Lunch and Discussion with Art Gilliam, Chairman/President Gilliam Communications, Inc/WLOK  

Thursday, December 9, 2021
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Char Restaurant
431 South Highland Street #120
Memphis, TN 38111

Art Gilliam, a young, progressive-minded, Yale-educated black businessman bought WLOK in 1977, making it the first black-owned (and the first locally owned) radio station in the city of Memphis.

Under Art Gilliam’s leadership, the WLOK Stone Soul Picnic was organized and professionally managed, drawing tens of thousands of people to the Martin Luther King Park each year. By the mid-eighties, the station had changed its R&B format to a full-gospel format, and by the late nineties, WLOK had won honors and acclaim from every major gospel association in the country, earning for several consecutive years the title of #1 Gospel Station in the nation by Religion & Media Quarterly.
In February 1997, twenty years after WLOK became the first African-American owned electronic media outlet in Memphis, the station was recognized by the Tennessee Historical Commission as a Tennessee Historical Landmark.
     Most recently, WLOK has worked with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to reduce drug use among young people. The station presents numerous on-air programs that help youngsters.

Lunch and Discussion with Jack Soden, 

President and CEO, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.


Thursday, January 13, 2022
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Guest House at Graceland
3600 Elvis Presley Blvd
Memphis, TN 38116

Jack Soden is the CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. Jack grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and attended Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
      After graduation, he went to work in the investment banking industry. While working as Executive Director of a money management firm, he met a client, Priscilla Presley. Upon her request, he came to Memphis and helped develop a business plan for opening Graceland.
     Today the company has more than four hundred employees, and Graceland has become one of the nation’s premier tourist attractions with annual visitors in excess of 600,000, bringing an estimated $200 million per year to the Memphis economy.
     The organization has grown into a worldwide entertainment, licensing, merchandising and music publishing enterprise. The company also owns and operates Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel at Graceland.
     Jack serves on the boards of The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, The TN Tourism Committee, The ALSAC Leadership Council for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of Memphis College of Communication and Fine Arts, and the National Advisory Board for the National Civil Rights Museum. He is a member of The Society of Entrepreneurs, and has served as chairman and a board member.