When did the CMA awards originate?
Country Music Association Awards
The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in 1967; the Entertainer of the Year award that night went to Eddy Arnold. The second annual CMA awards were presented in October 1968; NBC taped the ceremony and televised it a few weeks later. Since then, the awards have been televised live, usually in October or November, by NBC from 1969 through 1971, by CBS from 1972 through 2005, and by ABC beginning in 2006. Starting in 1968 they were held at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry (initially at Ryman Auditorium, and from 1974 through 2004 at the new Grand Ole Opry House).