The WLOK Story (2002)

A history of the first African American owned radio station in Memphis and the Mid-South. As the second Black-oriented station to emerge in the Memphis market (after WDIA), this young, hip, progressive station was championed by Black activists in the 1960s and ‘70s. Through the years, a long line of legendary on-air personalities debated pressing issues, broke Stax records, and lifted up Gospel music.

Featuring interviews with signature DJs Melvin Jones, Brother Chambers, and the original Joan E. W. Golden, “The Golden Girl,” as well as civil rights activists Benjamin Hooks, Maxine Smith, and Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, this film tells the backstory of the station, from its establishment in 1954 to when Art Gilliam bought the station in 1977, up to contemporary times.

Located down the street from the historic Lorraine Motel, WLOK was the first station to broadcast when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot, and for many years it aired live broadcasts of the weekly meetings of Operation PUSH Memphis (co-founded by Kyles and Jesse Jackson). Later, when Art Gilliam bought the station, its new ownership embraced, celebrated and lifted up its community of listeners, from the early days of the Stone Soul Picnic to its current great renown as a Gospel radio station.