I knew something was up this morning when Beaner and Ken were preempted by nothing but mostly good, deep cuts of music.
Then I got in and my Google News Alert for WRAX was sitting in my inbox:
Alternative to sign off at 100.5 FM
Sports-talk station WJOX replaces The X starting today
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
BOB CARLTON
News staff writer
Birmingham radio listeners can expect a major lineup change today.
Alternative rock station The X at 100.5 (WRAX-FM), once one of the most popular stations in town, will go off the air this afternoon to make room for sports talk station WJOX, which already airs on the AM 690 frequency.
Staff members at The X were told they no longer had jobs at a Tuesday afternoon meeting with Dale Daniels, the general manager for both stations.
“The X is no more,” Mark Lindsey, that station’s former music director, said following the meeting. “He (Daniels) said that he’s sorry and he appreciates everything that we did.”
Daniels declined to comment on any changes Tuesday.
Both stations are owned by Citadel Broadcasting. For the time being, it is expected Citadel will broadcast WJOX on both the AM 690 and FM 100.5 frequencies.
During its heyday as 107.7 The X, the 100,000-watt WRAX was one of top stations in Birmingham and the highest-rated alternative rock station in the country.
But ratings gradually started to slide over the past few years, and last spring, the station changed frequencies from 107.7 to the less powerful 100.5 signal.
“It was a very influential station, not only locally, but nationally, for years,” radio consultant Mark St. John said. “I don’t think it was ever able to recover from that move because the signal wasn’t as good, among other things.”
Scott Register, who hosted the popular Sunday-morning show “Reg’s Coffee House” for almost 10 years on The X, informed his listeners in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon that the station is going off the air.
“The powers that be decided sports talk was the answer, and with one swift move, The X is no more in Birmingham,” Register wrote. “A station that was once known as one of the top tastemakers in the country has met its Waterloo.”
Register will continue to host a one-hour syndicated version of his show.
As more listeners turn to satellite radio to get their music, the demise of alternative stations such as The X is part of a growing trend, said Don VanCleave, president of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores.
“I’ve got Sirius and XM, so I’m a big fan (of satellite radio),” VanCleave said. “It’s one of the big reasons I haven’t listened to them (The X) in a while.”
E-mail: bcarlton@bhamnews.com
I don’t know, maybe no one listened any more because the music you played (for the most part) sucked.
I actually think that the worst part of all of this is the lack of concert promotion for the Birmingham area that will result from no alt station.
Luckily there are several groups in the area that are working to put their own radio station on the air:
Fried Green Radio and
Radio Revolution Birmingham are the only two I can think of off the top of my head right now.
