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WHRK (97.1 FM broadcasting "K97") is a commercial radio radio station licensed to Memphis, Tennessee. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and it airs an urban contemporary radio format. The station carries the nationally syndicated weekday morning show, The Breakfast Club, from co-owned Premiere Networks and based at WWPR-FM in New York City. The rest of the schedule is hosted by local disc jockey.
WHRK's studios and offices are located on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Southeast Memphis. The transmitter site is off Benjestown Road in North Memphis.
WHRK broadcasts in the HD Radio format, with its HD-2 subchannel carrying Christian radio format, branded as "Radio by Grace"
HD Radio Guide for Memphis
WMPS-AM-FM were owned by the Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical firm founded in Memphis that also had a radio division, with stations in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and other cities. At first the two stations mostly simulcast. But during the 1960s and 1970s, WMPS-FM was separately programmed with a classical music format. In the 1970s, WMPS-FM got a boost to 100,000 watts, and then made a transition to a Progressive Rock format in an effort to take on then-Rock rival WMC-FM.
WHRK's success with disco also paid off ratings-wise during the last four years of the genre's period. By 1981, a year after disco's demise, the station moved in a CHUrban/Crossover direction (what would now be considered rhythmic contemporary), featuring hip hop, Freestyle music, new jack swing, Dance Music, Pop music, and R&B hits. When Billboard introduced its Crossover Chart in February 1987, WHRK was added to the panel as one of its reporters. By the end of 1989, WHRK had evolved into an Mainstream Urban format.
In 1996, WHRK and WDIA were purchased by Chancellor Broadcasting. Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2000 page 418 Chancellor also acquired WHRK's former urban competitor, KJMS. To avoid format overlap, KJMS moved to an urban adult contemporary direction, while WHRK continued as a more youthful urban station. A short time later, Chancellor was renamed AMFM, Inc., and was acquired by Clear Channel Communications in 1999. In 2014, Clear Channel became iHeartMedia.
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