Bayron Binkley

Born 1933, Detroit, MI Died April 25, 2022, Nashville, TN. Known as “Bink,” he was one of the first television executives to specialize in country music. He was hired at WSM-TV in the late 1950's where he started as a camera man then turned Producer and Director and within a short time became an Afternoon Children's show Icon, "Happy A. Clown" working with Dave Overton on "Happy Town". Beginning in the early 1960's Binkley produced and directed several local shows which included Ralph Emery Show, The Opry Almanac, The Noon Show, An afternoon entertainment show, the News programs at 6 and 10 PM. Starting primarily in the early 1960's, the WSM studios were home to many syndicated shows that were produced and directed by Bink, making him a pioneer in country television. Shows included: "Flatt and Scruggs", "The Kitty Wells and Johnny Wright Show", "Del Reeves Country Carnival", "Jim Ed Brown's Show" and many others. He was one of the founders of Sugarplum Music Co. in Nashville in 1974. By the mid-70s and after the start of The Nashville Network, Bayron took his production team to many destinations around the US and the Caribbean Islands to tape additional programming for TNN until his retirement in the mid-1990s.