The Day The Music Dies…

…is tomorrow.

Well, sort of. WOXY (97.7 FM in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio areas), one of the very best "independent" rock stations in the country–and purportedly the most-listened-to commerical station on the Web–is changing owners tomorrow. WOXY, which went on the air in its current alt-rock format in 1983, gained a measure of national renown when Dustin Hoffman's character in Rainman kept repeating its slogan: "97X–Bam!–The future of rock and roll!"

The new owners, First Broadcasting, pledges to maintain the station as is, and has hired many of the existing staff to run the joint.

The sellers, Doug and Linda Balogh, had hoped to shift their operation to a Web-only stream, but weren't able to find investors to pay the bills. So the site will likely go dark after tomorrow.

More here.

UPDATE:From the last employee:

> Hey there—ran across your blog, and just wanted to correct one small
> item:
>
> "The new owners, First Broadcasting, pledges to maintain the station as
> is, and has hired many of the existing staff to run the joint."
>
> Actually, First hired only 1 person from WOXY … me. The rest of the
> staff is being supplied by First.
>
> Just so you knew. and thanks for the plug.
>
> –Sledge.
> http://www.sledgeblog.com