With the help of an Associated Press story by reporter Christina Huynh, the news of KWEM’s resurrection has reached media outlets in New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Washington, Washington D.C., Louisiana, Texas, Wyoming, California, and even Ontario, Canada.
“This is a huge story with major historical implications, and we’re very proud of what we’ve been able to preserve and create,” said MSCC President Dr. Glen Fenter. “Although the story is not widely known, its impact and the artists that it produced are indisputable, and it is certainly a rich part of our community’s history as well as a great opportunity for our future.”
Dr. Fenter said State Sen. Keith Ingram and State Rep. Dr. Deborah Ferguson, both of West Memphis, helped the College secure basic funding to move the project forward. “Without their help, this wouldn’t be happening.”
Diane Hampton, MSCC Vice President for Institutional Advancement, said the project gives the region another claim to music fame.
“KWEM’s resurrection creates a pivot point between Memphis and the area of the Arkansas Delta between Helena and Dyess Colony,” she said. “We believe the revival of this part of West Memphis’
music history will generate additional tourism interest in Crittenden County. If the national response to KWEM’s latest launch is any evidence, we’re heading in the right direction.”
MSCC operates the Web-based station and owns numerous artifacts related to its rich musical history. The college has created a campus-based replica of the KWEM studio which was originally located at 231 Broadway Street in downtown West Memphis.
“Mid-South Community College is taking the newest in technology and making it do something ‘old school’ while telling a rich story of our heritage,” Hampton said. “We’re taking a great concept to a level that can significantly impact this community and the entire region.
“We are uniquely positioned because Memphis is already spending millions of dollars a year encouraging people to experience the musical heritage of the region, and those people are looking for other historic places to go. West Memphis can become one of those options.”
The original KWEM gave unknown or little-known Memphis-area artists the opportunity to perform live when it opened for business on February 23, 1947. The station offered an enticing concept to musicians: anyone who could pay the $15 to $20 fee (or find a sponsor), could play music live.
Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Albert King, Scotty Moore, and others stepped up, paid up, and performed their magic on KWEM. People listened and loved what they heard.
In the 1940s, the legendary musicians who shaped the blues and created many of the first rock and roll records followed the winds of change and lust for fame to the back alleys of West Memphis. They found something not available to them on Beale Street – a wide-open, raucous town ready for entertainment – “the Las Vegas of the South,” as Memphis musician Rufus Thomas described it.
From the late 1940s until the early 1960s, West Memphis featured more than 30 all-night clubs with dancing and blues. In addition to the aforementioned greats, the city played host to Sonny Boy Williamson, Ike Turner, Little Junior Parker, James Cotton, Phineas and Calvin Newborn, Willie Mitchell, Hubert Sumlin, Elmore James, Houston Stackhouse, Bobby Blue Bland, Willie Love, Roscoe Gordon, Willie Nix, Tuff Green, and others.
By night, they honed their craft in honky-tonks and juke joints, and by day, they performed on KWEM to promote themselves to a much larger audience in hopes of being discovered.
Whether in studio or at KWEM’s Saturday Night Jamboree, black blues artists performed side by side with white country artists including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Johnny Burnette and the Rock & Roll Trio, Reggie Young, Eddie Bond, John Hughey, Barbara Pittman, Warren Smith, Tommy Smith, Jim Stewart, Texas Bill Strength, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Larry Manuel, Bud Deckleman, Stan Kessler, Smokey Joe Baugh, Bill Black, Scotty Moore, and many others.
Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, became one of many regular KWEM listeners, and when he heard Howlin’ Wolf’s show in 1950, he said, “This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.” The rest is pop-music history.
Phillips’ recording of Howlin’ Wolf was followed by his signing of Presley, Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and others. Their music went on to influence thousands, who went on to influence millions.
More than 200 artists took advantage of the opportunity to perform on the West Memphis station, and many went on to sign major-label recording contracts.
KWEM also played an important role in the creation of Stax Records. Jim Stewart of the KWEM Radio House Band, the Snearly Ranch Boys, started Satellite Records in 1957. In 1958, Estelle Axton, Stewart’s sister, entered the partnership, and Satellite Records became Stax Records.
KWEM alumnus Albert King signed with Stax in 1966. His electric guitar style significantly impacted some of the world’s greatest performers – Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Walsh, and Jimi Hendrix – to name a few.
When the station closed its doors in 1960, its mark was clearly made on music history. KWEM is listed on the National Historic Buildings applications for Sun Studios and Graceland as having been a major influence on Elvis Presley and the Memphis area in the birth of rock and roll.
Local musician/writer Dale Franklin laid the groundwork for MSCC’s effort while performing research for a documentary on the history of West Memphis. Dr. Fenter called Franklin’s research “phenomenal.”
MSCC has also been granted an LP-FM license and will begin broadcasting KWEM at 93.3 FM later this year. The terrestrial station and the internet streaming station plan to share the story of rock and roll’s conception, to introduce future generations to the people who nurtured it, to pay tribute to the radio station that influenced the face of American music forever, and to let the world know what happened in West Memphis.
In addition to broadcasting the sounds of the original KWEM, MSCC is incorporating the station into the classroom through its Digital Media program.
“Students will have a chance to produce their own programming in keeping with the station’s heritage,” Hampton said. “It will be a great opportunity for them to blend the history of the 1940s and 1950s with the technology of today.”
The station’s music includes old and new selections, all featuring some connection to the original KWEM performers and includes diverse genres – blues, soul, R&B, country, rock-a-billy and of course, rock ’n’ roll.
For information on KWEM, see the website at www.kwemradio.com. For general information on Mid-South Community College, see the website www.midsouthcc.edu.
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