Welcome Home, 99X!
• The reconstituted 99X/Atlanta began its journey back into the hearts and minds of the market with the debut of the first of what is promised to be many of the original cast members that made 99X legendary during its 1992-2008 lifespan – Steve Barnes, one of the original hosts of The Morning X, has returned to morning drive, and was greeted by calls from his former castmates, Leslie Fram (now SVP of Music Strategy at CMT), and Jimmy Baron (now a successful Atlanta real estate mogul). No word yet on whether either – or both – will have regular roles with 99X going forward.
RAMP spoke with Cumulus Chief Content Officer Brian Philips, who joined the original 99X in 1992 under Susquehanna and was heartened by the enthusiastic response to the reborn 99X: “This feels like the rare alignment between the goodwill that people felt for 99X in its original incarnation, and the availability, as luck would have it, of a great number of the original creators.” He added, “The brand evokes a lot of emotion from people. This relaunch of 99X is the perfect confluence of music and talent, and place. The 99X music from the ’90s seems to be embraced by the audience as rested, ready and refreshing.”
Philips continued, “The 99X audience of the ’90s emboldened us because they were smart and quick to pick up what we were doing musically and creatively, and a surprising number of these fans are seemingly still intact as a community, while a whole group of new people are also discovering the music.” Philips also noted that many of the original 99X events and benchmarks will likely be revived in some form, like the Live X and Organic X specialty shows, along with large-scale events like Big Day Out and Chinese New Year.
As we speak, 99X PD Axel Lowe (left, with Steve Barnes) is doing afternoons, while middays and nights are yet to be filled. Philips was unable to comment on the rumors that Steve Craig, another original 99X jock who, in a remarkable coincidence, just exited CMG Classic Rock WSRV (The River) will be rejoining 99X… we’ll check back in six months…
As always, the intrepid Rodney Ho of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is right on top of the 99X story.
