Confessions of a Power99 junkie

[Merlin Berlin]

Can anyone please clarify something for me that I've read a couple times here. Rick Stacey actually changed the format of the station without management knowing?!?! Howinthehell does that happen?? Oh, and Crash, it's good to hear from you. I think the majority of the folks on here are happy to hear that you and Freddy and Rich are doing well in "Bahstin".

 

[bclark71.]

Can anyone please clarify something for me that I've read a couple times here. Rick Stacey actually changed the format of the station without management knowing?!?! Howinthehell does that happen?? Oh, and Crash, it's good to hear from you. I think the majority of the folks on here are happy to hear that you and Freddy and Rich are doing well in "Bahstin".

What I know is what came from a Creative Loafing article on 99X in 1992. They interviewed Rick Stacy and he said that the night before the change, management called him and said that if this was going to be "alternative," then don't do it. So he ran out to Turtles and saw all of the music they had ready to go in the POP/ROCK bin and then went ahead with the switch anyway.

That he was subsequently removed from 99X a couple of months later tells me that management was serious about making changes to the station. Remember also that GM Bill Phippen (one of the kindest, nicest, most knowledgeable radio managers there ever was, by the way) had been sick for months before the flip and had passed away in September.

So it seems to me that advantage was taken. That's what has always stuck in my craw about the change, that it was done in what seemed to be an underhanded fashion.

 

[uglyredhonda]

Management knew there was going to be a format shift and a new name for the station. Power 99 was gone, regardless of what the new format was going to be. They gave Stacy full license to do what he wanted. But what they actually wanted was more of a shift within Top 40, not a complete flip to modern rock. Stacy justified it by noting that they were doing a pop-leaning alternative, not necessarily a full flip to alternative.

There's a 2002 article at AllBusiness.com where Stacy and Fram talk about the change:

http://www.allbusiness.com/transportation-communications/communications-radio/4358632-1.html

You'll need to register to get the whole article, but bogus emails will work (there's no confirmation).

Stacy: "We had a few bad books at Power 99, and management decided they wanted to change the name of the station and change the music slightly," Stacy continues. "I took it upon myself to change the station to what it is today. We had already put the list of 600 records together, with the help of a local consultant, and this was the music I liked. The neatest thing about it was that I had this blank canvas, and it was my dream to put on what I thought would be the ultimate radio station, and that was 99X. It was me, [then-MD] Sean [Demery], Leslie Fram, and imaging director Keith Eubanks."

 

[monkeymanmoi]

It was me, [then-MD] Sean [Demery], Leslie Fram, and imaging director Keith Eubanks."

I worked briefly with Keith down at Auburn's campus station in '83 or '84. Sad to hear about his passing.