A radiofrequency (RF) coil assembly (18,18′) for use in a magnetic resonance system (10) includes a radiofrequency coil (42) and a plurality of memory resistive elements (46,56,62,72) which each retains a selected resistive state after a control signal is removed. A detune circuit (44), part of the radiofrequency coil assembly, includes a memory resistive element (46) which switches the radiofrequency coil between a tuned and detuned state. Connected between the radiofrequency coil and a pre-amplifier (52), a blanking circuit (54) includes a memory resistive element (56) to short circuit an input of the pre-amplifier. A multiplexing circuit (60) includes a plurality of memory resistive elements (62) to selectively couple the selected outputs of the radiofrequency coils to a receiver (26). A biasing circuit (27) generates the control signal to set the memory resistive elements (46,56) to a first resistive state during a transmit mode and to a second resistive state during a receive mode magnetic resonance system.