WHRK is a Mainstream Urban

Mainstream Urban

Mainstream Urban is a term used to describe a radio format similar to an Urban Contemporary format. The format differentiates itself due to two factors: playlist composition and target demographic...

 station owned by Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications

Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...

. It is licensed

City of license

A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....

 to Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, and it broadcasts at 97.1 MHz frequency.

History

The station was originally WMPS-FM and had offered a classical format during the 1960s and 1970s. That was until October 1976 when it flipped to a Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio hybrid format that featured Disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

. Even after Disco's demise they still continued to add Dance and Pop/Rock product throughout the 1980s but would evolve to Urban contemporary

Urban contemporary

Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...

 format by the end of that decade. It was purchased by Chancellor in the late 1990s along with sister station WDIA

WDIA

WDIA is an AM radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States of America. Its radio frequency is 1070 kHz. In 1962 it became the first U.S. radio station programmed by African-Americans, though its ownership was white.-History:...

 and former competitor KJMS

KJMS

KJMS is an urban adult contemporary radio station in Memphis Tennessee, and serving the Mid-South, area, owned by Clear Channel Communications.-History:...

. Today the station continues to dominate the Memphis Urban

Urban contemporary

Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...

 radio wars against KXHT

KXHT

KXHT is a Hip-Hop station licensed to Marion, Arkansas and serves the Memphis, Tennessee, area. The Flinn Broadcasting outlet operates at 107.1 MHz with an ERP of 2.75 kW.-History:...

, who has shifted back to a Rhythmic

Rhythmic Contemporary

Rhythmic contemporary, also known as rhythmic top 40, rhythmic contemporary hit radio or rhythmic crossover, is a music radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip-hop and R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary rarely uses rock music or country music in its airplay, but it may...

direction.

Station Management

• General Manager Michael Oppenheimer
• Program Director Devin Steele
• Community Affairs Director Jae Henderson

External links

• Official Website of K-97.1