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WHER -- 1000 Beautiful Watts, Part 1
WHER -- 1000 Beautiful Watts, Part 1
WHER -- 1000 Beautiful Watts, Part 1
Sam & Becky Phillips, 1966
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They went on-air October 29, 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee, and stayed there for 17 more years -- WHER: The First All-Girl Radio Station in The World.
Legendary record producer Sam Phillips had always wanted a radio station. When the FCC finally gave him a frequency, 1430 on the AM dial, Sam came up with a one-of-a-kind idea -- an all girl format -- women announcers, sales staff, management, record librarians, copy writers ...
At the time, stations had at most one girl announcer. Each woman who interviewed for a job at WHER thought she would be that girl. It wasn't until the day before the station went on the air that the girls themselves found out the station would be all female.
Sam Phillips and the girls of WHER recently had a reunion in Memphis. In this special segment of Lost & Found Sound Online, we bring you their story -- a unique chapter in the history of broadcasting
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