Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2010 > March > 23 > Entry
Woxy.com goes ‘off the air’
From woxy.com:
WOXY Listeners, Fans and Friends…
Due to current economic realities and the lack of ongoing funding for WOXY’s operations, we’ve been forced to suspend our live broadcasts as of March 23rd. We’re continuing to explore options to keep The Future of Rock and Roll alive. For business inquiries, please contact Bryan Jay (bryan@woxy.com) or John at Future Sounds (john@futuresounds.com).
Thanks for your years of dedicated support.
- Mike, Shiv, Joe, Paige, Brian and Bryan Jay
More on this story here, here and here.
UPDATE: We talked with Future Sounds partner John Mascarenhas, who said Future Sounds Inc. has independently funded WOXY since acquiring the station from online music service lala.com in 2009. Mascarenhas said that they have been unsuccessful in finding underwriting during the last year. “There are a lot of people fighting for a little bit of money,” he said Tuesday. The company had been exploring different options up through last week’s South by Southwest music festival, but was unable to secure a deal that would keep the station on the air. “We’ve been looking at partnerships and the possibly of a sale, and had an eleventh hour deal that fell through on Sunday,” Mascarenhas said.
The shutdown was not related to the station’s audience size. “WOXY’s problem has always been from the financial and business side,” said general manager Bryan Jay Miller. “On the programming side we’ve always done really well.”
Mascarenhas added that he received several inquiries about the station this morning, and needed to sort through their options. “Right now our goal is for WOXY to remain in Austin and have it turned on, whether if that is with us as owners or selling it completely,” he said.
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By BangFlash
March 23, 2010 9:56 AM | Link to this
This is a shame. WOXY is a great station that plays whats new and good, not whats old and proven. Here’s hoping WOXY gets back on it’s feet.
By brad
March 23, 2010 10:24 AM | Link to this
Sad. WOXY was a fantastic bastion of independent music. It must return to the air!!
By Mr. Politico
March 23, 2010 11:36 AM | Link to this
Didn’t they move their operations to Austin recently?
By For the record...
March 23, 2010 11:47 AM | Link to this
Wow, that’s stunningly soon after their nationally announced move to Austin. The “Welcome to Austin, WOXY” sign was barely off the ME marquee on S. Congress, and they apparently got through SXSW and woke up Monday morning with a financial hangover. I hope they were able to get some value from SXSW, because they could have declared bankruptcy from home without moving here.
Good luck to them, but I question their move decision and financial judgment.
By Pledge Drive
March 23, 2010 12:10 PM | Link to this
Pledge Drive?
Indie Rock is dead. The latest version of WOXY bet its future heavily on young indie hipsters with fickle tastes. It’s a new decade and music tastes are changing, making all the young hipsters of the 2000s irrelevant and out of style. Build a radio station based on culture and tradition, not just what young kids think is cool at the moment. In a few years those kids will have changed their tastes and left you with an outdated product.
Pledge drives can keep the station financially sound and let stations play good music instead of worrying about the current fads in music.
By dinop
March 23, 2010 12:14 PM | Link to this
I love woxy but this should’ve happened 5 years ago.
Maybe they can get jobs at the home slice take out pizza place that just opened up on congress.
I did enjoy their seaholm show at ACL.
By WoxyFan
March 23, 2010 12:39 PM | Link to this
This is too sad. You will be missed, WOXY.
Now I guess I have to settle for KEXP, which is inferior, but has the right business model (member-supported pledge drives). If you guys decide to go that route, I’ll be the first to sign up and donate.
I can’t speak for the entire city of Austin, but I do know there are a lot of us who are really going to miss you.
By w_roos
March 23, 2010 2:05 PM | Link to this
Bummer. The Clash couldn’t have said it any better: “This is radio clash with a pirate satellite…”
By ChuckD
March 23, 2010 2:56 PM | Link to this
Who still has terrestrial radio?
By just the facts
March 23, 2010 3:53 PM | Link to this
Umm Chuck… Woxy wasn’t terrestrial radio. Hence, the name Woxy.COM
By Melanie
March 23, 2010 5:15 PM | Link to this
Just The Facts: Woxy (97x) was terrestrial radio when it first started in Oxford, Ohio. In addition to online, it continued to broadcast in Cincinnati until recently.
Pledge Drive: I’ve listened to Woxy for more than 20 years. It is and always was dedicated to good modern rock. Year after year, it has highlighted new indie, local and national (non-indie)bands and old faves.
This is the third time Woxy has shut down. In years past, some little miricle occured and it came back to listeners better than ever. Those of us who love it, will hope this happens again.
If Woxy goes away forever, we will miss it terriby. It will be like losing a good friend.
Long live Woxy! Bam, the future of rock and roll!
By LSM
March 23, 2010 6:57 PM | Link to this
Can’t touch KZEW….
By Freddie
March 23, 2010 11:38 PM | Link to this
Dear Apple Inc.
If you and Steve Jobs truly care about music and thinking different, please purchase WOXY and keep them going.
Thank you, that is all.
By Louis
March 24, 2010 10:27 AM | Link to this
After the collapse of the real XMU (new Sirius version and DJ’s are just awful) I discovered woxy.com. I was pouring through forums and found a few listeners who said WOXY.com was just as good if not better - and boy, they were right.
I have since found the programming so good I couldn’t believe my ears. It would figure, a radio station that played excellent music 24/7 would be unable to find funding. Guess this is the same thing that happened on XM, hence why the new INDIE ROCK STATION (which they mention 10 times an hour) and plays the same ‘pop indie rock’ tracks over and over and over.
I’m all for a pledge drive, I don’t have much to give, but think about what kind of numbers we could put up if everyone donated 10 bucks.
Let’s hope this dead air doesn’t last long, I’m lost without WOXY.