KWEM-LP is a low-power FM radio station in

West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is ...

, United States, owned by

Arkansas State University Mid-South Arkansas State University Mid-South, formerly Mid-South Community College (MSCC), is a public community college in West Memphis, Arkansas. ASU Mid-South offers degree programs, technical courses, community educational offerings, and intercollegia ...

. The station airs a format of blues and gospel music and is also used as a training ground for students in the community college's digital media program. The call letters and format are a tribute to a former West Memphis radio station, KWEM (990 AM), which began in 1947; moved across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, in 1953; and changed call letters in 1959. The station was influential in the early careers of several blues and

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

musicians.

History

The original KWEM

The owners of Little Rock-area radio station

KXLR KXLR is a commercial active rock music radio station in Fairbanks, Alaska, broadcasting on 95.9 FM. It signed on the air in 1990 and was originally owned by Northern Television, the then-parent company of KTVF and KCBF. In May 2007, KXLR switc ...

sought to build a statewide network of stations to carry

Arkansas Razorbacks football The Arkansas Razorbacks football program represents the University of Arkansas in the sport of American football. The Razorbacks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Weste ...

, and they felt that the Memphis area would provide important coverage and exposure for the football program. After delays, KWEM (990 AM) began operating on February 9, 1947, with official opening two weeks later. West Memphis was described as the "Las Vegas of the South" in this era, and its programming drew from the musicians playing clubs in that era.

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

had a show on the station from 1949 to 1952, and

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

heard him and signed him to a contract with

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

; his program aired after music by rockabilly guitarist

Paul Burlison Paul Burlison (February 4, 1929 – September 27, 2003) was an American pioneer rockabilly guitarist and a founding member of The Rock and Roll Trio. Burlison was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, where he was exposed to music at an early age ...

;

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

was first heard over the station, getting his break on a show helmed by

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

;

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was ...

founder Jim Stewart started at KWEM, as did

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

and

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

;

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

's first radio broadcast was on KWEM in 1953. The station allowed aspiring performers to pay for 15-minute blocks of air time.

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

made his first radio appearance on KWEM in 1953, which did not go well because he lacked a band and moved around too much; George Klein worked there as a DJ after its move to Memphis; so did

Eddie Bond Eddie Bond (July 1, 1933 – March 20, 2013) was an American singer and guitarist who was active in country music and rockabilly. Biography In the mid-1950s, Bond recorded for Mercury Records and toured with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry ...

. KWEM was purchased by Dee Rivers in 1951. Rivers moved the station to Memphis, where from studios on Flicker Street, it continued to be an influential hotbed of talent; the transmitter remained on the Arkansas side of the river. This lasted through the end of the decade, when KWEM became KWAM, and it eventually stopped playing live music.

The revival

In 2009, Dale Franklin purchased assets to relaunch KWEM as an online-only station, playing the genres of music where it had the most influence. In addition, he acquired such historic artifacts as a recording lathe used by

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1 ...

. Franklin's goal was to increase recognition of KWEM's historical role and increase musical tourism on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi by restoring the original studio on Broadway Street. He then opted to sell these assets to Mid-South Community College in West Memphis. Streaming returned under MSCC management in 2014 ahead of the station's 2015 sign-on on FM. Franklin, who was described by the president of MSCC as having a "John the Baptist type fervor" for the project, died in 2017.

References

External links

{{Memphis Radio WEM-LP West Memphis, Arkansas Radio stations in Memphis, Tennessee WEM-LP Radio stations established in 2015 2015 establishments in Arkansas