Kathie Lucas

It’s a 97Xtravaganza!

97X, Music, podcast, woxy.com

If you still have a soft spot in your heart for 97X (“the future of rock and roll!”) then mark your calendar for the first-ever (and perhaps last-ever) 97Xtravaganza!

It’s Saturday, October 10th from 6-9 p.m. at The Columbia, 4311 Eastern Avenue in Cincinnati.

(Yes, it’s an old church – perfectly fitting for a radio station that saved so many souls from bland corporate radio.)

Longtime Breakfast Club co-host (and promotions maven) Julie Maxwell will be there.

So will Mike Taylor, who was the station’s program director from 2001 through 2010.

Meaning Mike was there for the 97.7FM signoff, the woxy.com Longworth Hall era and the ill-fated Austin version.

We’ll interview Julie and Mike for a live episode of the “97X Rumblings from the Big Bush” podcast.

We’ll also do 97X modern rock music trivia.

The winners will claim bragging rights AND fabulous prizes chosen especially for them. What sort of prizes, you ask? Great question, we’re asking it ourselves. But they’ll be great, trust us!

We’ll also play commercials, promos and comedy bits from the station.

And we’ll do a Q&A with all the station staffers in attendance.

Scheduled to appear:

Booked by Dave:

Booked by Damian:

The 97Xtravaganza is free and open to the public.

B.Y.O.B. And bring some Little Debbie snack cakes too!

Tell a buddy, bring a friend, but don’t you dare miss this 97Xtravaganza!!!

Episode 57: Doug & Linda Part 2 (More Fun in the New Radio World)

97X, podcast

In the second part of our interview with 97X station owners Doug & Linda Balogh, we find out why Steve Baker was the soul of the station, Dave was Mr. Sunshine, and Linda was the lady behind the curtain. Doug also talks about “buyer’s remorse” at his welcome BBQ and Linda recalls the 97X mission statement and the baby in the file cabinet. Oh, and we hear about how the Rainman movie appearance happened… and how legendary record exec Howie Klein freaked out about it.

Photo from a 1997 article about 97X in Spin magazine.

Doug and Linda talked about how indispensable Steve Baker was. Bake could — and did– do it all for the station for more than 20 years.

The Bakerman in the old 97X studio
Gentleman Jim Mercer with Bake at a Miami University football game

Nowadays, Steve Baker is the Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Broadcasting for Miami University. Please read this post to learn more about just how amazing “The Bakerman” truly is. (Also, our interview with Steve is in Episode 4 of the podcast.)

Dave Tellmann in the production studio

Doug and Linda also talked about how Dave was always in a good mood. I couldn’t agree more. We had as much fun off the air as on, thanks to Dave, who was (and still is) always making us smile.

Kathie Lucas at right with her “baby in the file cabinet” daughter Sophie
Ad from Everybody’s News

The famous scene from Rainman:

Linda and Doug (center) with their children Marty (left) and Kristy (right). The award referenced above was presented by Ron “Jetson” Poore and Phil Manning