97X - Rumblings from the Big Bush
Two former 97X DJs reminisce about the independent music and the dedicated people that made the station one-of-a-kind.
- Update frequency
- every 14 days
- Average duration
- 22 minutes
- Episodes
- 102
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Taylor Fox, keeping cool music on the air
Taylor Fox (a.k.a. "TayFo") is a co-founder and morning host on Inhailer, a streaming/HD radio station that plays indie rock and helps promote local bands and the music scene in Cincinnati. The impet…
Brian Niesz, the Unsung Hero of live in-studio performances
Brian Niesz engineered more than 400 live on-air performances at the woxy.com studio in Longworth Hall in Cincinnati, as well as dozens more during the station's short-lived stint in Austin, Texas. N…
A Day in the (1993) Life of Dave
Dave Tellmann spent nearly a decade on the air at 97X (1988-1997)... and sometimes he thinks he's still on the air there! Dave combed through his "aircheck" cassettes from 1993 and put together some …
Jim Vinch: the student has become the teacher
Jim Vinch was a Cleveland-raised classic rocker... until he moved to Oxford for college and caught the earliest years of 97X. Jim credits the station and its community of listeners with helping him b…
More from Jay Batista, the Swiss Army Knife of Modern Rock
The second part of our conversation with Jay Batista, who helped WOXY-FM make the transition to the 97X we all know and love. Jay was the station manager, was involved in programming, did sales, and …
Jay Batista, engineering a modern rock switch
Jay Batista joined 97X before it was 97X... it was more like a real-life WKRP. Jay played a pivotal role in helping the station make the switch to the modern rock format. We talk to him about those f…
Aaron Sharpe, Kindred Radio Spirit
Aaron Sharpe never listened to 97X... but he wore many hats at WNKU-FM, a station that picked up the mantle from 97X/woxy.com in being a free-spirited, adventurous, community-oriented radio station …
Jeff Rohrs back for more
Here's Part 2 of our interview with Jeff "DJ Sloth" Rohrs, where he talks about the community of music lovers at 97X, the great program directors during his tenure, his scary sighting on the Party Pa…
Jeff Rohrs, Weekend Warrior
Jeff Rorhs was hooked on 97X from the very first song he heard on the station. In fact, he attended Miami University mostly because of 97X, and he was so determined to work at the station that he pla…
Anthony Hartke comes full (vinyl) circle
Anthony Hartke was really into music even in grade school. He discovered 97X around 6th grade and stuck with the station throughout its existence. (He even tuned in to woxy.com when he was deployed o…
Joe ”Rock the” Voet, Model Citizen
Joe Voet was a mild-mannered student in a small Midwestern college town, working at the Miami U. student radio station and listening to 97X... until one day Rictile turned him into Joe "Rock the" Voe…
A second helping of Barb Abney
Here's more from our chat with 97X/woxy.com alum Barb Abney. In this episode, Barb discloses her 97X souvenirs, we try to solve the mystery of where 97X's music library wound up, a secret prankster i…
Talking Tracks with Barb Abney
Barb Abney, who was on-air at 97X and woxy.com from 1994-2006, returns to talk about weird promotional giveaway items, why corporate radio still sucks... oh, and her great podcast "Tied to the Tracks…
Getting (un)familiar with Matt Lacefield
Matt Lacefield played cutting-edge music on a Cincinnati radio station... but it wasn't 97X. While Dave and Damian were on the air at 97X in the 90s, Matt was a DJ for Nightwaves, which aired overnig…
Jayne Sachs, Stellar Songstress
Jayne Sachs credits her discovery of 97X (thanks to her now-husband) with putting her on the singer/songwriter path. She's been able to carve out a career in music, and has picked up plenty of accola…
The legacy of 97X
This is a shorter episode, but it's deep. The culmination of our conversation with 97X station owners Doug & Linda Balogh includes Doug's "big thought" about the legacy of the station... and how the …
We dig Doug, we love Linda
Here's Part II of our second interview with 97X station owners Doug and Linda Balogh. (It's like a Star Wars triple trilogy... the subtitle for this one is "Episode 5: Revenge of the Good Guys.") In …
Doug & Linda Balogh's 97X-cellent Adventure continues
Yes, we've interviewed 97X station owners Doug and Linda Balogh before (check out Episodes 56 and 57). But they are such founts of 97X knowledge and stories that we had to go back to the well. In thi…
Mike Jacobs, indie rock promoter extraordinaire
Mike Jacobs is a legendary independent record promoter who ran campaigns for alternative success stories like The Offspring, Rancid, Nine Inch Nails, Bush and No Doubt, among others. He also was CEO …
Randy the Redneck, the Forrest Gump of 97X
"Randy the Redneck" - the name pretty much sums it up. He's like a hillbilly Forrest Gump, and had the uncanny knack for showing up at pretty much every 97X event ever. Concerts at Bogart's, B&B Rive…