Axel Lowe, who was at 99X when it began in 1992, is leaving the station just four months after management revived the station’s alternative rock format.
His final day is Friday, March 31.
Lowe, in a text, said, he has " an amazing new opportunity. I can’t reveal for a few months.”
He was afternoon jock at 99X for much of its original run, which ended in 2008. With his penchant for harder rock, he remained a valuable member of the replacement station Rock 100.5 over the next 14 years, staying employed at Atlanta-based Cumulus Media. He eventually became program director. For a brief time, he did mornings and was doing a personality-based afternoon show with “Southside” Steve Rickman last year.
When Brian Phillips, the chief content officer for Cumulus who helped build 99X in the 1990s, changed the station’s format in December, Lowe stuck around.
Lowe, 54, one of the longest continuously employed music jocks in Atlanta, became the station’s program director.
The station is currently playing core songs from artists from its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s including the Foo Fighters, Collective Soul and the White Stripes. It also brought back part of its original Morning X team Steve Barnes and Leslie Fram, while recycling classic bits from the 1990s/2000s show.
Back in January, wearing a new black 99X T-shirt, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was psyched to rebuild a brand that meant so much to so many people. “I just did a remote appearance to promote a boat show in Gainesville and a dozen people came by just to share stories about 99X with me,” he said. “The passion is incredible!”
99X has more than tripled the ratings of its predecessor on what is considered a less than full market signal at 100.5. It ranked No. 9 in the ratings in February, No. 6 among 25 to 54 year olds.
Rival rock station 97.1/The River lost its morning host Steve Craig in December. Craig was the original 99X mid-day host. He has not revealed his intentions for future employment. The River has not announced a replacement.
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