KWEM Radio

KWEM Radio, an historic West Memphis radio station that influenced the course of modern music, has returned to the airwaves as a streaming internet station.  Arkansas State University Mid-South operates the web-based station and owns the numerous artifacts related to its rich musical history. In its University Center, the university also has a campus-based replica of the KWEM studio which was originally located on Broadway Street in downtown West Memphis. The original KWEM, which gave unknown or little-known Memphis-area artists the opportunity to perform live, aired its first broadcast in 1947. Anyone who could pay the $15 to $20 fee (or find a sponsor), could play their music live on the air. Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Albert King, Scotty Moore, and others stepped up, paid up, and performed their magic on KWEM.