Episode 78: Jay Batista, there from Day One

97X, podcast

Jay Batista joined 97X before it was 97X… it was more like a real-life WKRP with “odd personnel and wacky programming.” Jay played a pivotal role in helping the station make the switch to the modern rock format. We talk to him about those formative days, going from spinning the Spinners to hanging with the Talking Heads, and he shares what he learned from station owners Doug and Linda Balogh.

Jay used his Masters in Broadcast Management at 97X… and he uses his English degree to this day, as an author specializing in Fantasy, Historical Fantasy and Adventure novels. In 2019, he published the first of his Forerunner Saga novels, following the lives, loves, tragedies and successes of the Agneson clan in England and Scandinavia circa 890.

Jay’s novel Thorfinn and the Witch’s Curse was a Bronze Medal winner in the 2021 International Book Awards and also the recipient of the 2021 Bronze Medal for Young Adult Fantasy novels from The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

A true renaissance man, Jay also is an accomplished  acrylic collage artist, represented by galleries in the East and Midwestern US. Learn more about Jay on his website.