Rebuilding Rob

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Getting back with my X

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Don’t worry. I’m not talking about getting back together with X!. And I’m damn sure not talking about getting back together with X2, or any ex-wife, ex fiancé, or even an ex-girlfriend.

I’m talking about getting back together with my all-time favorite local radio station, CIMX out of Windsor Ontario Canada. Or as they’ve most famously been known, 89X.

I’ll spare you the entire extensive history of this Windsor-based radio station, but back in 1991, CIMX started an all “alternative rock format“ they referred to themselves as 89X. For a while, they were the cutting edge. For a time they were modern rock, eventually they were the “new rock alternative“ But like all good things, 89X came to an end in 2020 after a 29 year run.

CIMX became a country format station. Evidently, it took five years for the Powers That Be to realize that the Detroit area did not need three country music stations on the FM dial. So this past Thursday at 8:08 AM, 89X returned, with the same song that they began and ended their most recent run with: “Stop!” Jane‘s Addiction.

Click HERE for a more detailed history of CIMX!

Some of  you might think I’m a little overly dramatic gushing about a radio station, but I was lucky enough to be a senior in high school right at the time that Nirvana exploded under the national, and international music scene. For recovering metal head like me, it was a cultural touchstone moment. 

The end of 89X in 2020 was heart-breaking for me personally. By the end, I wasn’t listening ing to the station as religiously as I had in the mid 1990s, but it was still important for me to know that it was there. I supposed it’s hyperbolic to call the station “the soundtrack of my life”. But it’s not an exaggeration to call it “the background music during a lot of the cool parts”.

Admittedly, I’m not as in touch with the kids of this current generation as I was with my own generation for obvious reasons. But when I was coming of age, the type of music you listened to said a lot about the kind of person you were. The people who are listening to alternative rock in the late 80s and early 90s were usually politically progressive, open minded and tolerant – all qualities at this country is in dire need of right now.

Of all of 89X’s current promotional ads, this might be my favorite 

89X was there for me during this late 18 and early 20s years. This is the period when I started going to bars and club hopping. This is the moment where I actually started approaching women and they sometimes liked me in return.

But, as Thomas Wolfe once said, “you can’t go home again”. It’s good nostalgia, but 89 X isn’t quite the same radio station that was back then. I’ve already seen a few people complaining online that the new 89 is basically a new version of 93.9 The River (89X’s adult contemporary sister station from back in the day)

Further more common remains to be seen just how much the new 89X will be involved in the social scene in Detroit. For several years, the station used to identify “Windsor-Detroit”. But the question remains, will they have presence at local concerts? Will they be putting on club nights in the local bars? Granted, most of their listed and demographic has probably aged out of going to clubs, but still.

My other question is: why now? Why the decision to return to an old format now? Was the foray into country music just a failed five-year experiment? I’m grateful for the rebranding, but I have to wonder how lucrative the 40-50 something demographic is these days 

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:

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The article “Getting Back With my X” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.

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