{"id":873,"date":"2025-05-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/left-of-the-dial-memphis-is-raised-by-wxyrs-sound\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T14:00:00","slug":"left-of-the-dial-memphis-is-raised-by-wxyrs-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/left-of-the-dial-memphis-is-raised-by-wxyrs-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"Left of the Dial: Memphis is Raised by WYXR\u2019s Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wyxr-edit-45-group.jpg\" width=\"\" height=\"\" alt=\"WYXR's 4th birthday party in front of the station in 2024 (Credit: Jamie Harmon)\"><\/figure>\n<p>In this series, we highlight independent radio stations across America which are keeping alive the dream of human DJs, unpredictable playlists, and free airwaves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRaised By Sound\u201d is WYXR\u2019s tagline, but it could also be the mantra for Memphis, Tennessee as a whole. This is a city best known for being home to Beale Street, Sun Studios, Stax Records, and countless iconic blues, jazz, gospel, rock, and hip-hop artists. So it\u2019s only appropriate that Memphis have a freeform independent radio station that can play music from all of these diverse genres and eras\u2026 but WYXR\u2019s existence is actually a fairly new phenomenon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/05\/wilco-celebrates-mothers-day-in-chattanooga-tennessee\/\">Wilco Celebrates Mother\u2019s Day in Chattanooga, Tennessee<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/05\/hot-as-hell-but-rilo-kiley-makes-it-just-like-heaven\/\">Hot as Hell, but Rilo Kiley Makes it Just Like Heaven<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/05\/road-work-farm-aid-newport-jazz\/\">Road Work: Farm Aid, Newport Jazz, Making Time \u221e<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>We are four years in. Our fifth birthday will be October 5th,\u201d says executive director and co-founder Robby Grant. For two decades prior, the frequency had been a University of Memphis jazz station, but after declining student involvement, the school looked to the wider community for partnership. In came local nonprofit news organization the <em>Daily Memphian<\/em> and the historic building Crosstown Concourse with ideas on how to create a station covering what program manager and co-founder Jared \u201cJay B.\u201d Boyd describes as, \u201cA wide spectrum of all kinds of sounds, and not just Memphis stuff, but <em>real<\/em> Memphis music and the people who care about Memphis pulling in all their influences to the table.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To do this and really connect with the community, Grant explains, \u201cWe moved (the station) out of the basement of the (university\u2019s) theater building and into this million and a half square foot building that we\u2019re in now.\u201d Yes, WYXR is headquartered in the massive Central Atrium of the city\u2019s famed Crosstown Concourse, allowing anyone passing by to see inside the studio while its DJs broadcast live. This keeps the DJs in VERY direct communication with the locals. For example, listening to the station as I write this, DJs Laurie and Andy joked on air about accidentally scaring a kid who was walking by the station\u2019s window when they played a loud sound bite from X\u2019s Exene Cervenka. These kinds of fun interactions are welcome and happen all the time according to Jay B.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/RBSF-2024_SeanDavis_280.jpg\" alt=\"Tommy Wright III at Raised By Sound Fest 2024 (Credit: Sean Davis)\" class=\"wp-image-462393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/RBSF-2024_SeanDavis_280.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/RBSF-2024_SeanDavis_280-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/RBSF-2024_SeanDavis_280-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/RBSF-2024_SeanDavis_280-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/RBSF-2024_SeanDavis_280-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tommy Wright III at Raised By Sound Fest 2024 (Credit: Sean Davis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBecause we\u2019re here, in probably one of the most trafficked lobbies in the entire city,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd beyond that, there\u2019s a nightclub that\u2019s focused on music right around the hall, where there\u2019s artists coming through all the time. There\u2019s a studio also down the hall, and a record listening lounge called the Memphis Listening Lab. We\u2019re in the middle of an ecosystem of live performance and records being cut, so there\u2019s always somebody with a song or something going on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Broadcasting like this would be proof enough of WYXR\u2019s commitment to showcasing Memphis\u2019s love of music, but it\u2019s only a drop in their bucket. WYXR also organizes the annual Raised By Sound Festival, showcasing major and rising artists influenced by Memphis\u2019s musical heritage (or in the case of the first year\u2019s headliner, one of the city\u2019s greatest bands ever, Big Star). They also host the innovative Meeting in the Middle conference\u2014where musicians, industry pros, and students interested in music careers meet for conversations about the art and business of music\u2014and launched the Dowd Awards (recognizing local Black musicians) and several educational outreach programs. In these past not-quite-five years, WYXR has become what Grant hoped for when they first started working on it at the start of the COVID pandemic: \u201cA station that represents the Memphis community, in a way it hadn\u2019t been represented with radio. Just a community, a meeting place for music lovers.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1224\" height=\"1632\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/IMG_7320.jpeg\" alt=\"Volunteer DJ Tonya Dyson talking to a group of school kids (Credit:\u00a0WYXR)\" class=\"wp-image-462395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/IMG_7320.jpeg 1224w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/IMG_7320-340x453.jpeg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/IMG_7320-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/IMG_7320-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/IMG_7320-498x664.jpeg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1224px) 100vw, 1224px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Volunteer DJ Tonya Dyson talking to a group of school kids (Credit:\u00a0WYXR)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>What is the most Memphis thing about WYXR?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jay B:<\/strong> We might be so close to it that we don\u2019t realize it &lt;laugh&gt;. But I think it\u2019s really the only place where you could have both Pastor Shipp and DJ Spanish Fly on the same station. Like here, you\u2019ll find me, a former intern, Spanish Fly, and Pastor Shipp\u2014who had a gospel label in the \u201970s\u2014all playing Uno, just hanging out. And, you know, these people probably wouldn\u2019t have spoken to each other if they were in a grocery store, but they all have these very unique positions in Memphis\u2019s musical heritage and its future.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Robby Grant:<\/strong> I think it\u2019s how deep we go with the records. There are a lot of studios here in Memphis, and there were a ton back in the day. So there\u2019s all these hard-to-find records and those people are still around, which is very unique to Memphis. Like Jay B. said, we\u2019re amplifying that sound and those artists.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Any celebrity listeners or supporters?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Liv Cohen (community engagement and events lead):<\/strong> I graduated in 2023, but when I got sent home for COVID, WYXR was what kept me connected to Memphis while I was stuck at home on Zoom classes every day. And what drew me to the station was that one of my favorite artists, Andrew VanWyngarden from MGMT, had a show on the station, and still has one now!<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"801\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wilco-edit-34.jpg\" alt=\"Wilco performing live at\u00a0WYXR\u00a0in October, 2022. (Credit: Jamie Harmon)\" class=\"wp-image-462396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wilco-edit-34.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wilco-edit-34-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wilco-edit-34-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wilco-edit-34-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/04\/wilco-edit-34-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wilco performing live at\u00a0WYXR\u00a0in October, 2022. (Credit: Jamie Harmon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Current artist that you want more folks to hear?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>JC:<\/strong> I would say the biggest energy around artists that have a tight relationship with the station right now are probably Talibah Safiya, Cyrena Wages, and Marcella Simien.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RG:<\/strong> I would put in Optic Sink. Two of our DJs are in that band and they\u2019re working on their third or fourth record. Their shows are really great and they\u2019re artists.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LC: <\/strong>For me, Melinda is an artist releasing really great music this year outta Memphis on a DIY label.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Any goals for the future of the station?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>RG: <\/strong>We just want to keep it going. Like, one of our immediate needs is we need a new antenna. So we\u2019re working on that, which can be crazy, but I mean\u2026 we don\u2019t want to be huge. We want to take what we\u2019re doing, take our events, and make \u2019em even bigger and better. So I could see Raised By Sound Fest growing. It\u2019d be nice to have another footprint here where we could do more education, and really just bolster our connection with new and older musicians here in Memphis. The goal for us is build, build, and get the station going, so it\u2019s around long after the three of us are gone and it\u2019s become a Memphis mainstay. Which we are hearing! People think we\u2019ve been around a lot longer. Like, \u201cOh, y\u2019all are only four years old?\u201d It is a huge compliment for us and to the team here. We\u2019ve done a lot of great work pretty quick.<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this series, we highlight independent radio stations across America which are keeping alive the dream of human DJs, unpredictable playlists, and free airwaves. \u201cRaised By Sound\u201d is WYXR\u2019s tagline,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,24,429],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-pushly","category-wyxr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}