Craig Snyder grew up in Oxford, Ohio, listening to 97X and making mixtapes for his friends. That love of music stayed with him as he interned at EMI, worked as a producer at Little Steven’s Underground Garage, managed and promoted indie bands, and in his current role at Lyte.com helping venues and festivals get more music fans to shows. We chat with Craig about his how his love of 97X and his mixtape mastery led to his future music gigs, and why human recommendations will always be better than algorithms.
We’re overly reliant on algorithms and while they are good, we’re missing the human element. We’re missing an opportunity to connect. We’re eliminating the social piece from music and no — social media isn’t a replacement. So what can you do? Think about the best song or album you’ve heard recently and call or text a friend about it. Tell them why you think they’d dig it.
Where Craig spent his lawn-mowing income as a kid.
Below is Craig’s 30-song Spotify playlist, which he updates frequently. You can follow Craig on Instagram and Twitter, too.
Ali Castellini got her 97X gig by accident, when a fellow Miami student phoned her early one Friday morning and asked her to do the weather forecast on the Breakfast Club. She wound up spending a few years on the air at 97X in the early-to-mid 90s before moving on to a station in Virginia Beach, VA, then hosting the nationally syndicated radio show “Today’s Women” and later working as an on-air host and producer for WXPN/World Cafe in Philly. Now she’s “corrupting minds” (her words) as a communications professor at Temple University. We chat with Ali about all the lessons she learned during her radio days… as well as Matchbox cars, Dick Clark and Lenny Kravitz.
Professor Ali, or “Prof C” as her students call her.
Back in the day, 97X staffers had Matchbox cars as their “in/out” indicators (upside down = out of the office). Ali still has hers, on a shelf in her office.
Ali said: I still turn it upside down from time to time when I leave! #97XhabitsDieHard
If you listen to the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast (available on Spotify, Apple podcasts and Podbean), you are in rare company. You’re part of the elite. Not just the 1%, but the top 1% of the 1%. You’re special.
So does Chrissie Hynde
And if you’ve ever found yourself wondering “How do Dave and Damian pack so much genius into an episode that’s never* longer than the playing time of two spins of Bauhaus’ ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’?” then this post is just for you.
*OK, sometimes we go over a tad.
Scheduling
Dave and I try to get together once every couple of months to record a new batch of 4-6 interviews, usually on a Sunday afternoon. Once we agree upon a date, we start emailing potential guests and locking down 30-minute slots for each guest. In the Before Times, Dave would drive to my house. He’d often bring his magical machine that can transfer cassette tape recordings into digital files. Now, in the coronavirus End Times, we “meet” via Google Hangouts.
Recording
We use a strange combination of equipment and programs to make the magic happen. Yeti mic on my end (when Dave came over we’d use a headphone jack splitter so both of us could put on headphones just like the old radio days).
When Dave joined me in my basement (“The Party Dungeon”) we’d use Google Voice to call our guests. Now, ideally they join via Google Meet. We use a program called VoiceMeeter (a virtual audio mixer) to balance the volume of the caller with our volume, and Audacity (freeware) to record the interview. [Zoom is a new wild card – when you record a meeting, it creates an audio-only file – we plan to test this soon as an alternative to the Google Voice/VoiceMeeter/Audacity trifecta. If you’re a gearhead and have other suggestions, we’re all ears.]
Editing
Editing is really a two-step process. First comes the content editing, then the actual audio edits.
After Dave drives back to Mars (I’m assuming that’s where he lives), I’ll listen to the interviews and take notes (scribbles really) about the content. Then I listen again, marking up “keeper” sections and figuring out what we can cut to get the episode down to our desired “2 Belas” length (this is the toughest part… “kill your darlings”).
My edit notes for our chat with Howard Cohen of The Cereal Killers. Dot = keeper, brackets = cut.
Once I have a good feel for overall flow, I’ll save a copy of the raw recording in Audacity and start slicing and dicing. Dave’s “flashback” intro usually mentions a song, so I’ll track down that video on YouTube, record the ending via SnagIt, and convert it to an mp3 audio file via VLC Media Player (freeware). I also can throw in “liners” from the old days (liners = short station promos, usually with Bake’s voice, that identify the station… “97X, the future of rock and roll”) to break up the interview between topics, and to wrap up the episode. Dave had a bunch of liners on cassette, and Bill Douglas also sent us several. (Thanks Billy D!)
Audacity: It slices, it dices, it even makes julienne fries!
Publishing
Podbean is the site we use to host our podcast. We’re on the Unlimited Audio Annual Plan for $108 a year. I try to post on Podbean and 97Xbam.com nearly simultaneously, and add “bonus content” (photos, links, more text) on 97Xbam. I’ve set up links/connections/RSS feeds to our podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as well, so when a new episode goes live on Podbean, it will also appear on those sites. (It’s really only a matter of time until Spotify starts throwing “Joe Rogan money” at us for an exclusive deal.)
Dave and I will settle for a 50/50 (million) split
Ideally we’d publish a new episode every two weeks, but I can only do editing over the weekends, and it’s rather time-consuming.
Listening
As 97X station owner Doug Balogh liked to say, “without the listener, we’re like one hand clapping.” We’re not setting the podcasting world on fire, but I’d like to think we’ve made a small yet enthusiastic group of dedicated, discerning listeners pretty happy. Hmm, much like 97X as a radio station.
We are NOT big in Japan, but it looks like 3/4ths of the band ABBA enjoys our show. (Thanks Agnetha, Bjorn and Anni-Frid… and screw you, Benny!)
If you like the podcast, please tell a friend about it. If you don’t like it, tell an enemy.
A labor of love
So there you have it, 97XRFTBB from soup to nuts. Actually, considering the co-hosts, it’s more like from nuts to nuts.
Dave and Farrah
Damian and… Conway Twitty?
It’s been a real treat to reconnect with the 97X/woxy.com community through our podcast. Thanks so much for listening!
Hola, amigos, how’s it going? I know it’s been a while since I rapped at ya… (that’s my tribute to one of my favorite columnists in The Onion.) I know I’ve been pretty dour lately, so I’ll try to keep a PMA (positive mental attitude) today, just like Jesse Malin encourages everyone to do during his brilliant weekly live stream concerts.
There is nothing like the energy and atmosphere of live music. It is the most life-affirming experience, to see your favorite performer onstage, in the flesh, rather than as a one-dimensional image glowing in your lap as you spiral down a midnight YouTube wormhole.
Speaking of energy and atmosphere, yesterday’s live stream from Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Paahhrk is pretty lively:
https://youtu.be/VzkMA_1NbfY
And here’s some pure joy for you, marimba style:
As mentioned previously, the Broken Record podcast is a great listen. Their last two episodes have been superb: Jason Isbell and Nick Lowe
Under the covers
Speaking of Nick Lowe, here’s a cool cover of his most famous (and most covered) tune, from Sharon Van Etten and Josh Homme:
Several local luminaries got together to do Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” for Cincinnati Children’s (HT to list member Keith Neltner for the link)
Tanya Donnelly (founding member of Throwing Muses, Belly and the Breeders… can anyone top that?) covers this great song from Yazoo
Here’s Whitney and Waxahatchee doing classic John Denver
And Caroline Spence (whose album Mint Condition was one of my faves from last year) puts her own spin on a Jimmy Eat World tune:
Great news for Americana fans
Kathleen Edwards (to whom Caroline Spence has been compared) is back! Her 1st album in eight years is due out in August. Read more in this Rolling Stone article and check out a new tune here:
The Jayhawks have a new album XOXO due out July 10. A couple of tunes from it are below, and hat tip to list member Bruce Frasure for tipping us off to the fun quarantine series from Jayhawks’ leader Gary Louris called “The Sh*t Show.”
Quaran-tunes
DBT created a new song for these times:
And Wilco created a song that made its debut on Colbert:
https://youtu.be/ZxnVYd3TpJs
Jeff Tweedy played Jesus, Etc. too!
https://youtu.be/MJF6BunIdF0
Calling all vinylheads: to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Yo La Tengo album Electr-O-Pura, Matador is releasing it on two LPs. Here’s the original video of a tune from that album, as well as a nice cover from Lucy Dacus.
Wha’ happened?
I know I wanted to stay positive, but I have to mention the passing of comedy genius Fred Willard, whose 75-second appearance in This is Spinal Tap is one of the most memorable scenes ever.
Harry Shearer worked with Fred on the woefully underappreciated Fernwood 2 Night TV show and in several movies (including Spinal Tap). Listen to the three-minute opening of Harry’s Le Show podcast from 5/17 for this heartfelt tribute.
Jesse Malin’s newest live streams are multi-camera gigs done in an NYC basement bar, with Rob Clores adding great licks on piano… and the first episode of “Season Two” also features a long interview with Lucinda Williams.
Here’s Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires playing his new album in its entirety.
Shameless self-promotion
The latest episode of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast features Joe Long, an early music blogger (Each Note Secure, The Futurist) who joined the station during the woxy.com era.
Joe Long grew up a 97X fan and started his “Each Note Secure” music blog in 2004… right about the time the terrestrial station signed off. But when woxy.com got its second wind in 2006 (the Lala era), he joined as an on-air personality. He revived Local Lixx, started The Futurist blog, and uprooted his family to stay with the station as it moved to to Austin in the summer 2009. He was still on board when woxy.com ceased streaming in March of 2010. We caught up with Joe to talk about the dot-com era, his Frank Black shuttle service, and his current gig as “Vices Editor” for Uncrate.com.
woxy.com videos galore!
Joe shot a lot of quick videos during his tenure at woxy.com — an in-studio appearance from The Breeders, Lounge Act clips from bands such as Portugal the Man and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, backstage interviews with These United States and Antlers, and more. You can find all of them on this YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/woxyvideo/videos
Here are a couple of clips documenting the station’s move from Cincinnati to Austin.
Joe’s current gig involves curating content about “vices” such as beer, bourbon, coffee and cigars. Good work if you can get it… and get free samples.
Memorial Day Weekend was a big deal back in the 97X days… it was Modern Rock 500 time!
I can still hear Bakerman’s great liners in my head… and of course the Indy 500 race car sounds… It was a big deal for listeners too – here’s Howard Cohen talking about the MR500 in his college days:
The Modern Rock 500 was an evolving canon defined not by critics, but by listeners and fans. As longtime employee and former Music Director Matt Shiv explains, every year, staff “looked at how long songs were on the People’s Choice Countdown (weekly request Top 10) and the year-end Best Of countdowns” to determine which new tracks should be added to the MR 500. According to Shiv, “it was never trying to be anything other than representing the songs that built WOXY and were favorites of our listeners.” Listener demand, not expert taste, was in the driver’s seat.
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, in the Belt Magazine article
If you’ve got some time to kill this weekend (hello lockdown), perhaps you’d like to “return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear” as the announcer used to say on the old The Lone Ranger TV show.
Sorry to start on a few sad notes, but John Erhardt of Wussy/Ass Ponys passed away last Monday. His longtime friend and bandmate Chuck Cleaver wrote a very loving tribute to him on Wussy’s Facebook page.
John gave us a beauty that we’ll never see again. A combination of love, friendship, stability and that amazing swirling sound. Truly a wonder. A backdrop to everything that we are, in the band and in life.
Chuck Cleaver
You can read more in this blog post. I did want to share a couple of comments from friends of mine who knew him personally:
A very lovely man. Present, mindful, caring. A supportive person to be around. Hearts will ache.
Phil Roberto
John Erhardt was a fabulous DP (Director of Photography) and cinematographer, as well as a phenomenal musician. He shot film and video, and has been a fixture in Cincinnati’s film community for decades. A joyful, humble, talent, with a wonderful personality. Losing him has been a shock to our community.
Beth Fowler
Friends of John have organized a memorial fund:
The untimely and sudden passing of our friend John Erhardt has us all asking, “What can we do to honor his memory? How can we continue John’s legacy to have a positive and lasting impact on others?”
As John’s wife, Denise, and his daughter, Elizabeth, experience their grief, they are determined to channel what they are feeling into a way to help those who struggle with mental health, as John did.
To support the cause, a fund is being established to assist organizations whose focus is advocating for and helping individuals and their families who contend with the disease of mental illness.
Below is a link to the GoFundMe – please donate if you can. Thanks.
Speaking of untimely deaths and mental health struggles, Sunday marked the 2nd anniversary of the passing of Frightened Rabbit lead singer Scott Hutchison. We still miss him dearly.
Scott’s family established the Tiny Changes charity focused on mental health among young people in his native Scotland. Please donate if you can. And if you’re not familiar with Frightened Rabbit, you need to listen to their magnum opus album The Midnight Organ Fight right now!
The hope that is left after all your hopes are gone — that is pure hope, rooted in the heart.
Brother David Steindl-Rast
On a brighter note…
Per Rolling Stone, Jason Isbell is doing an acoustic live stream of his new album Reunions on Friday at 8 p.m. EDT via fans.com. It’s a freebie but donations for Jason’s crew and MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund are encouraged.
Jesse Malin mentioned this clip on his most recent home gig… he was a kid in the audience for this SNL appearance by Fear.
Shameless self-promotion
Via Google Meet, Dave and I chatted with Howard Cohen (lead singer of Cereal Killers) about college parties, wrecked cars, Sudsy Malone’s, 97Xposure, his side hustle as a jingle/voiceover artist (you’ve heard his voice, guaranteed). You can check out the episode on this website for some bonus content including Howard’s book recommendations, or on Podbean, Spotify or Apple podcasts.
Howard
Socially-distant Dave (NOT the lead singer of Foghat)
Damian’s ultra high-tech setup
Weekly warriors
The past two weeks, Jesse Malin had his old buddy Rob Clores on keyboards. So good.
In Episode 7, Jesse opened up his set with a Flaming Lips cover…
Rob gives a nice shout-out to Jacqui and Dave’s Parlor & Patio series toward the end!
And check out Bill Janovitz doing a couple of New Order covers (“Age of Consent” and “Leave Me Alone”) with his daughter Lucy… at about the 1:13:00 mark of his 2-hour-plus show on Facebook!
A self-described “97X listener/scenester/scruffy little punky New Wave dude,” Howard started playing in bands as a teenager and has never stopped rocking. His current band, Cereal Killers, played their first gig at Sudsy Malone’s on Short Vine in 1989, and their current set list consists predominantly of songs that graced the 97X airwaves back in the day: punk, New Wave, garage rock… We chat with Howard about dropping The Village People for Generation X, college parties and car wrecks (they go together), what 97Xposure meant to his bands, the Modern Rock 500, and his side hustle as a jingle singer/voiceover artist.
Cereal Killers at their first gig, December 15th, 1989 at Sudsy Malone’s.
If this jingle has ever gotten stuck in your head, blame Howard (and Rob Fetters)
Howard’s day job is Field Sales Rep for Great Lakes Brewing Company, Ohio’s oldest and largest craft brewery. (He’s on furlough at present.) In 2018, Great Lakes announced an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), making every employee a shareholder.
Howard is an avid, voracious reader and has volunteered for several Books by the Banks events. (Read more in this Soapbox Cincinnati feature from 2011). In this short bonus clip, he suggests a couple of recent books that may be of interest to 97X fans.
For this episode of the podcast, as well as all recordings done since March, Dave and Damian have been practicing safe social distancing. Here’s Dave at his home set-up:
And here’s Damian’s janky set-up in the Party Dungeon.
Note the books (and cat litter bucket) used for the mic stand.
News broke today that John Erhardt of Wussy (and formerly Ass Ponys) passed away Monday. His longtime friend and bandmate Chuck Cleaver wrote a very loving tribute to him on Wussy’s Facebook page.
John gave us a beauty that we’ll never see again. A combination of love, friendship, stability and that amazing swirling sound. Truly a wonder. A backdrop to everything that we are, in the band and in life.
“Amazing swirling sound” is a great description of what John brought to Ass Ponys and Wussy.
To say we’ll miss him is an understatement. It’s not gonna be the same from here on out nor should it. Death’s like that. We’ll continue to keep making up stuff, play it to the best of our abilities and make more records. There will be a hole and we’ll likely leave it that way. You can’t replace some things.
Well put, Chuck. R.I.P. John.
John Erhardt at far right, with Randy Cheek, Chuck Cleaver and Dave Morrison in the Ass Ponys
If the world weren’t upside down, I would’ve been at the Robyn Hitchcock show at Southgate this past Sunday, and Greg Dulli’s gig at the Woodward on Wednesday. Instead I was stuck in my basement, staring at the same four walls. #FML.
Oh well, let’s make the best of it. Here’s another grab bag o’ recorded tunes and musical ephemera.
I love Chuck Cleaver, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I’ve loved him for decades, since his Ass Ponys days. So shame on me for taking so long to let you know that Wussy band members have been doing a weekly stream on Fridays at 7. Hat tip to list member Dr. David Reid for the tipoff. Last week’s show with Chuck and Lisa was exactly what you’d expect from them: weird, wacky… and absolutely beautiful. Lisa’s questions for Chuck were especially enjoyable… and they do a few Ass Ponys songs too!
The Broken Record podcast is consistently great. I absolutely loved this episode, which features an interview with Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley of Drive-By Truckers and stripped down versions of a few songs from their new album:
Curt Smith from Tears for Fears did a version of “Mad World” with his daughter Diva. Check it out on the Facebooks.
Bert Averre, the guitarist for The Knack, posted a fun video for “Bye Corona” (3 guesses as to the tune…) Bassist Prescott Niles joins him at the end.
I’m going to keep touting Waxahatchee until you admit that her album Saint Cloud is one of the best of 2020. Here’s her Tiny Desk (at home) concert with her boyfriend Kevin Morby, which features two songs from Saint Cloud, a Morby tune and a Songs:Ohia cover.
Billie Joe Armstrong has been doing a cover song every week and posting it on Green Day’s YouTube Channel. He calls it “No Fun Mondays”… and his cover of “Manic Monday” features Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles. He also riffs on Tommy James & The Shondells, Johnny Thunders, The Avengers and Adam Schlesinger.
Shameless self-promotion
Rob Fetters is never boring. I caught up with him to chat about his free house concert live streams (latest edition is below), get some Zen advice on coping with COVID fears, and hear his story about Ted Nugent… you can check out the episode on this website (which features bonus content) or on Podbean, Spotify or Apple podcasts.
“Paul is dead.” But John Curley is alive and well.
True story: a few days ago, the Afghan Whigs promoted our podcast interview with John Curley on their official Facebook page… but the way the photo and podcast description appeared, a few fans feared that it was some sort of obituary:
Sorry to scare you, Prissy! But the inadvertent “clickbait” resulted in a record-setting number of downloads for our podcast. Thanks social media!
Worth another listen
Heard this song on Sirius XMU Wednesday, and it brought back some fond memories of my 97X days:
That song is the title track from Bettie Serveert’s 1993 album Palomine. It holds up quite well. Check it out:
Worth another look
Swedish sisters with angelic voices? Yes please!
You’ve probably seen this video before, of an all-star crew doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but watching Prince’s absolutely ungodly guitar work and seeing him play with Tom Petty always makes me smile.
