A few weeks back we reported that online radio powerhouse WOXY was shuttering its studio after coming to the stark realization that advertising revenue and membership was not enough to sustain the station’s operating costs. But now CityBeat is reporting that WOXY may not be dead after all.
On Sept. 19, four days after the station tearfully shut down operations for a second time, a gentleman named Bill Nguyen went on the woxy.com message boards and wrote, “Hey folks, we’d like to save woxy … please tell (station officials) to contact us.” Seemed like a shot in the dark, maybe a prank or, at the very most, overzealous or wishful thinking. But last night, Nguyen (who’s based in California) was in Greater Cincinnati, meeting with station supporters at the Hofbrauhaus in Newport (fans were even posting live in a chat room during the meeting) to tell them the good news — WOXY is back in business.
BAM! This station is a fucking zombie. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t kill it. If you don’t watch yourself, WOXY may eat your brains.
In case you’re wondering, Bill Nguyen is the founder of secondhand CD trading site, la la, in addition to having dipped his entrepreneurial toe in a couple of other lakes and puddles. So now that WOXY is saved, how do they create a successful revenue model that allows them to pay their operating costs AND make a profit?
I guess that’s a question for later, right now we should be celebrating.
- Listen to Celebration by Kool & The Gang
Or surf on over to WOXY and check out some of the awesome Lounge Acts in their archive.
CityBeat is live-blogging this weekend’s MidPoint Music Festival in Over-The-Rhine. MidPoint, which began in 2002, is essentially an industry conference/band showcase designed for unsigned bands. This weekend’s fest features over 300 artists from across the country, plus a few from Canada and northern Europe.
Since I have family stuff to attend to, I’m going to leave it in their capable hands, but here’s a few tracks to get you started.
- Listen to How High Can You Fly from Sohio
- Listen to Bitch Be The World from Philpot
- Listen to Sure Shot from the Kentucky Struts
My friend Joel is getting married in November, and a while back he asked a bunch of us for some recommendations on good love songs that might work during the recessional.
The creative brief was that the song had to be semi-modern (nothing from 80′s or earlier) and that it would be performed by a female vocalist and a guitarist. Their three finalists were “Mass Romantic” by the New Pornographers, “Hotel Yorba” by the White Stripes, and “Kodachrome” by Paul Simon (which obviously breaks the 80′s rule).
Imagining any of these songs sung in an acoustic fashion while the newly married couple rushes down the aisle is an interesting exercise for me, so I took him up on his challenge. I took semi-modern to mean indie rock, but I also tossed in a few classic nuggets.
Here’s the mix-tape I came up with which includes their finalists:
- Danny’s Song by Loggins & Messina
- Gold In The Air Of Summer by Kings Of Convenience
- To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens
- Such Great Heights by Iron & Wine
- Our Way To Fall by Yo La Tengo
- I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab For Cutie
- If You Find Yourself Caught in Love by Belle & Sebastian
- Elevator Love Letter by Stars
- Kodachrome by Paul Simon
- Such Great Heights by The Postal Service
- Break My Body by Pixies
- Mass Romantic by The New Pornographers
- Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips
- Hotel Yorba by The White Stripes
- Sleepwalking by Modest Mouse
- The Past and Pending by The Shins
- Fresh Feeling by Eels
- Hello Sunshine by Super Furry Animals
- History of Lovers by Iron & Wine
- by The Luckiest by Ben Folds
- Moment In The Sun by Clem Snide
- In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel
What are your favorite indie love songs?
Apologies for the scarcity of posts lately, the long holiday weekend combined with a recent move and new puppy have been occupying a lot of time.
Anywho, things haven’t been going exactly well in Cincinnati since I moved here over a year ago.
The city, which has been in a freefall since the 2001 riots, is barely hanging on by a pinky and there remains little incentive for anyone to come downtown after work. National chain restaurants are moving out and aren’t being replaced (downtown doesn’t even have a McDonald’s for crying out loud). The Main Street entertainment district continues to empty as bars either shut down for good or head for greener pastures across the river (or, in the case of Alchemize, to Northside). The Reds, up until recently, were in a pennant race yet had to offer half-price tickets and $1 hot dogs to get anybody to come to the game. Meanwhile suburbs like Mason and Westchester are growing like gangbusters. Some locals blame the construction on Fountain Square, but let’s be honest, is lowering a fountain to street level any kind of reason to come downtown?