Episode 57: Doug & Linda Part 2 (More Fun in the New Radio World)

97X, podcast

In the second part of our interview with 97X station owners Doug & Linda Balogh, we find out why Steve Baker was the soul of the station, Dave was Mr. Sunshine, and Linda was the lady behind the curtain. Doug also talks about “buyer’s remorse” at his welcome BBQ and Linda recalls the 97X mission statement and the baby in the file cabinet. Oh, and we hear about how the Rainman movie appearance happened… and how legendary record exec Howie Klein freaked out about it.

Photo from a 1997 article about 97X in Spin magazine.

Doug and Linda talked about how indispensable Steve Baker was. Bake could — and did– do it all for the station for more than 20 years.

The Bakerman in the old 97X studio
Gentleman Jim Mercer with Bake at a Miami University football game

Nowadays, Steve Baker is the Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Broadcasting for Miami University. Please read this post to learn more about just how amazing “The Bakerman” truly is. (Also, our interview with Steve is in Episode 4 of the podcast.)

Dave Tellmann in the production studio

Doug and Linda also talked about how Dave was always in a good mood. I couldn’t agree more. We had as much fun off the air as on, thanks to Dave, who was (and still is) always making us smile.

Kathie Lucas at right with her “baby in the file cabinet” daughter Sophie
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The famous scene from Rainman:

Linda and Doug (center) with their children Marty (left) and Kristy (right). The award referenced above was presented by Ron “Jetson” Poore and Phil Manning