We came across this article on the renovation of the Hotel Chisca in downtown Memphis.
The Hotel Chisca has a solid place in blues history as the home of radio station WHBQ, whose DJ Dewey Phillips was the first DJ to play an Elvis Presley record on air when he played Elvis Presley’s That’s All Right (Mama) on 6 July 1954.
Elvis Presley had recorded That’s All Right (Mama) at Sam Phillips‘ Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue on 5 July 1954. On 6 July 1954 Sam Phillips delivered a copy of the single to Dewey Phillips (no relation) at the WHBQ studio at the Hotel Chisca. Dewey Phillips played That’s All Right (Mama) on his Red, Hot And Blue radio show the same day and the rest, as they say, is history.
Here is a photo we took of the Hotel Chisca building before the renovations.
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A tour of Memphis Recording Studio (Sun) is well worth the time. In 2019 Sun Studios were giving a history of early Memphis music and it’s rock and roll influence. Also included in the tour is a display of rock and roll musical artifacts and the original Dewey Phillips WHBQ radio broadcast booth removed from the Chisca Hotel where the first Elvis record “That’s All Right” was first broadcast.
The Sun tour is definitely worth doing.