Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > October > 24 > Entry
10/24: 99X’s 15th anniversary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Exactly 15 years ago on October 24, 1992, top 40 station Power 99 became 99X. Leslie Fram and Sean Demery were on air back then helping with the transition. And amazingly, they’re still on air.
Five years ago, the station held a low-key 10th year anniversary celebration. Mid-day jock Steve Craig played songs during the now defunct Retroplex from the original 1992 playlist and the Morning X team of Steve, Leslie & Jimmy reminisced. This time around, there will be no acknowledgment of this milestone on the air at all, according to Fram, the program director who has been at the station since its inception.
That’s just as well. With 285,000 listeners a week over the summer, 99X brings in about half the ratings from its peak and “time spent listening” ranks just 28th, among the worst in town. It lags way behind Project 9-6-1, an active rock station with 18 to 34 year olds. And for all listeners, it’s fourth among four rock stations behind Project, the River and Dave FM. Bottom line: the alternative rock format is not nearly as popular as it used to be and the station has struggled to adjust to the competition and crummy circumstances. (Revenue hasn’t dropped off as quickly as ratings but the trendline can’t be good for the sales folks.)
This isn’t to say 99X’s first decade wasn’t notable. It was. Back in the fall of 1992, management saw top 40 going through serious Color Me Badd-level doldrums and the Nirvana-driven grunge era was capturing the imaginations of Gen X. So they dropped Power 99 and created 99X.
The station gradually built buzz around town. By 1994, it had became a true phenomenon, eventually becoming one of the most revered and popular alternative rock stations in the country. Leslie Fram was canonized as a brilliant programmer and a “voice of reason” on 99X’s buzz-worthy Morning X morning show. The station possessed a fine lineup of great jocks and a lock on the hot music of the era.
When Chris Williams was program director in the early 2000 period, he was the mastermind behind making the station edgier to appeal to a younger male audience, incorporating more Korn-like music (which was becoming more popular at the time) and moving Fred Toucher to co-helm the morning show. Females fled, many to sister station Q100. Plenty of younger males opted for hip-hop. After Williams was let go, the station around 2004 veered to a middle ground, eventually calling itself “Everything Alternative.” It couldn’t quite let go of its heritage but still wanted to draw younger listeners.
Unfortunately, this path hasn’t worked well as former fans continued to go elsewhere. The station changed ownership last year and has attempted to tap its past glory of the 1990s by bringing back Sean Demery and creating the “New Morning X.”. So far, the show has not gained much traction. It ranked 20th among 25-54, 14th among 18 to 34 year olds and 20th overall.
If you want to hear part of the 1992 transition, here’s an audio clip available online.. Among the acts on air at the time were Toad the Wet Sprocket, Depeche Mode, U2, Love & Rockets, INXS, Nirvana and the Cure. Unfortunately, this doesn’t include the six-hour talk show that preceded the actual change that morning.
How do you feel about the station as it enters its 16th year?
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Critic
October 24, 2007 8:13 AM | Link to this
It’s still commercial radio, and all commercial radio sucks.
By Al
October 24, 2007 8:15 AM | Link to this
So, some of these hosts have been around since 99X’s inception. That puts them in their late 40’s and early 50’s. Shouldn’t the station have hosts who can identify with their target audience?
By beau
October 24, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
how exactly does one view a radio staion’s audio broadcasts? shoudn’t a radio stations audience identity be based on the active act it engages in to interact with the station? In this case, a person listens to a radio station, they do not view radio waves. so shouldn’t it be “wanted to draw younger listeners” instead of “wanted to draw younger viewers?”
By beau
October 24, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
how exactly does one view a radio staion’s audio broadcasts? shoudn’t a radio station’s audience identity be based on the active act it engages in to interact with the station? In this case, a person listens to a radio station, they do not view radio waves. so shouldn’t it be “wanted to draw younger listeners” instead of “wanted to draw younger viewers?”
By Old at 41???
October 24, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
I don’t know what the target audience for 99X is supposed to be, but I know that lots of people my age listen to it. Remember, we are the same generation as a lot of the bands they play (the Red Hot Chili Peppers are no spring chickens, ya know). Remember, 40 is the new 30…
By iam99sux
October 24, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
Has anybody looked at Leslie Fram as being the issue? It’s almost like she owns the station and they can’t get rid of her. They need a massive overhaul. The morning show is the same as it has been for a while, just a different cast, except for … Leslie Fram.
By I can read! I can read!
October 24, 2007 8:51 AM | Link to this
So Rodney — since when is “October 26th” the same as “October 24th”? Do you even read the stuff on the pages you link to?
By WestSider
October 24, 2007 8:52 AM | Link to this
Popular music has hit its most dismal depths in history…so it is not surprising that radio is struggling as well. Grunge was the last great Rock movement. What is left now is the pimply-faced masturbatory grumblings of corporate-fed losers who consider themselves “edgy”. Korn was the first wave of such non-sense and it has gone downhill since…every time I turn on commerical radio now all I hear is some insipid male loser drone with a voice sounding like a sound clip for the latest MTV reality show.
By too old
October 24, 2007 8:59 AM | Link to this
Yes, waaaaaay too old to be on the air, especially trying to be ‘alternative!’ Ew.
By Erik from Atlanta
October 24, 2007 9:05 AM | Link to this
I listened to 99X during the 1990s. Back then it was good station. Nowadays,I am like what the ??? Bands like Fall Out Boy & Artic Monkeys are not alternative.
Sirius started a channel this year called Lithium. It is grunge & alternative 90s. It reminds me what 99X use to be like
By Erik from Atlanta
October 24, 2007 9:06 AM | Link to this
I listened to 99X during the 1990s. Back then it was good station. Nowadays,I am like what the ??? Bands like Fall Out Boy & Artic Monkeys are not alternative.
Sirius started a channel this year called Lithium. It is grunge & alternative 90s. It reminds me what 99X use to be like
By pythia
October 24, 2007 9:06 AM | Link to this
Maybe the “alternative rock” format is NOT the problem. I’ve listened to 99x since the day they were born (and Power 99 before that). The music has always been a decent representation of what’s current and, dare I say it, truly alternative. I just can’t stand listening to the “talent”. Steve Craig and Axel are the only ones that don’t send me screaming to punch another radio button. The Morning show has never worked for me in any of its incarnations, but now the sound of Leslie Framm’s voice is as aggravating to me as nails on a chalkboard. I will change the station if I so much as hear her doing an ad.
By Erik from Atlanta
October 24, 2007 9:12 AM | Link to this
99X needs to be out out of its misery. It is way past its glory days of the 1990s. Whatever is considered alternative today,that is not alternative. It is junk.
By Erik from Atlanta
October 24, 2007 9:12 AM | Link to this
99X needs to be out out of its misery. It is way past its glory days of the 1990s. Whatever is considered alternative today,that is not alternative. It is junk.
By Lannie
October 24, 2007 9:14 AM | Link to this
If that station would drop Old Man Fram they may see some actual improvements in it’s numbers. I can listen to that morning show until she chimes in with her useless banter. Have Leslie answer the phones just to keep her for nostalgia purposes but please keep her off the air and out of day to day operations. Love you honey, please don’t be mad!
By Bud
October 24, 2007 9:27 AM | Link to this
Wow…15 years of Xcrement. AltRock sucks, and now it has largely been replaced by cRap music. What’s next, country metal?? Texano trance??
Their current format has no focus and tries to hold on to too many different groups.
The sooner their ratings drop to zero the better! Between Dave and 99X scoring a 1.9 and a 1.7 respectively, and least one of these stations must DIE and be replaced by station that’ll play some Rock & Roll by Led Zep, the Who, the Beatles, the Stones, Rush, Deep Purple, and AC/DC.
By Souldrift
October 24, 2007 10:01 AM | Link to this
Late 30s here - 99x plays a bit too much Screamo for me, but overall it beats 96.1’s heavy noise format by a long shot. It’s the only local station playing Muse, a hugely successful and visionary band from the UK. Dave is too dry for me.
99x all the way!
By Fred
October 24, 2007 10:49 AM | Link to this
Rodney, its clear you hate 99X and love Chris Williams. When was the last time you wrote anything about 99X without giving credit to Chris, and the blame to Fram? Seriously, are you getting paid under the table? We get it, you hate X and love 96.
By Perrynoid
October 24, 2007 11:23 AM | Link to this
I’ve reduced Leslie Fram to nothing more than a punchline like I said I would do.
Somebody please step in and throw in the towel on behalf of 99X and it’s listenrs.
atlanta listeners deserve to be entertained every morning. 99x has proven over and over again that they lack the on-air talent & chemistry required to rise above the other sheep in the industry.
there isn’t one person inside the radio station at 99X that deserves to work in radio.
i said it. and i stand behind it.
love, perrynoid
By Brian
October 24, 2007 11:29 AM | Link to this
If you go back and research the situation back in 1992, Power 99 only had two bad ratings books. It was also about the time that then-PD Rick Stacy found a box of his old college records (his words from the talk show the morning of the flip). So he took advantage of the situation with the fluky Arbitrons and then-GM Bill Phippen being terminally ill and sold the rest of Susquehanna management that he was tweaking the station into a “Top 40 for the 1990s” (again, his words).
There were many calls from people that said if they were going alternative then they would turn it off, but of course that didn’t stop Stacy and he ended up getting blown out a couple of months later.
As a major market PD he should have known that CHR is cyclical and fluky. It’s a long-term war not a short-term battle. Have a look at Z100 in NYC. They’ve leaned dance, rock, pop and back again one way and the next for 25 years and they’re still there as the heritage CHR. That could have been Power 99.
By radio listener
October 24, 2007 1:49 PM | Link to this
They’ve lost me with the incessant teeny-bopper bands (Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco!, Seether, etc.). I’d like to see them put a fork in it and try a new older-skewing format.
Project doesn’t really do it for me, for that matter, and Dave is hit-and-miss.
I’ve mostly gone back to news/talk. I still have the rock stations on my pre-sets, but I’m spending most of my time on either 90.1 or 680.
Best rock I’ve heard in Atlanta was the weekends on the ill-fated Real Radio 105.3. They had a great playlist… literally almost like what I’d put on a mix CD. Both great artists & great tunes.
By Sean
October 24, 2007 2:00 PM | Link to this
Rodney,
I just got an e-mail from a listener who sent me a copy of your latest offering from AJC.com. Woa, I didn’t realize you were so caustic towards 99X. I have no problem with your ratings report although you kinda messed up the 18-34 rankings…none the less reading the rest of your intimations I wanted to set the record straight(er) than stated. I’m not sure where you got a lot of your info, but having lived it and being one of the three major principles responsible for signing on 99X I feel I can share some stuff. In the 90s ATL radio was underserved. 99X was a lot of thing to a lot of people. With the sign on of more signals and more stations targeting 18-34 year olds everyone’s cume and shares diminished. Do you realize that Arbitron’s methodology is archaic? For us any qualitative audience worth attracting is lessened because Arbitron only contacts those with home phones. A huge percentage of “Alternative” listeners are cell phone only users. This station has always based our success on results not numbers. This was even true in the 90s. This is not mean to say but the psychographic of an Active rock listener makes them much easier to find and measure. Believe me, I knew what I was jumping back into when I got here. To me the direction that the station took back in 2000 was a detriment. You can’t go from being Atlanta’s alternative station playing U2, REM and Green Day to suddenly being the Korn, Disturbed and Limp Bizkit station. That wasn’t 99X and if it was to go in that direction they should have changed the name of the station. I know this first hand after taking over the helm at Live105 in San Francisco. They did the same with similar results. It took me 4 out of the 5 years I was there to get it back to a semblance of it audience qualitative and billing potential. As far as your affront to Leslie’s relevance I can tell you first hand I have known her for many years and have amazing respect for what she does in front and behind the scenes to make this puppy run. Without her, yes this place would have become something else in the early 2000s (something incongruent with the foundation of 99x). Her ability to program for overall station health and her relationships with bands, managers and the local community make her freakin’ invaluable. Freakin’ invaluable. The loyalty she instills, the freedom and creative atmosphere she affords her staff is unparallel. It’s the reason I left a larger market in a key programming position to come back to work with her. Ask anybody else in this business if there’s a more creatively free, mentally stimulating, fun place to work… you probably won’t find one. One more thing… as of now I’ve had it up to here with the bashing of Leslie. It seems to come from mostly one source ala Carl Rove, “Say it enough times and maybe someone will believe it” strategy. Many of those who were instructed to participate have reached out to apologize. I know this because I have acted as the conduit in several instances. Look, 99X like in the 90s was a kick-ass station, we love working here and will continue to labor long hours of loving dedication to make it truly fruitful. All things worth doing take this kind of dedication. I’m not here to recreate the past. That was so then. This is now and I wouldn’t change where we’re headed for the world. OK, I’m done. Sean Demery
By Bradley
October 24, 2007 2:13 PM | Link to this
Gee who pee’d in Rodney’s Corn Flakes? It must have been 99X because the few times I’ve come here to kill some time I’ve gotten an eye full of hater for a stations that I enjoy enough to listen to at all. It’s not that I dislike Dave or 96, I just don’t get what the big deal is. If 99X is so bad how come they’re still here? They seem fine to me. Does anybody have an answer for this? Your answer better be better than my dog is better than your dog.
By iam99sux
October 24, 2007 2:48 PM | Link to this
Wow! Sean (if that is really you) listen to the people. I don’t care if Leslie (old man) Fram is responsible for all the music in Atlanta, she should stay behind the scenes. Don’t get me wrong, she has a great voice and should be doing easy listening radio. Probably Lannie has someting to do with her still being there. The music is alright. Personally I like Project 9-6-1 (name sucks though). The new morning x’s team is alright at best. Also don’t forget all the times Ho was batting for 99x when they were getting decimated by the Regular Guys.
By Rumsfield
October 24, 2007 3:26 PM | Link to this
Hey Sean - here’s what I don’t get that one of you should address:
If the show sucks, which it does, and the numbers are bad, which they are, how can you all say you are where you want to be? There is nothing on the ‘really getting old already’ Morning X for me to tune in to. I couldn’t wait to see hear what Fred Toucher was going to bring up between the songs - and I mean every break. There was always something that made me laugh. Back in the Barnes Leslie & Jimmy days - every break had something going on. They had real conversations that weren’t trite like now. Now there’s banality and lame attempts at humor. So fix that instead of nit-picking the ratings or bashing the message, Rodney. The ratings suck because the show sucks. That’s the view from this viewer’s opinion, and I’m not a radio insider, just a longtime and mostly former listener. I do like your segment where you play new records no one else will, heard that today briefly.
(Leslie has been such a Karl Rove and GW fan all these years - ironic if she’s being done in by their slash and burn style politics. What a cruel turn. Don’t underestimate her voicing her right-wing opinions having something to do with her lack of popularity.)
By Joey Mills
October 24, 2007 3:33 PM | Link to this
Seriously Rodney - wtf. Chris Williams can you do something else than bash Leslie Fram? You have some sickness. Your obsession with bashing your former employer was funny for a minute, but now this its just sad.
By DP
October 24, 2007 3:34 PM | Link to this
Leslie Fram is extremely talented. She has a wit second to none. The problem is she is not set up to use her talent by the cohorts on the show. They leave her stranded.
By Rodney Ho
October 24, 2007 3:53 PM | Link to this
Sean—I wasn’t trying to be caustic. I was just calling it like I see it. And I have nothing but the deepest respect for what Leslie has achieved on that station. Nobody can deny the influence she’s had on rock radio over the years. She deserves all the accolades she’s gotten.
Still, the Arbitron numbers are the Arbitron numbers. Sure, they’re flawed but every radio station in town has to deal with the flaws, not just 99X. And I stated some of the flaws in my Arbitron entry a couple days ago.
By Erik from Atlanta
October 24, 2007 4:54 PM | Link to this
To Sean Demery: Could you sound any more like a wanker & a has been?
By Erik from Atlanta
October 24, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
To Sean Demery: Could you sound any more like a wanker & a has been?
By Perrynoid
October 24, 2007 5:17 PM | Link to this
Listen Up Leslie…
I ended Power 99 and I’m ending 99x. You just have to sit back and watch little lady.
The Giant Show has brought me to Atlanta to put the final knife in your back. So somebody better get Nana her nightgown cause i’m putting you to bed!
And as for Sean Dumb-ery…keep crying. You got PEE-PEE eyes little girl? People don’t like you anymore? Waaa waaaa. You’re the only guy in Alt. Rock that has grey hair - at least dye it.
Leslie - I’m the captain of the ship. Come all aboard because it’s a direct trip to the unemployment line.
Better get some weight on those old bones because working a construction site demands you have some strength.
By Lanny Fram
October 24, 2007 5:54 PM | Link to this
I don’t get Sean’s point. If ratings are down for everyone like he says, how does that explain why 99x is in last place? Were they always in last place when everyone had bigger ratings too?
By Brian
October 24, 2007 6:48 PM | Link to this
What does “alternative” mean nowadays anyway (besides being the “alternative” to getting ratings)? Anything 99X plays that’s worth a crap ends up on Project, Star and Q.
99X has far outlived its usefulness in what was really a fad format in the first place. Power 99 should never have been blown up, and at the very least Q100 should have been on 99.7 from the beginning.
By Dale Jr Fan
October 25, 2007 9:11 AM | Link to this
MAN I WISH THEY WOOD PALY MOORE SKINARD
FREEBIRD!!!!!
By Tom Simmons
October 25, 2007 9:17 AM | Link to this
Okay people, seriously, all of the b*** and whining is getting old. If you say you’re going to quit listening, do it, and be done with it. There’s nothing more irritating that saying “I’m going to quit, I’m going to quit”, and yet, you’re still listening.
As far as the station goes, it’s continued with the same format for 15 years. When it was Power 99, someone had enough sense to try out the format nightly from 7 to midnight. Obviously, there was enough listener feedback for the station to make a needed change and take a gamble on an unknown format. And correct me if I’m wrong, listeners ate it up. With grunge and Nirvana breaking, there wasn’t a station in Atlanta that had enough balls to play them…96 Rock wasn’t playing them. No one was playing even a little know local band called Collective Soul and the only R.E.M. songs you heard on the radio was the ones that broke Top 40. Give credit where credit is due. If it weren’t for 99x, a lot of the bands you hear on Project or even Dave, wouldn’t have gotten any air time. Right now, there isn’t anything that is driving one particular format.
Talent – again, give credit where credit is due. Demery and Fram may be older than the Giant at Project, but seriously, if I wanted to hear the crap spewing out of kids, I’d listen to 88.5. There’s a reason Leslie is where she is and has been for years, not to mention being one of the most powerful women in radio, which is dominated by men. If I wanted to hear a station spewing estrogen, I’d listen to Q100.
It appears that Rodney can’t mention Project without throwing Chris Williams’ name in the same sentence. 99x’s longevity cannot be attributed to Willams as a single entity. Sure, he may have had a hand in help shaping 99x, but it wasn’t solely his doing. Obviously his M.O. for Project is that he feels the need to constantly bash the former station and have the jocks do the same. Sinking so low as to give out people’s cell numbers over the air. Is he a Program Director or still in 3rd grade? You don’t hear 99x bashing Project to the extent that Project does to 99x. It may be the mentality of the staff that they have to act like their target demographic.
Ratings – sure they may be bad, but is the system being used a bit outdated? I think everyone would agree that it is. With the new technology coming next year, I think that ratings will change to everyone’s surprise. Rolling Stone made that call a few issues ago. They found that things were not quite what the ratings appeared to be.
Something can be said for a station that made a format change to an unknown format and still be around in that same format 15 years later. How many Atlanta stations can say that? Not 96 Rock (now Project) or Z93 (now Dave), which appear to be trying to mimic 99x in some way. Even Star 94 went from Adult Contemporary to Top 40 after Power 99 changed. Even 105.3 couldn’t keep a solid format until they went to a Hispanic format, thus giving birth to Project. Again, there’s something to be said about longevity and consistency.
By Marc Chase
October 25, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this
Hey man…I know how to make a format zing…If I ran 99X, it would have been 15 years / 15 formats.
By Lanny Fram
October 25, 2007 9:51 AM | Link to this
Tom Simmons says: “Okay people, seriously, all of the b* and whining is getting old. If you say you’re going to quit listening, do it, and be done with it. There’s nothing more irritating that saying “I’m going to quit, I’m going to quit”, and yet, you’re still listening.”
I don’t think they are threatening, I think they have already quit. Based on the ratings Rodney Ho quoted they have already stopped listening.
By Perrynoid
October 25, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this
Damn, man. I love how Reject 961 is giving away a totally awesome Chevelle…yeah…nothing says new and extreme to an 18 year old guy like a Chevelle! Awesome. ‘Tallica. ‘Lanta.
Let’s wrestle.
By Tom Simmons
October 25, 2007 10:16 AM | Link to this
If you read the comments, people are threatening that they are going to quit listening and yet they are still here complaining. If they had already quit listening, then they wouldn’t even be on here. Sounds to me like they still are…
By perrynoid
October 25, 2007 10:23 AM | Link to this
Mr Ho, with all due respect great sir, Isnt there a way you could check the IP addresses of certain posters? This could weed out the many Perrynoid imposters that feel the need to cowardly post & hide behind MY name.
By N is for Neville
October 25, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this
Ask anybody else in this business if there’s a more creatively free, mentally stimulating, fun place to work…
How about we ask Steve Craig and Dekker instead?
By Rumsfield
October 25, 2007 1:51 PM | Link to this
Hey Tom Simmons -
So the ratings are really good - its just that the Arbritron people got it wrong? What about the stations that are at the top of the heap, not the bottom? Are they supposed to take your word for this? Rodney’s right - the system surely is flawed but everybody’s gotta live with it for now - it’s a little more scientific than you saying ‘our ratings are really good, we’re doing great, quit whining.’
If this is any barometer of 99x’s popularity, or at least the morning show’s: I attended last year’s December concert, where the Killers cancelled, and they had a good crowd - clearly thousands of people listened to the station enough to know about the show and most probably won free tickets. And they had a good time - 99x knows how to throw a bash. But in the middle of the event when they introduced the Morning X - the big crowd’s reaction — at the moment there was supposed to be roaring appause at the announcement of THE NEW MORNING X — was total indifference. I didn’t hear much booing, but I also didn’t hear any applause. Just indifference that spoke volumes.
And quit knocking 88.5’s Dj’s. They truly are kids, and for my tastes they play a lot of good stuff I wouldn’t otherwise hear.
By Perrynoid
October 25, 2007 2:48 PM | Link to this
Yes, Rodney. Please. So many people are hiding behind me, the true Perrynoid, the unabashed genius who will single-handedly rule Atlanta radio.
By bopfly
October 25, 2007 2:49 PM | Link to this
I am one of those who used to faithfully listen to 99x from the day I landed in Atlanta in 1996. I’ve been a big alternative fan since the early 80’s. The one big thing that truned me off of 99x is the terrrible on air personalities. I just couldn’t take it any more. First the Morning X is gone and then when a good replacement is finally put in place (The TJL show) suddenly their gone! The new Morning X is quite possibly the worst morning show I’ve ever heard. I love the music, but just play music and shut up! …..and then it’s decided to put Dekker, the only decent one left, in some closet. That was the straw that broke this camel’s back. I don’t claim to not listen - I don’t. Axel is barely tolerable and they’ve dismanteled the Steve show, so as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing left. I go to the 99xwatch page at least once a week for one sole purpose and that’s to find out when 99x finally comes to it’s senses and bring back some real on air talent. I can’t even listen on the weekends anymore because they saturate it with those ridiculous commercials for the morning show. Hopefully one day Atlanta will get a good alternative station with some real on air talent.
By 99xWatchWatcher
October 25, 2007 3:09 PM | Link to this
I go to the 99xwatch page at least once a week…
What a great use of your time, considering he updates it once or twice a month.
By Kevin
October 25, 2007 4:44 PM | Link to this
In 1998 when I was driving myself here with a few pots and pans, some clothes and a barely working TV, I heard 99x for the first time. I had never heard anything like it. I instantly listened to nothing else and call myself a P1 to this day, though I will admit since I got Sirius I dont listen to any terrestrial radio anywhere near as much anymore.
For those of you bashing ratings let me tell you this. Ratings dont mean anything as long as you can sell your audience. The audience of 99x though smaller by the numbers is still young and affluent and because of that still very attractive because this station can deliver that audience to advertisers. If business did not see a return on advertising they would not advertise. If they did not advertise that would be the thing that would flip the station to Country Rap or whatever the new format of the day is.
I spend millions of dollars in advertising in this market and for years have been more than impressed with the service and the results from campaigns and event marketing ops with 99x. This goes back to when they were a market ratings leader to last year, when they were by the numbers irrlelvant. There are many other stations I cannot say the same with.
Arbitron numbers are what buyers use to make decisions about ad spend. Those that use only the numbers are not good buyers. Those that look into and behind to find their clients core consumers in the numbers are the ones that make their clients money.
PPM’s are going to change the landscape here and X will be one of a couple of stations who are suddenly going to find some of their lost audience.
By cherie
October 26, 2007 5:33 PM | Link to this
jeez kevin, where the hell did you come from? by 1998, the 99X phenomenon had more than swept the county. there were wannabes in cities from major markets down to medium ones.
but then, reading the way you throw industry terms around, you already knew that, didn’t you?
By Toucher
October 31, 2007 10:43 AM | Link to this
Leslie Fram is a washed-up has-been, who needs to know when to quit with dignity. Watch out her husband Lanny might sue you if you dare say anything negative about his wife!
By Lannie
October 31, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Toucher, my lawyers have been notifed of your slanderous comments and they will speak with you soon. You already know them from your dealings with the Barnes lawsuit.
By Barnes
November 1, 2007 11:09 AM | Link to this
Will somebody please hire me back at 99x.
By Jax
November 2, 2007 3:23 PM | Link to this
I was a devoted 99x fan until a) Chris Williams ruined the music and b) Fred Toucher killed my morning radio show. I’m one of the legions of women who fled to Q100 for their morning fix after Toucher and Chris’ combined efforts made it clear that “no gurls r allowd” on 99x.
Truth is, The Morning X had its flaws, too — even back then, Fram and Jimmy were too old — and frankly, too willing to talk about their wealth — to really relate to their post-grunge listeners. But their chemistry was great and that made up for a lot. Hell, even Barnes’ fading fratboy gimmick worked with Jimmy and Leslie there to balance him out.
When I heard Sean Demery was returning to 99x, I came running back like a good little fangirl, and was pleased to find that the music had changed back to where it had been before Chris.
As for the New Morning X, I’ve never wanted to like a morning show more. Sean was back, they were getting some new blood and I hoped Fram would regain her relevance by not being forced to take part in Fred Toucher’s women’s haters club.
I wanted to love you, New Morning X. I really did.
But Jenners just doesn’t flip the chemistry switch with you guys and the conversations between you all…well, they leave much to be desired. As toxic as Toucher was, you guys have gone to the other extreme, leaving us with an end product so bland and inane that it can be difficult for a viewer to engage.
Once upon a time, alternative music was called “alternative” for a reason — it wasn’t what was popular, you had to seek it out, it had a rebelliousness to it, an edginess, and so did the people that listened to it. And so, some years have passed and that audience has gotten older. It would seem the folks at 99x presume that an older crowd wants a more sedate, non-challenging, NPR-like morning experience, but that’s not the case. We’re still the same “alternative” audience, we still appreciate edginess and passion. Give us something unexpected! Give us something cool and inspired! Talk about subjects you can be passionate about and remind us why we liked you and that music and everything that made up the alternative scenes. At the same time, keep it moving forward with new music and find new ways to interact with your tech-savvy users.
Stay relevant. Stay on the air. Reinvent yourself.
…then, 99x, I’ll be back. The music’s a good start. Fix the morning show and you’ll have me back for good.
By Shasta
November 2, 2007 3:42 PM | Link to this
It matters in ratings because every stations demo is different. Think about it. The type of people that listen to Project more than likely have land lines (home phone lines). They probably conduct business on those lines, like let’s say, construction workers. The demo at 99x is different it’s a younger, hipper audience. They only have “new” technology. No need for the old when the new is available. They use cell phones, like Sean stated. Think before you speak.