[1Old Pro]

Having grown up in the suburbs of Boston (1950s/1960s) I didn't have the first clue that Country music existed.There were no radio stations on the air...nothing.

People found county late at night when the radio "skip" occurred from stations like WLAC and WSM out of Nashville, and others..

[Dilbert San Diego]

I don’t know when country became more popular nationwide.

I do recall, living in Chicago in the early 1980s, that WMAQ was a major country music radio station. So at least by then, country music was popular in some big cities.

[Gay State Conservative]

The only real skip I listened to was WKBW in Buffalo (Rock/Top 40). Although during BCT and AIT at Fort Knox I could pick up WBZ in Boston. And IIRC I also picked up WBZ in Florida as well.

[dfwgator]

People found county late at night when the radio "skip" occurred from stations like WLAC and WSM out of Nashville, and others..

Back in the day before Satellite Radio there was 820 WBAP in Fort Worth to keep the truckers up during the night.