For those who are joining the rest of us in wondering what happened to the North Bay’s favorite music station, 101.7 The Fox, I’m afraid there is bad news.
In a surprise move that took everyone, including employees of “The Fox”, by surprise, the radio station has officially been taken off the air.
A source close to the station, has said that employees of the Fox found out about the change in a meeting at 11am on March 24th 2001. An hour later, at noon, the station left the air.
The replacement station, “Hot 101.7, Sonoma County’s Hit Music Station,” which began broadcasting immediately is currently playing Top 40 hits. This in response to a survey commissioned by Maverick Media, the parent company of both The Fox and Hot 101.7. Maverick Media claims that the survey revealed that Sonoma County wanted their favorite radio station to give them hit music and lots of it. I’m not sure just who participated in the survey but evidently it was not the average Sonoma County listener. The response to the change in format has been increasingly negative with so many fans voiceing their opinion on the new station’s Facebook page that the site’s maintainers have taken to removing the fans’ negative comments.
Predictably, a page for “Fight Hot 101.7” has cropped up jon Facebook , along with an even bigger page called “Bring Back the Fox,” and a public protest was planned for Friday, March 25, at 4pm.
Without a doubt, this marks the end of an era for Sonoma County radio. For over 20 years, the Fox has been a Sonoma County standby, serving up classic hard rock like AC/DC and Metallica to more recent music from System of a Down, Disturbed and Velvet Revolver. About a month ago, longtime program director Scott Less left 101.7 the Fox for the Pacific Northwest, but apparently, even prior to Less’ departure, a “skeleton crew” had been running things with barely any financial support from Maverick Media.
Based in Connecticut, Maverick Media are the same people who thought it would be a good idea to fire Steve Jaxon, one of the greatest DJs in Sonoma County, and who aren’t available for comment (their website has been perpetually “under construction” for well over a year). Located over 3,000 miles from the station’s Fox Plaza, they’ve seemed perpetually out of touch with what Sonoma County actually wants, and have now killed the station that gave the building its name.
The employees of the Fox have been told that they’ll be able to keep their jobs, but in what capacity exactly is unclear. Currently, Hot 101.7 is broadcasting with no human DJs at all, playing canned tracks on a piped-in feed from corporate headquarters. Sad.