ksradiogeek said:
I'm fascinated by 99X and the legendary status it provided for Atlanta. Does anyone remember the first hour of music (after Video Killed The Radio Star), early direction, program schedules, etc.? Also, if anyone has any 99X merch they wouldn't mind selling, please let me know. I won't pay hundreds, but I'll spend a few on getting my hands on some history!
Also, when did Domino and Rick Stacy leave?
The first several days were automated. The format change clip pretty much mirrors how it was - song, then short non-sequitur/bumper, rinse, repeat.
Domino was the only jock officially let go with the format change. (It was immediate.) I don't think Stacy stayed for more than a few weeks. If you dived through the AJC stacks - I believe there was an article from the fall of 1992 that explained the transition in full, including Stacy explaining his departure.
Btw - they had their first promo t-shirt that week, which they gave out at the premiere party. Sean showed up a few days later at Turtle's Rhythm and Views in the still-Power 99 Mastercard Mastervalues van and started giving them out. The first shirt was white - had "ni * ne * ni * nex" on the front. On the back was a plain sans-serif bold 99X, plus an excerpt of an article from the AJC.
As far as programming, off the top of my head, I believe the first few months were:
Mornings: Sean Demry & Leslie Fram
Middays: Steve Craig
Afternoons: Barnes
Evenings: Will Pendarvis
I think Jill was doing late night, but I can't remember for sure. (I remember a really young guy working on-air in probably early 1993, but I can't remember which shift he had. I'm thinking he may have been early evenings - I think, at some point, they pushed Will's show to start later.)
Initially, the music was alternative with a few Top 40 tracks mixed in. (I believe there's a Madonna track in that first hour.) Shortly thereafter, they wiped out the Top 40 tracks, and it pretty much became a wide mix of alternative stuff.
Again, off the top of my head, this was the kind of stuff that they played in the first few weeks:
Marc Almond - Tears Run Rings
Beautiful South - 36D, We Are Each Other
Blur - There's No Other Way
Catherine Wheel - I Want to Touch You
Gene Loves Jezebel - Josephina
Inspiral Carpets - Two Worlds Collide
Lightning Seeds - Pure
Morrissey - Tomorrow, We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Roxy Music - More Than This
Sugar - Helpless
(They spun the hell out of Gin Blossoms' "Hey Jealousy" starting that December, despite the fact that it didn't become a national hit for almost another year.)
While they played Pearl Jam, RHCP, and Nirvana (etc), the music wasn't super-grunge-ish, as I recall. Until early 1994, it seemed like more of a light-ish alternative than a true "rock" station, in some respects. And it was pretty wide playlist-wise - after some middling ratings in the first few months, they notably tightened it up. (I remember having a short conversation with Barnes on that subject sometime in mid-1993.)
Despite the tighter playlist, they still pretty much played by their own rules. For example, in the summer of 1993, they had R.E.M.'s cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (a b-side to "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite") in regular rotation. I think the first band they were really credited with breaking was The Cranberries ("Linger"). They also were the first station in town to play Ace of Base ("All That She Wants"). (It should say something about their playlist in late 1993 that "All That She Wants" didn't seem out of place.)
Btw - one of the more interesting (to me) promotions that the station did in those first few weeks in 1992 - they had a phone number that you could call for information about the station, and you might randomly win a 99X t-shirt. I remember calling that thing daily for a few weeks. I was so psyched when the envelope showed up with a black 99X t-shirt. (Peace sign on the back with a bunch of bands.)
