St. John's United Methodist Church

WHBQ went on to a long career after its first broadcasts. It signed on March 25, 1925, among the earliest Memphis stations, and later moved studios to the Hotel Gayoso, joined the Mutual network and reached 5,000 watts by day. In 1954 General Teleradio, later RKO General, bought it, and Dewey Phillips's night show "Red, Hot and Blue" played Elvis Presley's "That's All Right" as the first Elvis record on radio. RKO sold it in 1988 to Flinn Broadcasting. Formats since have run from Top 40 and oldies to talk and sports.

What the plaque says

St. John's United Methodist Church The earliest members of this church were among the founders of Methodism in Memphis. This congregation, established in 1859 as Central Church Mission, first met on Union Avenue. St. John's built in 1907, was designed by Beauregard C. Alsup. The Church School was built in 1918. WHBQ Radio Station broadcasts originated here 25 March 1925.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Elmwood Cemetery — 0.7 mi
  Memphis's oldest active cemetery, a rural garden cemetery of about 1,500 trees opened in 1852, with Black civic leaders, yellow fever victims and the city's whole history in its lots.
• Sun Studio — 1.0 mi
  The small Union Avenue room where Sam Phillips recorded Rocket 88, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley and the Million Dollar Quartet, now a National Historic Landmark.
• Stax Museum of American Soul Music — 1.3 mi
  A rebuilt Stax studio on the site of the old Capitol Theatre, with a replica of the sloped-floor Studio A, Isaac Hayes's Cadillac and the story of an integrated soul label.
• Beale Street — 1.8 mi
  The street that became the center of Black Memphis after the Civil War, home to Church's Park, W. C. Handy, Ida B. Wells and the blues, now a National Historic Landmark district.

More markers nearby

• Pigeon Roost Road — 0.3 mi
• Russwood Park — 0.7 mi
• Elmwood Cemetery — 0.8 mi
• Nathan Bedford Forrest III, Airman — 0.9 mi