NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ralph Emery, known as the dean of country music broadcasters for more than a half-century in radio and television, died Saturday, his family said. He was 88.

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In a statement, Emery’s family said that the Country Music Hall of Famer and host of TNN primetime talk show “Nashville Now” “passed away peacefully” Saturday morning in a Nashville hospital, The Tennessean reported.

“Ralph had a deep love for his family, his friends and his fans,” Emery’s family said.

Walter Ralph Emery was nationally known for his informal, relaxed hosting style and candid interviews with country music stars, The Tennessean reported.

“Ralph and I go way back,” Loretta Lynn said in a tweet Saturday. “He was a Nashville original and you cannot underestimate the role he played in the growth and success of country music. He made you feel at ease and interviewed everyone just like an old friend.”

As a late-night disc jockey, Emery first earned fame on Nashville’s WSM, WZTV-TV reported. He joined WZTV in 2001 to host “Mornings with Ralph Emery,” the television station reported.

From 1983 to 1993, Emery hosted “Nashville Now,” earning the title “the Johnny Carson of cable television” for his interviewing style, according to The Hollywood Reporter. From 2007 to 2015, Emery hosted a weekly program on RFD-TV, a satellite and cable TV channel.

Emery was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2010, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1989.

“Ralph Emery’s impact in expanding country music’s audience is incalculable,” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement. “On radio and on television, he allowed fans to get to know the people behind the songs. Ralph was more a grand conversationalist than a calculated interviewer, and it was his conversations that revealed the humor and humanity of Tom T. Hall, Barbara Mandrell, Tex Ritter, Marty Robbins and many more. Above all, he believed in music and in the people who make it.”

Emery was born in McEwen, Tennessee in 1933, The Tennessean reported.

Emery got his start in radio in 1951, when he was hired by WTPR in Paris, Tennessee, the newspaper reported. After stops at radio stations WNAH in Nashville and WAGG in Franklin, Emery joined WSIX in Nashville and hosted a successful country music radio show. After a brief stop at a station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Emery returned to Nashville radio on WMAK. His big break came in 1957 on WSM in Nashville as he hosted the late-night “Opry Star Spotlight” show.

Emery, 24 at the time, hosted the show for 15 years, according to The Tennessean.

“I could play any record I wanted to play; nobody sat me down and told me what to play,” Emery told the newspaper in 2007.

Emery also was an announcer at the Grand Ole Opry from 1961 to 1964.

Emery recorded a Billboard country hit in 1961: “Hello Fool,” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard country music singles chart, The Tennessean reported.

“I’m not a singer and that was one of the major problems,” Emery said in a 1990 interview.

Emery’s autobiography, “Memories,” was published in 1991, followed by More Memories in 1993 and The View From Nashville: On the Record with Country Music’s Greatest Stars in 1998, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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