Joe Voet was a mild-mannered student in a small Midwestern college town, working at the Miami U. student radio station and listening to 97X… until one day Rictile turned him into Joe “Rock the” Voet, political correspondent. That led to a Breakfast Club co-producer role, with highs (meeting The Cure) and lows (reading the news on-air without any prep).
Joe claims he was the worst Breakfast Club co-producer ever, but we beg to differ. We talk to him about his 97X memories, and learn how he’s used his IT skills to build a mini-97X. We also learn that Damian sucks at geography.
Back in his Oxford days, Joe lived downstairs from 97X-er Kevin Couche, and across the street from Shiv… and near Matt Sledge and Mark Abuzzahab. Truly a “Cradle of DJs.”
Front row L to R: Joe Voet (seated), Shivvy, Kevin Couche, Mark Abuzzahab and Rictile. Back row: women who prefer to remain anonymous, for reasons that should be obvious considering the folks in the front row.
The resemblance to the cast of Melrose Place is uncanny:
Here’s Joe today, from his home in… some country in Europe, maybe?
Spark VanBuren… sounds like an alias to us.
Joe sent us a few photos of his 97X swag…
I have found a couple threadbare shirts, which are in my “never to be worn again” shirt archive due to the sorry state they are now in….1 more wash and I fear disintegration.
I also found the Alternative Division gas can flask, which is by far my favorite flask. I believe it was some sort of call in prize, but I cannot remember…I only know that it came from 97X.
Thanks for adding “fuel” to our 97X memories, Joe!
Here’s more from our chat with 97X/woxy.com alum Barb Abney. In this episode, Barb discloses her 97X souvenirs, we try to solve the mystery of where 97X’s music library wound up, a secret prankster is revealed, and we get more scoop on Barb’s new podcast called “Tied to the Tracks.”
On Barb’s Tied to the Tracks podcast, she and co-host Augustus Watkins are joined by a different guest each episode and they dive deep into one of their guest’s favorite albums, song by song. Tied to the Tracks is available wherever you get your podcasts, including on Spotify, Apple Music and iHeart.
Barb’s come a long way since that fateful day when she interviewed for a job at 97X… here’s the outfit she wore that day:
If you miss hearing Barb on the air (don’t we all?), you can tune in to the morning show she co-hosts on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis (it’s on the interwebs).
We first interviewed Barb back in 2019, on Episode 18. Check it out here.
Barb Abney, who was on-air at 97X and woxy.com from 1994-2006, returns to talk about weird promotional giveaway items, why corporate radio still sucks… oh, and her great podcast “Tied to the Tracks.” Barb has some excellent podcasting pointers for Dave and Damian… which we will probably ignore.
On Barb’s Tied to the Tracks podcast, she and co-host Augustus Watkins are joined by a different guest each episode and they dive deep into one of their guest’s favorite albums, song by song. Tied to the Tracks is available wherever you get your podcasts, including on Spotify, Apple Music and iHeart.
In our interview, Barb also mentioned some of the more unusual promotional giveaway items from 97X. Here’s her “vintage” Blur condom:
And here are several more choice items from Barb’s swag collection:
Can’t finish your soda? Why not use your Squirrel Nut Zippers can cover…
We wonder if that phone number is still active…
Band-Aid dispenser from Stanford Prison Experiment… makes perfect sense.
Here’s a shot of the woxy.com crew: Shiv and Barb up front, Mike Taylor and Bryan J. in the back.
And here’s one of Barb’s handwritten playlist from the woxy.com era, along with her “DJ Princess” business card:
If you miss hearing Barb on the air (don’t we all?), you can tune in to the morning show she co-hosts on KFAI-FM in Minneapolis (it’s on the interwebs).
We first interviewed Barb back in 2019, on Episode 18. Check it out here.
Matt Lacefield played cutting-edge music on a Cincinnati radio station… but it wasn’t 97X. While Dave and Damian were on the air at 97X in the 90s, Matt was a DJ for Nightwaves, which aired overnights on WVXU-FM. So we were kindred spirits… and still are, because Matt loves discovering new music. He’s sharing his latest favorites via his blog/podcast called “The Unfamiliar.” We chat with Matt about his radio days and how he finds and shares the latest and greatest indie tunes.
97X served as a gateway to a life of music discovery for Matt, just as it did for so many other Tri-state teenagers. Here’s an excerpt from Matt’s blog:
My older brother, three years older and close enough in age to be an influence (for better or worse), also played a big role in my music obsession as a teen. He was tuned in to U2, the Talking Heads, INXS, the Smiths, and so much more. The walls of his bedroom were lined with racks of cassettes full of bands who were completely foreign to me. Like the scent of a pie on the windowsill, the sounds coming from down the hall lured me in. I would sneak into his room, borrow cassettes, listen to them when he wasn’t home, and sneak them back. This exposed me to bands like R.E.M., Husker Du, the Minutemen, and the Replacements. In hindsight, this was the beginning of my love of digging for new music. I had also heard him listening to a radio station that I had never heard of, WOXY – 97X FM, broadcasting from Oxford, Ohio, playing the same music that lined his walls. For me and so many others my age who lived in Southwest Ohio, discovering 97X was like striking gold. It provided a soundtrack to my life until it went off the air in 2010.
Jayne Sachs credits her discovery of 97X (thanks to her now-husband) with putting her on the singer/songwriter path. She’s been able to carve out a career in music, and has picked up plenty of accolades along the way, including winning 97Xposure in 1995 and garnering two first place wins (in different years and different categories) in The John Lennon Songwriting Contest. We talked to Jayne about her Xposure spoils, her performing career, record label interaction, and her current songwriting work in Nashville.
You can listen to Jayne’s latest songs on her songwriting website.
The Jayne Sachs Band won 97Xposure in 1995. Here’s a news story about that year’s finals, as it aired on Cincinnati’s WXIX-TV (Channel 19), with 97X’s Ali Castellini as the on-the-scene reporter and Jae Forman announcing the winning band on stage at Bogart’s:
Jayne has released several albums as a solo artist and with her band.
Here’s “I Recognize”, one of several songs from Jayne that got airplay on 97X:
This is a shorter episode, but it’s deep. The culmination of our conversation with 97X station owners Doug & Linda Balogh includes Doug’s “big thought” about the legacy of the station… and how the listeners and the station alums will always be a connected community. 97X Forever!
In this episode, we reference a recent letter from Jen L., who grew up “in the cornfields of Crosby Township”… she had such kind words to say about the station, and we think her feelings reflect those of many listeners:
That was about the only good thing about where I lived: 97X came in crystal clear and was like an oasis among the fields of corn. The music you played opened my mind and heart to soundscapes so different than anything I’d ever known. You took me to places I was sure I’d never get to go. How lucky was I!
I remember the summers in high school listening to 97X. I always had leftover notebooks at the end of the school year. So I ripped out all my biology and algebra notes, and used up the remaining pages keeping lists of songs I heard and liked on the radio. I filled pages and pages. I hung on every note, counted each song, waiting for you to backsell what you just played so I could write it down. (Gosh I wish I still had those lists!)
Whenever I could, I kept a Memorex 90 minute cassette in the player so I could spring from my bed in time to hit record/play and catch those songs and make mix tapes. And I waited all week for Saturday overnights when you’d play an album in its entirety. I struggled to stay awake til midnight just to hit record, then turned the volume low so I could sleep. In the morning I rewound to listen back, and was either happy or bummed to find out if the entire album fit on one side. I remember getting XTC “Apples and Oranges” that way, and The Indigo Girls and The Smithereens. Then later I would make my own album covers from a collage of pictures and patterns I’d find in magazines.…
Really I just wanted to let you know how much 97X meant to me in my teen years. You truly saved me. I can’t fully express how much you did. But I am here in large part because of this station. You gave me hope and an outlet. I heard you, and my spirit felt heard in return.
Jen L.
Why yes, that is MTV VJ Alan Hunter with station staffers. 97X alums at a station reunion. More alums. 97X sticker on the wall at Canal Street Tavern in Dayton.page from a 1996 radio industry publication
Yes, we’ve interviewed 97X station owners Doug and Linda Balogh before (check out Episodes 56 and 57). But they are such founts of 97X knowledge and stories that we had to go back to the well. In this episode, Doug does a 97X role call, we talk about 97Xposure, the station’s charitable endeavors, a Riverbend-adjacent party, and one of Linda’s decidedly unglamorous yet crucial behind-the-scenes role on the prize patrol.
Doug cited 97Xposure as perhaps the finest example of what made the station unique. Every year, dozens if not hundreds of local/regional bands would submit their songs, and multiple 97X staffers would evaluate them to determine a Top 20, and eventually a final four to play in a “battle of the bands” style concert, with the winner getting recording equipment and free studio time.
Sorry for the fuzzy photo
The 97X Modern Rock Cookbook featured recipes from band members, station staffers and listeners, and proceeds went to local charities.
Features “Dave’s Succulent Seven-Layer Salad”…
Doug and Linda mentioned Julie Maxwell’s tireless work to bring the Modern Rock Cookbook to life.
Julie Maxwell, always cooking up fantastic promotions.
Here’s an aerial view of the house in California, Ohio (near Riverbend) that hosted a 97X event on the day of the Elvis Costello/Crash Test Dummies concert. Crash Test Dummies showed up… but Elvis didn’t enter the building.
Mike Jacobs is a legendary independent record promoter who ran campaigns for alternative success stories like The Offspring, Rancid, Nine Inch Nails, Bush and No Doubt, among others. He also was CEO of MCA joint venture Way Cool Music from 1995-98, where he signed Blink-182, and was a lifelong friend of Rick Carroll, who started the pioneering modern rock radio station KROQ-FM in L.A. We chat with Rick about his time in the trenches, his memories of 97X and the modern rock format.
97X station owners Linda and Doug Balogh, flanked by their kids Marty and Susan, when they were honored with the Rick Carroll Radio Innovator of the Year Award in 1998
Here are a couple of fun trade publication interviews with Mike Jacobs from 2011:
If you heard this album, Mike Jacobs made it happen.
What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
Mike Jacobs: It’s only no until it’s yes. If you believe in a song or an act, stick with it. Always tell the truth: even if it’s something people don’t want to hear, they will respect you later.
“Randy the Redneck” – the name pretty much sums it up. He’s like a hillbilly Forrest Gump, and had the uncanny knack for showing up at pretty much every 97X event ever. Concerts at Bogart’s, B&B Riverboat Cruises, Rock & Bowls, Breakfast Club Home Invasions… somehow he even managed to attend an music industry convention with 97X program director Phil Manning. In short, if 97X was there, so was Randy.
Randy the Redneck (at right) helps a Speedo-clad Rictile cool off during a Breakfast Club Home Invasion live broadcast.
Randy first heard of (and listened to) 97X through his friend Kevin, who was also friends with 97X’s Brett Heartz. Randy started hanging out with Brett and going to shows with him, and also played in a band called The Urinal Biscuits that shared bills with bands featuring 97X employees and fans. The rest is history… and legend.
Modern day Randy… still a redneck, but an artsy one.
Author and college professor Robin James is a self-described “philosopher of popular music.” She grew up in West Chester, Ohio listening to 97X and is writing a book about the station and the community that formed around it. She’s also going to give a talk about the Modern Rock 500 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame once we get through the pandemic phase. In this episode, Robin gives us an update on when the book will be published… and turns the tables by interviewing Dave and Damian for that book.
Robin James, the coolest college professor ever!
We first chatted with Robin a year ago, on Episode 34. If you missed that show, it’s well worth a listen.
On her blog, here’s how Robin summarizes the 97X book project:
The Future of Rock and Roll: 97X WOXY and the fight for true independence. (Under contract with UNC Press). This is a book about the philosophy behind former modern rock radio station 97X FM/woxy.com. The station and its programming was driven by the idea that true independence is possible only when practiced with and for other people. The book argues that this idea of independence is what we need to fight the 21st century corporate mainstream, which is driven by the false idea that real independence is being left to fend for yourself.
Here’s a link to the draft version of “What was the Modern Rock 500?” – the talk Robin will be giving at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The date for that presentation is still TBD due to pandemic restrictions, but we’ll let you know when it’s happening.
My dad didn’t like music, and I didn’t have older siblings, so the Modern Rock 500 was the curriculum I used to educate myself about cool music and its history.
Robin James
Rumblings from the Big Bush mailbag
Hey guys,
I’ve been a big fan of the show. For years I’ve enjoyed listening to a playlist created from an old Modern Rock 500, and every year I think, I should contact some of the old radio guys and see what would be on the list today. I always think of this leading up to Memorial Day weekend. It would be great if you could get some of the old crew together and make an updated list.
Keep up the good work! – Nick Frisch
That’s a great idea, Nick! Unfortunately, it’s also a rather daunting task, and we have our hands full with the podcast (and our day jobs). We tried to strong-arm longtime 97X PD Phil Manning into creating an updated MR500, but to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions, we’re all ears.
In the interim, the Cincinnati-based online radio station Inhailer recently counted down their Top 500 Albums of All Time, and you’ll find plenty of 97X artists on that list. Former woxy.com DJ Luann Gibbs (a.k.a. “Miss Kitty” – we chatted with her on Episode 43) does weekend shifts on Inhailer, and Taylor Fox, who was quite active on the 97X message boards, is the Program Director and hosts the morning show Tuesdays thru Thursdays, so the station is a kindred spirit of 97X/woxy.com. They play a great mix of music, including a healthy dose of local bands, and have specialty shows on weekends and in the evening. Check it out!
This post on The Cincy Vinyl Trail website also has a nice tribute to the Modern Rock 500.
Traditionally, Memorial Day weekend has always been the unofficial beginning of summer. Schools close, pools open, we honor fallen heroes and the Taste of Cincinnati takes center stage. Memorial Day weekend of years gone by also brought us the 500. No, not the Indy 500, that’s still running. To die-hard music fans, it was the 97X Modern Rock 500. The start of every summer the radio would be tuned to 97.7.
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