So Long, Woxy

Lynne Kiesling

WOXY and I started up in Oxford, Ohio at the same time, 1983. Without WOXY my college life would have been miserable (OK, a little hyperbole, but just go with it); with WOXY, it was independent, fun, challenging, intense, at least in terms of the music I listened to. WOXY was the glue for several friendships (and was a good first-date evaluation question), and has continued to be my music mainstay to this day.

When I was in graduate school and would drive between Evanston, Illinois and Columbus, Ohio, I would intentionally take long gasoline and bathroom breaks on the part of the drive where I could get WOXY on the radio. I rejoiced when they started broadcasting over the Internet, and started getting fans from all over the world. When the money got tight and they went to a subscriber model, I signed up and paid dutifully every month. This station and this music has been a part of my life for 23 years, almost to the day.

Today is WOXY’s last day. And it’s an incredibly sad one for me. The tag line is “the future of rock ‘n roll”, which it will still be for me, even once it’s silent.

Apart from the sentimental history I have, where am I going to find good music?

UPDATE: Barb, one of the DJs, will start a show 9AM-noon on Minnesota Public Radio. I think it will be called The Current.

15 thoughts on “So Long, Woxy”

  1. I was involved with student radio for about 10 years back in Edmonton, and it was perhaps the most satisfying aspect of my life over that period. I’m lucky in that I can still listen online, even from the other side of the world, and because Edmonton is fairly big market, the station is more likely to survive.

    I understand your feelings of loss. I’d definitely go though a large “passage” moment if CJSR ever went off the air.

  2. I was involved with student radio for about 10 years back in Edmonton, and it was perhaps the most satisfying aspect of my life over that period. I’m lucky in that I can still listen online, even from the other side of the world, and because Edmonton is fairly big market, the station is more likely to survive.

    I understand your feelings of loss. I’d definitely go though a large “passage” moment if CJSR ever went off the air.

  3. What, you live in Chicago and don’t listen to WXRT? Not as good as it was back before CBS bought it, but still better–more wide-ranging, less limited play list,t han almost any other station I know of.

  4. What, you live in Chicago and don’t listen to WXRT? Not as good as it was back before CBS bought it, but still better–more wide-ranging, less limited play list,t han almost any other station I know of.

  5. You’ve got to try KEXP. It’s based in Seattle but they have a large on-line presence. And sometimes they do remote broadcasts. They recently broadcasted from Chicago in fact…

  6. You’ve got to try KEXP. It’s based in Seattle but they have a large on-line presence. And sometimes they do remote broadcasts. They recently broadcasted from Chicago in fact…

  7. The Current isn’t a show, it’s one of MPR’s stations, and it’s a really good one. It used to be a private classical station that was competing with MPR’s classical station, so MPR bought it out and changed the format to one that can best be described as an eclectic mix of really good music.

  8. The Current isn’t a show, it’s one of MPR’s stations, and it’s a really good one. It used to be a private classical station that was competing with MPR’s classical station, so MPR bought it out and changed the format to one that can best be described as an eclectic mix of really good music.

  9. You Were There

    Bam.

    Music can change you.

    It was 22 years ago.

    And I was just over 19.

    I found you, in an ever-busy room in a place called Richard Hall.

    To you, I was one of many. But for a few years, you were the only one for me.

    When I got sick of Top 40 radio, you rescued me.

    When I was cramming the night before the first exam, you were there.

    When we played football in the quad, you were blaring from a nearby window.

    You were there when I was sober.

    And when I was too drunk to stand.

    You were on during my work days when I was a pledge.

    You helped me get through every finals week I ever suffered through.

    And every morning, of every day, I woke up to you.

    When it was time to go home for the summers, I missed hearing from you.

    You were there for me. For three + years.

    And then it was time for me to leave.

    I came back to you as often as I could. As soon as you were in range, I rolled down the windows and turned you up.

    There would be other times, when I’d turn you down, so only I could hear.

    I brought my boom box and an armload of empty tapes and filled them up in my hotel room. As many hours as I could capture.

    Then you came to me! 300 miles. Streaming away, every day.

    And it was like I never left.

    You said goodbye once.

    And then you came back.

    And, now, it seems that this goodbye is real.

    And this does suck.

    You see, music can change you.

    It can change your perspective. On everything.

    It can make you look at the world a little differently.

    It can open your mind beyond the borders that were in place.

    It can create a soundtrack for your life.

    And no one created a better soundtrack for my life than you.

    Music can change you.

    And your music, changed me.

    And now it’s once again time to say goodbye.

    And all I can say is thank you.

    You will be missed.

    More than you know.

    Bam.

    (format borrowed from a post on the woxy.com boards)

  10. Sort of like “93.7, the Coast” in Williamsburg fifteen years ago, no? It was always good to pass through in later years, though I believe the old Coast has gone the way of the ghost.

  11. Sort of like “93.7, the Coast” in Williamsburg fifteen years ago, no? It was always good to pass through in later years, though I believe the old Coast has gone the way of the ghost.

  12. Sort of like “93.7, the Coast” in Williamsburg fifteen years ago, no? It was always good to pass through in later years, though I believe the old Coast has gone the way of the ghost.

  13. Jeff in Cincinnati

    I just stumbled across this article. Thought you should know that (thanks to some brilliant partnerships with lala.com and Cincinnati Public Radio) woxy.com has been back online for nearly two years and broadcasting terrestrially at 91.7-2 HD via Cincinnati Public Radio for over a year.

    The station is celebrating their 25th birthday and 10 years of Internet broadcasting this year.

  14. Jeff in Cincinnati

    I just stumbled across this article. Thought you should know that (thanks to some brilliant partnerships with lala.com and Cincinnati Public Radio) woxy.com has been back online for nearly two years and broadcasting terrestrially at 91.7-2 HD via Cincinnati Public Radio for over a year.

    The station is celebrating their 25th birthday and 10 years of Internet broadcasting this year.

Comments are closed.