WOXY, 97X — The Future of Rock and Roll is no longer going to broadcast over the air (starting around May 1st):
This is Linda Balogh . . . my husband Doug and I have been the owners of WOXY Radio for nearly 23 years. When we bought the station, I was 35 and Doug was 39. We built it together with a special group of scrappy and talented people. Now we're 57 and 61 . . . and ever since the Telecom Act of 1996 unleashed the massive consolidation in radio, it's been harder and harder for single-station independents like us to compete against the behemoths. So when this offer came along, we decided it was time to take it. We don't feel we've "sold out," we really don't. We have elderly parents to take care of, and our own retirement to think about. So, it was time.
On the other hand, we have also built this wonderful and rapidly growing website and internet broadcast, and it's a wonderful entrepreneurial opportunity for the 20- and 30- and 40-somethings we work with . . . so we are going to help them find the funding to keep that going and growing. We will stay involved to a degree - and continue to own part of it - but we do intend to walk off into the sunset (that would be in Santa Fe) and enjoy the fruits of our labors.
Hope this helps clarify the decision. We're not some big faceless corporation - we're two real live people (with feelings, by the way!).
Sincerely, LB
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Is 97X going away?
No. "97X The Future of Rock and Roll" was not sold. The local broadcast license at 97.7 FM was sold but we still have the music and everything else that makes 97X what it is. And that's why we're going to be able to continue this as an internet-only radio station at woxy.com . . . same music, same format, live DJs and independently owned. 97X The Future of Rock and Roll is not going away . . . in three months, you just won't be able to tune us in on your FM radio at 97.7 anymore.
Since I only listen to 97X on the Net (living in OK, its kinda hard to get the FM signal all the way from Cincinnati) I am not going to notice a difference. For the people of Dayton/Oxford/Cincinnati this seems like a tremendous loss.
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