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August 1, 1954 - KWEM Radio Station, Memphis TN

After his legendary July 30th show at the Overton Shell and final performance at the Bon Air Club on the 31st, Elvis made an appearance on KWEM radio August 1st. Information on this show is scarce at best, but from what little I've gathered he performed both sides of his first Sun 45 (That's All Right and Blue Moon of Kentucky) with fellow 'Blue Moon Boys' Scotty Moore and Bill Black. They were accompanied at the studio by Elvis' girlfriend Dixie Locke and Scotty's wife, Bobbie. I've come across two slightly different versions of the event - some say that Elvis and friends appeared on Doug Poindexter's show, and some that the show was hosted by DJ Dick Stuart.

Doug Poindexter, shown above with a KWEM sign on his microphone stand, was the ringleader of Memphis country-western band the Starlite Wranglers, with whom Elvis had appeared three times in July at the Bon Air Club. You can read more about Elvis' relationship with the Wranglers and those three shows here, here, and here.

The KWEM radio station was located at 231 Broadway Avenue, and was legendary for its role in helping develop the 1950's music scene, but not only is the KWEM building gone, I was not even able to find a picture of it. There's a nondescript Regions Bank at the site nowadays, with a historical marker out front.

Concerning the August 1st broadcast, I find it slightly more credible that Elvis was hosted by Dick Stuart rather than Doug Poindexter. Elvis Presley's relationship with the Starlite Wranglers was not on the friendliest of terms and had created tension between Poindexter and fellow Wranglers Scotty Moore and Bill Black. Scotty Moore's plans for Elvis to join the group had already dissipated, and Poindexter seems to have been unhappy with Scotty's newfound focus on Elvis. In this context, it seems unlikely that Poindexter would host Elvis, Scotty, and Bill on his own show. However, if the appearance had been planned in advance, it is conceivable that Poindexter would have honored the deal to avoid changing the lineup last minute, or to capitalize on Elvis' recent local success and the popularity of his Sun record debut.

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