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R.I.P 99X

M

Merlin Berlin

Well to say the writing was on the wall is surely the understatement of 2008. Yeah it always sux when people lose their jobs. Say what you want about the people that wake up this morning and find themselves unemployed, some of these folks are the ones that made 99X what it was "back in the day". So on that note, I would like to see what some folks can come up with when you look back over the last 16 years and think about what this station was and what were your personal highlights:

- Having the opportunity to work there during it's heyday and seeing the original Morning X firing all all cylinders. Was there a better morning show at the time?
- Sean's "Swinging Velveeta Lounge"
- Will Pendarvis (sp?) doing nights and getting the whole thing started in '92. What was the name of the show he did in the evenings on Power 99 before they flipped? Was it "On the Edge with Will Pendarvis"?
- The music. In the beginning there was nothing like it. The bands I'd only had a chance to start listening to on KROQ before I moved from L.A. and all of the new music they brought to the mainstream.
- The concerts!! Radiohead in the rain at Stone Mountain. Greenday at the Roxy and plaster falling from the ceiling because is was so freakin' loud. The Chinese New Year shows. Big Day Out. Some little band out of Australia with 16 year old kids in it named Silverchair at some airplane hanger or something up off of Buford Hwy. R.E.M. selling out how many nights at The Fox? Pearl Jam at The Fox broadcasting live around the world.
 
The Retroplex/Hose of Retro Pleasure/Haunted House of Retro Pleasure
Christmas-ized songs

Sean's playing Bittersweet Symphony a bazillion times in a row because could.

Audio of Axel getting verbal abuse by greenday

Saturday night techno shows with Yvonne Monet

The pleasure dome on sunday nights
 
deadman said:
Yeah I want to get into the archives and make copies of the live concerts before they get trashed.
Click to expand...

If you find a link, I'd like to get to it. I'm going to record a copy of the NIN live x that they had last week.

Or is all of this at the 99x AV Room?
 
Who was it that locked themselves in the studio and played Metallica nonstop for hours? That spawned the Mandatory Metallica on a daily basis if I'm remembering correctly.

I recall Will Pendarvis's last night, when he was taken out with a chainsaw.

I remember when Axel was on the 10p-2a shift and had really long hair.

I remember the name change of the House of Retro Pleasure into the Duplex.. I preferred the House, personally.

The Swingin' Velveeta Lounge was definatly my favorite - I even got through with a request at one point. I enjoyed listening to just about anything Sean had to say on the air, both when he was on the afternoon drive as well as his return on TMX. Fish heads, fish heads. Roly poly fish heads.

I own about half of the Live X CD's

I still have my original freeloader card.

How about the "On the Rocks" concerts? Of more recent fame, the Weezer one that swamped Underground - I went, and it was insane.

Ha. The pleasure dome. Whatever happened to Roger Libby anyway?
 
If losing 99x isn't bad enough, they are replacing it with a piece of merda station.
Fecking burt show, WTF?
 
Andy said:
The Retroplex/Hose of Retro Pleasure/Haunted House of Retro Pleasure
Christmas-ized songs

Sean's playing Bittersweet Symphony a bazillion times in a row because could.

Audio of Axel getting verbal abuse by greenday

Saturday night techno shows with Yvonne Monet

The pleasure dome on sunday nights
Click to expand...

This was all great stuff. But, they quit all of this as well. It then became a truly boring and repetitive station.
 
deadman said:
One could almost say that 99x died the first time Sean Demery left
Click to expand...

I could agree with this statement. It was never the same after he left the first time.
 
deadman said:
One could almost say that 99x died the first time Sean Demery left
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with that. The station was finding it harder and harder to ignore nu-metal, and I doubt Sean much enjoyed having to program it. Once he left, the floodgates opened. Ratings became the best they'd ever been, but the station had sold its soul. 99x's brand was built on a mix of critical praise and popularity, a delicate balance that was lost after that. (I'm sure Chris Williams would argue that ratings were more important. That's the way Project is programmed. But, despite its solid numbers, Project is an incoherent mess - it has no soul, at least not like 99x had in the 90s.)

After the nu-metal fad faded, 99x was never able re-establish itself as a focal point for new music. It didn't help that attention went elsewhere - hip-hop in particular. The major labels stopped pushing borders in the alternative genre, as they had in the 90s.

It's almost sad to say that the writing was on the wall seven years ago, given how many stations don't even make it that long.
 
In addition to what has been mentioned already, I miss on 99X:

*The CD Countdown, which counted down the Top 30 CD's in Atlanta. I remember when the Gregorian Chants appeared as well as Tony Bennett. Steve Barnes was the original host and Jill took over duties from him. Saturday mornings at 9AM I believe.

*The House of Retro Pleasure (or Duplex): When that got replaced the 99Xpress Lunch this past Summer, one had to figure 99X's days were numbered. Had a few of my requests played by Steve during its run.

*Wil Pendarvis and his roommate Wendall. Hilarious bits.

*Using my Freeloader's Card. I remember attending the first Freeloaders Concert at the Roxy August 1994 featuring the Meat Puppets, Material Issue, God's Child, and Love Spit Love. What a long line to get in, but I got in.

*A station which had excellent stability in on air personalities. Look at Steve Craig, Leslie Fram, and Axel. Even Jill on a PT basis.

*The Top 1000 Countdown of all time (The Freedom Choice 1000) presented over the 4th of July weekend in 2005. I thought it was silly when they did the entire countdown again after that. Also, this past New Year's Eve and Day when they counted down the Top 99 Since '99 (did anyone print off a copy of that countdown of their website? If so, can someone fax me a copy of it). Funny how the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" went from number 97 on that Top 1000 Countdown to number 1 on the recent Top 99 since '99 compilation.

I sit here and wonder if 99X had decided to pull the trigger several years ago and go more of an active rock direction before Project 96.1 did if 99X (or even without the X), would not be looking at the axe on terrestial radio.

I raise a glass and salute 99X (1992-2008 @ 99.7)!!!
 
Some of my fondest memories of 99X included the "Big Rock" series in 2003. On July 25, Shinedown, Seether, Our Lady Peace and Three Doors Down were playing. When Shinedown opened up "Fly From The Inside I almost collapsed because of getting caught up in a mosh pit with this big fella with spikes and chains on who hit me in the rib on accident.

I remember between 1995-1997 there was this explosion of girl-ternative (Tracy Bonham, Alanis Morrisette, Luscious Jackson, Garbage, Leah Andreone, etc.) Good stuff.

Putting 99X on shuffle during Hurricane Katrina, all that rap-metal, all those appearances at Music Midtown, calling into the Toucher show in late 2002 asking if they were giving away Korn tickets and then being accused of being a 56-year-old when I was 16.

R.I.P 99X. Merge98FM will welcome an online showdown with you, LOL. Thanks for the memories.

Merlin Berlin said:
Well to say the writing was on the wall is surely the understatement of 2008. Yeah it always sux when people lose their jobs. Say what you want about the people that wake up this morning and find themselves unemployed, some of these folks are the ones that made 99X what it was "back in the day". So on that note, I would like to see what some folks can come up with when you look back over the last 16 years and think about what this station was and what were your personal highlights:

- Having the opportunity to work there during it's heyday and seeing the original Morning X firing all all cylinders. Was there a better morning show at the time?
- Sean's "Swinging Velveeta Lounge"
- Will Pendarvis (sp?) doing nights and getting the whole thing started in '92. What was the name of the show he did in the evenings on Power 99 before they flipped? Was it "On the Edge with Will Pendarvis"?
- The music. In the beginning there was nothing like it. The bands I'd only had a chance to start listening to on KROQ before I moved from L.A. and all of the new music they brought to the mainstream.
- The concerts!! Radiohead in the rain at Stone Mountain. Greenday at the Roxy and plaster falling from the ceiling because is was so freakin' loud. The Chinese New Year shows. Big Day Out. Some little band out of Australia with 16 year old kids in it named Silverchair at some airplane hanger or something up off of Buford Hwy. R.E.M. selling out how many nights at The Fox? Pearl Jam at The Fox broadcasting live around the world.
Click to expand...
 
Reading through this thread is depressing. Is it even possible for an FM station to do their own thing and be successful at all? Or is every friggin' station tied 100% to ratings and some boardroom guru involved in every programming decision? Why the hell not just go automated 24-7 instead of showing any touch of creativity or local flavor.
 
>My freeloader card number is only 5 digits and starts with a 1. Haven't found anyone yet with an older one.

00097. On purpose, original and the Pearl Jam reissue.

I also have the Y106 l;ogo and the silver K from the WYAY lobby.

Katz. The Best.
 
Resurrection Sunday was something I always missed. The House of Retro Pleasure was the best feature on Atlanta radio. It is a sad time but as mentioned over and over it was bound to happen.
 
And, say what you will about the Barnes-Baron debacle, but they had the strongest morning show. I've never really met Barnes, and know JB to be a really nice guy. The breakup of the original Morning X was a dividing line for a lot of listeners.

One thing that made my Fridays was Barnes Big Hair moments. Sometimes I never really cared about the song, but the intro, and the fact that they'd play something not quite fitting the format, is what made it cool. They are all real professionals and made radio fun, like it's supposed to be.

Steve Craig revealed a bit about what happened in his personal life on his MySpace blog that we never knew because he didn't want to lay his burdens down on his listeners. He's an entertainer and we tuned in to be entertained... and educated with his wealth of musical knowledge. I'm amazed to see how much he endured and didn't air it out once, even if he really wanted to.
 
How about waking up hungover from Saturday night in time to catch "Resurrection Sunday" and lounge around the pool in dark shades and a cold one?

Thanks for reminding me of the hours spent with Pendarvis. Amazing radio!

And so it goes.
 
I still remember the day they switched from Power 99 to 99x. Even though I loved Power 99, I didn't miss them because I loved 99x just as much. I remember calling in, making a request and then hearing the song I requested in less than 30 minutes.

My favorites are by far The House Of Retro Pleasure followed by Yvonne Monet and the music up until the middle to late 90's.
 
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