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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2010 > March > 23 > Entry
Sad news for the woxy.com
Some of you may recall the late, great 97X, the amazing altrock station from Oxford that went by the call letters WOXY-FM, 97.7, for some twos decades starting in the early 1980s — remember, the “bam!” station featured in “Rain Man?” That one.
The web broadcast that remained of it is about to be no more, as of today.
It was one of the best, boldest, most original stations most of us had ever heard, leaving behind corporate playlists and bland cookie-cutter programming to put odd, inventive, off-the-charts artists that you pretty much could only hear from them. The staff was smart and hip and very plugged-in, and while it was on the air SW Ohio was a land of intelligent, radio bliss. Ahhhh.
Of course, nothing good lasts forever, and several years ago the station’s owners shut down the broadcast signal and too the whole operation online, moving from Oxford to Cincinnati. The flavor was still there, but I sure missed hearing them in my car.
Last year, they moved the station to Austin in order, I assume, to be located someplace cooler than Cincinnati.
Alas, now comes word via the station’s website, woxy.com, that finances have caught the station short yet again.
Here’s the text of the short, sad message that’s posted on the site:
WOXY Listeners, Fans and Friends…
Due to current economic realities and the lack of ongoing funding for WOXY’s operations, we’ve been forced to suspend our live broadcasts as of March 23rd. We’re continuing to explore options to keep The Future of Rock and Roll alive. For business inquiries, please contact Bryan Jay (bryan@woxy.com) or John at Future Sounds (john@futuresounds.com).
Thanks for your years of dedicated support.
- Mike, Shiv, Joe, Paige, Brian and Bryan Jay
I asked Bryan Jay Miller, the station manager, for extra comments, and he emailed this: “Unfortunately there is not much to add. Basically our ongoing funding was pulled and we were unable to execute on our plans to bring the station to profitability. We had been looking for a buyer for the past several months but nothing materialized.”
The end of an era. Or the end of several eras, I guess. Very sad.
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Comments
By Auriel
March 24, 2010 11:48 PM | Link to this
Why in the world would a woxy fan say “Long live Pandora”? Pandora is exactly the problem. People are lazy and not listening to genuine, real radio because they can have Pandora do everything for them (i.e. tell them what to like). And saying that moving to Austin was the problem, how does that make sense? An independent radio station moving to the capital of independent music was a bad decision? I don’t think so.
By steve
March 24, 2010 12:32 AM | Link to this
don’t know where to start…with the end of woxy it’s the end of an era…not going to get on my soapbox…it’s not tall enough.
By eric
March 24, 2010 12:25 AM | Link to this
Best damn station out there for almost twenty years. Too bad they moved to Austin instead of keeping it instate, but at that point it probably didn’t matter. Radio sucks now. Long live Pandora!
By kz
March 23, 2010 9:36 PM | Link to this
Sad. Anything unique is sqashed. Radio is so bad.
By Rainman
March 23, 2010 6:46 PM | Link to this
97X…BAM…The Future of Rock & Roll 97X…BAM…The Future of Rock & Roll 97X…BAM…The Future of Rock & Roll 97X…BAM…The Future of Rock & Roll
By Chris
March 23, 2010 5:45 PM | Link to this
I was a fan of 97X since the late 80’s. I never really listened to the webcast that much. I guess the market doesn’t support that kind of unique radio programming anymore. I blame corporate radio for brainwashing the masses into (among other things) thinking that it’s ok to play a ‘hit’ song once every hour for weeks at a time. Ugh.
By NAJJA
March 23, 2010 5:05 PM | Link to this
It’s to bad that everything that was once good in the MIAMI VALLEY is leaving. I remember listening to woxy while a student at MIAMI. I was introduced to so much great music that you would never hear on commercialized radio.
By Dawg Dan
March 23, 2010 4:32 PM | Link to this
My favorite station of all time. I thought something must have happened. I was listening to the WOXY.com “Vintage” feed this morning and it just stopped. I thought my sytem locked up, but it was even worse. So sad!
By It's Great in Downtown Dayton
March 23, 2010 4:27 PM | Link to this
Shame on WOXY.COM for not relocating to downtown Dayton instead of pricy Austin, Texas; which no doubt affected their finances. There is no place as great as downtown Dayton for business opportunity.
By Dirtbag
March 23, 2010 12:52 PM | Link to this
Bam!!!