On November 16, 1996, the first inaugural Poetry Slam of Chattanooga, TN, took place at a small coffee shop near UTC, called Kilroy's. Original organizer and emcee for the evening, Bill Abbott, hosted a night of poetry the city had never quite seen before, and when the dust settled, Knoxville poet Dagan Coppock had barely taken the prize away from Chattanooga's own Jim Sells ("Rev. Jim"). This night was only the first of many to follow.

After the first month, Bill handed the Slam reins over to Chattanooga poet Jody Sigler, who continued the tradition, keeping it for several months at Tim and Deb Adams' Kilroy's, but eventually moving to Barking Legs Theater. While at Kilroy's, an anthology of Chattanooga poetry was released called "Kilroy's Coffee Anthology."

In 1997, Chattanooga assembled their first team and sent them away to the Fifth Annual Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam, held in Johnson City, TN (June 27-29). Team Chattanooga, made up of Rev. Jim, Jody Sigler, Christy McKinley, and Knoxville's own Dagan Coppock, placed fifth of twelve teams.

For 1998, Team Chattanooga took a hiatus on regional competitions, though Jody Sigler did act as a member of Team Johnson City as they competed in Greenville, SC that year, and the team placed sixth that year.

In 1999, Team Chattanooga re-formed and competed in Knoxville, TN, at the Southern Fried. The team, made up of Jody Sigler, Rev. Jim, Jym Annear, and Bill Abbott, took great pride in taking last place, taking home a large and gaudy trophy which lived for several months in the bathroom of Kilroy's, but which now belongs to Rev Jim.

Soon after this, Chattanooga's Slam scene collapsed. For a few months, a "Slam" appeared under a different organizer who managed to make a spectacle of the whole Slam concept, hand-picking both judges and winners, before it all finally collapsed. For Chattanooga, Slam was tainted.

However, in 2003, Bill Abbott moved back to Chattanooga and re-started the Slam scene again. He first approached Rhythm N Brews, which held the Slam for 4 months before deciding the audience size was too low. Bill next took the Slam to The Local, where it had a short life before lack of audience took its toll.