Last Friday was a sad day for Atlanta. One of the local radio stations went off the air. It wasn't just any old radio station though - for a decade and a half 99x was THE station that thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people tuned in to every day. You see, 99.7 FM was one of the first "alternative" stations back in the 1990's. Many people heard Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and a vast array of other little-known artists for the first time on 99x. Nowadays, many of those "alternative" bands are considered mainstream - but back then they weren't so widely listened to. And 99.7 played a big part in bringing that music to the younger generation. Not to mention all of the local events they supported - Big Day Out, Mistletoe Jam, and many other concerts and other events.

When I first came to Atlanta for a job interview, I remember driving into the city for the first time. In fact, it was April 17th, 1997. It was a very nice day - clear sky and about 80 degrees - a typical spring day in Atlanta. As I rounded a corner of I-20 (from the West) and saw the skyline for the first time, I began tuning my radio dial to maybe find a local station that I could bear to listen to. I quickly found 99.7 - I think they were playing a Weezer song (or maybe it was Green Day). Since that day I pretty much never moved my dial from 99.7. Well... except for those painful band interview segments that Axel used to do...

Over the last 10 years the station has had ups and downs. More down than up in the past year or so though. I think they were bought out by a large syndicate around that time (the station was independent prior). It is kinda hard to know exactly what was going on, since the station management never seemed to want to just come out and let the listeners know what was happening.

Early last week I noticed they started running some weird advertisements about some new "Visual 99x", recommending that people go visit their web site. I blew that off since online streaming music (or worse - video) is just not something I can use while in my car or at a customer site.

And then Friday morning I was driving in to work....

And WTF do I hear on the radio? JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE! Or at least that's who I think it was. I was too busy cursing under my breath at my wife who I assumed had run an errand using my car and changed to station to some Top 40 garbage. But no, the tuner claimed it was on 99.7 as always. Then one of little filler stations ads came across - announcing that I was listening to "All the hits - Q100". I think I threw up a little in the back of my throat.

So apparently, the new management had fired most of the on-air staff for various reasons over the past few months, and now they finally put the last nail in the coffin and took it off the air completely... and in the process giving the high-power transmission tower to one of their other stations. They could have at least given a real warning to the (many) loyal listeners.

So R.I.P. 99x, hopefully another local station will step in to fill your shoes. Because if there is one thing this city does NOT need is another god-awful top-40, country, or hip-hop station.