-insurance businesses and opted to sell the WSM division, which included WSM-AM-FM-TV, The Nashville Network (later The National Network, Spike TV and now the Paramount Network), the Grand Ole Opry, the then-decrepit Ryman Auditorium, Opryland Hotel, and Opryland USA. Unable to acquire television and radio assets due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s ownership restrictions of the time, American General influenced NLT to sell WSM-TV to Gillett Broadcasting (operated by George N. Gillett Jr.). Gillett bought the station on November 3, 1981, and its call sign was officially changed to WSMV-TV on July 15, 1982. By 1982, the takeover was complete and American General approached prospects such as Music Corporation of America (MCA), Marriott Corporation and Anheuser-Busch attempting to sell the remainder of WSM, Inc. While some of the companies showed interest in one asset such as the theme park or the radio station, none was willing to buy the entire group. American General began to think that the only way to sell WSM, Inc. would be to split it into separate entities. Unexpectedly, Gaylord Broadcasting Company of Oklahoma City stepped in and purchased the entire package in September 1983 for . After the purchase, the Opryland assets were organized into a subsidiary holding company called Opryland USA, Inc. Ed Gaylord, then the controlling figure of Gaylord Broadcasting, had become involved with the hit country music television show Hee Haw when his company had purchased the rights to the program in 1981 and moved production to a studio inside the Grand Ole Opry House. Gaylord quickly developed relationships with its stars, many of whom