From Henry’s own demo collection which he unselfishly donated to Airchexx back in 2004, here’s Henry Nelson (WMC-FM, WEGR, WRBO) back on the old K97 when it was still a mix of Top 40 and Urban hits.  An 8 minute scope here, one gets a feel for the station’s format, and of what it would eventually evolve into – Memphis’ legendary Urban station that consistantly ranks in the top 3 book after consecutive book.

Both K97 and Nelson are legendary in Memphis.  WHRK was (and still is) the FM station of the mother of all R&B stations, 1070 WDIA.  There is more on the history of this station on the web, so we won’t go into the long history of 97.1 FM.  Henry Nelson – Well, he’s been at nearly every station in Memphis (all of us who worked there seemingly ended up at at least half of them!), did mornings, at least that I KNOW about, on K97 and at WRBO for a few years before Citadel blew out the locals and started airing syndication in 2005.

The list of legendary performers who got their start in part by their exposure on WDIA ‘back in the day’, is seemingly endless, from B.B. King to Barry White and so many others.. and most ended up over the years, at least the latter ones, on K97 after its split from the AM.

True, today K97 is nothing less than a full blown Urban Rap station – and I suppose is earning it’s own reputation for greatness with a very young generation… but for the rest of us who remember what pop music was like, skewed either to a Rock or R&B direction… this quick scope of WHRK Memphis is great, and speaks volumes as to where Urban radio went after 1984.