WOXY.com, one of the most beloved online sources for independent music, is going off the air. Tomorrow. WOXY.com began as the online offshoot of 97X, a Miami, Ohio-based radio station that hit the airwaves in 1983. (Remember in Rain Man when Dustin Hoffman keeps repeating, "97X… Bam! The future of rock and roll"? That's the station.) 97X ceased operations as a terrestrial station two years ago when its owners sold it. And that looked like the end of the line for WOXY.com as well.
Except, however briefly, it wasn't. WOXY.com returned to the virtual airwaves with most of its small staff a few months later. All looked rosy until the announcement earlier this year that it would be switching to a listener-based subscription model, a model that has subsequently failed to bring in enough revenue to keep the station afloat. WOXY.com will cease operations on September 15th.
What happened? For all its popularity, and the popularity of online music in general, the advertising just wasn't there. I've written before about what this station means to me personally, so I won't repeat myself too much. But suffice it to say that if WOXY hadn't blasted The Smiths, The Replacements, XTC and all the other usual suspects into Ohio's Miami valley when they did, someone else might be editing this section today.
WOXY goes off the air tomorrow. Take a moment to listen while you can.