Randy Michaels has returned to Cincinnati radio by bringing back “The Oasis” 1970s and '80s rock music format.
The former Jacor/Clear Channel executive who began his career locally at WKRQ-FM (Q102) took ownership Monday of WOXY-FM, the legendary Butler County frequency known as the beloved “Future of Rock ‘n’ Roll” alternative rock station from 1983 to 2004.
After Doug and Linda Balough sold the station, it was known as “Max FM” (2004-2010) before switching to the Spanish-language “La Mega” in 2010. "La Mega" broadcast programming from a Blue Ash studio on on Middletown’s WNKN-FM tower.
Michaels’ Radioactive LLC paid $1.8 million for WOXY-FM in August, according to Radio Insight.
On Tuesday, Oct. 1, he restored “The Oasis” format to Greater Cincinnati and Dayton airwaves. “The Oasis” — featuring artists from The Beatles and Ray Charles to R.E.M. and Pat Benatar — vanished a year ago from Cincinnati when Jeff Ziesmann’s Grant County Broadcasters sold Middletown’s WNKN-FM (105.9) to Relevant Radio, a Catholic broadcaster.
"The Oasis" format had been slowly building an audience for the Middletown station in its first year (July 2022 to October 2023). After selling Middletown, Ziesmann replaced country music on his WNKR-FM (106.7) in Dry Ridge, Ky., with "The Oasis" to keep it available to Northern Kentucky.
“This returns ‘The Oasis’ format to the Cincinnati/Dayton corridor, where it had a good and growing following on 105.9,” Michaels says.
“Jeff Ziesmann is a master of serving and selling the audience in the metro collar often ignored by other broadcasters. While every other station chases a younger audience, The Oasis serves the people who have the most money and the people most likely to use radio. The age 45+ audience is often ignored by the cookie-cutter corporate stations,” Michaels says.
“The Oasis,” promoted as “Where the Music Went,” on Tuesday played music from Elton John, Bread, Bob Dylan, The Temptations, Queen, Ten Years After, Styx, The Raspberries, Dave Clark Five, Eric Clapton, The Police, Fleetwood Mac and The Guess Who.
Cincinnati radio veteran Ernie “The Fat Man” Brown hosts mornings. John “The B-Man” Beaulieu,” who worked 41 years at Dayton’s WTUE-FM, does afternoons.
Ziesmann says that “it’s a delight to be back up there in the Cincinnati/Dayton corridor.” WOXY-FM’s signal from the Middletown tower will cover about 85 percent of the territory that “The Oasis” reached on WNKN-FM. WOXY-FM can be heard from Troy, north of Dayton, to almost Georgetown, Ky., says Ziesmann, who is programming the station under a limited marketing agreement with Michaels.
“I got hundreds of emails and calls from listeners about the loss of the station last year. I’m guessing 90 percent the people who wrote me will get the station. It couldn’t have worked out better,” he says.
Ziesmann's Grant County Broadcasters bought Middletown’s WPFB-FM for $4 million cash in 2017 from Northern Kentucky University as the school was selling off its WNKU stations and getting out of broadcasting. Relevant Radio's unsolicited offer "allows us to pay off 100 percent of our debt," Ziesmann said last year.
In 1988, the Balough’s WOXY-FM received nationwide publicity from the Oscar-winning Rain Main filmed in Greater Cincinnati when Dustin Hoffman’s character often repeated the station’s catch phrase: “97X, The Future of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Bam!”
Michaels also was CEO of Tribune Broadcasting in Chicago and Merlin Media. His Radioactive LLC also owns WBLH-FM in Black River, N.Y., WKFC-FM in North Corbin, Ky., WPBK-FM in Crab Orchard, Ky. Those stations also are leased to third parties to operate, according to Radio Insight.
