Cash Box magazine — Nashville office

An office building at Division Street and 13th Avenue South, at Music Row's downtown edge. From 1988 it held the Nashville office of Cash Box magazine, whose country chart Kevin Hughes compiled by hand.

On March 9, 1989, shortly before 9:30 p.m., Hughes phoned his brother Kyle from this office to say there were things he had to discuss in person. Kyle testified his brother seemed nervous.

Hughes, 23, left with Sammy Sadler, who survived that night. After dinner and a stop at Sadler's office, both men were shot at Hughes's car on 16th Avenue South, and Hughes was killed.

Testimony at the 2003 trial priced a Cash Box chart position at $1,500 to $2,000 to a promoter, plus a $750 ad. A Music Row rumor held Hughes was about to reveal the fixing.

A former promoter told the Nashville Scene in 2002 that “the fix was in at the office, not the radio stations.” Another witness from the building testified Hughes was unhappy and thinking of resigning.

Richard D'Antonio, the former Cash Box manager who had hired Hughes, was convicted of his murder on September 25, 2003 and sentenced to life. His appeals failed in 2005 and 2012.

The tie to this building rests on Cash Box's own mastheads, which place the Nashville publication office here from the June 6, 1988 issue, after a move from Music Circle East that spring.

A working office building, a 0.6-mile walk from the 16th Avenue South site. The exterior is viewable from the sidewalk, but the suites are private offices, and nothing on site references Cash Box.