March 15, 2004
Bam! The Future Of Rock and Roll: A Legend Passes On
Wow. I don't even know how to start with this one. 97X Is Going Off The Air!!! Most of you out there are now saying WTF so let me explain a bit...
For the past 20 years, the Cincinnati area has been blessed with a wonderful little broadcasting jewel called WOXY-FM cranking out modern rock at 97.7 MHz from sleepy little Oxford, Ohio. These guys are the ultimate in cool and have defined my radio listening habits for almost as long as they have been spinning tunes. A few random memories:
* After way too much beer, I beat Jay Forman (DJ at the time) in a midnight Rock & Bowl heads-up match to snag a pre-release autographed "Over The Rhine" CD.
* Craig (yes, this one) and I spent a good part of the day skating staircases over at the Miami campus then all at once decided to skate over to the Party Patio at 97X. The Saturday DJ let us in after we beat on the doors for a while and it was really cool to skate through the offices and see all the priceless modern rock memorabilia.
* Evaluating every stereo tuner purchase over the last 15 years by how well it received 97X. I have even nixed car purchases because the factory head unit would not receive it. (Just last week I cut a new dipole for my receiver so it would get better 97X reception.)
* Programming 523-4114 into every phone in the house so we could win call-in goodies. In the distant past, the worst part was actually winning as you had to drive all the way to Oxford to pick up your booty.
* Hearing Dustin Hoffman in "Rainman" immortalize 97X by repeating their slogan over and over. "Bam! The Future of Rock and Roll!"
It's really not the end of the world as 97X is making a transition from terrestrial broadcasting to internet-only, but for we local listeners there will be some very big shoes to fill at 97.7 MHz.
Good luck to Linda and Doug. You did a wonderful job and we grateful and loyal listeners will miss you. Enjoy your retirement.
Posted by Mitch | Permalink | TrackBackI don't get emotional easily, but this literally makes me want to just cry.
97X is one of only two decent radio stations in the entire Cincinnati are (the other is WNKU, Northern Kentucky University's college station that plays mostly alternative/folk and NPR stuff) and is the only real resource for over-the-air alternative rock that isn't controlled by industry playlists and/or subject to increasingly banal corporate radio practices.
I guess we'll be relying more than ever on their webcast (which they're hoping to continue as a separate entity) and our personal CD collection.
Good-bye 97.7 FM...it's been a great ride and you'll be sorely missed.
Posted by Craig at March 15, 2004 04:03 PMI just realized that tis was announced back on January 28th! How the heck did I not hear about this till now?!?
I'm so depressed.
Posted by Craig at March 15, 2004 04:39 PMFor posterity's sake, I uploaded a PDF of the "About Us" page from WOXY 97X's website just now. It's at http://www.gearbits.com/images/woxy_about_us.pdf
Posted by Craig at March 16, 2004 11:52 AM97x has been a part of my life since I was a junior in high school (1984) and a factor in my attending Miami U. (class of 89).
I simply cannot believe that given everything they've done right over the years, they can't get a few sponsors together to keep them on the web.
Listening to 97 a to x is like attending a wake for a friend who hasn't died yet.
Posted by Denis Mutter at May 7, 2004 04:07 PMTo leave a comment or read updated entries, please visit GearBits' current site. Thanks.