Musical musings from aging hipsters
It’s Turkey Week! (Or in my case, Tofurkey Week.) I’m thankful for tasty tunes and good friends like you! Before we get to this week’s gigs, I must say Elvis Costello & The Imposters were…
Continue Reading This Week in Live Music: November 25-December 1
Mark Griffin tuned in to 97X as a teenager, and “the future of rock and roll” shaped his future. Listen to the podcast to learn how Mark ruled his high school art room with an…
Continue Reading Episode 25: Mark Griffin, Superfan and Mixmaster
Oh hello! Let’s get to the gigs. Monday, Incubus plays Taft with Le Butcherettes as the opening act. Jay Madera is at MOTR with Kaitlyn Peace & the Electric Generals. On Tuesday, Ludlow Garage hosts…
Kevin Couch, a.k.a. Kevin Couche, was an Indiana kid who tuned in to 97X early and never looked back. He wound up working at the station, and later headed to Hollywood to work for the…
Continue Reading Episodes 23 and 24: Kevin Couche, the man of a thousand gigs
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
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
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