Classic R&B returns to Memphis airwaves

Quick. Move your radio dial to FM 103.5. There, you'll find a long overdue "voice" for Memphis in the soul classics station, WRBO. The 24-hour station, owned by the Memphis Radio Group, which also runs KIX-106 and Star 98, was unveiled June 10.

Although plenty of research drove the station's format, it was the Memphis community that made the final decision, says Henry Nelson, WRBO's program director. "We looked at jazz, NAC (new age/contemporary), but this format had the most passionate following."

WRBO's debut is even more notable because, to Nelson's knowledge, it's the biggest FM station in the country that plays a soul-classics-only format. "Of course it's played on the AM channels and on less powerful FMs, but I haven't heard of any other station in the country this large that's fully dedicated to soul classics," Nelson said. WRBO can be heard about 75 miles in each direction from Memphis.

Black listeners ages 25-64 are the station's target audience. Naturally enough, however, Nelson predicts the station "will embrace people outside this ethnic audience because the music is universal."

WRBO's music core, Nelson says, is '70s music, with a little early '60s and late '50s, sprinkled among the play list. Most songs should be very familiar to most listeners and might even prompt a few memories that got buried with the Ford Pinto and bell-bottom jeans long ago.

Seventies-era hits by Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Earth, Wind & Fire are just a short sampling of WRBO's play list.

Nelson hopes the station becomes a spokesman, a nudge that gets people to address issues - good and bad - in the black community. "Part of our commitment ... is to be a public service. There are certain issues, like crime, education, finances, facing the African American community. I hope we become a driving force, put people out in the community. We can be a voice, bring issues to the forefront - to action," Nelson says.

Recently, for example, a listener told Nelson that it was "nice to hear music that takes me back to a time when there was a purpose to music - a message behind it." Other listeners report that WRBO is a refreshing addition to their FM dial because the kids can listen to it without hearing offensive lyrics.

His goal for now is to work out some initial kinks that come with any start-up venture and put together a morning show. No matter the changes, however, the station will stay true to its "music intensive" format." Nelson himself plans to be an on-air personality in the future.

Until then, the only WRBO "personality" will be Art Boyle, an Isaac Hayes sound-alike who does the station's breaks. In addition to being a musician based in Chicago, Boyle's other projects include doing the voiceovers for Budweiser commercials.

All indications signal that WRBO is a hit. Through word-of-mouth, it's spreading like wildfire, in Memphis and its surrounding communities.

"WRBO's music tugs at your emotions, reminds us of a simpler time, when music was something to own," Nelson says. "We want to bring that back to Memphis."