A tiny radio station that went off the air nearly 20 years ago, and shut down online in 2010, is “having a moment” as they say. It’s garnering all sorts of “ink” (as they used to call publicity) for rounding up more than 30 DJs who worked at the station to present a 40th anniversary of the signature “Modern Rock 500” countdown of the top modern rock/indie/alternative songs from their massive library o’ tunes. And author Robin James just released a new book (The Future of Rock & Roll: 97X and the Fight for True Independence) that chronicles the history of the station and why its independent spirit still matters today.
The press parade started back in March, when the press release for the Modern Rock 500 came out.
Full story here.
Steven Rosen (who wrote the definitive article about 97X back in 1985 for the Cincinnati Enquirer) came full circle when he highlighted Robin’s new book in CityBeat in April.
Full interview is here.
On May 8th, Robin James, my podcasting pal Dave Tellmann and I appeared on the local NPR affiliate’s “Cincinnati Edition” program to talk about the book, the station, and the revived Modern Rock 500.
Listen here.
On May 11th, Robin did a book event at The Mercantile Library – co-hosted by Dave and yours truly. That gig was sold out… and an absolute blast!
Robin James was interviewed by Jason Cohen in the June issue of Cincinnati Magazine. (Editor John Fox is a longtime friend of the station – he used to appear on the air when he was editor of Everybody’s News and later Cincinnati CityBeat.)
The longer interview is here.
And in this past Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer, Jeff Seuss did a nice feature on the station and the Modern Rock 500 countdown:
Here’s a lengthy article in the Journal News by Don Thrasher:
We even made The Daily Yonder! Liz Carey talked about what the station meant to her and like-minded listeners:
Full article is here.
And Mike Taylor, who orchestrated the radio revival, did a Q&A in the trade publication/website All Access:
Full Q & A is here.
The press coverage is nice… but honestly, this means more to us than anything else:
We’ve been able to reconnect with a small-but-mighty community through music. And that’s more precious than all the “ink” (or gold) in the world.
“From WOXY I learned it is important to support your local scene. If you care about independence, being creative and really having the ability for both yourself and for other people to innovate and do things that are new and different, then you would care about the story and example of WOXY.”
Robin James in the Journal News article by Don Thrasher linked above
If you’d like to tune in for yourself and find out what all the fuss is about, you can do so today and tomorrow from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (the Dolly Parton shift) on Inhailer Radio, and then again over the Memorial Day Weekend at that same spot on your internet radio dial!
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