Before the 1950s, African American voices were rarely heard on Southern radio, with live gospel broadcasts among the main exceptions. In the 1940s, this building housed station WGRM, which aired gospel music on Sundays and carried performances by the Famous St. John’s Gospel Singers of Inverness, Mississippi, a group that included Riley King on guitar and lead vocals. Influenced by radio performances such as those of the Golden Gate Quartet, King later adopted the name “B.B.” and, after becoming frustrated that his quartet would not pursue a professional career, turned his attention to blues. WGRM first began broadcasting in Grenada in 1938, moved here in 1939, and as one of only nine radio stations in Mississippi carried network programming along with locally produced music shows. By 1948 King had moved to Memphis, where he worked as a disc jockey on WDIA, the first United States station to feature all African-American on-air personalities and broadcast content. By the mid-1950s WGRM had relocated to North Greenwood, and the building later also served radio and recording use connected to musicians including Bobby Hines, Matt Cockrell, L. C. “Lonnie the Cat” Cation, Brewer Phillips, and Ike Turner; recordings made at WGRM were released in April 1954 on RPM, B.B. King’s label at the time.
