Bam! Radio station is national sensation

Bam! Radio station is national sensation

Oxford is not generally thought of as a center of revolutionary thought. Nor is it widely known as being on the cutting-edge of popular culture. However, high above the stone-cobbled streets and Miami University’s red-brick buildings floats an invisible energy. Its buzz is felt by thousands of people and has had a profound influence on the industry that it promotes.

Oxford is, in fact, an epicenter of the independent music revolution. For more than two decades, radio station WOXY has been at the forefront of the music industry, promoting rising acts that find it hard to get their music played on the many corporate-owned stations in the country.

Despite the success that WOXY has had in the last 22 years, it did not come easily.

“The light at the end of the tunnel was a train,” says Doug Balogh. “And it kept coming and coming and coming.” He’s speaking of the initial trials involved in running a low-frequency radio station in a large market.

In 1981, Balogh and his wife, Linda, invested in Oxford’s WOXY, a country-western station located in the city since 1959. Despite being a small-time player in the Cincinnati/Dayton market, WOXY, known locally now as 97X, changed its format and quickly came to be known as the “coolest” station in the area. It even won a spot in pop-culture for a bit part in the Academy Award-winning film “Rain Man.”

“There wasn’t really any compelling reason to listen” to local radio in 1981, he says. Until a friend tuned Balogh onto a West Coast phenomenon, WOXY was resigned to playing Top 40 tunes, something that every other station in the market was doing. Balogh was turned on the by the idea of playing cutting-edge, modern rock. And so were some of his core listeners—Miami University students. He enlisted their help in perfecting the station’s format, through focus groups and surveys.

Balogh recalls that, “They said, ‘We’re not hearing any of that new music’” that was sweeping up underground markets and would soon explode on MTV.

Balogh jumped at the chance to introduce a new format into the conservative Cincinnati/Dayton area. “We literally mirrored the play list in Los Angeles,” he says.

Back then “the only station in the market that played REM and U2 was us. Forget the Beastie Boys, the Sex Pistols, the Smiths, the Clash,” recalls Balogh. Word was spreading about this new radio station in southwest Ohio, that had the same level of cool as stations in big markets like L.A., Boston and New York. Listeners from all over the area started to tune into 97X—the future of rock n’ roll.

However, a growing listener base was not yielding the kind of revenue that a small-time business needs to survive. “Everyone in the building knew something special was going on.” Balogh says. But, the dollar signs just weren’t there. Yet things started to change after four challenging years.

Bam!

“1985 was a special year,” remembers Balogh. That’s when Steve Rosen, a music critic for the Cincinnati Enquirer, wrote a large spread featuring none other than WOXY in a Sunday issue. “It really said something to the people in the building; there’s a music critic saying, ‘Hey, something’s going on here.’” The exposure radiated a surge of energy through the veins of 97X and everyone involved with it.

WOXY’s “consistency, integrity, the fact that [it crafts] a very special product” has yielded much publicity over the years since; 97X was featured in the March 15, 2003 issue of Rolling Stone, for the fifth time in its history. It has also been featured in The New York Times and USA Today, to name a few. And of course, its appearance in “Rain Man,” starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, as Cruise’s autistic brother, is local legend.

Balogh says he was quite surprised when he was contacted by Hollywood, but eventually agreed to allow WOXY to be featured in the movie. When film executives were scouting the Cincinnati area, they asked, “Who is the hippest radio station around?” The resounding answer was WOXY. Thus, 97X’s slogan, “97X. Bam! The future of rock n’ roll,” was made famous, as Hoffman’s character repeated it dozens of times in the movie. And the station isn’t famous just for that. Musicians appreciate the exposure that 97X gives them and many make the trip to Oxford to show their gratitude.

In fact, WOXY has hosted many important artists in its history. Most recently, Grammy-award winning Coldplay played at the Balcony. Despite the fact that lead singer Chris Martin is engaged to actress Gwyneth Paltrow and had a Grammy hangover, Balogh said the band was very down-to-earth and had a great time playing in front of the intimate audience. Balogh says that he has not seen the hype surrounding Coldplay since the advent of the Dave Matthews Band, which made its U.S. radio debut on WOXY. He adds that the Canadian import Barenaked Ladies also made its debut on the station, as did bands-of-the-moment, the White Stripes and the Strokes. Another favorite moment was treating another Grammy winner, Sheryl Crow, to lunch at Phan Shin.

Indie Integrity

WOXY will soon be the most-listened to alternative radio station in the country, thanks to the Internet. Music fans from Chicago to Shanghai can enjoy 97X on the net due to WOXY’s Web-streaming abilities, which allows listeners to download the frequency off the World Wide Web. Even if music fans the globe over have access to 97X, Balogh prefers Oxford to other more exotic locales.

“The community is a fantasy land,” Balogh says. “(Cincinnati/Dayton) is a very special place…It’s another reason to want to succeed beside, you know, your basic reasons to succeed...Oxford’s cool.” While Balogh could have moved the station to a more luxurious location, he thought Oxford was unique and special. With the advent of Internet streaming, a different location makes no sense. “I have never heard anybody say that they listen to the radio because of its location. They listen because they like the product.”

National Public Radio recently mentioned WOXY in a piece comparing the values of corporate radio versus independent radio. Balogh comments, “We don’t come in every day to make as much money as we can. Corporate radio’s different. Corporate radio would run pig farts if [they could make money off it].

“[Corporate radio] tries to make as much money as they can…It has sucked the life out of the business. This business has always been a balance between art and commerce. Now most places have no art…We have a responsibility to be profitable, but not to be greedy.” Balogh explains that a few select companies own all of the major media corporations—television, radio, film, and even concert venues. He cites his disdain of pre-packaged “dumbed down” acts that dominate the airwaves and claims that it is his duty to combat that. WOXY’s very spirit allows it to “craft a product with pride.”

“Corporate radio,” he says, “has damaged the business beyond repair.” He calls it a privilege to be able to broadcast to the public, and of course, to promote new music. These values guide WOXY into the 21st century.

The station is a bastion of hope for the little guy. In a world dominated by faceless larger-than-life corporations, WOXY is proud to be one of the few original
alt-rock stations left standing. Along with L.A.’s legendary KROQ, 97X survives. Yet when asked about a conundrum that faces WOXY’s home of Oxford, Balogh had an interesting commentary.

Oxford

The fact that much of Uptown is driven by national corporations, which can suffocate small, local-owned businesses, does not bother Balogh. He doesn’t go so far as to applaud this, but, as an entrepreneur, he understands it.

“Where there is a need, someone will fill it,” he explains. He explains that this very idea led to the creation of WOXY’s ground-breaking format. But he laments the loss of such businesses as O’Farrell’s Clothiers, located on High Street where Charisma is now, which he praised for its “individuality.”

The problem, he says, lies in expensive real estate and the fact that “there’s always room for the business that’s needed,” be it Starbuck’s or WOXY. “There’s always going to be a blend, and it all boils down to: What does the consumer want?” Perhaps the public wants responsible companies who care about their community. 97X embodies that sentiment.

Balogh has always seen 97X as a part of the Oxford community, so he is excited to put the station’s resources into helping the area. WOXY’s Modern Rock Auction benefits an alternating pair of charities, one local and one national. Record companies donate items—signed guitars, CDs, etc.—with a guarantee that 100 percent of the earnings will go to charity. Balogh says that this is much more appealing to the companies than knowing a guitar will go on the wall of some bigwig in Seattle. The auctions used to be done on the air, by phone, for 10 days a year. But Balogh says the Internet has made it more available to the greater public, and it is now done year round. Balogh plans on turning the 15th anniversary of “Rain Man” into a charity event for the Autism Society of America.

Doug Balogh is proud of his product. WOXY continues to be on the cutting edge of modern rock. He says, “Corporate radio still sucks,” and as long as it sucks, there will be Doug Balogh, proudly creating a buzz about the underground, as he has been doing for two decades.

As an entrepreneur, he knows that when there is a need for a product, someone has to fill it. Certainly, in the saturated world of corporate radio and the music business, somebody has to fill the need for new art and new music. Somebody has to showcase—Bam!—the future of rock ’n’ roll.

For further reading see:

Visit 97X's web site

Visit L.A.'s KROQ

Here is info on "Rain Man" from the Internet Move Database

Read a story by Alex about Oxford small business owners

Read a story by Alex about Wildberry