WLRM (1380 AM) is an American

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

licensed to serve the community of

Millington, Tennessee Millington is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and is a part of the Memphis metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 10,176. Millington was granted the title "Flag City Tennessee" by the Tennessee St ...

, United States. The station was established in 1962 as "WGMM", originally licensed only for limited daytime-only operation. Upgraded to 24-hours operation in 1984, the station has broadcast a variety of formats over the past 50 years, including

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

and

Gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

. WLRM is currently owned by F.W. Robbert Broadcasting and the

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which va ...

is held by CPT & T Radio Station, Inc. WLRM broadcasts a Blues and Southern Soul format Monday through Saturday, and Gospel music on Sundays. It is the

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

of ''The Political Cesspool'', a weekly far-right talk radio show founded by Tennessean political activist James Edwards on the

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WMQM WMQM is an American Christian radio station in Lakeland, Tennessee. Its broadcast market is Memphis, broadcasting with 50,000 watts day and 35 watts night on 1600 AM. WMQM is a sister station to shortwave radio station WWCR. WMQM is owned and ...

2004 and shifting to WLRM an year later, which is broadcast on Saturday nights. It also simulcasts on the neo-Nazi Stormfront Radio.

History

1960s

This station began licensed broadcast operations on June 22, 1962, as "WGMM". Restricted to operating as a daytime-only radio station and broadcasting at 1380

kilohertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base ...

with 500

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s of power, WGMM was originally owned and operated by Radio Millington, Inc. Al McClain served as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, commercial manager, and program director with Web Anderson as promotions manager, Bob Trantham as news director, Emmett Kozel as

chief engineer A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "Chief" or "ChEng", is the most senior licensed mariner (engine officer) of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that departmen ...

, and Mary Nell Thomas as traffic manager. By 1965, Bill Thomas was brought in to be the program director and Emmett Kozel added news director duties to his engineering role. A shift in personnel in 1965 saw Joe C. Matthews take over as president and general manager with Bill Thomas elevated to station manager. Lee Cash was named as program director and Ed Freeman became WGMM's chief engineer. The station also added five hours of "specialty" programming featuring

country & western Country (also called country and western) is a music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is primarily focused on singing sto ...

music. By 1968, the station was playing a 100% country & western format. At the same time, Chad Lassiter took over the general manager role and R.L. Merry became the program director. As the decade came to a close, William M. Brown became WGMM's general manager, program director, and news director with Sidney Williams as chief engineer.

1970s

Shelby Broadcasting Company, owned by Gary Acker, acquired the station in May 1969 and had the station's

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

changed to "WTNN". With Gary Acker as president of the company, Franklin Davis was named general manager, commercial manager, and promotions manager. Rick Stafford was hired as news director and Sidney Williams stayed on as chief engineer. By 1973, Charlie C. Freeman became both program director and promotions manager with Terry Rutherford taking over as chief engineer. The station maintained its country format. On August 27, 1973, the

for WTNN was transferred to The Moore Company with Gary Acker remaining as company president. This shift marked a format flip to

with Steve L. Williams becoming general manager, commercial manager, promotions manager, and news director for the station. Rick Smith was named program director and Dave Church became the chief engineer. This lineup of key personnel and the Gospel format remained steady through the end of the 1970s.

1980s

In March 1982, the station then licensed as "WTNN" was sold by The Moore Company, Inc., to L&M Media, Inc. The

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) accepted the filing on April 2, 1982, and approved the deal on June 2, 1982. Charles Trub served in dual roles as president and general manager with Penny Peck as operations director and Dave Church stayed on as chief engineer. The format was flipped back to country music. In November 1982, the new owners applied for a

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

to shift from

daytimer A clear-channel station is a North American AM radio station that has the highest level of protection from interference from other stations, particularly from nighttime skywave signals. This classification exists to ensure the viability of cross ...

to 24-hour operation with 2,500

s of signal power during the day and 1,000 watts at night from a modified antenna system. The Commission granted the permit on June 21, 1983. Along with this, they requested a new

for the station and were assigned "WMPS" on July 18, 1983, and Doug Foster Jr was named Operations Director. After nearly four months of testing, WMPS began licensed 24-hour operations on February 29, 1984. L&M Media, Inc., applied to the FCC to transfer WMPS to the U.S. Radio Corporation in November 1986. The Commission approved the deal on December 19, 1986, and the transaction was formally consummated on January 21, 1987. WMPS was flipped to a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

format. Facing financial difficulties, the WMPS license was involuntarily transferred from U.S. Radio Corporation to trustee Von A. Harshman in September 1988. The FCC was informed on September 27, 1988, and the Commission approved the transfer on October 3, 1988. In August 1989, trustee Harshman applied to transfer the station to Good News Broadcasting Company, a religious outfit. The FCC approved the sale on October 31, 1989, and the deal was formally consummated on January 25, 1990.

1990s

This ownership proved short-lived as Good News Broadcasting Company filed an application in August 1990 to transfer WMPS to David Grayson Life Changing Ministries, Inc., for a reported sale price of $295,000. The FCC approved the deal on October 9, 1990, and the transaction was formally consummated on October 25, 1990. The new owners shifted the format to

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

. David Grayson Life Changing Ministries tried to transfer the license to Abundant Grace Fellowship, Inc., in January 1993 but the deal collapsed and was formally ended in April 1993. Another attempt to sell WMPS, this time to World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church, Inc., was filed in January 1998. The reported sale price was $275,000 in cash. The FCC approved the sale on March 3, 1998, and the transaction was formally consummated on March 23, 1998. The new owners had the FCC change the station's call sign to "WOOM" on April 6, 1998, to reflect its ownership. WOOM broadcast a Christian music format. Later, another application was filed and the station was assigned the "WLRM"

by the FCC on October 25, 2002. As WLRM, the station aired a blend of religious and secular music as an outreach effort to "

unchurched "Unchurched" (alternatively, "The Unchurched" or "unchurched people") means, in the broad sense, people who are Christians but not connected with a church. The term is not well-defined; different people understand it differently. In research on ...

" residents of the Memphis area.

WLRM today

In September 2004, World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church, Inc., (Alton R. Williams, president) reached a deal to sell WLRM to CPT & T Radio Station, Inc. (Eric M. Westenbarger, president) for a reported sale price of $400,000 in cash. The FCC approved the sale on December 29, 2004, and the transaction was formally consummated on January 18, 2005. On July 6, 2014, Affirmative Media Partners, LLC (Kevin Fox, President) started daily programming of WLRM changing the format to blues and southern soul. The station is branded as "AM 1380 WLRM". Former morning drive personality, Spanky Brown, whose real name was Byron Yedell, died May 11, 2018, in Virginia. There has been no regular morning drive programming at WLRM since Browns death. Long time afternoon drive personality, and host of "Talk To Me," Greg Peters, died May 6, 2021, in Tennessee.

Previous logo

References

External links

WLRM official website
{{Memphis Radio LRM Radio stations established in 1962 Shelby County, Tennessee