WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts

PRX

WHER: 1000 Beautiful Watts

Series: Lost & Found Sound
From: The Kitchen Sisters
Length: 00:58:36

The story of the first all-girl radio station in the nation Read the full description.

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Piece Description

WHER, the first all-girl radio station in the nation, went on the air in Memphis on October 29, 1955. It was the brainchild of sound legend Sam Phillips, who created the groundbreaking format with money he raised from selling Elvis Presley's Sun Studios contract.

Women almost exclusively ran WHER. On the air they read the news, interviewed local celebrities, and spun popular records. Behind the scenes they sold and created commercials, produced and directed programming and sat at the station's control boards.