KWEM-LP

The owners of Little Rock-area radio station KXLR sought to build a statewide network of stations to carry Arkansas Razorbacks football, and they felt that the Memphis area would provide important coverage and exposure for the football program.^[2] After delays, KWEM (990 AM) began operating on February 9, 1947,^[3] with official opening two weeks later.^[4]

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.^[2] Howlin' Wolf had a show on the station from 1949 to 1952, and Sam Phillips heard him and signed him to a contract with Sun Records;^[5] his program aired after music by rockabilly guitarist Paul Burlison;^[6] B.B. King was first heard over the station, getting his break on a show helmed by Sonny Boy Williamson II;^[7] Stax Records founder Jim Stewart started at KWEM, as did James Cotton and Hubert Sumlin;^[8] Johnny Cash's first radio broadcast was on KWEM in 1953.^[2][9] The station allowed aspiring performers to pay for 15-minute blocks of air time.^[10] Elvis Presley made his first radio appearance on KWEM in 1953, which did not go well because he lacked a band and moved around too much;^[5] George Klein worked there as a DJ after its move to Memphis;^[11] so did Eddie Bond.^[12]

KWEM was purchased by Dee Rivers in 1951.^[13] 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.^[14] This lasted through the end of the decade, when KWEM became KWAM,^[14] and it eventually stopped playing live music.^[10]

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.^[9] In addition, he acquired such historic artifacts as a recording lathe used by Ike Turner.^[5] 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.^[10] He then opted to sell these assets to Mid-South Community College in West Memphis.^[15] Streaming returned under MSCC management in 2014 ahead of the station's 2015 sign-on on FM.^[16]

Franklin, who was described by the president of MSCC as having a "John the Baptist type fervor" for the project,^[5] died in 2017.^[17]