WLOK

File:Sterick Building 060523.jpg housed the original studios of WHHM and the WHHM-FM transmitter.]]

File:WHHM (1947).jpgOn August 14, 1945, Herbert Herff applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit to build a new radio station to broadcast with 250 watts on 1340 kHz in Memphis.{{Cite web|url= https://cdbs.recnet.com/corres/?doc=62794 |title= History Cards for WHHM|publisher=Federal Communications Commission}} (Guide to reading History Cards) It was the second time Herff, a local auto dealer, had filed for a radio station that year; in January, he applied for an FM station at 45.3 MHz.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101573903/herff-seeks-radio-permit/ |date=January 13, 1945 |page=9 |title=Herff Seeks Radio Permit |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074034/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101573903/herff-seeks-radio-permit/ |url-status=live}} The FM station was approved in November 1945,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574086/station-is-authorized-herff-awaits-perm/ |date=November 3, 1945 |page=16 |title=Station Is Authorized: Herff Awaits Permit On Radio Project Atop Sterick Building |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074035/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574086/station-is-authorized-herff-awaits/ |url-status=live}} and the FCC approved the AM station permit on February 13, 1946.{{r|hc}} Construction immediately began on facilities to house the AM and FM stations in the Sterick Building,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574263/herff-gets-ok-on-new-radio-station/ |date=February 14, 1946 |page=1 |title=Herff Gets O.K. On New Radio Station |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074034/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574263/herff-gets-ok-on-new-radio-station/ |url-status=live}} which would also be the location of the FM transmitter; the AM station would broadcast its signal from a site at Somerville and Ryder streets.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574329/fm-station-approved-transmitter-to-be-p/ |date=July 13, 1946 |page=8 |title=FM Station Approved: Transmitter To Be Put Atop Sterick Building |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074035/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574329/fm-station-approved-transmitter-to-be/ |url-status=live}}

WHHM, the fifth radio station in Memphis, formally debuted July 29, 1946, with a two-hour-long opening program.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574487/station-whhm-on-air-monday-dedication-a/ |date=July 27, 1946 |page=1 |title=Station WHHM On Air Monday: Dedication At 7 P.M. From Sterick Bldg. Studio |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074035/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574487/station-whhm-on-air-monday-dedication/ |url-status=live}} (The call letters either represented the car dealership, Herbert Herff Motors,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575060/good-evening-broadcasting-column-sets-o/ |date=January 1, 1973 |page=9 |first=Robert |last=Johnson |title=Good Evening: Broadcasting Column Sets Off Nostalgia |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074037/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575060/good-evening-broadcasting-column-sets/ |url-status=live}} or the city, Herbert Herff/Memphis.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101576231/the-night-deskhow-did-stations-get-thei/ |date=November 12, 1946 |page=6 |title=The Night Desk—How Did Stations Get Their Names? |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074037/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101576231/the-night-deskhow-did-stations-get/ |url-status=live}}) The Sterick Building facilities contained two studios, one of them 20 by 32 feet, as well as offices and a newsroom.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574567/whhm-in-debut-tonight-with-2-hour-progra/ |date=July 29, 1946 |page=11 |title=WHHM In Debut Tonight With 2-Hour Program |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074037/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574567/whhm-in-debut-tonight-with-2-hour/ |url-status=live}}

Herff owned the station for 14 months before selling the AM and the still-unbuilt FM to Mid-South Broadcasting Company, headed by Prentis Furlow, owner of KTBS in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1947 for $300,000.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575205/radio-station-whhm-given-ok-on-sale/ |date=October 16, 1947 |page=16 |title=Radio Station WHHM Given O.K. On Sale |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074037/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575205/radio-station-whhm-given-ok-on-sale/ |url-status=live}} The AM facility was moved to 46 Neely Street in 1949,{{r|hc}} and the FM station on 106.9 MHz was on test by the start of 1950, being briefly used in an emergency to feed WMCF during an ice storm in the first week of January.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574923/wmc-wins-struggle-to-remain-on-the-air/ |date=January 7, 1950 |page=13 |title=WMC Wins Struggle to Remain on the Air; WHHM Comes To Rescue With Loan Of Facilities |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074037/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101574923/wmc-wins-struggle-to-remain-on-the-air/ |url-status=live}} The transmitter used had previously belonged to WMCF.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575432/powerful-wmcf-given-a-permanent-license/ |date=May 26, 1949 |page=19 |title=Powerful WMCF Given A Permanent License: Station Has Been On Air For Year On Test Basis |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074038/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575432/powerful-wmcf-given-a-permanent/ |url-status=live}} The FM briefly attempted separate programming in 1951 before being turned off on July 1 due to a "lack of enthusiasm" for the FM programming, which had been a financial failure.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575916/five-hours-of-better-music-each-night-to/ |date=February 25, 1951 |page=V:9 |title=Five Hours of Better Music Each Night To Be Offered By FM Station Here |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510074039/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101575916/five-hours-of-better-music-each-night/ |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101576576/fm-classical-music-nights-leaving-air/ |date=June 30, 1951 |page=10 |title=FM Classical Music Nights Leaving Air |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

After four years of independent operation, WHHM joined the Liberty Broadcasting System in 1950.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101577049/station-whhm-joins-network-news-and-fea/ |date=October 4, 1950 |page=16 |title=Station WHHM Joins Network: News and Features Via Liberty |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The station had several notable DJs at this time, including big band vocalist Kenny Sargent{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101577413/todays-day-of-bright-outlook-daylight/ |date=April 25, 1948 |page=IV:9 |first=Mike |last=McGee |title=Today's Day of Bright Outlook, Daylight Saving's Gone Kaput |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} and Ron Lundy, who got his first on-air work when the normal DJ failed to show for his shift and later went on to work at WABC in New York.{{Cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=March 17, 2010 |title=Ron Lundy, a Rock D.J. in New York, Is Dead at 75 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/nyregion/17lundy.html |access-date=May 10, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129225834/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/nyregion/17lundy.html |url-status=live}} It was one of the first local stations to focus on popular DJs and personalities, though in the mid-1950s increased competition began to dim the success the station enjoyed with this formula.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101578039/station-whhm-is-sold-to-virginian/ |date=March 7, 1958 |page=9 |first=Robert |last=Johnson |title=Station WHHM Is Sold to Virginian |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} WHHM moved to studios on Madison Avenue in 1957, vacating the Sterick Building studios, which were leased to Southern Bell.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101577881/4-new-sterick-leases-signed-total-of-10/ |date=May 17, 1957 |page=20 |title=4 New Sterick Leases Signed: Total of 10,150 Square Feet |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

WHHM was sold by Mid-South Broadcasting to Cy Blumenthal of Arlington, Virginia, in 1958.{{r|Memp580307}} Blumenthal's chain of stations all aired country music formats, but Memphis presented a programming puzzle. The radio stations in town already served a wide variety of market segments, and KWEM (990 AM) covered the country format.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101578219/silvers-show-to-present-new-faces/ |date=May 8, 1958 |page=35 |first=Robert |last=Johnson |title=Silvers Show to Present New Faces |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} A year later, Blumenthal sold WHHM to Thomas W. Shipp, a Jax Beer distributor with no other radio holdings.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101578505/whhm-is-bought-by-thomas-shipp-200000/ |date=July 9, 1959 |page=1 |title=WHHM Is Bought By Thomas Shipp: $200,000 Involved In Sale Of Station To Memphian |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} Shipp was able to rebound the station's ratings somewhat, though he also was confronted with a task of reconstruction. The Russwood Park fire, a five-alarm blaze in April 1960, destroyed the baseball stadium as well as the nearby WHHM studios and a bank branch, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101579154/1000000-fire-razes-chicks-ball-park/ |date=April 18, 1960 |page=1 |first=Neil |last=Sanders |title=$1,000,000 Fire Razes Chicks' Ball Park, Damages Baptist And John Gaston Hospitals And Forces |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The fire nearly trapped the on-air announcer and his guest, who fled the burning station after black smoke entered the studio.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101579976/whhm-announcer-barely-gets-out-tells-ai/ |date=April 18, 1960 |page=5 |title=WHHM Announcer Barely Gets Out: Tells Air Listeners Of Fire, Then Flees With Visitor |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} Broadcasting shifted to the station's transmitter site, which had moved back to the Somerville Street site in 1954,{{r|hc}} before new studios opened in July in the Holiday Towers building.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101580395/ike-nixon-to-be-televised-on-arrival-at/ |date=July 22, 1960 |page=32 |first=Henry |last=Mitchell |title=Ike, Nixon To Be Televised On Arrival at Convention |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} A dispute over covered losses escalated into litigation when Shipp sued the Agricultural Insurance Company, based in Watertown, New York, in a case that centered on the value of the radio station's lost record library and jingles.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101580635/whhm-fire-suit-ends-second-day-insuranc/ |date=April 25, 1962 |page=7 |title=WHHM Fire Suit Ends Second Day: Insurance Firm Being Sued For Equipment Cost |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} In April 1962, a federal jury awarded Shipp more than $74,000 in the case.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101580721/whhm-awarded-74447/ |date=April 28, 1962 |page=5 |title=WHHM Awarded $74,447 |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

Shipp sold WHHM in August 1960 to Bill Grumbles, doing business as Mercury Broadcasting. Grumbles formerly had been a vice president of RKO Teleradio, owner in Memphis of WHBQ-AM-FM-TV, before cutting ties and searching for a station to own himself.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101578890/bill-grumbles-family-bues-whhm/ |date=August 26, 1960 |page=22 |title=Bill Grumbles Family Bues WHHM |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} Upon taking over in November, Grumbles replaced all the disc jockeys with a new airstaff, consisting mostly of former Memphians returning from other cities; he also changed the operation so that all music was played from cartridges instead of records.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101580535/whole-new-crew-takes-over-at-whhm/ |date=November 25, 1960 |page=25 |first=Robert |last=Johnson |title=Whole New Crew Takes Over at WHHM |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The station also increased daytime power to 1,000 watts in November 1962.{{r|hc}}

Grumbles's ownership was not a financially sound one, and a battle over control of station ownership escalated on December 28, 1962. That morning, the station went off the air, all 12 employees were fired, and armed guards were stationed at the studios; the afternoon Memphis Press-Scimitar{{'s}} front page read "WHHM Off The Air, Staff Fired".{{r|Memp621228}} The move came after Mercury Broadcasting had filed to sell the station back to Shipp in exchange for the cancellation of more than $140,000 in debt. However, two Connecticut men, Victor Muscat and Joseph P. Trantino, claimed to have bought a minority stake in the station from another Mercury shareholder and objected to the transaction.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101581490/whhm-off-the-air-staff-fired-legal-bat/ |date=December 28, 1962 |page=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101581768/ 2] |first=Robert |last=Johnson |title=WHHM Off The Air, Staff Fired: Legal Battle For Control Of Station |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} They were successful in halting the sale, and a new complication emerged. In early February 1963, it was revealed that federal investigators were looking into two other Shipp businesses for potential mail fraud and that Shipp's whereabouts were unknown.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582018/money-order-firm-dealings-may-lead-to-fr/ |date=February 7, 1963 |page=1 |first=Richard T. |last=Allen |title=Money Order Firm Dealings May Lead To Fraud Charges |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101581993/defunct-firm-is-named-in-suits/ |date=February 7, 1963 |page=13 |title=Defunct Firm Is Named in Suits |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

On March 13, WHHM filed for bankruptcy; the filing listed $94,000 in assets against $511,000 in liabilities and attached Shipp to an address in Sherman Oaks, California.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582269/petition-may-help-in-finding-shipp/ |date=March 14, 1963 |page=46 |title=Petition May Help in Finding Shipp |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} A secretary testified that Shipp kept a second WHHM bank account even after selling the station and commingled personal and business funds; she noted that most of Shipp's capital investment came from a lease-back arrangement with a New York company for the station's equipment.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582409/shipp-mingled-whhm-fund-with-own-secret/ |date=March 28, 1963 |page=52 |title=Shipp Mingled WHHM Fund With Own, Secretary Says |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} After returning and testifying in his own case, Shipp himself was declared bankrupt in April after a petition from a creditor of another Shipp business; the judge in that case noted Shipp's "effort to defraud" his creditors.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582480/effort-to-defraud-is-noted-as-shipp-is/ |date=April 18, 1963 |page=1 |first=Jack |last=Morris |title='Effort To Defraud' Is Noted As Shipp Is Ruled Bankrupt |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} WHHM's largest creditor was Shipp, owed $146,000; that sum was also his largest asset against more than $320,000 of debts.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582607/listed-debts-total-321345/ |date=May 4, 1963 |page=7 |title=Listed Debts Total $321,345 |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

Meanwhile, Marvin C. Goff, trustee in bankruptcy, was tasked with finding a buyer for the radio station, reporting in June that two experienced broadcasters were "very strong prospects" to purchase the outlet.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582683/silent-whhm-to-have-buyer-creditors-tol/ |date=June 13, 1963 |page=9 |title=Silent WHHM To Have Buyer, Creditors Told |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The lead offer came from the OK Group, which already had a Memphis radio station on the air: WLOK (1480 AM), the city's second Black-oriented station; it had been on the air with those call letters and under OK's ownership since 1956, having taken on that format two years prior.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583111/new-ownership-okd-for-wcbr/ |date=February 24, 1956 |page=3 |title=New Ownership O.K.'d for WCBR |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583132/lawrence-welk-was-big-hit-for-years-on-c/ |date=April 3, 1956 |page=15 |first=Robert |last=Johnson |title=Lawrence Welk Was Big Hit for Years On Coast and in Corn Country |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The $135,000 deal, plus $15,000 from the state of Tennessee for the condemnation of the transmitter site in order to build today's Interstate 240, would give WHHM's creditors 33 cents of every dollar they were owed. Meanwhile, WLOK would move its programming from 1480 to 1340 kHz, build a new transmitter facility to take advantage of the nighttime broadcasting authorization on 1340 kHz (though 1480 kHz was authorized for 5,000 watts during daylight hours, more than 1340), and sell the 1480 kHz license.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582751/whhm-offer-made-by-group-trustee-for-cr/ |date=July 2, 1963 |page=21 |title=WHHM Offer Made By Group: Trustee For Creditors Says New Orleans Men Seek Bankrupt Station |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} With Goff explaining that the WHHM license had been a "dog" to sell, the deal was approved by a federal bankruptcy referee on July 16.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101582924/referee-agrees-wlok-can-buy-silent-whhm/ |date=July 16, 1963 |page=12 |first=Gordon |last=Slessor |title=Referee Agrees: WLOK Can Buy Silent WHHM |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

File:WLOK Radio 2nd Street Memphis TN 004.jpg

On December 31, 1963, the FCC granted an application to transfer the license and to relocate the transmitter to the existing WLOK site at 1386 South McLemore Avenue.{{r|hc}} As part of the sale, the 1480 facility was sold to Century Broadcasting of Fort Worth, Texas.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583017/wlok-will-get-whhm-radio-license-fort-w/ |date=January 3, 1964 |page=7 |first=Mike |last=Miller |title=WLOK Will Get WHHM Radio License: Fort Worth Firm Gets Old License |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} On April 11, 1964, WLOK and its programming moved from 1480 to 1340 kHz, with the 1480 frequency becoming a separate station as WMQM; WLOK programmed the new frequency from its existing Second Street studios.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583044/wlok-moves-down-dial/ |date=April 12, 1964 |page=13 |title=WLOK Moves Down Dial |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The studios were just blocks from the Lorraine Motel; when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, death threats were made on Tom Watson—the station's only White employee—who had to be escorted out of the building.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583236/ex-resident-flees-studio-in-memphis/ |date=April 5, 1968 |page=2 |title=Ex-Resident Flees Studio in Memphis |newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |location=Fort Worth, Texas |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022 |first=Robert |last=Mann}}

In November 1968, the OK Group sold three stations—KYOK in Houston, WBOK in New Orleans, and WLOK—to Starr Broadcasting Group of Omaha, Nebraska, in a multimillion-dollar transaction.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583185/wlok-is-sold-to-omaha-firm/ |date=November 2, 1968 |page=12 |title=WLOK Is Sold To Omaha Firm |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The sale, consummated the next year, did not affect the station's format, but Starr did promise to add employees.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583337/station-wlok-changes-hands-not-format/ |date=May 23, 1969 |page=Showtime 10 |title=Station WLOK Changes Hands, Not Format |newspaper=The Memphis Press-Scimitar |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} One of the major stakeholders of Starr, an entirely White-owned company, was William F. Buckley Jr., a conservative political commentator and founder of the National Review, yet WLOK frequently ran news editorials that ran in direct opposition to Buckley's views. When this was pointed out in an early July 1971 article in The New Yorker magazine, two White employees were fired and a third transferred to New Orleans. The new general manager, Billy T. Lathem, was viewed by the 11 Black employees on staff as an "Uncle Tom who made promises but didn't carry them through". As a result, they walked out and were fired on July 21, demanding the firing of the new general manager, a pay raise, and an expanded staff with more full-time employees. Members of the Black Panther Party joined a picket line and condemned what they saw as "racist control of our people's information".{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583402/racism-charged-in-radio-walkout/ |date=July 22, 1971 |page=31 |agency=UPI |title=Racism Charged in Radio Walkout |newspaper=The Tennessean |location=Nashville, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} By December, Harvey Lynch, who was Black, had replaced Lathem as WLOK's general manager.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583509/brians-song-hits-notes-of-courage/ |date=December 1, 1971 |page=33 |title='Brian's Song' Hits Notes Of Courage |first=Larry |last=Williams |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

In its final years, WLOK launched one of its longest-running traditions when it organized the first "Stone Soul Picnic", a concert series and family gathering that in its first year had higher turnout than anticipated.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101584415/surprise-picnic-jams-riverside/ |date=June 1, 1975 |page=3 |title='Surprise Picnic' Jams Riverside |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} Now held at Tom Lee Park, the annual event is still organized by the station.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101584397/stone-soul-picnic-still-about-music-and/ |date=August 31, 2012 |page=Go Memphis 7 |first=Jon W. |last=Sparks |title=Stone Soul Picnic still about music and family fun |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

File:WLOK_Radio_2nd_Street_Memphis_TN_001.jpg plaque at the WLOK studios]]

In late 1976, Starr Broadcasting, citing an interest in bigger markets and a shift in "other directions", sold WLOK to Art Gilliam for $725,000.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583609/start-of-tv-season-looks-like-witches-b/ |date=September 13, 1976 |page=16 |first=Larry |last=Williams |title=Start Of TV Season Looks Like Witches' Brew |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} The acquisition closed in January 1977,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583633/new-owners-to-jazz-up-wlok/ |date=January 19, 1977 |page=42 |title=New Owners To Jazz Up WLOK |first=Larry |last=Williams |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} marking a milestone in Memphis radio. Gilliam was the first Black reporter on Memphis television at WMC-TV in October 1968, and WLOK became the first Black-owned radio station in the city.{{Cite news |last=Douglas |first=Andrew |date=June 3, 2016 |title=WLOK celebrates 40 years with Mid-South concert |language=en |work=WMC-TV |url=https://www.actionnews5.com/story/32133832/wlok-celebrates-40-years-with-mid-south-concert |access-date=May 10, 2022}} He had pursued the station since 1975, initially backing off when Starr set a $1 million purchase price, but Starr eventually opted to sell under pressure to reduce its debt.{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|369630576}}|work=Tri-State Defender|page=1|title=Black economic history: Gilliam buys WLOK-first station owned by blacks|date=February 19, 1977}}

Adding jazz to its format{{r|Comm770119}} and putting Operation PUSH back on its air after it was taken off under Starr ownership due to complaints and threats of a boycott,{{r|Comm021012|memphismag}} the retooled WLOK made an immediate ratings impression against its longtime competitor, WDIA,{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583782/new-director-optimistic-about-wloks-fut/ |date=July 25, 1977 |page=22 |first=Larry |last=Williams |title=New Director Optimistic About WLOK's Future |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} settling in as a consistent second-place to WDIA.{{cite web |via=World Radio History |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Memphis.pdf |title=Memphis |work=An American Radio Trilogy |first=James E. |last=Duncan |date=2004 |access-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-date=September 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927075842/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Duncan-American-Radio/Duncan-1975-1992/Memphis.pdf |url-status=live}} Over the years, what had been a more teen-oriented station shifted its focus to adults,{{r|wmc160603}} adopting a gospel format in 1985 in order to stave off competition from FM stations adopting the same urban contemporary format WLOK had.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101584134/wlok-20-years-as-pioneer-of-black-owner/ |date=September 22, 1997 |page=14 |title=WLOK: 20 years as pioneer of black ownership |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583956/concert-to-mark-change-in-wlok-managemen/ |date=March 11, 1989 |page=C9 |first=Ron |last=Wynn |title=Concert to mark change in WLOK management |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} Gilliam Communications made several other expansions: it attempted to win the rights to channel 13 in Memphis when RKO General was to be replaced as owner of WHBQ-TV, and it ran station WERD in Jacksonville, Florida, for four years before selling it at a loss.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583993/entrepreneur-gilliam-dedicated-to-black/ |date=June 24, 1990 |page=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101583986/ C5] |first=Susan |last=Adler Thorp |title=Entrepreneur: Gilliam dedicated to black concerns |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} In 1999, it acquired WHGM in Savannah, Georgia.{{r|Comm021012}} WLOK was also recognized in the 1990s and early 2000s as one of the leading gospel stations in the United States, including by Religion & Media Monthly magazine and the National Black Programmers Coalition.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101584198/beating-the-odds-gospel-station-celebra/ |date=October 12, 2002 |page=F1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101584191/radio/ F2] |first=Jacinthia |last=Jones |title=Beating the odds: Gospel station celebrates 25 years |newspaper=The Commercial Appeal |location=Memphis, Tennessee |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=May 10, 2022}} Over the years, WLOK has added more talk programs to its schedule; it also started a Black Film Festival.{{Cite news |last=Cicci |first=Samuel X. |date=November 12, 2019 |title=Art Gilliam, WLOK |language=en-us |work=Memphis Magazine |url=https://memphismagazine.com/api/content/b7e3e048-6487-53eb-9b54-36d2b0eba387/ |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

In 2016, WLOK acquired an FM translator in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to be moved to Memphis and paired with WLOK, giving the station its first FM signal of any kind since WHHM-FM went off air in 1951.{{Cite news |last=Lance |first=Venta |date=January 15, 2016 |title=Station Sales Week Of 1/15: iHeart Is A Rare Buyer |language=en-US |work=RadioInsight |url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/95925/station-sales-week-of-115-iheart-is-a-rare-buyer/ |access-date=May 10, 2022}}

{{reflist}}

• {{official|http://www.wlok.com}}

{{AM station data|24214|WLOK}}

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|150197|W285FI}}

{{Memphis Radio}}

Category:Gospel radio stations in the United States

LOK

Category:Radio stations established in 1946

LOK

Category:1946 establishments in Tennessee