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99x
- Thread starter prescott
- Start date
L
LinoNYC
Guest
prescott said:
Try here: http://99xnewyork.com/
I personally preferred the WOR-fm period but there is no denying the fact that by fall 1974 99X was everywhere. It was the station most likely to topple WABC with the youth audience.
It's somewhat ironic that only a year after WKTU beat WABC, WXLO dropped the "99X' slogan and eventually switched to a black format.
In the fall of 1979 they applied to get back their old WOR-fm calls but were denied because of another station protesting that these were too similar to theirs. This, even though the station was still co-owned with WOR-am!
Lino
I worked behind the scenes with Jay's morning show, along with Charlie Steiner, Big Bob Slade, and this nice intern named Bernie Gershon. (don't call him 'Bernie' now!)
It was a great crew, and I got to meet many of the other dayparters. Ran into Steve Weed years later, recalling the old days was a hoot.
It was a great crew, and I got to meet many of the other dayparters. Ran into Steve Weed years later, recalling the old days was a hoot.
J
junior
Guest
All I remember about the station was they had some contest you could win if you answered the phone saying "99X is my radio station". I remember it because I did it. What a surprise I ended up in this business !!!!
F
fang39
Guest
My brother was into "The X" big time in the mid 70's, as he was "The King" of the call-in contests (pre-Stu Denning). He was all of 12 or 13 at the time and my parents even let him have his own phone line installed just for that purpose. He won everything from albums to concet tickets and of course, lots of cold, hard cash! In fact, he won so much money, he had to file a Tax Return one year!
Personally, I was more into WCBS-FM and WNEW-FM at the time and didn't start listening to 99X until around 1978, which was the year I got my first taste of the business. I was working weekends at a High School station in Plainview and used to make regular visits to 99X (along with WNNNNNNNBC!), where I would hang out in the studios with the jocks and get to rummage through the piles of promo singles in their record cage.
One time, I found a promo copy of Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs." I brought it to the attention of the Assistant PD/Music Director "Gunshot" Rob Sisco (I referred to him as "Disco Sisco," which he surely didn't appreciate, lol!). He didn't recognize the song title and began to search their albums looking for it. Until that point in time, it hadn't appeared on any Fleetwood Mac LP. Before you knew it, the station began playing the cut, hyping it as "a Fleetwood Mac song not available anywhere!" A couple of days later, I was thumbing through my 45's at home, and noticed that "Silver Springs" was actually the flip side of "Go Your Own Way." I brought the single into the station the following day and showed it to Sisco. No problem, Rob said. He quickly changed the promo to say "not available on any album anywhere!" Today, Rob Sisco is President of Nielsen Music and Chief Operating Officer of Nielsen Entertainment, East Coast Operations.
The summer of 1979 was a very sad time around the station as they began to transition from a 99X (Top 40) to FM99 (Adult Contemporary). In fact, they even hyped the season as "the last summer at 99X." It was the end of an era, as there wasn't a true Top 40 station in the market until Z100 came on the scene in August of 1983.
Personally, I was more into WCBS-FM and WNEW-FM at the time and didn't start listening to 99X until around 1978, which was the year I got my first taste of the business. I was working weekends at a High School station in Plainview and used to make regular visits to 99X (along with WNNNNNNNBC!), where I would hang out in the studios with the jocks and get to rummage through the piles of promo singles in their record cage.
One time, I found a promo copy of Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs." I brought it to the attention of the Assistant PD/Music Director "Gunshot" Rob Sisco (I referred to him as "Disco Sisco," which he surely didn't appreciate, lol!). He didn't recognize the song title and began to search their albums looking for it. Until that point in time, it hadn't appeared on any Fleetwood Mac LP. Before you knew it, the station began playing the cut, hyping it as "a Fleetwood Mac song not available anywhere!" A couple of days later, I was thumbing through my 45's at home, and noticed that "Silver Springs" was actually the flip side of "Go Your Own Way." I brought the single into the station the following day and showed it to Sisco. No problem, Rob said. He quickly changed the promo to say "not available on any album anywhere!" Today, Rob Sisco is President of Nielsen Music and Chief Operating Officer of Nielsen Entertainment, East Coast Operations.
The summer of 1979 was a very sad time around the station as they began to transition from a 99X (Top 40) to FM99 (Adult Contemporary). In fact, they even hyped the season as "the last summer at 99X." It was the end of an era, as there wasn't a true Top 40 station in the market until Z100 came on the scene in August of 1983.
Another great jock on that station that nobody seems to mention was Jay Stone. He did mornings on 99X for a few years, then moved on to San Francisco. He came back to N.Y. a few years later as a weekend guy and fill-in on WNNNNNNNNNNNNNNBC. Unfortunately he was killed in a car accident in Hawaii a few years ago.
F
fang39
Guest
jamjimaria said:
I remember Jay from his stint at WNBC. He must have been at 99X in the early 70's, as I recall Terry Nelson manning the morning show 74-76, when Jay Thomas took over. When Jay went "Hollywood" in '79, Dick Sloan filled in for a couple of months until Scotty Brink came on board to usher in FM99 in the fall of that year.
F
fang39
Guest
gumbo said:
Which is when Dick Sloan took over the mornings (with Needlbaum).
fang39 said:
I thought Jay Stone was there around 1974 or 1975 but if you are sure that Terry Nelson was there between 74-76 you probably remember better than I do. I thought Terry was there at an earlier time frame. Maybe Jay was there in the early 70's, but I do remember him being there.
Wasn't Scotty Brink also on WNBC for a while in the late 70's after they fired Imus and before they brought him back? If memory serves me right, he was teamed with Richard Belzer, and weren't they called Brink & Belzer?
F
fang39
Guest
jamjimaria said:
Yes. Scotty was teamed with Belzer, a stand-up comedian on WNBC in 1978. They replaced Ellie Dylan, who had taken over the morning show when Bob Pittman took over programming the station the year before. Dylan was also Pittman's girlfriend at the time.
Funny thing, I just looked up Scotty Brink in 440 Satisfaction to verify the years and it doesn't even have WXLO listed as one of his stations!
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