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4/27: 99X acknowledges Baron’s departure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Leslie Fram and Axel Lowe were finally allowed to acknowledge Jimmy Baron’s official departure. The charade of having his name on the show the past three weeks is over. Baron’s contract was April 5 and his final day on the air was actually April 3. Baron, on the morning show for more than 12 years since October 1993, was never allowed an official on-air goodbye but at least the future powers to be at Cumulus allowed Leslie & Axel to say a few kind words about him today. (Instead, he released a press release you can read on my previous blog item.)
“He was like a brother to me,” Fram said.
“One of the nicest guys I’ve ever known,” Axel added.
On the morning show, “he was the antagonist and he played it well,” Axel said.
“It was part of the magic that was 99X,” Fram said, inadvertently placing the station in past tense. “It will be hard to re-create that again. We are thinking about you. We love you. We’ll talk to you soon.”
The ownership change-over to Atlanta-based Cumulus is supposed to happen May 5.
At www.99watch.org, there’s a reference to an Atlanta Business Chronicle story about Cumulus that has CEO Lew Dickey saying Baron’s departure had nothing to do with the ownership switch. Baron on his myspace blog here says Dickey was lying. Baron said if Susquehanna had kept the station, he would have at least been able to stay on during the spring at his current salary (in the $315K range). Instead, he said the Dickeys gave him a take-it-or-leave-it 55% pay cut.
Now, Baron is hunting for a new job. He is still in consideration for that San Francisco job, with two others, a guy and a gal. He will also be heard Monday on WSB-AM subbing for Chris Krok at 10 p.m. with Mark Arum. For now, he joins the growing ranks of unemployed jocks in this town which include Magic Man, Southside & Rhodes, and Pete Davis.
Comments
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By JusPeachie
April 27, 2006 10:58 AM | Link to this
I miss Jimmy’s poo stories!
By 12degreesNorth
April 27, 2006 11:08 AM | Link to this
I’m glad Jimmy is gone. Now all we need to get rid of is that old hag Fram.
By tang
April 27, 2006 11:55 AM | Link to this
Buh-Bye Jimmy, very few will miss you. He just wasn’t likable or funny in any way. Maybe 99x can get Paula Abdul to pair up with Leslie and they can talk about how fabulous everything is and how no one has ever done anything that was bad. Or maybe they’ll actually play music in the mornings so the people sitting in traffic don’t have to listen to a group of idiots talk about nothing in between the one U2 song played every hour.
By Tom H
April 27, 2006 12:38 PM | Link to this
Arum and Barron. It has a strange ring to it. Why I reserve the right to change my mind after hearing the show on WSB. I think Jimmy would be great doing talk radio. Here is my thought. Retire Tom Hughes, move Kimmers to mornings and have Jimmy host the afternoon shift on GST. I am not sure if his politics are right enough for GST
By CelebrityWonk.com
April 27, 2006 12:42 PM | Link to this
I’m not with the Jimmy nay-sayers. He was odd, but he knew how to get people to listen to the radio. He wouldn’t have lasted 12 years (or earned over 300k) if he didn’t. I know he will land on his feet somewhere.
By SHABONE
April 27, 2006 01:23 PM | Link to this
JIMMY SUCKED, AND SO DID THE OTHERS THAT ARE GONE. AS WE ALL KNOW, HE DOESNT HAVE TO WORK, SO HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED. SEE YA.
By dcb
April 27, 2006 02:24 PM | Link to this
The whole 99x situation since Cumulus came into the picture has been a fiasco. Whether or not you like Jimmy Baron is not really the point. I read the Atlanta Business Chronicle article and knew it was a joke - and that was before I found out they wanted to cut Baron’s salary by 55% (mabe to help fund the pay raise of the top guy at Cumulus). The article talks about how Cumulus likes to operate “lean” and how they lost money last year. I hate to say it, but….RIP 99x
By Kelly
April 27, 2006 02:24 PM | Link to this
You people are mean! I am going to miss Jimmy. He tells great stories and he makes me laugh and he was very good at his job.
By Stacey
April 27, 2006 02:25 PM | Link to this
I have listened to the morning show on 99X since it was the Morning X with Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy.
Since they have now lost Toucher, Wally, Crash and Jimmy - it is absolutely excruciating to listen to. I am sure I am not alone when I say bye bye 99X in the mornings.
I like Axel but he is not morning material and he and Leslie (the weakest one of all) cannot go it alone and survive. Jimmy, Wally, Toucher and Crash will be well missed.
By Michelle
April 27, 2006 02:39 PM | Link to this
WHERE is Pete Davis?
By THE TRUTH
April 27, 2006 02:44 PM | Link to this
BAIRY THE DEAD, THEY ONLY STINK UP THE PLACE.
By wail
April 27, 2006 03:40 PM | Link to this
I’m among the ranks that say 99x is poorer with Baron’s departure. He is tremendously talented for a certain niche that he played for 12 years, the supporting male voice or foil to the “macho”-leaning lead. He added an important counter voice (lefty, more domesticated) without supplanting any of the three male lead talents with which he worked, and instead creating a great dynamic, all the time maintianing his identity and without being bullied or muffled. It’s not an easy job (even though it’s easily taken for granted); for example, as gifted as Wally was, he couldn’t compare in that role.
I’m quitting listening to the show after about 14 years. For one, the unbalanced rightwing turn that the Leslie “Fox News talking points” Fram’s uninformed news segments has taken in Jimmy’s (and Toucher’s) absence is not for me; if it was, 96 would do. Axel is a terrific personality, he tells a helluva story and I think he’ll evolve as a great morning voice, but right now the show has no vision, no identity but as a shell of Toucher’s show, the same names for segments and all. One exception is that Mitch Evans is a great add for in depth sports talk—then again, that is his craft.
Baron’s too talented to be unemployed for long. Good luck with the San Francisco gig.
By carole
April 27, 2006 04:30 PM | Link to this
The station made a huge mistake by letting Jimmy walked away, you guys will never be able to find someone to replace him , don’t get me wrong no one is irreplaceable, but Jimmy was one of them. 12yrs faithful devoted years just went out of the window. I tell you what you just loose one great fan.
Carole
By Bandy
April 27, 2006 04:47 PM | Link to this
99.7 “The Hooch” sure to be piping Bandy & Bailey to you soon along with Cowboy Steve 10-3 and Uncle Ax for your Harley ride home!
By Lester Bangs
April 28, 2006 09:16 AM | Link to this
I have to echo the sentiments off those asking why 99x gets rid of all its truly talented people, keeps Leslie, and puts Axel, who is also truly talented, in a situation where he is way out of his element? He did a great job in the aft. Put him back there and let Leslie do her FoxNews bits solo, in between all the Kid Rock, Creed and other terrible music she’s responsible for playing over the years.
I grew weary of her right-wing leanings and comments a while back. I think she is espousing the redneck opinions of her oft-mentioned significant other, who probably listens to the Regular Guys anyway.
And has anyone there looked up the definition of alternative? Wouldn’t “EVERYTHING ALTERNATIVE” suggeset they play the stuff you can’t hear anywhere else? But in fact its the opposite.
What a train wreck.
By meeps
April 28, 2006 10:11 AM | Link to this
Leslie’s significant other is absolutely a right-wing redneck in the mold of your typical Regular Guys listener. I’ve quit 99X since it’s gotten so bad, but, before Toucher left, Leslie would start off most Mondays by saying something like “yeah, Lanny and I were watching Fox News over the weekend…” Given those regular admissions, it’s hardly surprising that most of Leslie’s News Pile stories have a decidedly right-wing tilt.
By JBFan
April 28, 2006 10:12 AM | Link to this
Arum and Barin in the morning on 97.1 the River. Who knows anuthing is possible. Life is like a river with many bends and the next one might take you in a direction you never thought possible.
By Screaming Tony S
April 28, 2006 01:44 PM | Link to this
Arum and Baron on the River! You have to be kidding. Arum would send Baron up the River to advance his own cause. Just check all the folks at WSB Radio and TV with knives sticking out of their backs!
By JT Marlin
May 1, 2006 09:20 AM | Link to this
You’ve got WSB dirt? Oooh please give us the details.
By Glenn Nippert
May 1, 2006 11:49 AM | Link to this
Jimmy was a professional irritant, a devil’s advocate, and as such was not bad. However he was also at the very least a latent racist and I will not miss him much. He seemed to desire talk radio and maybe that will be his destination. P.S- This deuchebag was making 315k?!! WTF?