Musical musings from aging hipsters
Aaron Borns started at 97X as a student intern (a.k.a. “co-producer”) for the Breakfast Club in 1993, then worked part-time shifts, answered the phones and worked with Julie Maxwell doing promotions. He wasn’t at the…
Continue Reading Episode 22: Aaron Borns, Record Biz Whiz Kid
Howdy kids, I’m back from the City of the Big Shoulders, the Windy City. I’d like to propose a toast to my wife, who ran the Chicago Marathon yesterday. And I’d also like to propose…
97X had dozens if not hundreds of part-time DJs over the lifetime of the station, but no one else can top the tenure of “Gentleman” Jim Mercer, who worked weekend and vacation fill-in shifts for…
Continue Reading Episode 21: Gentleman Jim Mercer, Weekend Warrior
A tip of the ol’ 97Xbam cap to Dan Reed (yes, THE Dan Reed of WXPN) for sending a nice essay our way. The Medium post decries the rise of music recommendations that are increasingly…
97X was a small but mighty station in many ways. Being in the outskirts, in the fringes, left of center, off of the strip (to paraphrase Suzanne Vega) with a small (but dedicated) listener base…
Continue Reading Episode 20: World’s Youngest Weatherperson, Trivia winner and Wacky Bits
Louie Pérez gets it. He knows what being in a band and making music are all about. I’ve been reading the book More Fun in the New World, co-written by John Doe of the band…
John “J.J” Jesser worked side by side with The Bakerman on the original Breakfast Club morning show in the early days of 97X… and he’s got the coffee mug and t-shirt to prove it. JJ…
Continue Reading Episode 19: John “JJ” Jesser, morning newsman and nighttime rocker
Barb Abney spent more than a decade at 97X and woxy.com, starting in the summer of 1994 and doing middays from 1998 through 2006, when she moved to Minneapolis to work for The Current for…
Continue Reading Episode 18: Barb Abney the Modern Rock maven
In the second part of our chat with Dan Reed (a.k.a. “Danny Crash”), he tells more hilarious stories from the early 97X years, including tales about his band Chem-Dyne, his friends Mr. K and Greg…
Howdee! Let’s get right to the tunes, because we also have a lot of non-concert ground to cover. Monday, Amigo the Devil is at Southgate, with Cory Branan. And for all the phloppy Phish dancers,…