The event was first begun in 1975 as a free gathering in Riverside Park (now Martin Luther King, Jr Riverside Park) for WLOK listeners. It has remained a free event since day one and evolved over the years into a concert featuring high caliber local and national entertainers. The WLOK Stone Soul Picnic has today become an indoor concert, and the headliner for the 50th anniversary will be the Bar-Kays who got their start in part through WLOK Radio and the WLOK Stone Soul Picnic where they have performed several times over the years. The Picnic is the only event of its kind in Memphis that is free and features such a lineup of high caliber national and local artists. Picnic headliners over the years have included Al Green, the Commodores, Shirley Caesar, Vickie Winans, Zacardi Cortez, Johnny Taylor and many more.