By John Eckberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

OXFORD - The alternative modern rock format of WOXY-FM (97.7 will remain, its new station manager promises.

But Thursday at midnight more than 11,000 compact discs - a veritable library of modern American rock - the nationally known brand identity of 97X, its Web site, the slogan "the Future of Rock and Roll" and the station's independent ownership will all be gone.

First Broadcasting, which purchased bought the station from long-time owners and founders Doug and Linda Balogh for $5.6 million, plans to keep the same alternative/modern rock format at WOXY, said station manager Matt Sledge, who was promoted from assistant program director.

Until this week, the new format had been under wraps.

The staff of five, who will remain with the station when ownership shifts tonight, will still huddle to chose songs to play, Sledge said, though listeners also will give direction on what music gets played.

"It's going to be a well-researched modern rock format," added Sledge, who started at the station in 1994 as an intern. "Well-researched means we'll pay attention to our listeners, and we'll see how the songs are doing in the market.

"But I guess there's nothing that could ever be like 97X.''

The 11,000 CDs were not part of the deal, so the new WOXY-FM will, like most other stations, build its collection from music supplied by major and independent record labels.

Dallas-based First Broadcasting also owns more than a dozen other stations.

The Baloghs sold the terrestrial signal earlier this year but intended to keep the Web cast component alive. When committed investors failed to materialize, the Baloghs decided to pull the plug on their Web site, the most popular commercial radio destination on the Web, Thursday night.

While Doug Balogh said there was still a chance his Web-based WOXY would find a partner willing to invest, he was not optimistic that would happen in time to keep the Web station playing music while new owners took control of the terrestrial signal.

"We'd hoped to seamlessly move to the Internet but that's not going to happen - no way is that going to happen immediately," he said.

Three potential deals are on the table: one with Cincinnati Bell, another with a limited partner in Dayton and one with a passionate listener in Los Angeles who works for an investment bank. The Cincinnati Bell proposal was a blend of subscriber service and unused bandwidth, Balogh said.

"I bet we've had 50 people wanting to help but nobody's related to Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and connecting the dots to the money, well, it just hasn't happened," Balogh said.

Sledge said he's looking at a bittersweet future.

"Almost everybody who works in radio wants a programming gig and in this day and age, getting programming gigs are pretty hard to come by. I'm sad and happy at the same time," Sledge said.

E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com