Saturday, September 12, 2009

Energy 92.7

So you all know now that Energy 92.7 was sold and the new owners have flipped the format to a more top 40 feel. It's not like we don't already have 3 stations that play the same type of music already in the bay. So I'm not totally clear on the concept here, but then again I don't have the kind of money to go and buy a radio station so maybe that has something to do with it. Dunno.

Anyway Energy was a special thing. It truly was unique in that it was an independently owned and operated radio station. It had a small signal but did grow over the years. It didn't have a snowballs hope in hell of actually making it in the SF Bay radio market. Yet it did make it, it thrived, it grew it was something the Bay has never seen and something that could only happen in the Bay. Dance music was the format, and this station actually targeted the main audience for dance music.... The LGBT community. Advertisers were the clubs and bars and businesses that we all knew. The music was the stuff we had on CD's or downloaded but never could hear on the radio. It was great. Then there were the on air personalities. Fernando coming in for the morning show, Joey V to hold down the afternoon drive. Things grew from there.... Live mix shows with DJ's actually mixing in the studio.. World class DJ's stopping by the station and not only doing an interview but then mixing live on the air. The over an hour long commercial free segment on Joey's show, it was the 5 o'clock hour... do you know how major that is???

Trevor Simpson's mix at 6 and the countless songs and artists he broke in the Bay Area. Energy was playing songs 6 months to a year before any other station would touch them. Cardio Radio and the upgrade Cardio Radio version 2.0. DJ Ajax and finally Kid Loose taking over the station for an hour during lunch and just tearing up the air waves.

All of the above was Energy 92.7 but it was more. I wasn't just a listener, I was a true fan. I listened and loved the station, then I started going out to the events. I met all the people that I had listened to. I met Joey V, DJ Ajax, Fernando and Greg, Ali Wilder, Sterling James, Kid Loose, Trevor Simpson, and DJ Matthew Baker. I got to know the people on the street team, they saw me at so many events. I became friends with them, I know most of them outside of the station. Energy really was a big extended family. Yes that would include all the ups and downs and fights and drama and love that go into a family.

So with the friendships and knowing so many people that worked at the station I could share some of their pain when the station was sold. It's tough to see your friends in that situation and not be able to help them in any way. Radio is a strange gig, everyone who worked there knew the end was coming but they couldn't say anything about it on air. Just the way it works in this biz. It's easier to keep up with people now with sites like Facebook. The energy 927 web site is still up but who knows for how long? It can't be updated because the station no longer exists.

Anyway it is with sadness that I look upon the ending of Energy 927 and that amazing five year run that was never supposed to happen at all. Then I am happy for the friends that I have made and knowing that things will work out well in the end. One door closes and another opens. You never know where the path in life will take you but keep the positive thoughts and you'll end up somewhere great. It may not seem like it now, but just wait...

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HUGZ to you ALL!!!!!!

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