Rudiecantfail’s Weblog

After learning that 99x was going “the way of the dinosaur”:

Now, every commercial radio station is faced with a certain dilemma: play it safe and stick to the top 40, or take a chance once in a while and mix in some deep cuts and older tracks that may not be as popular. This can be tricky because most listeners want to hear the hits, but then again, many listeners want to hear a good variety of the new and old, the popular and not so popular. We must admit that commercial radio is primarily driven by hits, but for a good radio station, there is no problem in also playing some music outside the top 40 in their format. Truly, a good radio station finds a balance between the two areas and attempts to appeal to these two groups. To me, one of the last stations in my area that did this was 99x.

99x played a decent mixture of material and they had DJs who were seemingly true music fans. The station was not programmed from a central location (as many are), for the most part they played a good variety of songs, they actually had featured music shows, and the DJs were not hired simply because they had a good voice, but because they knew their music. Any radio station should meet these requirements, but unfortunately there are very few that do.

When I learned that 99x was leaving Atlanta radio, I was shocked and appalled. “How could this happen?” I asked myself. I mean, they covered the format of alternative rock, and were only one of two stations in the area to do so. Unlike the other station, they did a good job in their format. They played the standard, always popular Seether, Finger Eleven, and Linkin Park, but they also played decent music like Silverchair, Modest Mouse, and the new Radiohead and Eddie Vedder songs. These artists were paired with a good variety of older “alternative” music as well, and there always seemed to be a good amount of musical intelligence that went into programming. Where was the problem then? Maybe listeners just want the same Finger Eleven and Seether over and over again, and don’t care for anything else. Possibly, listeners may not really care what a DJ actually knows about the music they are playing. Perhaps it is this “cookie cutter” mentality that listeners like and appreciate, which is fine. After all, to each their own. Many listeners just want the hits. There are, however, others that don’t. I am one of those people.

99x was the last of a dying breed: a station that seemed to take some sort of value in what they played, a station with some substance. The hits weren’t on a loop, programs and shows focused on a variety of musical tastes within the “alternative” format, and they actually championed local music. Basically, 99x refused to be a copy of a Clear Channel radio station. After winning several radio awards, and in may ways acting as a minor “KROQ,” 99x’s new reward is removal from Atlanta radio.

Tom Petty released a song a couple years ago, called “The Last DJ” and immediately I am reminded of this song and how true it reads.

“Well you can’t turn him into a company man
You can’t turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs just don’t understand anymore
Well the top brass don’t like him talking so much,
And he won’t play what they say to play
And he don’t want to change what don’t need to change”

Later Petty sings:

” As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs want to see
How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free

There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play…”

Mediocrity pays the bills apparently. 99x could have been better, but since being bought by Cumulus, they really weren’t “allowed” much freedom. The hits became more frequent than ever, and the consequences meant less time for much else. They seemed to do all they could, however, to keep at least a shred of dignity. Long time shows like Steve Craig’s “Retroplex,” Matt Jones’ “Organic X”, and “Sunday School” regularly featured music outside the norm, and many songs in these playlists were scattered throughout regular hours on the station. I mean, if they had any kind of choice in the matter, many of the DJs probably would have never played the Plain White T’s any more than they deserved to be played (which in my opinion, is not at all). They probably would have focused more attention on other relevant up and coming artists, or at least ones that are less cliched and less played. However, advertisers want to pay for time on a well listened to station, though, and artists like that are well listened to. Ultimately, though, the decision to not play a song list of about ten popular songs (like project 96.1) cost DJs their jobs, and the station to be taken off the air.

For much of their time on the air, 99x was independent. After being bought by Cumulus, though, the station lost much of its appeal for me. Cumulus seemed to kept them on a “short leash” and let them play only so much. Now, breaking new artists like the Cranberries was almost unheard of, and instead 99x filled those spots with more Finger Eleven. After all, chances are risky, and could loss more ratings. The casual listener probably noticed little difference, but to the long time listener, there was certainly something different. The music became more restrained, and long time DJs (and station founders!!!) were let go for nothing more than ratings. This was not enough for Cumulus, and now the plan is to move the station to online only and move the “just the hits” Q100 radio station into its place. To me, Q100 represents everything that is wrong with radio, and this move is another sure fire sign that commercial radio is destined to be cliched and cookie cutter.

In the end, taking chances seems almost worthless if the reward is losing your job and your radio station. Putting the same ten songs on repeat seems like the most logical way to run a radio station these days. Radio becomes a place where creativity, spontaneity, and chance are sent packing, and redundancy, mediocrity, and commercialism take their place. Should we just acknowledge that we will not discover another Cranberries, that we will not hear some deep cut from the Cure on a show like the “Retroplex,” or that local artists do not deserve radio time? Clearly, with company’s like Cumulus and Clear Channel, the answer is yes. I mean after all, we all need a little more Nickelback.