The "Future of Rock and Roll" has no future...

[dabvu2498]

Kinda sad for me...

Listeners, fans and friends,

This sucks.

This is the moment all of us hoped would never come. After plugging away at this for the past two years, it’s become pretty clear that operating woxy.com as a stand-alone Internet "radio station" is not going to cut it. Our operating costs are higher than you might think, and the revenue we were able to generate from advertising isn’t close to supporting what we’re doing. Even membership revenue wasn’t enough to get us there. When your business doesn’t make money, you eventually go out of business.

With this in mind, we’ve been looking for either a significant partner – someone with a larger plan into which woxy.com could be plugged – or an outright buyer. That search hasn’t been fruitful. We’re still willing to entertain offers and explore possibilities (email bryan@woxy.com), but our time is short. We thought it was time to share our situation with you ... to give you a heads-up.

You might be saying, "What can I do to help?" Unfortunately, unless you have significant investment capital and a way to profit from the wonderful programming we create, you can’t. As of today, we will no longer be selling or renewing memberships or accepting contributions. Please don’t send us money ... it will just mean we have to send it back to you.

Now is a good time to say THANK YOU to our incredibly patient, generous and kind angel investors. Without them ... well, we wouldn’t have had the chance to even be in the game. They’ve enabled everything we’ve accomplished over the past two years, and for that, they are saints to indie rock lovers everywhere.

We did investigate an alternative: stripping our operations to the absolute bare minimum by cutting back to one staffer, no more DJs, no more Lounge Acts, etc. We decided it wasn’t worth it. It wouldn’t have been true to what woxy.com is, and it wouldn’t have honored the legacy of 97X.

While woxy.com may have failed in a business sense, we’re pretty proud that we managed to put out some of the most passionate, unique and interesting programming on the Internet and elsewhere. We showered love and airplay on countless bands who otherwise would have received none, garnered national press attention and hosted nearly 200 live Lounge Act performances. Not too bad for a little, four-person Internet radio station from Cincinnati.

A radio station is only as big as its listeners make it. We’re not BS-ing when we say that you guys, our supporters, are the most amazing people on the planet. THANK YOU. The dedication and enthusiasm you’ve shown for what we do is staggering and inspiring. Thank you to everyone who stepped up to become a member, generously made a contribution, emailed (spammed) your friends, spread the gospel of woxy.com and – most of all – listened.

Barring something exceptional happening in the next two weeks, we will silence our broadcasts on Friday, September 15th.

Sometimes no matter how hard you try and how special the thing you do, it simply isn’t enough to beat the odds. It’s the cold reality of business that not even we could escape. When September 15th comes, we’ll meet it proudly with heads held high and celebrate the past two years of woxy.com and the spirit of 97X. For those lucky enough to have been part of it, The Future of Rock and Roll will forever be in our minds and hearts.

So enjoy these last two weeks with us. Shall we rock?

Eternally yours,

www.woxy.com

[KittyDuran]

This sounds very but I listen more to 97.7 now then I ever did... but it's now MAX FM.... Actually, I was put off my some of their DJs in the early 90s. When Duran Duran released "Ordinary World" from the Wedding Album, the station wasn't going to play it. Then they asked for a vote. I called up and naturally said yes (I hadn't heard the single) - with a tired female voice answering. The Yes vote won and the single was played and all the while the two DJs talking over it - and then only playing about a minute of the song. Truthfully, the single wasn't the type you'd hear on the X anyway but how they acted was uncalled for. There were some of us that only listened early on to hear bands like DD when the regular stations wouldn't play them. The second time I had a problem with them was when I got a snotty email in response to finding out the name and title to a song. Usually 8-10 songs would be played in row - but I missed when the information was given. Basically, I was told that if I would "listen" better I would have know the information - and no they didn't give me the answer. :

But RIP... it was good in the beginning...

[Cedric]

I was already devestated when they went off a few years back. It was the best radio station in the world, bar none.

I don't wanna sound snobby, but I couldn't imagine actually listening to new radio today and expecting anything even remotely decent.

[KittyDuran]

I was already devestated when they went off a few years back. It was the best radio station in the world, bar none.

I don't wanna sound snobby, but I couldn't imagine actually listening to new radio today and expecting anything even remotely decent.

It's not snobby... I feel the same way which is why I usually listen to oldies (50s-80s) music. And you're not the first to feel that way - each generation does.

[KittyDuran]

BUMP

Looks like it's coming back...

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...LIFE/310090039

WOXY.com will rock again
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The “Future of Rock and Roll” resumes at 10:10 a.m. Tuesday.

WOXY.com, the Cincinnati-based Internet-only station that ran out of cash and shut down Sept. 15, returns to operation Tuesday after a deal with California-based lalaa.com, a CD-trading Web site.

“We’re not going to change WOXY.com at all. We love the station,” says John Kuch of lala.com, which will invest $5 million to $10 million in WOXY.com in the next year.


WOXY.com will remain in Cincinnati. The Internet-only station was born in July 2004 in Longworth Hall downtown after Oxford’s WOXY-FM was sold by the Balogh family earlier that year.

“The people at WOXY.com are incredible taste-makers for new music and bands, and we want to keep that alive. It is an iconic radio station,” he says.

Listeners again will hear original DJs Mike Taylor and Matt Shiv hosting music today. Program director Taylor will work 9 a.m.-3 p.m., followed by music director Shiv 3 p.m.-9 p.m. "DJ Princess” Barb Abney" has left town to work for Minnesota public radio station KCMP-FM (89.3), “The Current.”

General manager Bryan Jay Miller had pulled the plug on the music last month, saying that a stand-alone Internet operation could not compete with Yahoo and AOL online music stations. He had been unable to find a “white knight” to rescue the station for months.

On Sept. 20, five days after shutting down, lala.com entrepreneur Bill Nguyen expressed his interest on a WOXY.com message board. He came to town two weeks ago to talk to Miller and listeners.

“The past three weeks have been surreal,” says Miller, 32. “Going off the air was the lowest of lows. I was doubtful we could work out anything at all.”

Having exhausted all known avenues in late August, Miller says he “didn’t think much of” Nguyen’s initial overture. After meeting him, Miller changed his tune.

“I thought: This guy is the real deal, and in sync with what we’re doing,” Miller says.

Since Tuesday was the earliest WOXY.com could resume, “we decided to do it at 10:10 on 10/10,” Miller says.

Immediately WOXY.com will revive live in-studio Lounge Act concerts, starting with Headlights at 4 p.m. Tuesday and the Purrs at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Kuch says lala.com will open studios in San Francisco, and perhaps other cities, to broadcast performances by West Coast bands.

Started on June 8, lala.com allows people to search for CDs, songs or artists online. For each one of their own CDs they send to another person through the site, they will receive another in return, Kuch says.

Every CD costs $1, plus a 75-cent shipping fee. lala provides stamped envelopes to ship the CDs.

WOXY.com’s loyal listeners will help increase the CD-sharing business, Kuch says.

“All these people keep coming back to WOXY.com as a trusted friend, to turn them on to new music. Now they can request the bands they hear on the WOXY.com Web site,” Kuch says.

The WOXY.com has about 8,000 CDs, while lala.com has 10,000 to 15,000 CD albums.

By the end of the month, WOXY.COM also will let listeners create their own radio shows to share with other listeners. The site will allow someone to assemble three hours of music which can be sent to friends, Kuch says.

“We’re incredibly excited about WOXY.com. It was always a Top 10 online station listed by ‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘Entertainment Weekly,’ ” Kuch says. “This will give people a chance to hear more new music and new bands they haven’t heard before.”

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com