Changes are ongoing at Cumulus-owned Alternative station WNNX 99X.
Weeks after the station lost much of its staff in company cost cuts, the station is slightly altering its once-classic intensive alternative playlist and apparently adding to its staff.
The station has added Jade Tittle to its afternoon time slot. She, however, will not be at the station. She will be doing the 10-3 time slot once held by Steve Craig from her home station, KQRS, a classic rock-formatted station in Minneapolis St Paul, Minnesota, also owned by Cumulus.
Who is Jade? “She lives and breathes music,” wrote KQRS PD James Kurdzel. “We knew if we could get her, this would work. She works so hard every day to create original content that exists within this iconic music, and she delivers over and over. She’s interesting, original, and fun.”
She spent over 15 years at KCMP, a public Album Alternative station, where she was music director and midday host before joining KQRS, which, like 99X, also recently rebooted its station to its previous sound.
She reportedly has just started her 99X shift today.
Will Pendarvis remains at the station. He has been the sole DJ at 99X since the other talent at the station suddenly left earlier this month.
Those aren’t the only changes at 99X lately.
The music at the station, once mostly the classic modern rock that made the original era of 99X famous and made up the bulk of the music on the reboot of the station in the last two years, seems to have made a more current turn. This is what was playing on 99X this morning, starting at 7:43 AM…*
Nirvana-Smells Like Teen Spirit
Cake-The Distance
Sombr-Back To Friends
Foo Fighters-Everlong
Gorillaz-Clint Eastwood
Green Day-Wake Me Up When September Ends
Lumineers-Ho Hey
Queens Of The Stoneage-No One Knows
Jet-Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Dominic Fike-Baby Doll
Temper Trap-Sweet Disposition
Cranberries-Linger
Red Hot Chilli Peppers-Scar Tissue
There has been an addition of tracks that were originally spun during the 98.9 FM era of 99X before the reboot three years ago, like MGMT’s Kids, M83‘s Midnight City, and Portugal. The Man’s Feel It Still. New tracks like Noah Kahan‘s The Great Divide, Sublime‘s Until The Sun Explodes, and Jack White‘s That’s How I’m Feeling have also joined the station’s rotation. Some listeners reported on social media hearing the disco-flavored Dracula, JENNIE Remix by Tame Impala.
99X’s current musical direction parallels many alternative radio stations currently on the air nationwide, like KROQ in Los Angeles, WKQX in Chicago, and KVIL in Dallas. Stations that mix the new, old, and very old to get a balanced, but more contemporary playlist than one that only draws from the ’80’s and 90’s. 99X’s heyday.
With a currently empty morning, night, and weekend slot to fill (if they are filled), more changes could be on the way for an already constantly changing 99X.
*The music played data is not from Mediabase or any other radio music monitoring system. These are the songs I personally heard 99X play from 7:43 am to 9:06 am. I consulted 99X’s website to double-check the data. Some songs may be missing or out of order.
