WROX Blues Radio Station is a variety AM radio station in Clarksdale, Mississippi. WROX was established and started transmitting on June 5, 1944, its location was at the studios at 321 Delta Avenue in Clarksdale in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. A year later, WROX moved to 257 Delta Avenue in the Alcazar Hotel Building. The founder and original owner of the radio station was Robin Weaver Sr. He sold WROX to Bimey Imes Jr., owner of WCBI-Columbus and WELO Tupelo in the fall of 1944.
WROX aired a variety of network and local programs including drama, comedy, news, sports, commentary, big band, pop, classical, country, and religious music. The main music genre that brought the radio station regional fame was Blues. During much of the 1940’s, WROX broadcast the program Sonny Boy’s Corn Meal and King Biscuit’s Show, a live blues shows which came out of Station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas, the heart of the Arkansas Delta. The show featured Sonny Boy Williamson, a blues harmonica player. He was accompanied by Joe Willie Williams on guitar, Dud Low on piano, and James Peck Curtis on drums.
The was a success because it reached tens of thousands of people in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta region. In 1947, station manager Preston “Buck” Hinman hired Early Wright who became the first black radio announcer in Mississippi. Wright would go on to host many famous musicians including Sonny Boy Williamson, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Little Milton, Pinetop Perkins, Elvis Presley, Charley Pride, Bobby Rush, Rufus Thomas, and Muddy Waters. It was also during this time that a upcoming musician named Ike Turner became a disk jockey (DJ) at WROX and hosted his own show called Jive Till Five. Turner performed with his band the Kings of Rhythm on the show. Raymond Hill, who was called “chief of the hepcats,” was a saxophonist in Turner’s band.
In 1964, the station power was increased to 1,000 watts, using an RCA BTA-1R transmitter. In 2002, the 258 Delta Avenue location was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2004, Clarksdale businessman Kinchen “Bubba” O’Keefe opened a WROX Museum. In November 2021, all broadcast and business operations of WROX Radio were briefly suspended but the station would return to the air in August 2021. In January 2022, an agreement was made to sell WROX and its translator to WROX LLC, to Terry Ballard, for $150,000. The deal was finalized on May 23. 2022.
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“WROX Blues Radio Station,” The Mississippi Blues Trail, https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/wrox; “WROX Blues Radio Station”; Mississippi Blues Travelers, https://www.mississippibluestravellers.com/wrox-clarksdale-mississippi/; “WROX Blues Radio Station,” Delta Radio, https://www.deltaradio.net/stations/wrox/.
