Mike “Stead” Winstead grew up in Oxford, Ohio and dreamed of working at 97X. When he got out of the Army in 1994, he “bugged” (his word) the station until he finally landed a job as Director of First Impressions (“Mike the Modern Rock Receptionist”). He also did weekend and fill-in shifts, and helped out at nearly every on-location promotional event that 97X did during his time there. We chat with Stead about singing the Miami U. alma mater (without knowing the words), pizza payola, his first time on the air, and the sweaty mass of humanity at Lollapalooza.
Stead with Bob Pollard (in the time it took you to read this caption, Bob wrote 3 songs)With Gwen Stefani, back when a relatively unknown No Doubt opened for 311. Stead’s favorite bandMike (standing) “doin’ the claw” in tribute to the King at a Rock & BowlStead or Giovanni Ribisi? You decide.
The snippet above is from the most recent Facebook live stream from John Doe (of the 97X “house band” X). The gig is great – he even does a Replacements cover. You can watch the whole thing here.
John Doe totally gets it… “put a freakin’ mask on!” That way we can all have more fun in the new world.
Billy Zoom’s mask is not CDC-compliant… in his defense, it was in 1983.
Bill Douglas (a.k.a. “Billy D the Fresh MC”) spent most of the 90s working at 97X, starting out as a weekender back in 1990 when he was still in school at Miami University, and continuing on (in two stints) through December of 1998. We chat with Bill about the Free Music Break that gave him his 97X break, as well as his current radio gig(s) and his longtime side hustle with the Cincinnati Reds (trust us, you’ve heard him).
Billy D. cited the 97X 10th Anniversary Show at Bogart’s (Barenaked Ladies, Too Much Joy, Royal Crescent Mob and Love Cowboys) as one of his favorite live shows. Here’s a shot from that evening:
L to R: Mike Taylor, Dave Tellmann, Damian Dotterweich, Brian Ewing, Bill Douglas, Phil Manning (manning the microphone), Julie Maxwell, Rictile, Laura Kim, Jae Forman and… Kristin Smallwood perhaps?
Billy D. also has fond memories of playing softball for the 97X squad.
Front row: Rictile, Julie Maxwell and Jae Forman Back Row: Steve Baker, Bill Douglas, Phil Manning… and two ringers.
Here’s a shot of Bill as part of some sort of Scentiments/Rock City fashion show. Note Dave giving his best “Blue Steel” look.
L to R: Laura Kim, Dave Tellmann, Julie Maxwell, Bill Douglas, Phil Manning and Jae Forman
Corona-cooking with Billy D… coming soon to The Food Network.
