99XWatch.org

Barnes Fired?

From Radio-Info.com, Rodney Ho posts:

I hear that Barnes and Eric were fired today. Need to confirm from someone official.

Update 9/13/2006, 4:30 PM
Rodney expands on this in Radio-Talk post:

Not surprisingly, ratings-challenged Dave FM has split up with Steve Barnes, the morning co-host, after two years. Barnes, who successfully helmed the Morning X at 99X for a decade until 2003, teamed up with Holly Firfer of CNN in 2004 and for the first six months showed promising ratings growth. But the station has seen a steady decline the past year and the future for Barnes looked grim in recent weeks. He has sued his former employer for slander and copyright infringement and got a black eye from giving away his dog.

Stoli

This afternoon at 4:10 pm, a Radio-Info.com poster observed that a 9 year old dog by the name of Stoli had been placed for adoption with a local pet rescue.  Long time 99X listeners will recognize Stoli as the name of Steve Barnes' pet of 9 years. I asked Barnes via email if the dog in the adoption ad was his dog.  He responded with the following email:

Stoli is a great dog, however since having 2 kids...she has become destructive to our home.  It was suggested that she would be much better off living with other dogs.  After thousands of dollars of house damage, we ultimately had to make a family decision to find her a new home.

The ad at Aiding & A-Petting paints a different picture:

Sweet Stoli is an owner surrender... They decided they did not have time for her anymore. Look how sad she is that she has to find a new home!

I know that for many it is hard to understand putting a long term pet up to an uncertain future, but I would encourage people to direct their energy toward helping Stoli and Aiding & A-Petting, the folks who foster Stoli and pets like her until they find new homes.  Here are some ways you can help:

• Adopt
• Volunteer
• Sponsor a Pet

Happier Times

Barnes, his "No Witness" attorney Pete Wellborn, Jimmy, Crash, and  Toucher all appear in this photo from the 2002 99X Celebrity Softball Challenge, via kickers.topcities.com.

New Mastercard Commercial on 99X

No Witness DVD: $22.49.
Statuatory damages for copyright infringement:  $30,000*.
Watching your competition self-destruct:  Priceless.

There are somethings that money can't buy.  For everything else, there's MasterCard.

* This will probably be closer to $750, once the judge finishes laughing.

New MasterCard Commercial on dave fm

Cease and desist letter: 2 hours @ $400/hour.
Attorney speaking to reporter: 5 minutes, rounded up to .25 hours @ $400/hour.
Susquehanna attorneys gagging TJ&L:  Priceless.

There are somethings that money can't buy.  For everything else, there's MasterCard.

Barnes Investigating Lawsuit over “No Witness” Screening

Taking a page from the Bill O'Reilly playbook, dave fm Personality Steve "Barnes had his attorney Pete Wellborn inform 99X that the station was in violation of copyright infringement by holding a public screening of “No Witness” without the film owner’s permission."  In his Atlanta radio blog, Radio Talk, AJC Feature Writer Rodney Ho quotes Wellborn as saying that the former Morning X'er is in "investigation mode" regarding potential legal action.

Disclaimer:  I attended the No Witness screening at issue.  No Witness is really bad.  Here's a review of it.  It's worse than that.

Steve Craig Courted by dave fm?

On Radio-Info.com (in a not yet deleted thread) AJC Feature Writer(and  blogger) Rodney Ho posted "Steve Craig ... was wooed by Dave last year but he decided to stay with 99X and sign a new contract."

While a lot of radio stations consider their non-drive time personalities to be disposable, it's good to see that 99X is willing to go the extra mile to keep a talent like Craig

"make the tears fall a little less heavily"

Rodney Ho, via, Radio-Info.com, posted an excerpt of an email from dave fm program director Michelle Engel to the dave staff.  Here's a portion:

As we stated in the Winter 05 memo, Arbitron is a beast. Although we were kissed in the Winter, she turned around and bit us in the butt this time around ... Just to make the pill easier to swallow, I will outline the highlights in programming that might make you smile…or just make the tears fall a little less heavily.

Update 07/30/05 9:14 AM
I removed the link to Ho's post , as it has apparently been censored by Radio-Info.com.

Barnes Makes His 99XWatch.org Debut

With TL&J off for for Fred's wedding, I took the opportunity to listen to All Access with Barnes and Firfer this morning.  At around 8:45, in a segment called "Hollywood Dirt," Former 99X Personality Steve Barnes and Holly Firfer discussed a story about a potential Smashing Pumpkins reunion.  Barnes added that "people" said that Earthlink Live, the venue for former Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan's solo concert last night,  "was a ghost town".  Casual listeners might have interpreted this as a dig at Corgan, but the comment was almost certainly a jab at 99X who sponsored the event. 

Coincidentally, I attended the Corgan show last night.  Beyond the empirical fact that the show sold out, "people" driving past Earthlink Live prior to the doors opening would have seen a line stretching well around the block.

I'm sure that 99X invests a great deal of money and effort trying to think of ways to win back its listeners who jumped to daveFM.  While a lot of TL&J's pandering to the Right is opinion, as former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not their own facts."  Perhaps TL&J might better distinguish themselves from Barnes by holding themselves to a higher standard for the truth.  As much as I like Corgan, there's a lot more at stake with politics.

99X&Y, The Coldplay Special

This afternoon, I was reminded of why I listen to 99X.  They aired a two hour special titled "99X&Y, The Coldplay Special", playing the entire new Coldplay CD alternating with Leslie Fram and Music Director Jay Harren's interview of bandmembers Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland.   It's a given that interviews lasting over 15 minutes are the domain of NPR or Talk Radio.  It's also a given that if you want to hear a cut more than a few deep on any album, you had better buy the CD or listen to college radio.  It's nice to listen to a station where "Rock Without Rules" means more than playing Sting 30 times a day (thanks to former 99X Talent Whip for that line.)

It's 99X's willingness to be on the forefront of new music that earns this type of access to bands once they make it big.  davefm or The Buzz may play the hell out of Coldplay now, but only 99X had the vision to play Coldplay when no one knew who they were.   It's that vision that will keep 99X's going long after davefm and The Buzz have changed formats to whatever the next flavor of the month is.